Possum Magic is in its fifth round. There are only two more rounds to go!
In this round, I was adding to Alice’s quilt. Alice is French but lives in New Zealand. She blogs at Blossom Quilts & Crafts and is relatively new to sewing and quilting, but she is brave enough to tackle a challenge like this round robin.
Alice started her quilt with a Liberty floral-print star on a yellow and pink background. It has since been added to:
- Wendy of Wendy’s Quilts and More set the block on point.
- Sharon of Motherdragon’s Musings added a floral appliqué border.
- Jo of Riddle and Whimsy echoed the original star in a starburst border, which I absolutely adore.
- Serena of Sew Giving made a border of foundation paper pieced butterflies.
As for me, once again, I was in recycling mode – I reused elements from earlier borders to try to create a feeling of continuity. I added a narrow striped border with cornerstones, the same width as Jo’s narrow pink striped border, and I drew and appliquéd flowers, stems and leaves similar in size and shape to Sharon’s. Some of the flowers include small pieces of the Liberty fabric from Alice’s centre block and the yellow fabric used in Wendy’s border. I used a pale green background colour, not dissimilar to a green used by Serena.
Initially, I thought of having the stems snake around randomly, but I do not do random well. Instead, I drew myself a pattern to make sure the stems were curved evenly. Given how strongly the green of the stem stands out, I am glad now that it forms an even and gently curved frame. I evenly spaced the flowers roughly, allowing them to rotate or be slightly off centre for a more natural look. I did manage to sew the leaves on spontaneously – without a pattern!
This project allowed me to play with some of my Clover tools. The pressing bars made making lengths of bias stems nice and easy. I concealed all the joins in the stems under flowers for a neat finish. As Sharon had done, I made the flower centres from yo-yos, using my 30 millimetre yo-yo maker. The fine Liberty lawn makes the best yo-yos.
My floral border is a peculiar width – 4¾ inches wide – but I did that deliberately. Now, the quilt top is an even 60 inches square (60½ inches cut size), which is an easy measurement for Jane of Where Jane Creates to work with as she plans her addition.
I sewed all of the appliqué by hand. I do not begrudge the hours of work as I enjoy hand sewing and I felt that such a pretty and feminine quilt top deserved some feminine and pretty flowers. Sometimes, you just have to do whatever the quilt needs – be it a simple border that you can whip up in an hour or something more painstaking. It is about doing the best you can for each project.
The funny thing is that Alice added leaves and stems to my quilt too! Great minds think alike!
I can’t imagine this being any more glorious than it already is, but I will wait for the end result. I’m sure your additions will be treasured for years to come! Lovely
Serena and I wondered the same thing after Jo’s border, but we managed to push on. I am sure that Jane and Rebecca have brilliant ideas up their sleeves.
What beautiful work you’ve all done. I love your daisy chain to hold it all together – all those perfect little yoyos, perfectly appliquéd, as always!
I know yo-yos can be sewn without the Clover tool, but it really does help keep them tidy.
Really looks great! I do love medallions. 😉
My two group projects have taught me to love them too. Now I want to play with making one on my own – but would it lose its charm if it were all planned and made by one set of hands?
I don’t know. Certainly it could be less quirky. Take a look at my quilts and see if they are less charming. If you are designing each border as you go, as I do, I think you can build in whatever feel you want.
What a beautiful addition to the quilt, Carla, and how kind of you to get the quilt to an even size for Jane to work with!! I love your attitude about doing what is right for each quilt top. Your work is so well done and I know I would treasure and appreciate that much hard work!
As Jo pointed out in a recent post, it is really hard to calculate one-third of 11.5 inches. 🙂
Such a sweet quilt. You can see each seamstress’ personality in her row. It will be treasured. You do lovely work, Carla. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks, Jane. It is funny how you say that as I have been thinking how much I like how we have all submerged our personal preferences to focus on what the recipient wants – and yet you can still detect the individual hands at work. Cool!
Just gorgeous Carla. I love the petals on those flowers, and all the dainty fabrics you have used. Alice will love it I’m sure.
I too struggle with going free format. It never looks quite right unless it’s planned neatly in advance. As Colin Firth once said, “I’m not very spontaneous you know”.
I knew that there was more than a wet shirt and a lake that drew me to Colin! Kindred spirits!
I can attest to the leaves being places randomly, I saw you do it! Such flare too … you should go random more often! It’s a lovely, feminine addition and I think Alice will love it 🙂
Ooh! Don’t push me too hard! I think those leaves are the limits of my random spontaneity for now! 🙂
Wow Carla! Those appliqué flowers are amazing. You are such a clever girl and all hand sewn too. I am green with envy and hope one day to sit and hand sew some things…. I reckon I could totally get into it. Jen
Three reasons (of many) why I like hand sewing:
1 You can do it on public transport and in waiting rooms.
2 It is slower than machine sewing so your house does not fill up with hand-made stuff so quickly. (All husbands query the need for YET ANOTHER cushion or quilt in the house, right?)
3 You can hang out with the rest of the family or watch TV as you sew. (The machine is too loud and in the wrong room in my house.)
Have I sold you on the idea of hand sewing yet? 🙂
I think the flowers were right the right choice! and they work with Serena’s butterflies since butterflies are always with the flowers! The darker green stems seem to balance and space out my border a bit as I think that was sort of standing out and drawing your eye in as it’s so different to the other ones.
Yes! Flowers are always with butterflies!
I love your border. It stands out just as it should, like a happy ray of sunshine.
those flowers are really dainty and feminine
Merci, Claire. That is good news as that is just what I was trying to do!
This is just so cool! I don’t know if I could handle the pressure of a round robin quilt along but this almost makes me want to try. Love how there are now 2 borders of flowers. Looks so pretty.
There is not as much pressure as you think, especially as Jo made sure we had plenty of time each round and everyone is so lovely. We had not met each other before we signed up to the group, but everyone is so friendly and supportive.
Pretty!
So beautiful!!
Perfect applique! How do you do it?
I wrote a post explaining how I sew appliqué (https://grannymaudsgirl.wordpress.com/2014/07/28/applique/). I think the trick is just to take your time and use small stitches.
These quilts you undertake where more and more gets added on scare the bejeepers out of me! Your appliquéd flowers look lovely – so much patience you have!
The weird thing is that I am extremely patient with some things (like sewing) and then impatient with others. If I decide today that our showerâs soap dish needs replacing, I expect to be dragging my husband to the hardware store to find and fit a replacement this weekend at the latest.
These borders are so creative and perfect!!! How cool that this is the work of so many talented women!! Really, really beautiful!
Thank you, Cathy, for saying so. I look forward to seeing what Jane and Rebecca do with it next. They never disappoint.