Cora’s Garden by Janell R

Here's my week 2 entry: Cora's Garden. A placemat for my daughter. It measures 18" x 12".  I create in Madison, WI.

For my creative process, I started trying to think what I could do with this block. I've never made it before. I dug through my book (Encyclopedia of Classic Quilt Patterns), and found it there by another name. However, it turned out to be very difficult in set seams at odd angles, with minimal directions, and I just couldn't get it to work right. So I scrapped the first set and started anew. I saw a simpler version other people were posting so I drew that out and found it far more manageable. I then reworked my plans to not be a strict Carolina Lily block, but to use different sizes of flowers in different orientations and different colors. I wanted it to be more fun, it's meant as a child's placemat after all.  I pieced it per my design and started to test out quilting options. I had planned to do a satin stitch for the flower stems all along, but once I changed the orientation, I decided those strict satin stitches would be too dull so I found some petal-like stitches to add and finished with a triple straight stitch down the middle to give it more texture. I decided on alternating waves and triple straight stitches for the sun and a simple stipple for the sky. Basic arcs for the grass area. Finished off with the dark purple binding to match the large flowers.
Janell Rutz

~~~~

#ad

Stitch Savvy: Creative Machine Embellishments