I'm so excited to show you Romance Garden, the new collection for Sherry Shish by Kathy Engel. This collection is shades of pink, lime and grass green and purples, and filled with butterflies, tulips, ferns and other garden tjaps. It's so pretty! The Ambassadors were asked to make a Log Cabin style lap size quilt, and I created a great design. Have you seen the ones from the last 2 weeks? There are some stunning quilts.
We were given 20 1/2 yard cuts, and 2 yards each of the Frosting and 2 yards of the darker purple floral. We were also given additional background fabric, and I picked Almond for my background. I always piece with Aurifil 50wt thread, and use a new Schmetz Microtec 12 needle.
On to my design.
I planned a really pretty quilt inspired by a Thistle or Bromeliad type flower. I started making the top, and then had an accident. If you've read my blog over the years, you may know I have an eye disease called Keratoconus. My left eye was worse, and after a failed cornea transplant 2 years ago, my left eye doesn't see anything. My right eye is treated with a Rigid Gas Permable lens that must be custom made to fit my eye and correct my vision. It basically pushes the cornea back into place and allows about 20/40 vision. I use readers for computer and sewing, and although the other issues with keratoconus are present, I've adapted. I've been in need of a new lens, but finding a qualified eye Dr on Long Island who accepts my insurance has been a challenge. Well, last week, I lost my lens. It's probably down the sink drain, but I'm basically blind without it. 3 inches away from my face, everything is blurry. And although I've tried to work on the blocks, the seam allowances are not accurate enough, and it's painful to stitch hunched over, and unsafe to cut anything. So, I've been unable to work on the blocks successfully. As you can see, there are multiple stitching lines. And the blocks are not measuring correctly, as you can see by the leftover edges.
The Corner Beam blocks I made first, before I lost the lens, were perfect. I used the Studio 180 tool.
My Bromeliad, which was my inspiration. A thistle was also something I was thinking of, but this looks more like my blocks.
Some of my favorite fabrics from this collection are below. I LOVE the butterflies. They are large, and would make fun fussy cuts. The Dragonfly and butterfly print is really pretty, too, and the colors on the design are lovely. The photos don't show the beauty as well as the fabrics in person.
I hope you visit the other ambassadors on the hop, and check out the give-away from Island Batik. I'll share more about this quilt when it's done. I'm scheduled to get the first trial lens today, and hope that the lens works. Normally Dr. Shovlin likes to try 2 or 3 lens before he's happy, so I don't know when I'll be able to see but I'm so grateful that my son can work from home, and he's come to help me with everything until then, including driving me back to Scranton for the eye Dr. He's helped with writing this post, too. He's awesome. I'm grateful and blessed.
February 19:
February 20:
February 21:
February 22:
February 23:
Blog Hop Round-Up Week 3 and Giveaway
February 26:
February 27:
End of Blog Hop and Final Round-Up
Thanks for visiting.
10 comments:
Your design is beautiful and very unique. I hope you are soon in a place with your vision that you can more easily get back to making it.
One of my most memorable quilting stories was when I put a quilt together with a whole section upside down. It really compromised the design! Of course I didn't notice until I took a photo of the finished quilt. Oof. Once I had noticed the problem I couldn't unsee it so I undid binding, quilting, and piecing enough to fix it and then put it all back together. It was a big job. In hindsight, it might have been faster to just make the quilt again from scratch!
This is going to be a beautiful quilt and I love the palette that you were given.
My most memorable quilting story involved my nephew & a trip to Alaska. We were hopping in and out of the many souvenirs shops he offered to go into a quilt store with me. (He was quite mature for his age.) While I looked at fabric he poked around the the pattern books. He found a landscape one that had blocks of Alaska and he asked if I would make him a quilt to memorialize the trip. Of course I said yes and we picked out a few fabrics that would also go in the quilt. One of the favorites was a batik fabric of Salmon. It was a great experience and he loved the final product.
So sorry about your eye problem and lost contact lens. Praying you are able to get your lens right the first time. This is going to be a beautiful, amazing quilt!
Very unique design, pretty inspiration. Good luck with your eyes.
Beautiful quilt, I hope you get a new lens soon.
Very beautiful quilt Maryellen. I love your design.
I'm so sorry about your eye problems. I hope this new lens helps! I love the idea of your quilt though, and the beautiful fabrics.
The quilt looks amazing. I couldn't sew this well with 2 eyes.
I love your design and am so sorry that you were not able to get it sewn due to losing your lens. Hopefully you will be back to sewing soon.
It's clear that this will be a stunning quilt. I'm sorry you've had to deal with these problems that have gotten in the way of making it. I'm sure that quilting is not the only area of life that has been affected. Having your son close is really comforting, I'm sure.
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