Hazel's Summer Garden Quilt: A Quilt Along

Well, the results are in for the Texting While Sewing contest.  My friend Cindy won second place!  (Click here to check out her blog post about it.)  Woo Hoo!  I am so excited for her.  I LOVED her block from the moment I saw it and knew she'd be in the winner's circle.  My block did not win a prize, but I am so okay with that!  I did not expect to win anything, and I feel like a winner for just getting myself to submit something.  I'm very excited for all the winners.  What great blocks they turned in!  Now, I just need to finish that little quilt up!

Remember yesterday, when I showed you my Which Witch's Boot project that I just finished up?  Well, one thing that was motivating me to finish up is that I really, really wanted to start a new handwork project.  But I have been sticking to my guns lately and not allowing myself to start something new unless I have first finished something.  So, I told myself I could not start a new handwork project until I finished this Halloween handwork project.  Since I posted the Halloween one, and it's off to the quilter, I've started something new. 

(I know, I know.  I have a couple other handstitching UFOs I should finish up first.  But I WILL finish them.  I promise.)

"What is it?" you might ask.

Shelly (Prairie Moon Quilts) maintains two blogs.  The first is her personal blog.  The second is a blog dedicated to her mother, Hazel Ilene.  Last year, she had a quilt along that followed her mother's diary for a year.  This year, she's hosting a quilt along that has a garden theme and that combines hand embroidery and piecing.  I wasn't able to participate in the last one, but I am dying to participate in this one.  So, I AM IN!

(Quilt and photo from Shelly Pagliai, used with permission.)

Here's her finished quilt top.  It's called Hazel's Summer Garden Quilt Along. (AKA Hazel Ilene’s Veritable Rubicon of Wildflowers, as titled by Shelly's Cowboy--her significant other.  He cracks me up.)

(Block and photo from Shelly Pagliai, used with permission.)

You have two choices on the hand embroidery....doing just the redwork outlines... (which is beautiful in its simplicity!)

 

(Block and photo from Shelly Pagliai, used with permission.)

 ...Or doing fancy fill-in stitches on the designs.  I love all the colors and textures in this.

Guess which one I'm doing???!!!

 

You guessed it.  I am a sucker for all the finicky work!  Here's how far I am.  I started it on Saturday, I think.

The stitching is intense, in that it is time consuming, but it is not difficult.  And I am loving every minute of it.

I love the depth and texture the different stitches give it.

I am stitching the embroidered blocks on Kona white, using two layers.  I decided I liked having the muslin behind Which Witch's Boot.  The muslin wasn't that much less expensive than white Kona at my shop, so I'm just using two layers of that.  You can see my basting stitches holding the two layers together.  I didn't draw all the detail lines in on the fabric.  I'm "free handing" them as I sew for a natural look.

It's not too late to join in if you are interested.  We're only on the first block!

Here is a link to her page about the entire quilt.

Here is a link to the page with what supplies you need.

And here is a link to the page with Block 1 instructions.

Shelly used Amanda Herring's (The Quilted Fish) Sugar and Spice fabric.  You know I love that fabric.  But I have a bunch of Amanda's newest line, Apple of My Eye leftover from making my project for her.  So, I think I'm going to use that.  I will supplement with Sugar and Spice and other lines if I need to.  I am so psyched, because I've just been itching for a project that I can use my scraps from Amanda on.  Woo hoo!  I can even stick with the same color scheme as Shelly is using, because Apple of My Eye is also red, turquoise, light blue, green, pink, etc....

If you are interested, here are the colors of floss I am using:

 DMC 321 (red) [Shelly used two shades of red.  I'm just using one.]

DMC 963 (light pink)

DMC 894 (dark pink)

DMC 907 (light green)

DMC 905 (dark green)

DMC 959 (turquoise)

DMC 743 (yellow)  [Shelly didn't use yellow.  I'm adding a little bit in, because Apple of My Eye has some yellow in it.]

DMC 162 (light blue)

Yesterday I said I'd follow up about the Cosmo floss.  I really enjoyed using it.  I wish someone around here sold it in a brick-and-morter store.  I have to order it online, and I find it difficult to pick out colors online for a project like this.  So, I went back to DMC.  When I first stitched with the Cosmo floss, I thought, "I like it, but I'm not sure it's a ton better than DMC."  Well, it had been a while since I stitched with DMC.  Not that there's much wrong with DMC, but I will say, I have a lot more knotting and untwisting of thread with DMC than I did with Cosmo.  Also, the Cosmo just flowed through the fabric so much more nicely.  The DMC is leaving a lot of lint on my fabric as I stitch, especially the red.  So, I've concluded that for me, the Cosmo is worth the extra money.  From this point forward, I will probably try to use Cosmo whenever I can.  But I'll finish this project with DMC.  This is just my humble opinion.

(Quilt and photo from Shelly Pagliai, used with permission.)

 And if you are not up for the whole quilt, Shelly has provided a pattern for a small wall quilt using just one embroidered block.  How cool is that?!

Won't you join in the fun?  I think it's going to be a blast.  If you are in the mood for fall, I think it would be really fun to do this in fall colors as well.  It could be Hazel's Autumn Garden!  It would also be pretty in Christmas fabrics and colors.

Until next time,

 

Comments

[Shelly]

Your block looks fabulous so far! I'm so glad you're doing the fancy version! I was afraid no one would, but there are several! I'm about to post Block 2 -- hopefully today. How does time get away from me so quickly? Your quilt will look so cute with Amanda's new line. I wanted yellow in mine, but Sugar and Spice didn't have yellow.

[Terri]

Honest to goodness, you exhaust me. :-)

Love that block, love the quilt, love the fabric. Love, love, love.

I am spending my free time (ha) the rest of the year cleaning, organizing, and painting the interior of my house, especially my hobby room. It's so bad, I can't "hobby." I will enjoy living vicariously through you.

[carolld]

Wow, your block is looking wonderful. How do you find time to do all that. Looks like there is a lot of intricate work thee. But you do such beautiful work (as shown in your previous post) that it will be a breeze for you. Looking forward to watching this develop.

[Jana]

I am in love with this. LOVE I say! A word about DMC -- it can bleed, so be careful. I don't know if Cosmo has that tendency or not, but I did a cross stitch not too long ago and washed it and had the blue bleed all over it. It was very sad.

[Lynn]

Very tempting! Your stitching looks fabulous! My Cosmos floss was shipped today. I'm looking forward to trying it. My LQS is thinking about switching to carry Cosmos instead of DMC since our Walmart is carrying the DMC again.

[Jackie]

I think now you are just showing off=) I don't even have a real job and I am not producing what you do! Your work is gorgeous... it is settled, next time we are together, you are going to teach me all the different embroidery stitches. Over wine that I am supplying. Did you know that I have a garbage bag full of DMC floss? A closing out sale for $10. Literally.A.Garbage.Bag.Full....

[Carla]

Beautiful embroidery...I'm so impressed! I love the fabrics too...such a sucker for that color scheme.

[Deb]

Ohhh you're block is looking so good - it's so tempting to join in - I haven't done an embroidery project in quite a while. I better not look anymore . . .

[jenclair]

Beautiful! Love this block and the colors!

[liveacolorfullife]

Thanks for the kind words. And you are tempting me to do Shelly's quilt-along. SO tempting....

[Donna]

I adore this block! You have done a wonderful job with the embroidery. I am going to download the pattern!
Hugs,
Donna

[Sandy]

I love this block and the whole quilt. I have to find a collection that I like and then get started on the embroidery!! Are you using 3 strands on yours? I'm trying so hard to finish some UFO's and then a pattern like this comes along and I just can't help myself, I have to do it!! Yours is looking very good!!!