I'll admit that I struggled with an idea for this hop till well after Christmas. While bargain shopping, I spied a flower spray on a gift card and finally felt some inspiration.
Reworking it a bit to come up with the design above, I started playing in EQ8 by showcasing that idea in half circles in the border. And then a funny thing happened - I don't know exactly what I did, maybe a re-size, but EQ burped and gave my design wings.
Wow! Love it, but is it sew-able? With a few seam changes here and there, I determined it was very sew-able. Yeah! After re-positioning my inspirational motifs, I kept designing, adding a center 'snowflake', enlarging bits here and there, and sending pics to my son for critique. He suggested the four sharp seeds in the center outside be larger, then I finished the design with value changes. More Wow!
And I fell in love with Frosty Lace - it's lacy and delicate, with the center 'snowflake' lending a bit of frostiness. Perfect for winter in blues, it could be just as pretty in green for spring - I'm imagining flowers coming into bloom.
After all that designing, next came the sewing. After careful cutting, those curves were pinned at both ends plus the center for quarter circle blocks (aka a Drunkard's Path block). A stylus helped to pull the smaller, outer piece into alignment.
Treated gently, those curves just moved into position without much fuss. Though it's been a while since I've sewn curves, I enjoyed it so much that there may be a few more quilts this year that have curves.
With the half and quarter circles done for the borders, I set in on the rest of the quilt, which is mostly applique. Taking a tip learned from one of my fellow bloggers, this homemade light box using flashlights and a clear sewing machine extension table worked wonderfully!
All that was left to finish for the top were 4 paper pieced units, a few more strips for borders, and the remaining appliques. Then on to the quilting!
This 46" x 46" wall quilt begged for custom treatment, and is certainly full of beautiful designs to set off the applique - enjoy the eye candy!
The Frosty Lace overall texture:
a border corner:
detail of the plume around the circles (that was a bit of thinking outside the box):
a border center, showcasing the petal motif:
the same showcasing design repeated around the petal motifs in the quilt center:
and finally, the center. Notice all of the quarter inch stitching is outside the applique.
Enjoy the rest of the hop, and chase away those winter blues with quilting!
My Favorite Patterns
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