Do you remember Eve's Purple Beauty when I had it in the design stage? Some of you really liked the vase idea I had drawn into the corners but the concern was how to make that design pop without it blending into the background filler. Thread mush was a possibility until my friend Ruthie recommended using a different color thread to make the vase stand out. DUH! Sometimes you need to hit me over the head with a 2 x 4 so I "get it." Thanks Ruthie! The first thing I did was to use Bing to do an image search for "Oriental Vase" and "Chinese Vase". I sent Eve, my client, links to the photos I'd found and she picked out the two shapes she liked. I then cut that shape out of freezer paper and ironed the shape onto her quilt top. I used a marking pen to trace around the vase and then popped in some luscious blue variegated Lava thread. YUM! I also did some delicate freehand flower curls to resemble the ornate decorations found on the Oriental Vases Eve liked. Then I used a green variegated Lava thread to add the stems and leaves. Finally, I used a matching So Fine thread to add a swirly dense filler behind the vase with pebbles added to the small spaces between the stems. I just LOVE this final look. The center focus block has a wonderful Dahlia overlaid on top of it to add dimensionality. You can also see the dragon's breath filler I used behind the applique dancing around the center block. I wish I could mail me along with this quilt to Eve so I could be there when she opened it up! She is gonna love, love, love it!

Next was the sampler blocks. I put a unique design in each block using a cream thread that matched her focus fabric. One of the blocks was repeated three times and I'll share the unique designs I chose for those specific blocks in a separate post in a couple days. In the mean time, here's some eye candy of how I did some of her sampler blocks. Finally, I put a curl in the small inner border and freehand bamboo along the outside border.