Continuing on from my previous post……

Once I chose my fabrics I was ready to start.  Time was running out and I needed help.  I have 3 friends – the Zoombas – we’ve been meeting via Zoom on most Saturdays through our many lockdowns here in Melbourne.  All 3 are excellent at applique. 

I prepared 4 kits for each of them except for the vase fabrics. I wanted to put the blocks together and then decide on what fabrics to use for the vases. 

Needless to say the Zoombas did an excellent job and the blocks came back beautifully done.  Thanks Veronique, Sylvia and Chris.  I sewed what was left over, including the borders etc.  Once that was done, and I got all the blocks back I placed them on the ground and set about choosing fabric for my vases.  I wanted fabric that would stand out but not overshadow the applique blocks.  I played with lots of different fabrics and came up with this selection. 

Now for the part that I really don’t like about designing – writing the pattern.  Of course I kept copious notes but I had to make sense of what I wrote.  That took some doing.  Then I had to make a note of fabric measurements…… this gave me a headache.  I asked my friend Tarni to help.  Now she’s not a quilter and had no idea what she was getting herself into.  I had stuck swatches of fabric onto paper and each time I cut a piece I would make a note of the measurements.  Tarni had to collate this and come up with a fabric measurement chart.  This really did her head in and she didn’t achieve much on the first day.  Her son picked her up from my house and she explained to him what she was doing and how difficult it was.  When he dropped her off to her house he went in, got on the computer and pulled up a website that would make it so much easier for her.  He is a builder and knows these things …. particularly how carpenters buy wood.  There is a website where they can work on a set piece of wood and see how to make cuts for various sizes – such a breeze.  Tarni came back the next day and acted like she’d invented the wheel…. which of course in a sense she did!  She enjoyed finishing this task for me. 

I had still not sewn all the blocks together.  When I was happy with my vase selections and sewed them on I was ready to put the quilt together.  I breathe a sigh of relief when all the pieces slotted in perfectly. 

When I design and work on a quilt I know what its going to look like in my head.  Sometimes it comes out exactly what I see and sometimes it doesn’t.  I was very nervous about looking at the completed quilt.  I stuck it to my design wall, standing very close to it and trying not to look at the whole quilt.  Silly…. I know.  I then turned my back to it, walked forward, stood there for a while with fingers crossed, then said to myself “don’t be silly – just turn around and have a look”.  I sat in my swivel chair, turned around and…….. wow!!!  I was very very happy with it.  I thought that I’d done a great job – and it definitely looked exactly like the quilt I saw in my head.

Rebecca Rae machine quilted GPDU.  She always does a superb job machine quilting my quilts and she didn’t disappoint this time. 

Thanks to Lilo and Kristen for holding my hand and all your support through the making of this quilt – and for reassuring me that, maybe…just maybe…. I am an artist!

Follow me on Instagram for more postings through the year.  You can also follow #gardenparty2022BOM – if you post about the quilt don’t forget to tag me @focusonquilts so I don’t miss any of your posts.