Playing with Primavera by Bec Williams

Nearly the end of March – best we dont dwell on that fact or we may start realising just how close we are to christmas. I must clearly be at the “blink and you will miss it” stage of my life with everything running at a crazy and constant pace. It is wonderful to know it is nearly Easter and I can think about having a relaxing few days with no school or sport to race to. I may even get the chance to do my favourite thing uninterrupted – sewing!

Today I have the absolute pleasure of sharing my most recent make in the beautiful Primavera range by Bec Williams. I have worked with Bec’s fabric in the past here. Recently the clever team at Hawthorne Threads saw her for the go-getting talent she is and made the decision to add her to their design team. Primavera is her first collection and I am sure not her last.

Look at those gorgeous colours and florals – so sweet and fun to work with. It was lovely and easy to work with and I had so much inspiration. Eventually I settled on a cot quilt with a classic block – the sawtooth star. I love making these because they show larger prints so well. They take a bit of time to assemble each block but then the top comes together really quickly once they are made.

It is really important to talk about the quality of Hawthorne Threads’ too. Traditionally I am not a fan of digitally printed fabric. In the past I have struggled with the quality of both the fabric and print. It has put me off ordering prints I love in the past because I couldn’t guarantee the end finish. But this fabric is lovely! It was easy to work with, has great colour and detail and I think many would be hard pressed to tell it apart from a woven range. So even if you have had a bad experience in the past I urge you to give this a go and be confident in the end product you will create.

Now although I assembled the quilt top fairly quickly that is where my time management left me and flew right out the window, laughing as it went. I never know how I am going to quilt a quilt until I am pinning it. That is when I really get my first good look and I use that time to think of how I want the finished piece to look. In this instance I decided I really wanted the fabric to shine and that meant densely quilting the white while leaving the starts untouched to create a puffy 3D effect. I estimated it would take me a couple of hours to be done. Even writing that I am shaking my hood thinking of what a fool I was. A couple of hours in I had only done one section of the quilt. ONE SECTION. I wont lie, there was panic especially as I am always under some sort of time constraint. I thought maybe I should unpick the work and just do something basic. But I talked myself out of that quickly, resigned myself to the task ahead and got to work. Hours upon hours and 8 bobbins later she was finished and I was immediately glad I had pushed through. The quilting adds detail, dimension and texture. In short I think it is a very important part of the finished product, even if it was insane.

Look at that puff! So worth it.

When it was time to photograph the set I decided to head out into the great outdoors and try to get a nice flower garden feel to my shoot. Big problem as it turns out. I live in a beautiful part of the world – at certain times of the year it is spectacular. Ocean on one side, wineries on the other, I am truly spoilt for choice. Unless I want to photograph in a pretty garden that is. At the end of summer. After 80 days of no rain. Things were decidedly brown and not at all floral in my fave spots so I went rogue. Yes I was the crazy lady locals saw photographing in peoples front gardens. I was chased by bees, nearly  hit by a car coming round the corner and decidedly deranged looking by the time it was over. But I got photos of flowers so I will call it a win!

For the back of my quilt I used the gorgeous border print from the range. It is a HUGE print. Honestly though that made me love it even more. I created patchwork strips top and bottom to fill in the length and make the reverse a feature all of its own. It is so different to the front but equally as striking.

If I had my time again I would have quilted the front to the wadding and then attached the back separately so it was quilted on its own merits but that is just me being really fussy and pedantic.

To coordinate with the quilt I made one of my apple pie cushions and a standard rectangle from the border print. Simple, not fussy and perfectly created to let the fabric do the talking. My apple pies are always so popular and I think that is because I take the time to cut each piece on its own, fussy cutting and really thinking about placement.

Side note: you cant see the bees in this pic but there were bloody millions of them. And they all wanted to sit in my hair as it turns out.

How perfect is that gelati stripe for the binding too. I cut it across to get the stripes to sit the right way so if ordering take that into account. It would be amazing on the bias too!

When I got home I pulled out my trusty white boards to get some basic shots but as it turns out I deleted them all. I really to prefer photographing my quilts outdoors. As soon as I redo my lounge room I will make sure I have a nice spot indoors too but the reality is nothing shines more than a quilt out in a garden in natural light. Especially when it is a beautiful floral and deserves to have its time in the sun.

So there you have it. Another quilt finished for 2018, many many more to go. I am loving taking the time to play with fabric and really create pieces that show the fabric range off properly. I hope this love shows clearly in my work.

x Sarah