Roses and Ivy

Roses and Ivy by Cathy Geier 

This quilt always conveys a sense of peace to me, probably because of all the soft blue fabric. I had the rose fabric in my stash for years and finally found the perfect setting to use it. When I went to add the leaves however, I couldn't find the perfect color so I made my own using the wrong color but the right leaf shape. It was easy! 

These leaves just didn't work with the quilt top. They were too strong, even the back side of the fabric didn't work. BUT, they are great ivy leaves and if you look close, you can see a pattern in the way they are printed on the fabric.

All I had to do is trace a few leaves onto freezer paper, catching that diagonal falling pattern in small clusters. From there, I cut out the freezer paper patterns.

Then I found the perfect fabric, both the right and wrong side worked.

This was the perfect tone and color for my leaves and I liked the back side as well. The slight amount of  yellow in this green print made my leaves kick as they contrasted with the cool blue tones of the roses, water and sky.

All I had to do is press a paper backed fusible web to the 'wrong sides', press the freezer paper patterns to the 'right sides' of the green print and cut out leaves.  Easy Peasy.






Broderie Perse Applique is the fancy name for cutting out pre-printed fabric pieces and arranging them on another fabric.  The roses and white flowers are cut out and fused on.

You can see how I used the front and back of the new ivy leaves

The sky and water quilting was simply free motion wavy horizontal lines.



I used a dark green variegated thread to quilt the leaves and roses, adding little curly cues here and there as I felt like it.



The vase was stipple quilted with a tight meander to add texture.



The pedestal was also stippled, but not as tightly.




I added a few simple sail boats in the water and used just a touch of white fabric paint to make reflections.  

I hope you have as much fun as I do on our quilting adventures! As always, if you have any comments or questions, I'd love to hear from you.