This project takes me back to the roots (how fitting!) of my quilting journey.
Before I owned a sewing machine I would sew little projects by hand. One of my favourite things to make were bird mobiles (after a free bird pattern that was since taken down – here‘s the full story on it). I added small leaves to the mobiles to add a little interest – and this is when I did my first (hand) quilting stitches – a crease across the middle of the little sandwiched leaves.
When Bonnie Christine of Going Home to Roost asked me to stitch up something with her new Forest Floor line, this presented the perfect opportunity to bring my little leaves back. Those greens screamed for it! I have been loving this line ever since I first saw some sneak peaks posted on instagram. I love the forest – a long walk through the woods is the best way for me to recharge and it’s one of the things I miss most in my urban hood. I couldn’t put it better than this:
“Inspired by her experience of living in the forest, Bonnie creates a whimsical world where dreams of a magical place come to life. Forest Floor hopes to ignite the exploration of forest curiosities, and take you on an adventure filled with green and oak flora and delicate berry tinted fauna that inhabits the wondrous depths of the mountains.”
I was instantly drawn to the moody colour palette of this collection. ‘Forest Floor’ seems a little different from most collections on the market. I love that Bonnie dared to pick darker shades of grey, brown and mossy green to rightly caption the fascination of the woods.
Once I had finished all my leaves, I pieced and quilted the project (which measures 13” by 16.5”) using the Quilt-As-You-Go technique. (I just positioned the respective leaves prior to sewing the branch strips down, stitching through the stem part of the leaves).
Turned around, each leaf contains a different print of the collection, making it a little game (for small ones). I actually love the idea that the wall hanging might as well be used as a play mat – and a portable one even: The hangers can be wrapped around the project – just by folding the mat in half and then again and wrapping the strips around and securing them where they meet the knobs (yes, that’s what these are for!)
And ta-da, it’s a portable play mat!
This is the last stop on the Forest Floor blog tour. If you head over to here you’ll find a list of all the beautiful projects & makers involved. I’m very happy I got to be a part of it!
P.S. if you have been here before you might have noticed that the look of veni vidi vicky has changed a good bit. I’m still in the process of settling on a final logo amongst other things, so don’t get used to this too much ;-)
Take care
This post is linked up with Needle & Thread Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation
veni vidi vicky 