Peahen in Crescent Wreath

I have completed Baltimore Album block one. This block was started last November in a class with Elly Sienkiewicz. The padded roses turned out so good. The dimension did not really show with the first layer, the red background of the rose, but when I added the pink top petals, they really puffed up. It was slow appliquéing, going thru the red rose and the batting underneath (see last post), but the end result was great.

I tried to do a lot of dimension work in this block. I don't know if the little yellow flowers have a name, but I made them starting with a 1.25 inch circle. I made a little mini yo yo then brought the gathering thread to the center front of the yo yo and back around to the back of the yoyo at 12, 3, 6, and 9 o clock. I sewed each one down with a red seed bead and just did a little tac stitch on each petal. There were a few more stems on the pattern, but I got carried away with the blossoms and did not put the stems down first. I decided most of those stems were covered with just bits showing thru and the flowers filled the wreath enough. I thought I would just embroider in those stems but I really don't think the block needs it.

The last addition was the peahen which I completed off block on lightweight interfacing that Elly referred to as gossamer in the class. I trimmed the interfacing to an eight inch. It was very easy to turn under the interfacing. I think the padded roses would probably be best done off block also.

I am looking through my appliqué patterns and deciding on what will be block two.

Happy Stitching All,

Cheri

 

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Appliquéing Again

After a very long break from quilting I have picked up a Baltimore Album block to work on. I started this wreath block at Elly Seinkiewicz' class during last years International Quilt Festival in Houston. We did some inking and this block has Elly's signature under the inked cartouche, so I would really like to use it in a quilt.

 

I was a little concerned about this block having a different background but I remembered these three background pieces I bought for a project I never started.

I could get 8 album blocks from each of these for 24 blocks and the class block would be number 25, a good number for an album quilt. So I have the beginning of a plan in my head. I think I am just going to do some of my favorite appliqué blocks from the many different books and patterns I have.

Besides inking on album blocks another focus in Elly's class was off block work on padded roses. This became a problem for me as I found the technique difficult and the results were just not pleasing. I decided to go to my old favorite appliqué technique of back basting but cut out a rosé shape in batting and lightly glued on the rose shape,

then proceeded with back basting and then appliquéing the red fabric over the batting.

There may be a little more of the padded effect when the block is quilted, but I don't know that the "padding" gives that much extra. I still need to quilt in some petal lines on the rose and then I will add the pink petals with a stick and stab stitch which will in effect quilt and appliqué the pink petals in one step. This is the point I am up to this weekend.

 

I am happy to be appliquéing again, happy stitching all,

Cheri

 

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And They Sinned update

I am working steadily on And They Sinned (Examplar Dames Design) . I am off work for a month after a little foot surgery, so I am getting a lot of stitching completed. As I stitch each motif I realize how much thought went into this design. The top of the design represents heaven in my mind, the little cherubs are fighting off the snakes with their swords. Next comes the sky above the garden of Eden with many birds and stars.

The tree has several different fruits on it, seven of each symbolizing the seven deadly sins. Eve is holding the 7th apple, it looked sort of like a dumbbell to me but it finally came to me that there is a bite taken out of the apple.

After I add the leaves in the tree and the wing to the angel I will have completed page one of this 3 and a half page design. Each section of the sampler has such different designs it is really holding my interest, so for now I stitch on.

 

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FINISHED

Ladies of the Sea (pattern by Sue Garman) is completed and hanging in my living room.

Sea Fever
I must down to the sea again, to the lonely sea and the sky,
And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by,
And the wheel's kick and the wind's song and the white sail's shaking,
And a grey mist on the sea's face, and a grey dawn breaking.

I must down to the sea again, for the call of the running tide
Is a wild call and a clear call that may not be denied;
And all I ask is a windy day with the white clouds flying,
And all the flung spray and the blown spume, and the sea-gulls crying.

I must down to the sea again, to the vagrant gypsy life,
To the gull's way and the whale's way where the wind's like a whetted knife;
And all I ask is a merry yarn from a laughing fellow-rover
And quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trick's over.

By John Mansfield (1878 - 1967)
(English Poet Laureate, 1930 - 1967)

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The Fun Part of Quilting

It has taken me FOREVER to do all of the in the ditch and appliqué outlining on Ladies of the Sea ( pattern by Sue Garman). I am finally to the fun part of the quilting. I love to do stipple stitching behind the appliqué blocks. I used a wool batting and it makes the appliqués "poof" out. Stippling is mindless quilting for me.

I also like to put  hidden shapes in the stippling that have to do with the quilt, usually humming birds and dragonflies, snails, and other garden findings are in my appliqué quilts. But, Ladies of the Sea opened a whole new hidden object world :)
Starfish, pellicans, sea turtles, mermaids, dolphins are all in the quilt. After I completed the outlining quilting I trace the objects I want hidden in the stippling on tracing paper.

I scatter them over the blocks that will have background stipple  quilting.

I quilt right through the tracing paper and then tear off the paper.

Then I start stippling around the appliqués and my hidden shapes. I even quilted my name in a block and the year.

So background block quilting has gone very smoothly and quickly...and then I started the borders.

They were a nightmare! No picture, it was too ugly. I wanted every half inch gridded lines around the border. I used 1.5 inch painters tape and quilted lines every 1.5 inch all around all four borders and then I started filling in the quilt lines in between. It was awful. Because of the heavily appliquéd border there were just way to many starts and stops, my machine tension was pretty spot on, but when you ran your hand over the borders it felt prickly over the starts and stops where I had cut the quilting threads. After finishing one and a half sides of the every 1/2 inch quilting I hated it and decided to tear it all out. This has taken me 2 months to do. I had to be so slow and careful not to put a hole in this quilt.  After I finished all the tear out I just let it sit a while (actually it was thrown in the corner of the quilt room). This past week I finished the borders with my old stand by, stippling. I do not really think entirely stippled quilts are very pretty, but it seemed like my only option. I am up to the binding, which because of the half square triangle border I am sure will take me a while so that I do not cut off any triangle corners. The end is near, completion pictures in a week or so.

Happy Stitching All,
Cheri

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And They Sinned

I am at the one month point of ATS ( pattern by Examplar Dames), I started it on Memorial Day weekend, May 25, 2013. This sampler is my focus for this summer. I can not believe it happened but after 20 plus years of quilting I have had a little burn out. I am just not interested at all in quilting. I am slowly finishing Ladies of the Sea, however some weeks I am only at my sewing machine for an hour or so. I find myself reading more and wonder of wonders, cooking, now that I am not quilting as much. I still enjoy browsing all of my favorite quilting bloggers and I have a few pictures of the quilting details I am using on Ladies of the Sea that I will post as I get closer to having her finished.

I feel a real sense of contentedness as I stitch on this sampler. The variegated Gentle Arts Sampler Threads give it a very aged look. I thought the little cherubs were too close in color to my background fabric

 

so I went online and looked at color charts (the flesh tones in the sampler are actually a DMC floss 950). I decided to outline the skin tones in DMC 3064 which is the medium to floss 950s light in that color. I think it gives the cherubs just a little more definition.

I am currently working on the clouds under the angels on page one of the pattern. My cross stitch really needs help, it is difficult for me to keep my stitches all neat and even in a large filled in area. I am open to suggestions as I feel like I am still a beginner in sampler stitching.

 

Happy Stitching and Happy Birthday America!

Cheri

 

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A Finish And A New Start

I have finished my Scarlet Letter sampler. This sampler was originally done by Mary Ann Hutton in 1801. I made so many changes to it I really can not call it a reproduction. It is stitched on 25 count homespun linen with silk threads.

This was a relearning experience for me that I really enjoyed. It was fun to share my progress on Nicola's Scarlet Letter Year blog. I am looking forward to doing another Scarlet Letter reproduction sampler and learning some other stitches.

My next project, however, is a sampler I have admired for a couple years. And They Sinned, by Examplar Dames Pattern Designs.

This is a large sampler, 9 by 45 inches, that depicts the story of Adam and Eve. I am stitching it on 18 count Zweigart Vintage Mocha Aida.

I want to work on perfecting my basic cross stitch (Mary Ann Hutton is full of errors and tension issues). The threads I am using are the suggested Gentle Arts Sampler Threads. They are beautiful hand dyed variegated cotton threads.

I have been surrounded by inspiring beauty the last couple days while we have been traveling through the Rocky Mountain National Park. I have to share these pictures taken at the Estes Park, Colorado golf coarse. I am not a golfer but I think elk on the golf coarse is a rather unique golf hazard.

The golfers did not seem to concerned and just played on through.

Happy Stitching All,

Cheri

 

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