On UKQU we love to provide different ideas using different techniques for quilters and crafters out there so every now and again we have a challenge. As Spring is around the corner we thought we’d re-visit flowers.
We did flowers before in 2020 and, as I’d been playing around with Hawaiian quilting at the time, I took a British fauna idea using traditional Needle Turned appliqué. An ivy leaf surrounded by a few Periwinkles inspired by my garden. The free pattern for this can be found here. I also have a larger wall hanging version which appeared in British Patchwork and Quilting magazine which I made around the same time during the first lockdown. The weather was glorious and I sat in my garden gently stitching…
When the challenge was set this time the weather was grey and a little chilly, the sun had not made an appearance in weeks so when our mastermind handed out the flower choices I was pleased mine reminded me of the tropics. I was given the Bird of Paradise flower. Strelitzia Reginae, also known as a Crane Flower, native to South Africa and a stunningly, exotic choice.
Firstly – how was I going to render this beautiful flower into fabric? Foundation Paper Piecing was my first thought but I have seen this done before. As it happened I was teaching a technique that very weekend – Draw, Stitch and Trim appliqué – which I thought might be something slightly different for people. This is something I came across quite a few years ago but is still newish on the patchwork scene. As an aside, I will be teaching this as a workshop – check out my website for contact details at Strictly Quilting.
The image is drawn on the paper side of Freezer Paper and you work from the reverse, in the same way as bonded appliqué is reversed. I scoured the internet for various images of these beautiful flowers and drew my version of one. Then came the fun part – raiding my stash for suitable fabrics.
The colours of the Bird of Paradise are simply gorgeous. I chose a bright orange for the petals, a patterned dark, dark grey for the stamen and a couple of greens for the stem and main flower bract. As to the background I found a beautiful batik in various shades of blues. Once completed it really brightened my winter – reminding me of a tropical ocean against an azure sky with the brilliant orange of the petals blazing against the scene.
Once assembled, and you can find the link to the pattern and technique here, I quilted with echo walking foot quilting. I had planned on doing some some extra spiky shapes of the flowers to give the impression of other Bird of Paradise in the background but, once I’d done a few, I decided I didn’t like it and so Jack made an appearance. Quickly removing that stitching and replacing with a bit of echo quilting around the main flower shape and gently rolling lines across the remainder. This gave an impression of waves in the background.
But what to do with the piece? As the colours are so bright and cheerful, with a definite holiday vibe, I decided to make it into a cushion for our touring caravan. Now, we’ve taken our caravan some ways, from the south of France, all over the UK and we are planning a tour of northern Scotland in the summer but we’ll never make it to South Africa so this will certainly get a smile from me every time I see it when on holiday.
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