A Pretty Quilt

Back to reality...home from the beach.  Got to start cleaning out rooms and closets again!

While I was gone, the Cyberbee had their quarterly meeting.  Finally, a secret project was revealed!  This quilt was made by members of the group for Holly Sweet, in honor of her seventieth birthday.

All the participants made and signed the star blocks, using the same background fabric.  The applique border by some VERY dedicated volunteers really adds a wow factor.  Isn't it beautiful hanging on Holly's freshly painted wall?  It was hand quilted using the "big stitch" method by Jenny Copeland.  

Different Ways to Applique

I have found a fabulous blog for those who love traditional applique- I mean the turned under edge, hand-stitched kind.

Check out One Piece at a Time, written by Erin Russek.

Erin has beautifully photographed tutorials of her template drawn, running stitched, brush-starched, perfect applique techniques.

Oh, yeah---and she can piece pretty well. She has been offering a step-by-step tutorial for piecing a feathered star. That is a rather intimidating traditional quilt pattern, but I think we could all make a perfect one following these instructions.

For me, I have usually avoided the A-word, unless we're talking raw-edged. I will fuse, machine-stitch, or raw-edge embroider by hand using ladder stitch a la Pamela Allen.

I have been dutifully stitching down the projects for my current online class with her. Having the Olympics on TV is a perfect opportunity for handwork. I use a very large doll-making needle, three strands of embroidery floss, and a ladder stitch to attach these free form, scissor-cut shapes to the background fabric and batting. Here is a bit of the Lesson 2 project under way:

You can use matching or contrasting color thread, depending if you want to emphasize the line or not. Usually I try to blend with the background pieces.

Here is a sneak peek at a detail of my secret Lesson 1 project. I made trees from a black twill fabric that was discharge-dyed with bleach, and used black hand-stitching to add some character to the trees. Machine quilting added some more slender trees and branches, some bark features, and some background foliage.

Here is an entire quilt where you can see the additional line added by the contrasting hand stitching. The striped look around the flowers is black crochet thread that was used to attach both both the outer white and the inner black portions of the petals. The same for the centers of the leaves, which remind me of coleus.

BTW, this quilt was a lesson in value using only gray, black and white fabrics. For a bit of rebellion and surprise, look what I did on the back:

You can see that I added a lot of hidden picture shapes while machine-quilting. Do you see a cat, bird, fish, and pine tree? Lots of fun!

And here is the weirdest quilt I have made in a Pamela Allen class: The Green Man. It took a long time to stitch down all his leafy parts by hand. Come to think of it, he was a fore-runner of the Cubist experiments from the current class, wasn't he? Look at those eyes!

And yes, leaving the fabric edge raw does sometimes give a frayed edge, but often that is desired in an art quilt. Bark, leaves, hair, all lend themselves to this technique.

Flowers and Hearts

Happy Valentine's Day to all of you! May you spend your day with someone you love. And here is a special hug for my own personal sweetie, who has now been my Valentine for thirty-eight years!

We had a surprise snow this morning, just a dusting really. But my pink and white camellias are almost in bloom, so maybe we will escape this winter with no significant snow here in the Raleigh, NC area.

Yesterday I finished quilting my friend Jean H's lovely applique quilt. It was so much fun to think what to do in each block. I mostly repeated themes in the top, with folksy-looking flowers, hearts, and birds. Perfect for Valentine's Day!

Counting Down the Days

There are eight days left until I go back to work! I think I am going to be in shock when I can no longer lolly-gag around the house all morning. You will probably see fewer blog posts from me. I have been busily completing all the processes that the school system bureaucracy dishes out. Since I have been retired for more than two years, I had to begin the application process all over again. I can look forward to an orientation day (to a system I have worked for 24 years!), TB test, and the ever-popular drug test, a first for me!



Anyway, Jean H. brought me her gorgeous applique top to quilt yesterday. I decided I better get right on it. She wanted wonky flowers, hearts, and an informal, whimsical look. That is what I love to do! Each block is different and has loads of cute fabrics and motifs. Here is what I have done so far. Please excuse any basting stitches or hanging threads that have not been trimmed yet.

How to Embellish Lily's Quilt

Here is the top of Lily's quilt without any embellishments. What to do in the big blank in the square?









Here is my original idea- spell out her name in yo-yo's and buttons. These are just placed on here to see how they look. Typically, I embellish AFTER quilting. I also want to add some beads on the insects, and maybe more yo-yo's on the flowers.







Here is a closer look at the yo-yo's and buttons. I'm thinking of first appliqueing cloth letters, then embellishing. I think that would make the center complete better with the strong outer border.





The flowers, dragonflies, hearts, and ladybug are from the book Bugs, Blooms, and Bullfrogs by Pat Sloan. I used a fused 1/4" bias tape in a marbled green for the vines.

I am so ready to quilt this and get it done, but we are leaving on vacation Saturday, and I really need to do some preparations! I'll take it to my bee meeting tonight and see what the ladies think.