Flowery Quilty Catch Up
Hello Hello!
I wrote some of this post about a month ago but somehow I got caught up sewing quilts, the days flew by and I never hit the publish button.
Sometimes when I write blog posts I think that I'll leave it and write a bit more later or maybe the words don't quite sound right and sometimes a post sits in the drafts box until it becomes obsolete.
I opened this post again and decided the flowers and quilts haven't dated so I've added some new bits, deleted some other parts and this time I'm going to hit publish so you can get a glimpse of what's been happening in Daisyland.
Plus I've added a Super Special Sale for patterns in my Etsy shop, read on to find out more.
I noticed that my recent posts begin with a photo of a flower. A trend that I'm happy to continue with these pictures. When I returned from the US and was in self-isolation I had some bunches of beautiful helichrysum flowers delivered as a welcome home gift to myself. These Everlasting Daisies aka Paper Daisies are an Aussie native flower with crispy dry petals. They are quite often hung upside down to dry and used in dry flower arrangements. These were wonderfully fresh and their yellow sunny faces smiled from vases around my house for a few weeks.
I couldn't help taking a million photos.
Mr Daisy and I are fine and well. Our days are spent working, Mr D at his job on his computer and me in my sewing room working on my quilts. We've been cooking yummy food, laughing about little things and watching the leaves on the trees change colour as the days get chillier. I realised I was away travelling last autumn and didn't see the seasons change so its nice to see the garden and the light changing this year.
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NEWS FLASH!!: The postal system has really slowed down. Aussie Posties are working overtime delivering extra parcels now that everyone is in self-isolation, apparently it's busier than Christmas time. Also the lack of flights is slowing down overseas deliveries dramatically. With this in mind I've taken 20% off my Downloadable PDF patterns in my Etsy Store for now. That means you don't have to wait weeks and weeks for patterns to arrive in the mail and you get them for a bargain price. Double bonus! I'm working on new patterns so expect to see some new exciting additions in the coming weeks.
Sometimes I get asked about my book, Whizz Bang! Adventures with Folded Fabric Quilts, I'm more than happy to sell it in person but I don't have copies listed in my Etsy store because I can't compete with postage costs, especially when there are places offering free delivery such as-
and it's always great if you can get it through your local quilt store.
One of my favourite happy scrappy Whizz Bang sampler quilts, Outside The Square.
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Talking of patterns - I have some wonderful Pockets Full Of Posies show and tell to share.
The first quilt was made by Kathy White from our Pockets Full Of Posies Workshop in Auckland, New Zealand. When I teach Pockets Full of Posies I talk about designing flowers and encourage people to draw inspiration from real flowers. Kathy used inspiration from her garden, with flowers like pointsettias, echinacea, nasturtians, camelias and strawberries. The result is a wonderfully wild garden full of movement and stitched with a thousand xxxx's
The next version is by Lissa Argue who started this in our workshop at Nesting Needles, Coramba.
Lissa has used lots of the flower designs from my versions but incorporated some of her own 3D blooms into the mix. That's the great thing about this quilt pattern, there's room to be creative.
Lissa outline quilted with big stitches letting the flowers be the stars of the quilt.
You can't help but smile at that cheeky unbuttoned fly..
If you would like to make your own Pockets Full Of Posies the Booklet is available in my Etsy store in an easy downloadable format or a paper version.
It has 28 pages in colour, lots of tricks for piecing the quilt, and different ways to applique, tips and designs for flowers and instructions for quilting.
Okay back to Lissa and her fabulous quils. Lissa is a RachaeldaisyDesigns superstar because she has made lots of my patterns, This is her recently finished Chunky Blooms started at Misty Mountains Quilt Retreat.
I've shown some of these before but it's always nice to see fabulous quilts again.
Lissa's eye catching version of Bubbles! What a happy celebration of colour! Lissa is also working on another version of this pattern, I can't wait to see it!
A very joyful Carnival Dance.
And wonderful Ric Rac Razzamatazz!
Imagine how eye catching these quilts would be all hanging together in a row. Thanks so much Lissa for embracing my quilt designs with such zest and enthusiasm!
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And now for some Whizz Bang show and tell. This beauty was made by Gwynneth Weir, started at our workshop at Patched and Pieced in Wyong.
In Gwynneth's own words,
"Here is the top of my quilt named ‘Rachaeldaisy’s Phoenix’. As all my quilts are made from other people’s throw-outs I decided, some time ago, to include the word ‘Phoenix’ in the names of all my quilts."
I love that Gwynneth has taken on the true nature of patchwork and is using scraps to create her wonderful quilts.
Next up is a sublime pillow/cushion by Leanne Andersen of Condobolin. Leanne used fabulous African fabrics and her ric-rac edge is brilliant. Even her picture is beautifully styled like a magazine photo.
Here's a quilt I've been working on recently. The very cheerful triangle wasn't fussy cut, it was a happy accident that certainly added cheer when I was folding.
And then there was a reminder to be patient.
The first project that I started working on when I arrived home from my US trip was a quilt using a pile of shirts that Mr Daisy had cleaned out of his wardrobe. He gave them to me with a big smile knowing full well I'd enjoy making a quilt with them. I chopped and sewed, let the stripes land in all directions and left the buttons on as a fun detail. It wasn't long before I had a finished stripey shirt quilt and to celebrate I took it out for a walk to get some photos in the wild.
I had my fingers crossed that a gust of wind didn't blow the quilt away as I scrambled across the rocks to another ledge to get this photo. I was lucky! The things we do to try to get a good photo!
In particular the lines and angles of this quilt suited the shapes of the rocks.
While the colours of the quilt looked wonderful against the browns and greens of the setting.
For the back I used a big tropical floral curtain fabric and and piece of cotton batik Indonesian sarong.
I like the way the floral is a bright surprise on the back.
You can see in this photo I used the lines of the shirts as my machine quilting lines so that the quilting didn't compete with the stripes.
Since my photo shoot outing I've been adding some Whizz Bang circles. I'll have to have another photo shoot for the finished quilt.
To finish up I'll share this poem by Catherine M. O’Meara ( I've read some articles that say this poem was written by Kitty O'Meara during the Spanish Flu Pandemic and another that said it is by Catherine M. O'Meara and was written recently about Covid 19, but whenever it was written I think it is an interesting representation of what is happening around the world now. )
And people stayed home
and read books and listened
and rested and exercised
and made art and played
and learned new ways of being
and stopped
and listened deeper
someone meditated
someone prayed
someone danced
someone met their shadow
and people began to think differently
and people healed
and in the absence of people who lived in ignorant ways,
dangerous, meaningless and heartless,
even the earth began to heal
and when the danger ended
and people found each other
grieved for the dead people
and they made new choices
and dreamed of new visions
and created new ways of life
and healed the earth completely
just as they were healed themselves.
and read books and listened
and rested and exercised
and made art and played
and learned new ways of being
and stopped
and listened deeper
someone meditated
someone prayed
someone danced
someone met their shadow
and people began to think differently
and people healed
and in the absence of people who lived in ignorant ways,
dangerous, meaningless and heartless,
even the earth began to heal
and when the danger ended
and people found each other
grieved for the dead people
and they made new choices
and dreamed of new visions
and created new ways of life
and healed the earth completely
just as they were healed themselves.
