Friday 22 May 2015

La passacaglia update

I've just realised that it's about 20 weeks since I started my la passacaglia, and I've made 20 centres. I think that's quite good going.  Here's how it's looking now:



The photo below gives and idea of how one corner of the quilt will look once I add the stars and join the pieces - a big centre surrounded by 10 smaller rosettes - not necessarily these rosettes.



Here's is a close up of my other large rosette with a bit of forward planning.



I've still got two more large rosettes to make, and I've just decided that it will be the two rosettes below that I enlarge to become focal points. I love all the pattern going on in these rosettes.  I haven't done a huge amount of fussy cutting, but rather I'm working on making the colours give the desired effects.



The pattern for la passacaglia is in this Millefiori Quilts, published by QuiltMania, but also available through Paper Pieces in USA.



The first book has become so popular that Willyne Hammerstein has written a second book with even more beautiful patterns. I'd really like to make the quilt on the cover - Ballet Avec Kaffe Fasset, one day.  You can have a sneaky look inside the book here. My own personal copy arrived at the weekend.



Sometimes it's interesting to look back to the start of a project.  These were my original fabrics that I set aside for this quilt.


I've used most of the blues and the pinky reds, but I haven't really used the dusky pinks. I think I'll leave them out now because the quilt has enough colour without them.  I'll use them in another project - maybe Smitten, another paper piecing pattern I just bought recently. I don't like all my quilts to be in the same colour ranges, so I might just save them for that.

It's easy to lose momentum on a big project like this, but my friends in the Millefiori/ la passacaglia English Paper Piecing facebook group are keeping me motivated. They're a great group and welcome anyone with an interest in quilting and paper piecing.

21 comments:

Karen - Quilts...etc. said...

I haven't worked on mine in ages, I decided I had to finish two quilt tops first as I was working on too many things - then I will pick it back up again to work on. Yours is beautiful!

Oops-Lah said...

Oh wow, it looks amazing Wendy! I just got myself both books too as the temptation was just too big ;)!I too love Ballet avec Kaffe Fasset but was surprised how small the pieces are. It seems that the book's main measurements are in cm, is that a problem at all?

The Colorful Fabriholic said...

Stunning! I love your rosettes and your progress so far! I respectfully ask you to consider whether the orange plays nicely with the rest of your palette. All the colors are so harmonious together but the orange is a bit of an outlier.

HeathersSewingRoom said...

Great to see the quilt progressing as there are so many pieces in this quilt. The FB page is amazing inspiration as I do not think this is a fast quilt to make. A great hand project.

Daryl @ Patchouli Moon Studio said...

Wendy that is gorgeous! I love your fabrics/colors. This is going to one fantastic quilt when it's finished!

Chantal Thibodeau said...

I just receive the second book too. I also eyed a lot the pattern on the cover. I just completed a kind of rosette trial, from another source. I don't know if I will be courageous enough to try that one. I just saw the number of pieces on your plastic bags, ouch !

Rochelle aka Bella Quilts said...

What beautiful work. This is not a project for someone like me who wants instant results. Please keep showing us your progress.

Wendy said...

looking wonderful

Linda @ kokaquilts said...

Great to see your progress here... it's looking really wonderful! I too noticed the number of pieces on the bags - 208, 1368 - amazing!

Wendy said...

this is coming along so quickly! i'd still be on the first rosette after 20 weeks! It's going to look amazing when you're done

Her Indoors said...

Your blog really is a feast for colour junkies. This is going to be amazing when it's finished.

liniecat said...

Delicious rosettes there!
Really lovely : )

Kim A said...

Love the Rosetta's. Great fabric choices!

Linda Steele said...

That quilt will be wonderful, so much work to do yet though. Enjoy

Serena @ Sewgiving said...

Looking good Wendy! It is certainly a big project, but these cooler winter months for us in the southern hemisphere lend themselves to a bit of hand piecing in the comfort of a warm loungeroom :) I keep wanting to start this one, but have held off ... just the small matter of a Farner's Wife quilt to finish lol.

Carol Q said...

Your colour choices are fabulous as usual Wendy. I'm so tempted with this quilt but I think it will be a very long term project as I'm not speedy at hand quilting. the FB group is fab. Very inspirational.

Staci said...

Absolutely gorgeous! As soon as the pictures popped up on my screen I started to oooo and ahhhhh!

Suze said...

I'm impressed with those who paper piece. I have a box of paper piecing supplies I bought for Lucy Boston and they are all still in the box from Paper Pieces. I guess I haven't gotten the bug quite yet. I love to see the work of others and am in awe. Some how it intimidates me. I imagine I can do it, if I'll just do it. I'm such a tense quilter that I envision wrapping the fabric too tightly on the papers. It's amazing what can cripple us. Beautiful work! You make me want to try paper piecing more and more! Thanks for the inspiration.

Dawn said...

This quilt is going to be stunning!

Granny Maud's Girl said...

One a week is excellent progress. These are long-term projects, not whip-them-up-in-a-weekend-and-then-let-the-dog-sleep-on-them projects, after all.

Frea said...

WoW, your colours are beautifull. I have made the same quilt with much Kaffe Fasset fabrics. But it looks different.
Greats Frea from the Netherlands.