Red Flowers

This is a photo of the antique Red Flowers from a F&P magazine in 2005.  Below is my rendition of this quilt.  As you can see, I have changed the orange leaves from the last post back to yellow and still haven't made up my mind which I like the best.  I had also simplified the leaves for ease of applique, but am kind of rethinking that decision too.  I did look closely at the photo to determine the original quilting design and it appears to be a big sweeping clamshell pattern.  I don't know the dimensions of the original and can't find it on google images, so my squared up blocks at 27" unfinished seem too big, or the leaves too small, or something.  I think I'll have to do more trimming to get that "bit of crowded" look that appealed to me.  I do like the idea of the big sweeping clamshells, specifically because I still struggle with marking and I will not have to mark to do that pattern.  I'll just get it started with a big arc and go from there.  You can also see that I have to remove a couple green (misplaced) leaves.  Three more flowers to go.  I should be able to finish this week, Don and Em are here so I've cleaned up the florida room and dismantled the sewing center so we have room to eat at the table.  Hand work goes faster when using my machine isn't happening.

Finishing Up

Well, in fact,

I had just barely started.  I made one of these blocks in June 2012 and ran out of the red fabric.  I looked for several months, but never found anymore of it.  The other day, I was looking in the stash boxes and saw a really vibrant red and wondered if it was close...I knew it wasn't the same fabric, the original was a Moda, and the new one a Danish fabric called STOL, but when I compared them, I can't see any difference.  So I had enough of the new red for 5 more and pieced the last three flowers. I appliqued these 2 new flowers yesterday and today so I am now well on my way to a 9 block appliqued flower quilt. 

Something for Everyone

Out of focus...  but these are the Jo Morton little quilts.  Most of these are from this year's patterns, but a couple from last year's too.  The white stuff behind some of them is batting of course.  Those are the one in the midst of being hand quilted.  Some of the others are hand quilted and a few are machine quilted.  Some are quilted and bound, but most have more work to do.   I like the scrappy, brighter ones, but the ones that are browns and golds or blues, not so much... Those are a bit matched for me...  I definitely like the bright colors with strong contrast better...which leads to the one that I finished this morning.

This one is a 6 sided string star quilt.  It has light blue sashing and orange corner stones.  The good news about being out of focus is that you can't see where my edges don't quite match.  This one is big enough at 76x86 so I can practice with the long arm.  I'm going to bind in the light blue.  The next string star will be an eight sided lone star.  I actually  thought I was doing it this time until I realized that I was sewing on 60 degree foundation diamonds instead of 45 degree diamonds.   Duh.

 And finally, I finished the applique last week on the "be thankful".  I really like this one, and although I sometimes wish that it was in brighter yellows, greens, and blues, these colors will go better in my house.   It is a large wallhanging, but will be a good addition to the Sept/Oct decor.  It will be quilted with an oak leaf and acorn design and bound in blue.  BTW...this is the camera instead of the phone camera...amazing difference in the photos.  Guess I won't lose this camera.

So I am all over the place, looking for a style that's my own, and finding that I like something from most every style...  I'm still working on the appliqued red and green Jingle Belles, picked up a new Jo Morton pattern this morning, am appliqueing on the CWB's quilt, and, of all things, bought a package of hexie patterns and a gluestick yesterday at the AQS show.  So, I'm still in search of a style....