new Thorn patchwork
Tapestry Garden in the winter
First, my heartfelt thanks for your kind support on the 10th anniversary of my daughter’s death. How blessed I am to be seen and held by this community! I also tapped into my creativity to process my feelings, by sewing another group of Tapestry Garden patchwork for my somber-toned version of this sampler quilt.
I decided to sew Thorn, which is the patchwork group scheduled for February delivery in our block-of-the-month club. With its sharp, dramatic points, this seemed like a good place to allow my sorrow to flow.
My new Tapestry Garden quilt is a garden slumbering in winter hues. The Thorn group uses mainly medium value fabric, plus solids. Here I have made three piles, each with three fabrics. Each group of three will become a Thorn block.
The Thorn points are machine paper pieced. With just three fabrics per paper foundation, this is an ideal project for total beginners.
After sewing the three fabrics to the paper foundation, we trim away the excess fabric. That’s a no-brainer as well, since you trim directly on the paper, following the illustrated seam allowance lines. After trimming, all the paper can come off, and you have a super sharp point with a smooth curve for piecing.
The February pattern download for Tapestry Garden BOM includes detailed instructions for machine paper piecing and curved piecing. We’ve got this!
TODAY’S STITCHED IN COLOR IS BROUGHT TO YOU BY~
Little Fabric Shop
Birds & Branches by Kirsten Sevig | Cloud 9 Fabrics. Inspired by spring afternoons spent birdwatching while watercolor painting, the line captures the imagined inner worlds and quiet stories of each bird.
Cloud 9 Fabrics are made with 100% organic cotton and printed with eco-responsible, low-impact dyes.
And, tada! Here is my thorny little garden. There are three pieces in total, since the Thorn patchwork shows up in three different places in our modern sampler quilt.
My patchwork doesn’t have a lot of contrast, since my solids aren’t that light. To keep things crisp I was careful in my fabric selections, and sometimes opted for darker medium value fabrics to give parts more oomph.
I’m pleased with Thorn, and looking forward to adding to this quilt. As soon as my coin quilt comes off the design wall, Tapestry Garden is going up so that I can get an overview of how it is developing.
The way the somber tones work with sharp Thorn points feels really deliberate, like channeling grief into something visually structured. Trimming on paper foundations sounds beginner friendly but still lets you get those crisp results without overcomplicating it. Tried curved piecing once and struggled but the combo of machine paper piecing and three fabrics seems like a smart entry point.
Gorgeous muted palette!