Ive been so busy the last week trying to be a grandmother, mother, working, babysitting and QUILTING in the evenings the week went by in a flash.
What I woke up to 3 mornings ago. I never need a holiday away from here. Im on a constant holiday.
Most of my quilting and sewing has been on The Secret Garden by Esther Alui it such a beautiful pattern, I’v so enjoyed seeing all the different creations other quilter are making of the same design over on Esther’s BOM group.
Where I’m up to today Wednesday morning. Some flowers hand appliqué and some leaves machine appliquéd down. Most of the left hand side is finished except for the bottom flower. My bow will be the last thing I appliqué down.
Thursday morning my time earl morning the sun is filtering through the windows. It took me 1 1/2 hrs yesterday to button hole around this Bow LOL My machine is old and I had to stop every few stitches lift my foot and turn the fabric ever so slightly so it would keep a smooth edge. My thread kept breaking due to the build up of glue on the needle from the iron on fusing at the back of the bow which is holding the batting in place to give me a padded look. 1?2 way through my machine told me it needed cleaning, a new needle and oiling LOL SO I did and what a difference in the stitching then. Most of my leaves are appliquéd down now.
Where it all started 2 weeks ago. I like to use coloured paper for my print offs I can see the pattern as a picture this way not lines on white paper. Its just the way I see things.
Many other quilters commented on the orange paper back ground thinking that was my fabric so I decided to try it on a lovely piece of orange fabric but I was not happy with it.
Placing my flowers to get the balance I want in my flower arrangement. I all ways print of to copies of the pattern. One to refer back to and one to cut into.
Cutting out the stems on a print out so I can mark them on to my background fabric or alter them if I wish. a couple I did as my flowers were too big.
My SG after I had finished making all my pieces now all the pieces are ready to be appliquéd down by hand and machine. I ended up using the first choice of back ground fabric which is a lovely soft blue which was once a lovely Kimono. It is a fine 1005 wool tight weave and so lovely to work on.
Here you can see I’m making bullion stitches.
Close ups of flowers on my SG so you can see how I’m appliquéing the flower heads on and embroidering them
One leaf appliquéd by machine, it really gives the leaf a defined shape.
4 flowers embroidered and appliquéd down.
My last flower I have done so far, I added lots of stem stitch to this one to give it mare depth from a distance. Bullion knots in the centre.
How I built my basket for The Secret Garden.
I took satin bias strips then ironed on fusing strips behind them, this made it easy to weave as I ironed the tips on to the top of the basket shape and then wove the strips till I was sure they were all woven properly and evenly spaced .
Backing here is a pale blue silk see how it changes the colour of the strips?
Ive used a lightly silver and gold shimmery backing, looks a bit like dragons scales LOL In the past I used it to make a Dragon wall art piece for my Son.
All ironed down and trimmed. These are strong colours but my flower arrangement is subtle so needs this effect at the bottom of the block I think?
Ironed on to some batting before I quilt all those strips in place I want a 3D look as it looked rather flat.
Im using a very fine bite stitch here, 3 straight sttiches then one in to the material . My machine is over 40 years old and this is the appliqué stitch if I’m slow it works well to appliqué down these strips. Machine appliqué is new to me. I did stop at every weave do a back stitch and then start on the other side, slow but worth it for the end look.
All strips quilted down now to trim back the batting.
I cut out the surrounding of the basket in one piece. Its a piece of Kimono fabric with a little glitter in it to. I wanted some thing dark but not black this is a dark navy with silver threads. first I ironed on some iron on fussing to the fabric I used then cut the shape out as one piece, I carefully ironed it to the vase shape. I did cut my vase shape slightly smaller so that it was a perfect fit and cover? and when I sew it to the background fabric finally it will roll over around that edge as the out side 1/8th of the frame has fusing and nothing else behind it. So if Im lucky it will look 3 D!
It took me several hrs to make I can not believe how long it took me, getting those weaves to be even was a challenge on its own LOL So there is a days sewing LOL
A walk through the garden late this evening instead of first thing in the morning as I usually do.
My latest fisher man has settled in to my garden well and truly now.
Red delight always nice to have a splash of red in the garden.
Ive never seen this before either LOL Its a growing spore its been so so wet the last month that all sorts of spores are growing here not good for ones health if you have asthma!!!!! But boy is this a stunning display and so so yellow.
One of the flowering ginger plants I did not grow this one either LOL
A storm has just been through, the heavens open for about 10 mins then its all gone till the next one.
This lily just appeared in my garden thats one thing about rain forests areas things just pop up for the first time even after 20 years here????? Its so pure white and so beautiful I have so enjoyed watching it grow and then it started to flower this week.
Thanks for dropping in till next time Cheers Glenda
Wow! The basket weave is great. Your patience paid off.
Hi Pamela thanks for dropping in, It took some time making the basket but it was worth the extra effort for the look I wanted. I hope spring comes soon for you up there and the joy of seeing the first spring plum blossom arrives. I never ever got tired of hunting for the first blossoms of the plum and cheery trees. There is some thing very very special about them Cheers Glenda
Beautiful, l think what you are doing with the flowers, is stunning. Great idea, what patience you have.
Hi Ellie thank you so much for dropping in to see me, we live apart by 1000’s of klms but we can drop in and chat to each other in seconds LOL I’m about to go down and do a few more leaves while my DGD sleeps Im baby sitting to day. Hugs Glenda
Dear Glenda
You’re very brave to use silk so fearlessly! I love your basket. Machine applique always come out great, if one go a little bit slowly. It all looks fantastic.
Dear Maggie Im sorry I have not written for ages life has caught up with me with my DGD home from Uni and working for me, she needs UNI fees and has been painting different parts of the house for us, she has a great right hander now LOL , Ive also been baby sitting my other DGD 4 but what a joy to have them here filling in my days. I do manage to sew at night time though. Hugs Glenda
Dear Glenda
For a while I was burning the midnight oil, those 21st birthday quilts kept me busy. On top of it, our cat, wakes up at 02h30 every morning. My hubby wakes even earlier than the cat these days, he works across three different time zones. I have had my sleep disrupted so many times now, so when I finally got one good night sleep, I now feel human. I almost placed a project on the go in our bedroom, to work on, just in case I woke up before the crack of dawn. Glad now, I resisted. LOL!
Enjoy the weekend.
Dear Maggie sounds like you need a studio with a day bed so you can go there for a night of catch up sleep LOL Hugs Glenda
This is beautiful. Thank you for taking the time to share your process. I love to read about it and always learn something. Inspiring!
Hi Jocelyn, so glad you enjoy what Im doing that makes it all worth while when some one says that. I had some wonderful quilters who shared their knowledge when I was learning so its nice to give back now when I can. Cheers Glenda PS Jocelyn incase you read this message I tried to visit your Blog address that is typed here but it says not able to connect to this server, so may be your address is wrong here? Would love to visit you.
So lovely to see each step in how you work through your applique block and all the decisions on the way – thank you so much! Your block is looking amazing!
Your garden shots are fascinating too – I always love the glimpses that you share!
Hi Plum lovely to see your name here, hope you are feeling a little better today. If I can not stitch some thing every day now I feel its been a wasted day, I have so many UFO’s on my list to complete I need to sew every day even for 30 mins LOL We have jus thad a Huge storm go over head and had 1 lightening strike very very close the house vibrated. Take Care dear Plum cheers Glenda
I am in awe here! Such lovely detailed work; just beautiful! 🙂
Hi Deb its been a lovely lovely block to work on, the first time I read The Secret Garden I was 12 and this is what it looked like in my mind then and still does????? Loved the photo of the girls waiting to wrestle LOL No one will want to mess with them from now on!!!!Hugs Glenda
This is so beautiful! Wow! Thank you for sharing with us all. I can’t wait to see what comes next! Blessings.
Thank you Gretchen as I worked on it it brought back so many lovely childhood Memories, I can still remember opening a christmas parcel when I was 8 and seeing the beautiful black and white cover of The Secret Garden I must have read the book 30 times or more, with my children then my grand children now. Hugs Glenda.
Lovey, lovely secret garden-I want to visit this garden. Thanks for showing the progress.
Thank you so much Pam this is how Ive seen My Secret Garden since I read the book at the age of 8 LOL I still see it with these lovely large flowers blooming every where when the garden became alive. glad you ahve enjoyed how it grew. Cheers Glenda
My goodness, that”s a gorgeous piece of art! (And your views aren’t half bad, either!)
Dear Kate thanks for dropping in, we do live in a very special part of the world for me it is paradise, I have lived in many beautiful places and countries the only place to beat this was living on the shores of Raratonga Island in the South Pacific, Thanks for been so positive about my Secret Garden block Cheers Glenda
Late checking in with you but what a lovely read. Your Secret Garden journey is going to be wonderful to follow, just wish I had lots of florals to work with as would be doing something similar. Glad you decided on the pale blue Kimono fabric its gorgeous and perfect with your flowers. Everytime I see your garden I remember our time in the islands and the plants that would thrive there.
Hi Jenny, yes my SG is influenced a great deal by living in the island around the Pacific and up here were plants grow that one finds hard to believe they are real there shapes and colours are incredible. Even the butterflies and birds are outstanding in there colours and shapes. Part 2 of SG is so so lovely very different to part 1 but still beautiful Im looking forward to making this one up to. Love the bird he looks so strong and very male LOL Hugs Glenda
so pretty Glenda! I love those BP Flowers with embroidery, great idea!
Thank you Elaine, I really enjoy his kind of applique as it gives you so much room for adding embrodery and using lots of coloured threads. I’m Looking forward to Block 2 of Secret Garden now. Cheers Glenda.