Sunday 22 November 2015

Green Tea {making progress}

Jen Kingwell's quilts all have that vintage-y, thrifted look about them that I am really loving just now! Green Tea & Sweet Beans is no exception. It's basically a scrappy sampler quilt put together in quite a unique way. Jen's version looks like nothing was bought especially to make her quilt, but rather, simply collected over quite a long bit of time.
I too, am digging deep into years of my scrappy stash. I'm trying to mix up all the fabric styles, contemporary with traditional, 30's, reproduction, vintage, Japanese, and a little bit of Liberty - along with an eclectic mix of spots, florals, stripes, text, etc.
Lovin' this, it's whimsical & very pretty, just perfect for what I want to be sewing some days.


4 1/2" Orange Peel trial block

Some 'slow sewing' now to finish the other 6 little Orange Peel blocks!


Whew, at last, a couple of larger blocks...


Tulip 12" block




Poppie 6" block


I've had a few questions about my progress, so I thought I'd share a little bit about how I'm going with things. I'm tracing & drawing up the templates on photocopy paper and then adding the 1/4" to each one. 



There is quite a bit of fiddly little piecing, and my construction process differs in some places to the pattern. Depending on the block, I'm using a combination of machine piecing, EPP, needle turn applique (a wee challenge!) and a little paper piecing, really whatever suits at the time.
For some blocks, e.g. Tulip, careful cutting out is needed, as some of the pieces need to be cut individually with the fabric facing up. I'm making my own bias strips for some of the stems, controlled organic (!!) and some knowledge of insetting y- seams is needed.

Things don't always go too smoothly! Take today for example... after a couple of go's of unpicking & resewing the Day Lily block, I did end up finishing off my machine-pieced block by hand. I've been following the sequence in the book pretty closely over these last few weeks, and I may let things just simmer slowly for a bit now...


Day Lily 12" block
h-m-m- orange and pink could be my new favorite colour combination!


... but on the other hand, I'm really keen to put at least one section together! 
Linking up this week with 'fabric frenzy friday' over here
and with 'oh Scrap' here

Happy sewing! 



9 comments:

Julie said...

I love your tulip blocks.

Deb @ Frugal Little Bungalow said...

It's such a beautiful project ! :)

Deb @ Frugal Little Bungalow said...

It's such a beautiful project ! :)

Mystic Quilter said...

More beautiful blocks! The Day Lily is a favourite and the colour combination is lovely.

gayle said...

I really love Jen Kingwell's work. I'll probably make one of her quilts someday - when I can decide which one! 8)

LIttle Penguin Quilts said...

I'm following your progress closely because a friend just gave me a Jen Kingwell pattern, and it looks like she uses all of those different techniques in this one, too! The one I have is called Midnight at the Oasis, and it seems to have lots of scrappy bits and pieces, with some coordinated background fabrics. I'm excited to dig into it!

Kaja said...

I have always liked this design and yours is looking great. I like your fabric mix a lot - the first tulip block is my favourite here but they are all pretty.

Cynthia Brunz Designs said...

I am loving this quilt! Each block is so very beautiful. I am not sure I have the patience to stick with a quilt like this so I will just enjoy yours.

Linda @ kokaquilts said...

Thank you Kaja! I’m loving this, each block completed is a refresher in technique, and another one crossed off the list!
But there are still quite a few to go yet! Still lots of needle turn appliqué, so I’m planning on doing some prep to get them all ready for the Xmas hols. Nothing like having some easy handwork to do at the beach! Linda