Ramblin’ Rose Quilt Pattern

Feb 4, 2011 -

I’ve been sewing the Ramblin’ Rose quilt pattern this week.

Of course, some of the week was spent staring in awe at the blizzard and then staring in awe and dismay at the snow drifts. Then came the shoveling… the porch, the walk, and a path in the yard for the dogs. And we had lots of brief power outages. Just for a minute or two, but enough that you didn’t dare leave a computer on or a computerized sewing machine! So sewing went a little slow. I’m sure many of you experienced an unusual week with this storm that effected so much our the U.S. Hopefully all is well and you’ve dug out and are ready to move on!

Back to the pattern… The directions for Ramblin’ Rose are so easy to follow. Claudia tells me all her patterns are like this and are the result of their pattern format and reviews with the Black Cat Creation crew. The cutting directions include layout diagrams for all the pieces that are required. This is a big help… I’m never sure which piece to cut first and how to lay it out so that I have enough material to cut the remaining pieces. The diagrams eliminate that problem. The sewing directions again included a diagram. After constructing the background it was easy enough to layout the applique pieces using the pattern cover as a guide. The directions say that you can place the applique so it’s pleasing to you, but I needed help and the picture was just right.

A few things I did different… the fabric requirements call for Jumbo ric rac, so that’s what I bought. I think Jumbo in one store is just Jumbo, and in others it is super giant oversized Jumbo. That’s what I bought – the ric rac on steroids. But I like it. When it came to the flowers I imagined purple but when I laid it all out the pink looked better. It went well with the green and it lent a softness to the whole quilt. My pink fabric showed some of the background through it so I cut extra flowers and used two pieces for each flower – one just a little smaller than the other. This blocked the background and as an added bonus, added more dimension to the project. The applique still needs to be sewn down, the top needs to be sandwiched and quilted, then bound. But, hey, we’re on the way!