I love the first one … I would make the blocks big enough to fit whatever size bed it was going to be used on, but add more plain border to hang over the side of the bed.
The second design is too busy … no room for quilting, or for my eyes to rest.
I have always liked applique quilts with two block designs alternated, and in particular I like mixing diagonal and straight cross designs.
I also like mixing pieced and applique blocks to make a quilt, as all applique blocks are usually way more time consuming than pieced, so mixing them up can save a lot of time.
Sturt Desert Peas grow in deserts, and appear after rain to form a mat of foliage with the red flowers sitting well above the foliage. I have had them grow in my garden once, though my Mother had them grow every year in a bit of dirt held in place with an old tyre. We were not allowed to play in that little patch of dirt so just as well we had a whole farm to play in!
Love the second design … a garden bed I can only dream about!
Three days ago I added two Floppy Petal designs … this project file was teh forerunner of that file, but I only did half a dozen designs then added more floppy petals.
I love the flowers, and I should try some of the blocks as machine embroidery. Project for the future sometime.
In Electric Quilt 8 we can use Pieced Block Designs as quilt layouts, providing only straight lines forming squares and rectangles are used.
The blocks above are the blocks I have chosen from my collection to use with applique block designs in a project Outback Banksias.
When the block is used as quilt layout the blocks can be drafted to fit the size and shape of the block, but I find that adding teh same block everywhere in the setting is the easiest way to have my first look at what happens when square blocks are used in rectangles.
The first design does not look like the colours of Australia’s native Sturt Desert Pea, but the shapes are very much like the flowers, and as far as I know this species only comes in red, though there may be some whites ones.
The second design is more like you will find in out back areas. That is the dinkum Aussie colouring.
Love the first design, and there is space for quilting, but I think I would just squiggle it to make it look like the background ‘glass’ is mottled in colour with a slightly rough texture.
I wonder if tiles could be made in odd shapes, then use coloured grout?
The centre of the first design is pretty much what a Brunsvigia flower looks like, though because they take ten years to start flowering after you plant the bulbs I have seen only one in the last five years, when one of the bulbs I have in my current garden flowered way earlier than expected.
I am looking forward to seeing a lot of flowers in about 2027in both front and back gardens.
In the mean time, I am looking forward to seeing gladiolas in my garden this year, with the second batch of bulbs just starting to peep out ...
As I selected this design I thought I really liked it. Then I moved attention to the next design.
I love the second design.
I have worked out what I want for Christmas … a magic wand which would create a quilt every day, but even then I will never catch up with all the virtual designs I would like to make real.