Bramble Blooms QAL

bramble

/ˈbrambl/ noun

a prickly scrambling shrub of the rose family, especially a blackberry.

Another QAL? I've got heaps to do around here already but ... Audrey from Quilty Folk has recently started an informal improv style quilt-along, Bramble Blooms. I've long admired her approach to quilting; her quilts are unique and delightfully whimsical. 

Sew, what a great improv learning opportunity!

The first step was to sort out fabrics, with the focus predominantly on choosing older fabrics in my stash. This step took me some time. 

I ended up with lots of brown & greens which I rarely use - guess that's why they were all still sitting here in my baskets (wink wink).   It'll be fun working on something a little different from my norm and hopefully, the old and odd fabric combinations in this do not automatically spoil the quilt.

This bundle is The. Perfect. jumping off point for this new project. 

Next up, I needed to make a background for my centrepiece. I do like a mix of white & creams - a combo guaranteed to bounce off one another, adding depth & sparkly interest. That was the easy step!

And now for the fun trickier part ... free style applique. A while back I created an art vignette, chopping up fabrics and laying them down for some raw edged appliqué. It took quite a bit of time and is now quite densely stitched. I love how just a bit of embroidery gives the flowers so much dimension.  

However, after all the work, I never actually found a use for it. 

I decided to cut it up, rearrange things, and try and use this as my centrepiece. 

What better home for it than in an Audrey inspired quilt! 

I had a few ideas on how I could make it work, here's where I ended up today ...

I found this old small piece of silky peach, it's perfect teamed up with an early AMH stripe for the basket elements. Hm-m-m- but but but - a basket block was so not on my radar!

... never mind, it may all change again tomorrow!

 Linda