Wow! Today Esther Aliu released her newest BOM, Oma's Blue's and it is a beauty. If Esther's name is not familiar to you then you might recognize her work as she is the Australian designer of Love Entwined another beautiful appliqué quilt that is being made by members of her Yahoo group around the world. Once you join her Yahoo group her BOM patterns are available free the month they are released. Such beautiful designs offered free, Esther is truly talented and generous. I was so excited to see this quilt design this morning and am grateful that Esther did not make this a mystery as, for several years I have been looking for the perfect design to make a Blue and White quilt for my bedroom. One look at this design and I knew I could fully commit! You can find more about this quilt if you go to Esther's blog.
So this month is the center appliqué plate and I am already thinking about the best way for me to put this together.
I spent the morning pulling fabrics together and just for fun, thought I would share. First, I have wanted to make a blue and white quilt because my Master bedroom is decorated in blue, white and aqua. Please ignore the tan wall color. In our last two homes we painted the walls a beautiful aqua shade and that is the plan for this room as well, once DH has finished the basement. I have always loved blue and white dishes and when we lived in China I collected lots of Chinese blue and white pots, jars and vases which are on display in the bedroom. I love the print on the pillows on my bed, again much prettier once the wall are painted aqua.
Right now we have a TV on a Chinese temple table on the wall across from our bed and it is flanked by a pair of 5ft Urns that my DH and I love. When the basement is finished the TV will be moving and I want to hang a quilt behind the table. I think this will be the perfect quilt and I will be able to enjoy it every night as I lay reading in bed!
So here is the fabric that I pulled from my stash. I am going to use lots of different blue fabrics. I love the blue and white applique quilts that I have seen that incorporate many fabrics but I have never tried appliqe using a monochromatic color palette so this will be a new challenge.
I brought a few pieced of pottery to the studio to help me select the right blues. Man, are there ever a lot of shades of blue. Some were too purple and some too green but I am pleased with my selection. And since I have some lovely large prints I hope to incorporate some broderie perse.
Esther's design is based on Delft blue and white china but I want to make a more Chinese inspired quilt, so a few changes will be made in some of the small appliqued blocks. I am excited to have found the perfect quilt for my bedroom. Now to get to work.





