What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

Yesterday I said I might try some new colours, so when I woke up way too early I started playing.

I intended using a light background, but it hasn’t happened, but the colours are prettier than the originals.

Australia has a very interesting collection of native flowers, and most of them have some very distinctive varieties. This project file has three species, and very basic depictions of some of the varieties. The first design has one of the acacias in the centre, and Banksias in the border.

The second has Gum Blossoms in the centre, surrounded by a very different Acacia.

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.

Rather a nice design for a single bed, or maybe for a tablecloth, or perhaps a mat in a large hallway.

Second design for today looks like a lovely warm quilt for a queen size bed.

This project file could have been called fiddling with fabric, but that is in use elsewhere.

Not too sure which of these is my favourite for today … I think I should call it a dead heat.

For the young at heart!

May we all find some new toys to play with in the year ahead!

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!

I like it! Apart from the star block. Cannot believe I didn’t notice that before I saved the design.

The other blocks and the quilting motifs are a collection of old style applique in old fashioned colours, but with a bit of a twist here and there.

The pieced blocks in the second design do not include the rogue star which appeared in the first.

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.

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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.

Happy Australia Day!

Nice and neat.

Much more exciting! Love it!

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?

Of course, they could also be wall hangings.

A very neat and tidy formal garden with an interesting layout, and no weeds!

I am not in love with the overall combination of colours, but I love the design.

Interesting.

I rather like the second one.

Parade ground precision.

Love the second design, still precise but with a soft touch.

Interesting design.

Love the second design. I should have added the pale green to the border of the first design!

LOVE IT!

If I had been a quilter before Aunty Flo passed away, this is the quilt I would have made for her.

Normally I would have said the second design is pretty, but it is very ordinary compared to the first.

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 ...