Landscape quilting progress

Today I tackled the mitered borders on the landscape quilt.  Although far from perfect, I am satisfied with the results and will move forward. Next step is to bind the quilt  (easy as I have done a lot of binding in my sewing years)  and then the fun part, free motion stippling.  That will be the best part of this whole project.

I chose a subtle printed cotton in the same orangey-gold shade of some of the flowers to be the inner narrow border. A 1-inch wide strip was sewn to 4" wide strips of the background fabric.  They were then sewn to the trimmed quilt picture, and I spent several hours trying to get the miters as good as possible. I resorted to hand sewing two of the miters as I just could not get them right on the machine. I doubt that my miters are actually 45 degrees, but who is checking?  

Now I can see that you want a bigger picture to begin with as there isn't that much area for stippling. Not to worry, there are going to be more of these quilts in my sewing future. I already have a second one planned in my mind and am anxious to get fussy cutting for that one. 

Overall, I am fairly pleased with my final result here, I will post once more with the finished quilt, once it is bound and stippled, blocked and hung on the wall. 

My thanks to Nancy Zeiman and Natalie Sewell for their wonderful books on landscape quilting. I often thought of Nancy as I was making this, and I hope to meet her one day in the great beyond.

 

I am trying my hand at landscape quilting. Recently diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis in my hands, I have found most hand activities too painful to do. But I can't live without fabric creations (or gardening for that matter) and I thought perhaps I could cut and assemble pictures with fabric.

Inspired by the late Nancy Zeiman and her friend Natalie Sewell, I took this project from one that Natalie did of a rock garden. You cut leaves and flowers from  various fabrics and then assemble them in layers on a background fabric.  I chose a batik quilting cotton for the background, a dark blue with splashes of white through it.  Then cut out foliage, first I cut just green shapes from fabric that looked like greenery but then I realised I actually needed leaf shapes.  So those first cuts were discarded and I "fussy cut" leaves from several different fabrics, colouring the ones that weren't quite the right green with permanent markers. Then flower shapes, and a lot of cuts to resemble tulips. I couldn't find tulip fabric so had to improvise. Also the tulip leaves were cut from other leaves and reshaped to resemble tulips. 

This is a photo of the quilt with all the flowers and leaves stitched onto it. Now I have to make a border to resemble a photo mat, I have chosen a quilting cotton in the golden orange shade of some of the flowers. Then a second border of the background fabric is  added, then a final thin binding is put around the edges. 

And the final step is to stipple quilt the entire background. This is done free- motion (feed dogs down) and I love doing this. I made a jacket a number of years ago, all the fabric was stippled before constructing the jacket and I still wear that jacket ten years later. 

A close up of the fabrics assembled and stitched to the background

A close up of some of the tulips

My hands are objecting to  the work, so I can only do about half an hour at a time, but it is so incredibly satisfying.  I already have several ideas for future projects I want to do.  

August garden update

 

Not too much new in the garden. I have been diagnosed with tendonitis brought on by gardening work. Which means my arms and shoulders hurt so much that I have no strength to do much work. Also I have carpal tunnel syndrome in both hands, ouch!  which explains why I can't knit at the moment either.  But I did make a trip to Gerber's nursery last week and bought two plants. Gerbers used to be a busy nursery but it looks as if they are downsizing. The owners died and the son lives 4 hours away, I don't think he has the interest to keep the family business going. 

I bought Meadow Sweet, biological name is filipendula rubra  It grows about 4 feet tall and has feathery pink blooms that resemble astilbes. I planted this in the bed along the fence where there are hollyhocks and phlox.

 

In this bed are some annual lavatera that I grew from seed. They look like malva flowers.

Close up of the meadow sweet.

Daylilies and phlox in the same bed.

Japanese bottle brush planted last year as bare roots.

A couple of balloon flowers that need staking.

The weigela bed with pink yarrow planted last year and some new golden yarrow planted yesterday. A rogue black-eye susan is growing here, I will leave it undisturbed.

Annabelle hydrangea, now three years old. On the right is pink yarrow, on the left feverfew and in front some monarda and fuchsia veronica. The feathery foliage is Pasque flower.

A new Strawberry Sundae hydrangea planted this year. Behind is tickseed in the gingko bed.

The echinacea have begun to bloom, and the black-eye susans will be next.

I  love these flowers.

Firelight hydrangea, looking much better than last year.  It is fuller and has more blooms.

One of many dahlias coming on in the garden.

Bright coral phlox bought this year at Home Hardware.

Borage in the vegetable bed.

The main tomato bed, disappointing this year. Not many tomatoes on the plants. But the scarlet runner beans are looking great.

A container of nasturtiums next to the apple tree.

Some novel echinacea in the bed behind the garage.

Some dahlias behind the garage.

The gingko bed filled with cosmos that aren't blooming.  I have no idea why, they look healthy and I grew these here last year successfully.

The butterfly bush did come back.

Another view of the tomato bed. 

The cherry tomato bed, also not producing like last year.

Container plantings on the back deck. Coleus, begonias, impatiens and fuchsia. 

July Garden Update

Picture heavy to keep track of what's growing and blooming.

 Behind the garage, a small bed with purple veronica, echinacea and blue geranium on the left.

One of the tomato beds, fruits are forming.

A quick fire hydrangea that is blooming more prolifically than last year.

Another hydrangea, can't remember the variety, with its first year for blooms.

The viburnum recovering from a bug infestation in late spring.

The echinacea, black-eye susan and shasta daisy bed starting to flower.

A pot of black-eye susan vine, thunbergia is its botanical name, climbing up the fence by Ernie's yard.

 The lovely delicate clematis that climbs up the clothes line pole.

A new hydrangea this year, another Strawberry Sundae, with snap dragons planted at the base.

 The corner bed, called the weigela bed, with a new perennial salvia blooming.

 Fringed bleeding heart in the hollyhock bed.

 One hollyhock, extremely short.

 The daylilies beside the cherry tree.

 Annual lavatera, grown from seed.

 A tall pale yellow hollyhock, I don't know where it came from. It's further down the bed and I don't recall planting this one at all.

 Wild flowers creeping in from the field, I think these are wild phlox, also known as rocket.

 My favourite plant of the year - goose-neck loosestrife. Doing well, I'm glad to say.

A view of the gingko bed, with loosestrife, campanula and cosmos doing well.

 I put soaker hoses in five of the beds to cut down on the watering time. Even after two rains, the ground still looks parched. Usually the grass doesn't look this dry until August.

 A daylily in the gingko bed, such beautiful colour and pattern.

A gaillardia that returned!

 Another shot of the goose-neck loosestrife.

 A butterfly bush that is getting a very slow start.

 The deck planter with pink petunias. These are wave petunias, so dependable.

Another shot of the petunia planter with an ivy-leaf geranium in the hanging pot and a strawberry on the right.