FMQAL Row 4

We're onto row four. I had planned to do four blocks of McTavishing, but I was having so much fun with the landscapes and seascapes idea that I kept going. But never fear, McTavishing lends itself well to seascapes, so we'll get onto that next week.

For this week, two more landscapes. Or plantscapes really.

A rose by any other name?

I have to confess. I swore I wouldn't unpick a block but I just had to. I found a lovely video with a very easy looking FMQ'd rosebud here. I dutifuly watched it three times, traced it, then attempted it.

It didn't end up looking like a rosebud.

I really can't show it here - although I did take a photo - because this is a G rated blog. It ended up looking like ... um.. How can I put this delicately? Well, when I was 12, my mum gave me a book called EveryWoman and said "Read it and let me know if you have any questions". There were diagrams in that book that looked rather like what my 'rosebud' FMQ effort looked like. When I stopped snorting with laughter, I unpicked it and went with my own rose design.

Pretty pleased with it, but the rose was looking a little lonely without anything else around it, so I went to Diane Gaudynski's blog for inspiration, which is where I found those tear-drop petals. She also does a little pattern she calls 'bouncing bananas' to fill in gaps. Have a look at some pics of Diane's quilting here.
The rose is not as hard as it looks. Start with a little spiral and flare out instead of in before bringing the end back in. Then just add petals.To be honest, I think the background is too busy, but I do like that pattern.

Spiral tree
You'll have seen a preview of the next block back on my Aurifil testing post.  This is one to sketch a few times. I started at the tree root on the bottom left (you can see the thread end) and worked my way up the left side, down the right, across to the right hand side, and back to finish where I started.

This one could possibly use some background quilting, but ideally in red I think to not distract from the tree.

So pleased with both these designs. Hope you're still having fun. Get ready for McTavishing next week!

Oh, and tomorrow Thank Goodness It's Finished Friday is being hosted over at QuiltMatters, so hop on over and linky up if you have a finish!