My daughter was getting married the summer of 1997 and we were working together at the national election. It was fun to do some real adult things with my 18 year old daughter. She had finished high school earlier that winter and was working 3 part time jobs. We fit this in. Often, when working at an election, one had to sit behind a table for 11 hours. This was the last election that I worked at.
I sat for hours tracing leaves and flowers onto freezer paper for the twenty 14 inch Rose Sampler Supreme blocks by Rosemary Makhan. I decided to try my hand at machine applique. I had had no instructions then and was trying to figure it out. To me, every background block had to be the same colour from the same bolt of fabric. I did not yet know that using a variety of different backgrounds would be legal and that it would look really good. I always did my sewing with the quilt police looking over my shoulder criticizing every move. I am glad I have lightened up. But it has taken a lot of years.
It was a few years later that I took a workshop in machine applique. This block is 16 inches and I have been trying to figure out how to make it fit into the one above since I did not have extra background fabric. I still like to use all the background and borders cut from the same bolt. But now, I make sure I buy enough in the first place. One of the reasons I have so so much fabric in my cupboard, closet, other closet and under some of the tables.
I have these 5 blocks made and only 15 more to go. To my credit, I started using a different pink and different green for each block. Now that was pretty radical for me back then. That's about the time I started collecting many different fabrics for future projects.
Blessings,
Chris
I sat for hours tracing leaves and flowers onto freezer paper for the twenty 14 inch Rose Sampler Supreme blocks by Rosemary Makhan. I decided to try my hand at machine applique. I had had no instructions then and was trying to figure it out. To me, every background block had to be the same colour from the same bolt of fabric. I did not yet know that using a variety of different backgrounds would be legal and that it would look really good. I always did my sewing with the quilt police looking over my shoulder criticizing every move. I am glad I have lightened up. But it has taken a lot of years.
It was a few years later that I took a workshop in machine applique. This block is 16 inches and I have been trying to figure out how to make it fit into the one above since I did not have extra background fabric. I still like to use all the background and borders cut from the same bolt. But now, I make sure I buy enough in the first place. One of the reasons I have so so much fabric in my cupboard, closet, other closet and under some of the tables.
I have these 5 blocks made and only 15 more to go. To my credit, I started using a different pink and different green for each block. Now that was pretty radical for me back then. That's about the time I started collecting many different fabrics for future projects.
Blessings,
Chris
They're beautiful blocks! And you can always make less blocks and have a gorgeous wall quilt.
ReplyDeleteYou are absolutely right but then what would I do with all the background squares I have already cut out?? LOL
DeleteThank you. That's what I thought. These are my all time favourite patterns.
ReplyDeleteThese blocks are beautiful! I agree about buying plenty of background fabric but I do go overboard because I normally buy a whole bolt! You never know for sure how much you'll need.
ReplyDeleteReally pretty! I hope you finish this one!
ReplyDelete