Ladies of the Sea #15 & #16

I have finished the last of the center ship blocks on Ladies of the Sea.  The last two blocks were the Chinese Pirate Junk, 1807 and the French ship the Le Coureur, 1778. 

Sue Garman's patterns and instructions for this quilt have been so enjoyable and well written.  The blocks have come together beautifully and the instructions have always included the history of the ship and "smooth sailing" tips to make the blocks a little easier if needed.  The floral wreaths surrounding each ship always have a tie to the country of origin of each ships.  The pattern was originally designed as a block of the month and each pattern ended with a  bit of sailing trivia for the month.

I have posted about it before, but as much as I enjoy needle turn hand applique I decided to do this quilt with machine applique.   The background is a Kona cotton and all of the appliques came out of my batik scraps.  I used King Tut variegated threads for the blanket stitch applique which blended in well with the batik fabrics. 

 I like to keep things neat and would always bring my threads to the back of the block and then pull them thru a few stitches on the back. I have about 15 hours in each block.

The flowers in each ship's wreath are echoed in the borders. They are full of applique, the first border is all prepped and I have begun working on it.   

 I like to visit Judi Madsen's blog Green Fairy Quilts.  She is a sensational long arm machine quilter and last month she was quilting a completed Ladies of the Sea, it is just gorgeous!  Very inspirational and motivational to keep me working on mine. (sensational, motivational, inspirational ---I guess you could say I like her work)   I love the pebbling she did in the borders because it reminds me of bubbles and seems water like. So I am starting to think about how I am going to quilt my quilt as I am getting closer and closer to completion. 

 Happy Stitching All,

Cheri