Crackpot Quilters’ Blog

by Nancy

So, as I mentioned in my last post, I have fallen in love with Petal Path from Quiltmaker’s March/April 2012 magazine. I am, however, being unusually self-disciplined and not allowing myself to start it it until I finish my Tulip Applique. But that doesn’t mean I can’t try out fabrics! So, here’s what I found in a trip to my stash the other day:

This is the first fabric I picked out. I like the soft colors and the print, though it is a bit smaller than the flower print shown in the pattern. Still, I think it could work.

Number Two is more of a butterfly print than a flower print, but I think that’s still allowed. It does have quite a bit of white background, which might be too much white if I use white for the background of the applique, too.

There’s this one, which I also like a lot, but which is also small-scale and has a white background.

Ooh, now we’re getting somewhere! I love this fabric! I love tulips! My Tulip Applique is still in progress, so this would have to be Tulip Applique 2. Is that too many tulips? Tulips remind me of one of my favorite places to be, both at the Festival time of year and at Other Times. 🙂 It is a directional fabric, so if I want to use it for both the vertical and horizontal panels, I will have to make sure I have enough. And then, should the applique be tulips instead of the flowers shown in the pattern? Is it still Petal Path if I change it to tulips? Or maybe Tiptoe through the Tulips? I’ll have to consult my go-to flower applique book to see about tulips for this…

But wait! Before I spend too much time pondering tulips, here is a fabric I think I like even better:

Wow! Isn’t this fabric great? It was purchased in the Wonderful Fabric Store in my favorite Tulip City. I had no idea what I was going to do with it, but I loved it, so I bought it. (Having a gift certificate certainly helped!) I am definitely leaning toward this one. Of course, I still have a whole corner plus a little more hand quilting to go on my other project before I can start this one, so I have time to mull it over. But what color should the background for the applique be? White? Light blue? So much fun to think about! Crackpot input is always welcome…

by Nancy

The latest issue of Quiltmaker arrived yesterday. Some months I find several quilts that I really like, and other months I’m not really excited by any of the quilts. This is one of the months, though, where several of them caught my attention.

First of all, there’s Chain Reaction:

I don’t think I’d actually make this one, but there’s something about the pastel colors and geometric pattern that I find appealing.

Then, there’s Quiltmaker’s Garden

I think this one is really pretty! And I think it would be interesting to piece because of all of the different types of blocks. (Sometimes I get tired of doing the same block over and over. I am not very self-disciplined when it comes to my quilting, sigh!) I do think it would take quite a while to do, though. And it is twin-sized, and the only twin beds in my house belong to two people who prefer football to flowers.

But, best of all, here’s the one I’m completely in love with, Petal Path:

I just love the applique flowers combined with the large-scale flower print. So pretty! And it wouldn’t be all that hard to do because there’s no piecing of the flower print strips. That got me thinking about making it after I finally finish my Tulip Applique.

(Side note: I was working on the hand quilting on my Tulip Applique again Wednesday at the Quilting Ladies. What in the world was I thinking when I decided to do all those little hand quilted tulips in all 4 corners? Did you notice in that post that I hoped to have it done in 2010? Hah! The good news, though, is that I am very nearly done with the third corner, and then I only have one more to go. There is a light at the end of the tunnel!)

But back to Petal Path: Yesterday I ventured down to the basement to see what flower prints I had in my stash. Safe to say, there were several! I took their pictures, but I think I will save them for my next post because this post is getting long, and several bathrooms are demanding that I clean them.