ESS Blocks done

 Hello. This is my first post here. I'm Angie Nudge and I've been quilting since 1986. I have a blog. If you want you can read it here.  I happily stumbled across Ann's blog and have been fascinated by her many creative quilts that so appeal to me - they are so colorful!  So I decided to try my hand at her Tulip quilt. I just happened to have a large garbage bag of strings, so I pulled it out and made the outer border for this project.  I tried so hard to be improv, but I kept changing things - strips that is - lol.  Oh, well, think they came out okay.  I found that the telephone pages I used for my paper shrank. Just an 1/8 on two sides, but this was easily fixed by just using my 6 1/2 square ruler to square the blocks up to 5 1/2".  

So here they are:

Now to make the string blocks to make the tulips!  Thanks for letting me join the group. Blessings!

Tulip Mania, completed top

This is on my blog, of course, so I thought I would just do a recap here of how it relates to  Ann's original challenge.  I wanted to keep as many elements of her original quilt as I could, whilst doing my own thing.  I certainly went all around the houses to get there, but  I have tulips and they are string-pieced and I have string blocks.  I also have, more or less a medallion layout; it may not look especially like a medallion at first glance, but it was constructed in rounds, working out for the centre.  

Of course I could have abandoned any of these elements along the way and would have done, if necessary, but I like that I didn't have to.  In fact, I didn't start with a medallion layout but using the tulips in a block as a central starting point was a key moment in figuring out how this was going to work.  

This has been a big old headache a lot of the time, but it has been a good exercise for me to have to think more about value and the way it relates to colour, and about the ways that I can get rhythm and movement into a piece.  Definitely not time wasted, then, but I am heartily relieved to get it to a point I am happy with! 

Forty-Six - the Flimsy

And then, 

after all of the machine appliqué was completed,

 there was a flimsy on the design wall.

(no fusible was used - 

just lots of pins to hold the shapes in place)

I'm very pleased with the string pieced tulips

and the way they sway back and forth.

Their consistent stems

and pairs of scrappy leaves make me happy.

* * *

The top finished at approximately 48" x 60"

Quilting will happen later this year.

Quiltdivajulie

AHIQ QAL - A Pocket Full of Posies

Borders are now on my small quilt last posted April 25th!

A Pocket Full of Posies

If you follow my blog you will have already seen this photo,
for those of you who haven't I took a little time coming to a decision
with the border treatment.

I had decided on using Spot in the Autumn colourway and spent some
time deciding whether one narrow border or a wider border would
fit the best. Neither of the two options seemed to work,
in the end I decided to split a wide border using a narrow insert
of the fabric used to cut the flowers for the centre collage.

I'm more than happy with the result.
The little quilt now measures 45 and 1/2" and will be hand quilted.

Thanks to Ann for this prompt, I have never used the string paper pieced
method before, I enjoyed it, I like the effect of the four blocks together,
but I found the bias a little tricky. I will definitely use this method
again and be a little more aware of the bias issue.

Maureen

                              

                                

 

One Block at a Time

 

One stem at a time.

One leaf at a time.

Machine appliqué work is underway

for my current AHIQ challenge named Forty-Six.

When the green bobbin ran out,

I changed to the purple bobbin/thread

and started on the tulips.

I'll need to switch back and finish

the rest of the stems and leaves

before I can complete those tulips,

but at least I can now see

how some of the blocks will look.

Onward . . . 

Quiltdivajulie