Top Border completed

I have been missing in action for a while but I have finally finished the top border of my Flower Garden quilt.

It has taken 3 hours a night since Christmas and several days for prep work, choosing fabrics and backbasting them in place. I am really pleased with how it has turned out. Just a couple of birds i may change because they didn't turn out quite as well as i had hoped. The problem with replacing them is undoing the sewing, the thread is so fine its very hard to see.

Work on the bottom border has already begun. We have had a very hot spell in Adelaide and so I stayed in my sewing room and managed to mark up the whole border and prep the four trees. It may be a while before i post again, as Pip has said the coral tree in particular will take some time

Plumbing work done ...

I finished off the last of the little circles which depict the water in the fountain.  Originally I made a heap of circles in the same fabric  (see here), and I was fairly happy with how they looked.  Then a couple of days ago I was sorting through my scraps for suitable bits for other circles, and I saw a few watery coloured scraps,  and I remembered that Kim McLean had left a comment on the original circles post about how she had used different colours (blue, aqua, light greens etc) so I made a few circles to see how it looked and this is the end result.

Another flower

for my Flower Garden, I finished this one yesterday afternoon, it took me a bit longer than I thought it would  This is another flower with an inlay, I found the reverse applique easier to do on this one.  I managed to finish off the first branch on the coral tree as well, just six left to do

Bottom Border

I had hoped to have another block finished today but sadly it was not to be.  The borders on this quilt are quite large and I've already started on the bottom one, I shall do the large bits first and then add in the smaller circles, birds etc.  The fountain base (a glimpse of it can be seen to the right) is already attached and now I've started on the coral tree.

Doing the applique on this coral tree is mind boggling, (to me at least)  I've decided to do a little bit on it each day or night, as I know if I leave it till later then I will just keep putting it off.  The photo below shows part of the coral tree outline, so you can get an idea of the work involved.

Blooming finished

For some reason I had problems with this block, the bottom leaves were no problem, the two leaves (or are they something else, I'm never sure) under the flower both had to be redone and then I had problems with the green fabric underlay, I persisted though and it's finished, so I'm halfway through the blocks now.

Late bloomer

The latest flower to bloom in my Flower Garden, I had been avoiding this block because of the leaves, but Sheila assured me that they weren't too difficult, and I agree, although they took a little while as they are stop and start stitching.

The block below is one I made before Christmas but I forgot to post a photo of it.  I have also started the bottom border, I'm planning on getting the larger pieces stitched down  (four trees and a fountain if I recall correctly) and then I will be able to sort through all my scraps to see what will be suitable for the smaller circles, birds. animals and flowers.