Sew Karen-ly Created...: Grandmother's Blossoms

Wednesday, 23 January 2019

Grandmother's Blossoms

Welcome to my day on the Island Batik Getaway Blog Hop! Today's hop is extra special, as you are being whisked away to Atlantic Canada, to visit with me in Nova Scotia, Leanne in Newfoundland... and a special unscheduled bonus stop (not even Island Batik knows about this one yet!) with Linda in New Brunswick. This is a long post, with lots of links, but please make sure you click everything, and read to the bottom for a chance to win some prizes!

The products used were all provided by Island Batik, Hobbs Batting, and Aurifil thread back in the second Ambassador boxes we received last July. We were to keep these fabrics secret until they started shipping to stores, which is right now. Mine were wrapped in this pretty floral paper.

Here's what was inside: a beautiful collection of pinks, purples, yellows and greens, fittingly named "Blossom". (Was the paper a happy coincidence, or chosen on purpose? Hmm...)

The fabrics immediately brought to mind the wild roses which grow prolifically around here. There is great variance in the colour, ranging from pale pink to a dark, almost purple, rose. This shot is from the rose hedge at Jerry's Park in Amherst (which also had a bee visiting while I was there). The leaves also range from very light to very dark green. Perfect!

I drew and coloured my one-patch design in EQ8, and printed the template. It was super easy to cut from a strip, with hardly any waste. I had very little fabric left over from the 20, half-yard cuts received; I kept cutting and sewing until it was all gone, saving enough out for binding.

The result is a take-off on a Grandmother's Flower Garden setting, with half-hexagons used for easier machine piecing, and random, wild placement of the blooms - just like in real life.

For my batting, I used my favourite Hobbs Tuscany wool, generously supplied by Hobbs.

For piecing, I used from the large Aurifil cone of white sent in our first box last year. This fabulous 40 weight Aurifil thread collection by Barbara Persing had perfect colours to use in the quilting.

They match the tones of the Blossom fabrics so well!

I free-motion stitched loopy petals in the blooms, and pebbled in most centres, switching here and there to spirals, just to keep it interesting. With no marking, it was super fast (and super fun) to do.

The greens had continuous curves quilted in the hexagon shapes. Originally, I intended to add leaf veins inside the curves, but decided that I liked how they puffed up with the wool batting, so left them as is.

I took the quilt back to Jerry's Park to photograph on the rose hedge.

(Yes...those sticks are the rose hedge in winter! Perhaps we are the ones needing a getaway!)

You'll notice I did not trim off the ends of the half-hexies along the sides, as I like the zig-zag edge they create. I really like the old-fashioned, floral look of the quilt; it reminded me of something Gram would put on top of a white, chenille bedspread as a "coverlet". But those edges were bothering me a bit...something was missing. They had an unfinished look about them. The quilt sat for a couple of weeks while I figured out what it was.

Of course: tassels! I found a bag of 100 on Amazon, with 20 different colours.

I hand-sewed a tassel to each point.

I like lots of colour :)

"Grandmother's Blossoms" measures 69" x 87"and hugs the top of a queen bed nicely. Thanks to speedy pattern editor Cheryl Coville, the pattern is available from my website, or as a direct download here. It's simple enough for a beginner, and can easily be sized up or down.

Please leave a comment below if you would like to be entered into a draw for 2 mini-charm packs of Island Batik "Paisley Park.".

I'll also throw in a copy of the Grandmother's Blossoms pattern. Draw will be made Feb.3 when the hop is finished. Also MAKE SURE you enter the big give-away on the Island Batik blog - they are giving away TWO, 20 piece FQ bundles!

Leanne from The Devoted Quilter is the other "official"stop on today's hop, and I encourage you to visit her in NFLD. to see what she has made with Blossom. But first, here's a surprise. I had very little Blossom fabric left, so decided to pass along the scraps to my friend Linda in Fredericton who makes gorgeous miniatures from the tiniest pieces. She was sworn to secrecy, and promised not to show or mention the fabrics until today. As I write this, I have not yet seen her quilt, so click here, and let's hop over there together.

Thank you for visiting. It's been a fabulous, fun year as an Island Batik Ambassador, and I look forward to more of the same for the coming year. The quilts shown on this hop are phenomenal; you can find all the links below. Happy hopping!

All links have been updated to each blogger's blog hop post!

WEEK 1

Monday, January 7 - Crystal Ball

MaryEllen @ Mary Mack’s Blog

Sandra @ mmm! quilts

Tuesday, January 8 - Ditty

Stephanie @ Steph Jacobson Designs

Michelle @ Creative Blonde

Wednesday, January 9 - Elk Lodge

Connie @ Free Motion by the River

Anna @ Ark Angel Creations

Thursday, January 10 - Feline Fine