Bloom Maker

Bloom.
Maker.
A play on words of the fabric collections used in my April assignment--Adventurous Applique--for Island Batik Ambassadors. Blushing Blooms has a gorgeous range of colors in the red-pink-purple ending with orange range. I also used them in Happy Soul last month. Maker is a cool graphic fabric collection from Art Gallery Fabrics--this one is from my personal stash and not supplied by Island Batik. But I so wanted to use it here as the colors were perfect and I wanted to show that mixing contemporary print fabrics with gorgeous batiks can bring about an amazing finished product!!

I started out by sewing 2 1/2" squares together for the petal shapes. I know you are going to ask--Terri--why did you cut apart fabric and sew that same fabric back together??? Well, I didn't want the background to look like just a big plain piece of fabric.

Can you see the slight variations of color in the 2" squares on the right. This happens because the weave of the fabric is turned in different directions when those same colored squares were sewn back together. I know it is just slightly different--and it might not be super noticeable--but it gives just the right amount of color change and visible texture with the seams to give the project life.

Who doesn't love a closeup!!!

Petals all ready to go!!

If you were paying close attention, You would have noticed that I had the table runner all loaded up on my longarm--ready to quilt--but the petals were nowhere to be seen. That is because I wanted to try a new technique--aka too much in a hurry to put fusible web on petals before cutting them out!!!
Elmer's glue stick to the rescue. After gluing the petals in place, I planned the quilting path to include appliqueing them down while quilting. By doing this I never had to break thread--which is a long arm quilter's dream.

The circles were added as my intersections were a bit too messy for my liking--but a happy addition to the finished product!!

 The new growth of spring blooms are starting to appear here in NW Iowa, so I couldn't resist some photographs of them with Bloom Maker.

To end with--here is a quote from Elise de Wolfe...

I'm going to make everything around me beautiful, that will be my life!!!

Point of View thoughts...

This picture of Point of View popped up on my Facebook feed this morning--reminding me that it has been one year since my adventure with AccuQuilt started.
I must admit up front that I find it hard to resist a quilt contest. You know that kid who was always picked last in school yard recess games--well I was the kid that neither captain even wanted on their team--and for good reason--sports just wasn't my thing and I didn't try very hard to improve on that skill. I mean who gets a D in PE?? This is the reason I think  I so enjoy a quilt contest. It is the place were I excel by using my God-given gift of seeing the world through colors and shapes.

For the past 6 years, AccuQuilt has held a Barn Quilt contest. The winning block is turned into a 17 foot sign on the headquarters in Omaha, NE. I had entered almost every year, even having a few honorable mention finishes. So I thought--let's just try again--because if you don't try you can't complain if you don't win!!
My husband and I took an early spring motorcycle ride, the day turned out much windier than we had anticipated for the first ride of the season. The cross winds that changed when we passed by the groves of trees surrounding farm places here in northwest Iowa almost pulled us off the road. We came to a stop sign on a country blacktop and decided to change our route. Upon arriving home, I sat down and designed this block. It just flowed out of my thoughts on the days activity.  The name came from how each person looks at a situation from their own Point of View. If I had not been riding motorcycle on that day I would have thought it was just a regular spring day in Iowa--wind--no big deal. But on the back of a motorcycle wind can be a scary situation.

Eleanor Burns was the guest speaker at the unveiling event. Funny story here!! I started quilting before the days of Internet and YouTube videos. The only learning events available where books and PBS!! Oh how I loved cooking in my kitchen on Saturday mornings and watching the sewing/quilting shows. My children and husband on the other hand, do not have those fond memories. In fact--Quilt In A Day was their least favorite one of the bunch!! How ironic that she is the quilt celebrity at the unveiling event!! If you know my husband at all--you never have to guess what his stand is on anything. He will tell you straight out if something is not to his liking. So as providence would be--we sat right next to Eleanor at the supper event!! He told her the story of our Saturday morning discussions of how my family did not want to watch her show. Eleanor being the gracious and extremely funny lady that she is genuinely listened and laughed! What a great memory for my amazingly supportive husband!!!

In the year since getting the phone dropping call that my block had won the contest, I have found my confidence and creativity boosted to insane levels!!! From designing patterns for AccuQuilt--click to see the patterns and their blog posts of unveiling--to taking the brave leap of submitting ideas to magazines.  Watch for those in coming posts!!
All of this to say--take the leap--just try--use the gifts and abilities given to you by God!!

Come along and enjoy things from my Point of View!!!