22
Refer to the Stitchery Guide
below to embroider the floral
garland. The bow loops and tie ends
are towards the quilt centre above
the green line along the sides, but
hang outside the garland at the four
corners. The main flowers consist of a
partial blanket-stitch pinwheel (about
one-fifth) with a four-strand colonial
knot at the top for the calyx. There
are five colonial-knot buds along the
garland on the right side of each
main flower and three on the left,
with a few extra buds at the corners.Finishing
23
Remove the selvedges from the
backing fabric, then cut it in
half across the width. Join the two
pieces side by side with a^11 ⁄ 22 in seamand press it open. The quilt top,
backing and batting are ready to take
to a long-arm quilter as they are. If
you’re doing the quilting yourself,
smooth the backing fabric on the
floor, right side down, and secure it
with masking tape. Lay the batting
on top, ensuring it is smooth. After
pressing the quilt top, lay it on top
of the batting, right side facing up.
Baste the three layers together with
safety pins for machine quilting or
thread if hand quilting.24
Quilt as desired. Lesley’s quilt
was quilted on a long-arm
machine with an all-over design
in cream thread. As an alternative,
she suggests using a walking foot to
quilt a diagonal grid on the centre
panel, stitch in the ditches of theborder seams and a design of your
choice in Border 2.25
Trace the scalloped border
templates from the Pattern
Sheet onto template plastic including
the pattern-repeat lines. Cut them
out along the outer lines.26
Beginning in one corner, place
the straight edge of the corner
template against the seam between
Borders 1 and 2 with the angled edge
on the mitred seam. Trace around the
curved edge. Switch to the border
template and trace several scallops
along the edge, stopping before the
middle of the border. Flip the corner
template over, start at the other end
of the same border and stop tracing
scallops before the middle again.
Check to see if the scallops fit evenlyLESLEY McCONNELL
How would you describe your stitching
style?Free-flowing, soft, feminine, romantic,
elaborate, detailed.
Did your distinctive style happen over time
or was it immediate when you started
stitching?My style was once more naive
thanit is now. I started incorporating
embroidery in my work, as inPhoebe’s
Garden(2004), but soon it evolved into more
elaborate and detailed work, as I added more
and more stitches to my repertoire, such as
inSweet Valentine(2006). The crunch really
came back in 2009, when I finally learned how
to do bullion roses. It was quite a struggle
at first to master this stitch (even involving
tears during a class where I seemed to be the
only one who couldn’t ‘get it’), but now I just
love stitching these roses. They appear in
almost all of my designs now, as withAn
English Country Garden(2013) andM’Lady’s
Dressing Room(2015).Are you good at all the crafts you’ve tried?
I love knitting and crocheting and have made
somelovely things, but sadly I have no time
to do this now, with the demands of the
business. I haven’t tried very many other
crafts, as I found my niche very early with
patchwork and especially embroidery
within patchwork.
What sorts of crafts do you avoid like the
plague? Anything involving glue!
Have you often included embroidered
borders on your quilt designs? es, Y I love
these additions. They frame the designs and
give a little hint at what the quilts are about.
They seem to complete the story of the quilt.
What’s your idea of the perfect stitching
day?Working on a new design, sitting on
mypainted rocking chair in my sewing room,
on my own, with a cool breeze and music –
always music. I like to stitch in the very early
hours and often witness the sunrise from
the verandah outside my sewing room.
Aromatherapy oils or scented candles also
create a lovely ambience and definitely feed
the soul and the creative spirit. When you are
designing, you are dipping into a well within
yourself, and it often surprises you what
appears on the cloth in front of you as you
stitch. I just love this process. I also like to
stitch with my stitching group one Tuesday
a month. The laughter and camaraderie
create a lovely atmosphere – but I don’t
achieve as much as when I’m on my own.
That’s okay, though, as the group is very
special, and we share so much on those days.
What are your favourite projects to do?Small
projects with lots of embroidery are probably
my favourites, especially designing and making
sewing accessories. But I do like to do large,
queen-size quilts, as well. With these, you have
an enormous canvas for your ideas and thebeautiful backdrop of fabric to enhance your
designs. I also like to incorporate watercolour
pencil painting in my work these days. It all
started with An English Country Garden, in
2013, and it has now almost become my
trademark. I’ve taught classes in this technique
in places as far away as The Netherlands,
Norway, Ireland and England. I’ve found that
watercolour pencil painting adds another
dimension to embroidery and enhances the
whole project. Interest in this technique is
growing each year.
What’s the largest stitching endeavour
you’ve ever tackled? And the smallest?
The largest would beAnEnglish Country
Garden– a queen-size quilt with 12
embroidered blocks, and an elaborately
embroidered central block. The smallest would
probably be sewing accessories, but these
are not really minute. Ican’t seem to do ‘small’
very well or very often.
Is there any little annoyance that drives you
nutswhen you’re busy stitching? (Dropped
pins? Jamming machine? interruptions?)
I’m pretty calm when I’m stitching, as most
ofmy work is done by hand, and I’m often in
‘the zone’. However, if I realise I’ve done some
second-rate work that simply has to be
unpicked, I become very annoyed with myself.
I hate re-doing anything! I like to put it to bed
once I’ve designed it, although I’m learning to
slow down a little and just enjoy the process.
If you were stuck on a desert island with just
oneof each of the following, what would you
want them to be?- Piece of music – KatherineJenkins(Welsh
soprano) singingNella Fantasia, or anything
sung by this gorgeous vocalist - Movie –Love Actually
- Book – Kahlil Gibran’sThe Prophet
- Sewing project – a large embroidered quilt.
Gett ing to know ...
Homespun 105