The Possum Magic fun continues!
Wendy of Wendy’s Quilts and More loves rich, vibrant colours. She especially likes peacock blues, and her starter block reflects that. Normally, colour-saturated quilts are not my forte, but the reassuring thing for me, long before I received this quilt top, was that I had some Philip Jacobs blue fabrics from my big blue quilt, and they would be perfect when my turn came.
Before this quilt top came to me, it went through several other possums’ hands (paws?).
- Sharon of Motherdragon’s Musings added to Wendy’s block with a pieced border in the rich blues and purples that Wendy likes so much. I like how this gave the original lime green star a bit more breathing room.
- Jo of Riddle and Whimsy picked out the colours in the fabrics so far and made us notice the pink highlights. The pink accents really added pizzazz.
- Serena of Sew Giving added a border of squares, each square a colour that is in the Philip Jacobs and Kaffe Fassett prints (if you look very closely).

Wendy made the centre block. Sharon added the first border. Joanna added the second, and Serena added the third.
I recycled aspects of everyone’s ideas. I find doing this – reintroducing elements that have already been included – can be a good way to link the work of so many hands.
I added a narrow border, like Sharon’s purple ½-inch borders. In my head, this border was going to be lime green, but I could see as soon as I put the fabric next to Serena’s squares that lime was the wrong choice. Instead, I used a pinky-orange that I love.
I brought in some more stars, using Red Pepper Quilts’ ‘Hummingbird’ pattern, which was our Compass Quilters bee block for Rebecca, and I tried to use many of the colours that Jo and Serena had identified in the original fabrics and brought out in their borders.
Because Serena’s border was so colourful, I knew I could not go as equally wild with colour. Initially, I planned to go back to lime and blue to frame the colourful squares Serena had added. However, after a little time spent throwing fabrics all around the quilt top on a bed, I realised I had to bring in some of the other colours too. I changed my original plan of just adding stars in the four corners, and I decided to make more to place along each edge.
The stars midway along each edge served two purposes – they allowed me to add more colour and work around the fact that I only had fat quarters of the blue fabrics and no piece large enough to stretch the length of one border. They helped me avoid unsightly joins.
I did not plan to make the backgrounds of the stars purple. I really wanted blue backgrounds, but the blue fabrics I had were all the wrong shade or too busy. In fact, the busyness is why I pieced the borders in stripes, using four of the Philip Jacobs prints in my stash. Cutting them into narrower strips broke up the large floral designs and made them into more randomly colourful patterns.
My work will not be a showy feature of the quilt, but it does act as a background that allows the central star and Serena’s bold square to shine.
The quilt top is now ready to go to Jane of Where Jane Creates. I hope she has some blue! I think Jane has a good fabric stash and will no doubt come up with something stunning.
This round of Possum Magic is the swap round. As I have been working on Wendy’s, she has been working on mine, and it is the same for other pairs of possums. If you saw my original leaf, you would hardly recognise it now – it has flowers and ladybirds and trailing vines! It is looking very much like a spring garden. What fun! You can see it in its current glory over on Wendy’s blog.
You should check out Wendy’s blog as she is the most amazingly talented needlewoman. She quilts; she knits; she embroiders; she makes lace. Everything she makes is beautiful and colourful. You will not find any boring or beige projects. Is there anything she cannot craft?
Oh, some of my favourites, and looking at her blog, I’m sure it’s a perfect fit for her taste! I do enjoy hearing about the thinking behind what you’ve done…
I really hope Wendy likes it. That’s the main point, right? We try to be creative and try new things, but always with the goal of making something that the recipient will enjoy.
… now don’t fall off your chair, but I like the purple background around the stars! I also think you are very clever for slicing and dicing your other border fabric, it’s really effective and reflects the small strips around Wendy’s original star.
You like the purple? Phew! That really does make me feel a LOT better. If people who are not purple fans are OK with it, I feel reassured that it was not a bad call.
wow!
Brilliant design choices you made for your border round – really unifies the quilt beautifully. Thanks for explaining your thought processes and why you made the design choices you did.
Phew! Unifying is what I was going for!
I am so in love with what you ladies have done for each other, the care going into these quilts is beautiful and I can’t wait to see how they all turn out!
I feel lucky to have landed in such a group. Everyone is taking such care and behind the scenes there is no conflict or drama, just laughs.
It really shows!
Top-notch design work. You hit all the elements and balanced the previous parts just right. Thanks for talking through the process and why you made the choices you did.
Thanks, Melanie! I tried for balance!
It looks great. It reminds me on a fairytale book from my childhood… I like ir from the centre over the square rainbow onto the edge.
You are making me think I should reread some of my favourite childhood fairytales. I kept a handful of my favourite books.
I really think that your border was well thought out! It is lovely how it echos the center star. I am amazed at how beautifully these are all coming together!
It was lucky that Rebecca had set the hummingbird block as her bee block as it meant I did not have to draw my own star pattern from scratch!
wow what an incredibly beautiful, colour piece of work
I am normally not this brave with colour, but it was such fun!
It’s fantastic thank you Carla. It really works well with what’s been done previously. I’ll enjoy looking at all those Philip Jacobs prints and working out which ones they are.I think the stars look great too. You’re clever using different shades of purple as the backgrounds for the stars. I probably wouldn’t have thought of that. And thank you for all those lovely compliments. I really do enjoy sewing and crafts, and feel so lucky that I’ve met such lovely like minded people. It’s just a pity that 3 of you live so far away. If you were in Sydney I could visit you!
I have put some of the leftover blue scraps in the bag, so they might make their way to you to help you identify.
I confess that I am running out of purple fabric. I might have to buy more purple soon! What is this group doing to me!?
At least you have Alice nearby!
Gorgeous. I love those colours.
A friend used similar colours – lime, blue and purple – in her friendship block a while ago. The blocks turned out really well and I am keen to see how the final quilt looks. I think it is still in her WIP pile!
I love how you chopped up the blue prints for the borders! It ties in nicely with the background of Wendy’s stars with the strip pieces.
I looked at having a large piece of each blue fabric on its own between the stars, but it was not right. I then briefly thought about random strips going the other way, but I was happy when this solution presented itself.
I love what you’ve done with this Carla, very cohesive and pulls it all back together. I’m really enjoying trying to anticipate whether or not I get a ” flow free” or ” bring it all together” border when each quilt arrives on my doorstep! As you probably already know I haven’t started on mine yet, but I have a plan LOL
You have heaps of time still! Almost a month!
I am hoping I have at least one ‘free flow’/‘go wild’ border in among the next three. 🙂
It looks fabulous! Love the colour combo
I do not think I can take credit for the colours – the girls before me chose them and should get the kudos!
Looks great and I like the purple. Really sets off the stars!
Thanks! I confess I posted it to Jane early to avoid any temptation to remake half the stars in blue!
It’s beautiful and amazing how you have all contributed in your own style but kept to a theme that works so well. It’s like jewels in the sea 🙂 Merry Christmas Carla! Avis x
I had stars in the dusk sky in mind! 🙂
Merry Christmas, Avis!
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