Thursday 9 February 2017

'queen of the May' {decision made}

Thank you all so much for the comments & suggestions on my last post.
You've given me lots to think about with my 'queen of the May' blocks. 


On my last trip to Melbourne I visited Somerset Patchwork and loved Karen's quilt 'Circle of Sisters' that was on display in the shop. It was a bright & happy recreation of a vintage quilt. The blocks were on a wonderful yellow background, the whole quilt simply glowed, and I've always loved the idea of making a quilt one day on something so bright too.



Fast forward to now, and my indecsion about the backgrounds of my 'queen of the may' blocks. The 'printonprints' effect is quite wild and colourful! And so tempting. It's such a very different direction from where I would usually go.
So I’m heading this way ... just for a change ... and using the lovely Victoria Findlay Wolfe yellow floral, Elise Mostly Manor, as my background.


But as some of you pointed out, the blocks could easily get a bit lost on it. So what to do?
Yesterday I had a light bulb moment ... ric rac.
I've seen ric rac used on some quilts before - Rachaeldaisy from 'blue mountain daisy' has used ric rac in some very inspiring ways on her lovely quilts. So off I went to 'Spotlight' (it's similar to 'Jo Anns' I think), and bought a few metres of blue ric rac.


It’s my first time using ric rac to edge anything like this, and I had to quickly check out how to actually sew the ric rac on, you can see here too.


After machine stitching it onto my first 'queen of the May' block, I did panic a little, as there was a bit of buckling. However, after I pressed it down, and pulled gently on the ric-rac that was showing, I had it all nice and flat and even. Then I edge stitched the circle down by hand onto my yellow background fabric.










Yes, I think this could work out just fine
- only six more to do

Linking up with Kelly here for 'needle and thread Thursday'
and with Esther over here for 'WOW'

17 comments:

Ann said...

What a clever solution. I'd forgotten ric rac until you mentioned it. Enjoy!

Cynthia Brunz Designs said...

Those blocks look amazing! Love the ric rac. You have me wanting to go pull some florals and start sewing.

Robby said...

I would have never thought of the ricrac. Now you've got two lovely pops of color and yellow and blue are so nice together. This is going to be a stunner.

Raewyn said...

The Perfect Solution! Well Done. Enjoy :-)

Karyn said...

Very cool!

dutchcomfort said...

Such a clever solution!

Unknown said...

Lovely blocks! I love your colour choices, it is going to be gorgeous!

Linda said...

So glad you chose the yellow floral! The deep blue ricrac edging for the blocks is perfect. I love Spotlight too, when we are in NZ.

Mystic Quilter said...

Beautifully bright and cheerful! The addition of the blue ric rac really makes the blocks jump out, glad you decided to go with the Mostly Manor even though I "voted" for the scrap backgrounds and KF stripe!

Kaja said...

I'm so glad you chose this background; it's going to be an amazing quilt. Ric-rac was a stroke of genius -works perfectly.

Georgi said...

I'm amazed at your wild and gorgeous fabric choices ~ I'm a very timid quilter so I'm kind of jealous. :) Can't wait to see how this all turns out ~ love the blue ric-rac!

gayle said...

Perfect solution! I love that background print, and the ricrac really sets off the blocks. I never would have thought of it! Brilliant!

Kate said...

The ricrac does a lovely job of setting off those blocks. Congrats on finding such an elegant solution. It's going to be such a colorful quilt.

SandraC said...

Great use of ric-rac! I'll have to remember this as I've only ever used it in a border treatment

pandchintz said...

What an inspired idea to use Ric rac! It's perfect and gives the block its definition against the yellow floral - woohoo! (We have spotlight here too - joanns is in the US I think)

Cathy said...

Gorgeous blocks!

Mary in Peoria Handmade said...

What a great idea! You are a courageous woman. I would not have tried to attach rick rack in a circle. Well done. It's perfect with the print background and makes the blocks really sing out!mary in AZ