Applique - Show & Tell

More applique blocks by Becky.

Last month I shared a block and the history of the Civil War Bride (A.K.A. Bird of Paradise) quilt I am currently working on (see the January 28 post).

Since then I have more blocks to share with you.

I never follow the pattern exactly, since I like to make it my own. Red-winged blackbirds do NOT have red on their tails, but the pattern did so I did it that way. I inked in some spots on their eggs after researching and learning their eggs have spots on the larger end.

The next two blocks are completely my own designs, and I'm very pleased with how they turned out. The original quilt has an elephant on it and I am not doing that block. Cardinals are our state bird, dogwood blossoms for our state tree and the owl is sitting on a beechnut branch on one of the trees on either side of our driveway entrance. Of course, the deer are in the woods behind our house.

 

The fabrics I'm using are mostly civil war era reproductions; however I have relied on Vicki Welsh's hand-dyed fabrics to add interest and a little spark to all the blocks. In the owl block, I used Vicki's fabric to make the owl's eyes, the gray beechnut tree branches, the red clay dirt the deer are standing on and the white tail on the doe. Her fabrics are wonderful for applique; not only for the color, but for the way they needle. You can find her fabric here.

 

I only have 2 more blocks and then on to the borders!  I have no idea what I'll do .  .  .but I'm thinking LOTS and LOTS of leaves - huge amounts of leaves, so next week at the Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival I'll be on the lookout for 'good' greens to add to my collection. Variety is the spice of life and quilts!

One more thing: I use freezer paper, starch and all my pieces are glued in place with Elmer's washable school glue, so the final step for each block is a nice long soak in the sink.

If anyone would like a demo or a hands-on class just leave a comment and we can do it on a Friday/Saturday sewing day.

 

 



Iris' Prayer Flags

You saw Mary's prayer flags yesterday. Today I'm sharing Iris'. Becky is delivering them this weekend and we hope that Iris can take them with her to Baltimore while she is undergoing radiation.

Don't they look great?

Mary's Prayer Flags

I want to thank everyone who made flags for Mary and Iris' prayer flag banners. We had about 40 flags for each banner! I'm sharing photos of both in two separate posts because there are so many photos.

Today we'll see Mary's. I delivered it to her Monday and the timing was perfect. She and Jon were preparing to leave Thursday for 2 weeks in Paraguay where they will visit where Porter lived and worked. They are going to be helping to finish his last project.
She was very grateful for the the flags and is going to hang them when she gets home. She's very familiar with the prayer flag tradition as she provides support for Tibetan Monks.

Here are the photos of Mary's flags.

To get the photos I hung the banner in a pine tree in my yard. You will see clothes pins where I pinned the tape to the tree. I added loops to the banner tape every 5 flags to help with hanging. It's so long and so heavy that it needed some help. I had to remove buttons from one flag because it was just too heavy. I don't remember who made that banner but it still looks great. Enjoy the show.

December Meeting photos

The photos from the December meeting have been uploaded to our Flickr account.  Here's a slideshow of the photos including the veteran's quilts and show and tell.


Created with flickr slideshow.

August Meeting Photos

We had an amazing meeting last night. I don't think I ever remember a night where we had more show and tell! The meeting started with Becky sharing our log cabin block and handing out kits for courthouse steps blocks for a veteran's quilt. Cindy showed us how she organized the making of a log cabin quilt for a fund raiser for her church. She's incredibly organized! Then we had a member show and tell of just log cabin quilts. That was followed by regular show and tell. There was lots to see as members finished up a lot of projects to get ready for the show.

Here's a slide show of the meeting highlights or you can go directly to Flickr to view the photos.


Created with flickr slideshow.