Showing posts with label flowers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label flowers. Show all posts

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Forever Flowers - Wall Hanging #2

Flower pot wall hangingSome of you know that in December a co-worker of mine passed away.  It was sudden, shocking, and so very sad.  Brian was an amazing man, loved by so many people.  For his services they needed to use the high school gym and hundreds of people attended.  He was the office manager, and while at work he suffered a brain aneurism while talking with one of the secretaries.  She has sinced moved into his job and office.  I can't even begin to understand what a difficult decision it was for her.  I know when I walk down the hall I'm still adjusting from expecting to see his smiling face.  I wanted to do something for Tracy to help her personalize the space and celebrate her promotion. 

Close up of flowersWhen I stepped into the sewing room to start picking out a design and fabrics this isn't what I had in mind.  I didn't have any specific ideas, but it wasn't this.  I'm so happy with the end result and I hope she will be to.  I just love the creative process, even if I still don't fully understand it.  :)

Close up of vaseThe wall hanging measures 16" x 16".  It's a 12" x 12" muslin center, a 1" (finished) inner border with corner stones, and a 3" (finished) outer border.  The flowers and vase are appliqued on, I added a strip on the vase and attached heart button embellishments.  I embellished the flower petals with crayon to add some color and placed a swarovski crystal in the centers.

Flower embellishmentsFor the quilting I started off intending to do a cross hatch, but finished the first direction and liked it so much I stopped there.  When I attached the binding I added a strip of ribbon for hanging.  When I held it up, the small quilt would bow a little ... but once hung against a wall it laid flat and proper.  Daryl suggested I add a zip tie inside the binding just where the ribbon is to give it a little rigidity just to be sure it wouldn't go wonky at some point.  Worked like a charm!

 ~ Enjoy ~

Thursday, August 23, 2012

Bunny for Baby - Quilt #6

baby quilt with applique bunny and flowerMy first commissioned quilt!  Ok, so the job came from my Mom, but it gave me good practice in turning someone else's vision into reality.  Fortunately she was very open to my thoughts and gave me a lot of creative freedom. 

Rayma recently had her first baby.  Her family and my family have been friends for so long, I call Rayma's mom auntie.  We all live in different states, and haven't seen each other in many years, but my mom is still very close with all of Rayma's family.  Mom wanted a special and unique gift that Rayma and Harper could treasure forever. 

The blanket measures approximately 30" x 40".  It includes applique, hand embroidery, and machine quilting.  This was my first time machine quilting anything other than stitch in the ditch.  My machine doesn't do it well, but I made it work.  :)

To make this quilt: baby blanket with applique flower and hand embroidered name
  • Cut six 10.5" x 10.5" squares, cut one 30.5" x 20.5" rectangle for the center.  Sew two strips of three squares each.  Attach one strip on either side of the rectangle.
  • Find a bunny and flower applique drawing (I like Google images), choose your fabrics then trace and applique.  Attach baby rick rack.
  • Use a button for the bunny nose and hand embroider the mouth and whiskers.  The eyes are a 6 strand french knot.  Hand embroider the baby name and birthdate onto the flower applique.  (I typed it on the computer to give me a font so I wouldn't have to rely on my handwriting, then traced it.)
  • Make your quilt sandwich, stitch around the bunny, stitch in the ditch on each of the squares at top and bottom.
  • Go to Google images and find different flower drawings. Print them on card stock, cut out and use as a template to draw the flowers (using disppearing ink) onto the blanket. Machine (or hand) quilt.
You will need:
3 fabrics for the top and bottom squares
1 fabric for the center rectangle
Fabrics for the bunny, flower and leaf
Fabrics for the backing and binding (I used the bunny fabric as backing and binding - it was perfect, and we had a lot of it)
Batting
Button
Matching DMC embroidery floss
Matching thread colors for quilting

The quilt top goes together pretty quick since it's six larger pieces.... everything else takes more time.  It was a labor of love and I really enjoyed watching this one come together!

~ Enjoy ~