Sylvia – the lady responsible for the UKQU Website put a challenge out to us Bloggers for some new patterns and blogs with flowers as the subject. A specific flower would be allocated to us as individuals…. now that’s just too much of a temptation for me, flowers, nature, colourful etc etc etc so I stuck my hand up immediately, I think I’m right in saying I was first!!
Had it been in class, you can just imagine me with my hand as high as it could go ,squirming in my chair!….. me me me please miss!
Sylvia knows me and my work, (and that we both like cake and nattering) so I’m thinking I may have landed my flower through prior knowledge type stuff……. my absolute favorite flowers are Sunflowers – all things bright and happy and such a joy to behold! I’m pretty sure they are Sylvia’s favorite as well, so this could probably be classed as a ‘fix’ really, but to make up for that, my task came with stipulations, a warning really, it had to be something new and different to any of my previous sunflower designs……
(editorial note .. Abbie is correct, but I like all flowers depending on the time of year – daffodils and snowdrops particularly in spring but sunflowers turning their faces to worship the sun are hard to resist – Sylvia xx)
I have so many photos of sunflowers its unreal, an obsession maybe, but certainly a bit of a habit of mine………
The design would have to be small, (so many be just a quarter of a sunflower!?) but only because I only ever have limited time available.
This was to be an unexpected make and had to be fitted around the new Mystery Quilt BOM, the Witter Quilts and all manner of teaching and other stuff….. so I stopped everything else immediately of course and started to design and make!!!
A simply pieced background (including dragonfly fabric – another obsession) which would become an integral part of the quarter sunflower…….. applique petals…… but let’s do something different with them (see Sylvia, something different!!)
So I played with making a more 3D style of applique petal. The first one really didn’t work! I tried using a thin layer of wadding in the middle of 2 layers of fabric, a nightmare to try and turn through. When it did turn through, the wadding had made the finished petal much too small!! I had to aim for a good sized petal to cope with the pieced center that I’d already incorporated into the background patchwork, time to try something else!
Just 2 layers of fabric turned through and slip stitched closed……. better, but the bulky turn was still taking up too much of the fabric and it was too small. Time to re-size the pattern! Then 2 layers turned and slip stitched worked fine, the first 2 attempts were assigned to the bin.
I decided to quilt the background before attaching the petals – quilted in the ditch and everything!!! (see Sylvia, something else very different for me!!) Including the use of one of my dragonfly templates…….
I attached the petals by hand, stitching just the first 3/4 of the petal and in the center underneath so that they appear loose. I then added a bit of hand quilting up the center of the petals to make sure they stayed in place and to give the illusion of veins on the petals. (Sylvia – see? see? …..different!!)
Or, they could easily be appliqued on traditionally to make a very jolly panel for bags, cushions and whatever else takes your fancy!
*** I lost a petal whilst laying them out – absolutely no idea where that went, when it turns up I’ll attach it!!! (a design development – but that’s nothing new or different, they happen all the time! )
There’s a pattern if you want to play……… I’ll pop it in my shop here on UKQU.
……..just a doodle ………
I’m going to mention just one thing that isn’t ‘different or new’ – The Sunflower Mystery Quilt BOM from 2021, it was run here on UKQU, as are all of my Mystery Quilts, designed and made by me (Abbieanne) long arm quilted by Sarah from Ambleside Quilting……..there’s a new Mystery starting in April if you want to come and join us?…….
Thank you for reading my witterings!
Be Lovely! Abbie xxx
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