Pushing a pea up a mountain with my nose

Bramble Blooms Pt 2 Update

Yippee! I’ve finished the centrepiece for the Audrey’s QAL …. and I’m so happy to have got this far.  I have a renewed admiration for all those skilled needleturn appliqué experts out there as I found my first foray into this appliqué technique enormously difficult. I’ve learned a lot along the way, and I’ve improved both with stitching and placement of the appliqué pieces. The red flower, last to be sewn, is definitely the best.

My first attempt at the pointy flower pot didn’t go well. The long, slim, valley at the bottom of the pointy ‘leaves’ proved impossible to appliqué.  The fabric (not the best quality) frayed terribly and I finally gave up.  

Instead, I redrew my template with curves, and I found sewing these to be much more manageable.  I’m quite pleased with how the funky looking pots turned out.  They match the funky looking flowers!

Tackling the mistake for the middle flower came last. In the end I decided that the only way forward was to unpick the centre and stem, and remake with a longer stem.  I turned under about an eighth of an inch at one end of the tube and stitched it down to remove the raw edge. In hindsight I would have been better off if, during the composition stage, I just made one six petal flower that flowed off the bottom of the centrepiece with no stem at all. The decision to unpick the centre and make a longer stem rather than unpicking and resewing the entire flower is a compromise I can live with.

As I’ve said, I have learned a lot.  Sometimes it has felt a bit like ‘pushing a pea up a mountain with my nose’.  From initial drawings through to making my own templates, discovering how to use a toothpick to turn those pesky points, auditioning fabrics, and the trauma of trimming appliqué down to an eighth of an inch seam (yeek).  It has all been worth it.

The tools of the trade

The whole centrepiece has turned out a lot brighter and more ‘modern’ than I expected.  But I’m happy with that.  The obvious conclusion is that I have a fair few bright fabrics in my small stash which kind of makes it more modern looking.  

Audrey has had to take a step back from the QAL for family reasons.  I still can’t comment on blogs (sigh) so I am sending my best wishes to her here.  There is no rush to get to the next stage and I can concentrate on making the final 70 blocks for the centre of my Teri Rowland inspired scrap quilt before starting on the borders for that.  

Here are the last 27 blocks that I’ve made. 73 to go and I will have completed 400.  The push is on to finish these this weekend.  I’m having to go back to scraps already used in other blocks.  That’s okay as I never intended to make each block from a different fabric (I don’t have enough scraps for that) and I will take care to make sure doubles or triples will be spread out in the final layout.

It’s been great to see everyone else’s progress on their centrepieces for Bramble Blooms.  There are so many interpretations of the concept, and so many fabric choices, and it’s really wonderful to see the creativity going on. 

I’m linking to the Peacock Party where I always like to check in and see what other quilters are up to.  I’m grateful to people like Wendy that keep these linky parties going. Please check out the link if you have time.