Woodland Christmas Applique

outer border

Fall Greetings!

It is hard to believe that summer is over and our busiest season about to approach, but yes, it is coming quickly! Already, my schedule is quickly filling with holiday requests, and I love seeing them - it sets my anticipation for all the season has to offer.



Regretfully, I somehow did not manage to take a picture of the whole quilt for you -  I am so sorry, for it really was a wonderful detailed applique and you will miss the full appreciation for the work that went into it. The woodland creatures included bears, foxes, raccoon, hedgehogs, bunnies, and birds among a mix of houses, trees, and stars, which allowed opportunity for a variety of fills and detail work. It has a winter-y looking swirled outer border, leafy corner blocks,  and a holly leaf  pattern for the inner.

One of the house blocks - hmm,
 bears protecting the town hall?

corner detail

Bunnies, fox, and bear admiring
the tree decorations.

All the woodland animals
pitching in to help.

Santa has a new helper!

Hedgehogs preparing for the celebration.

Somehow, these raccoons look
a bit mischievous.

And Merry Christmas to all!

As you can see, this is just a fun quilt and I really enjoyed working on it - thank you, Barb! If you were able to attend Quilt-a-Fair in Longmont, you may have seen it hanging at the Laughing Ladies booth. We have been in New Mexico, so were unable to attend, but hope you were able to enjoy all the variety offered there!

Until next time, happy quilting!
Cathy
Verse for the day: "Sing unto the Lord, O ye saints of His, and give thanks at the remembrance of His holiness." (Psalm 30:4)

Soft Applique

Another Applique Technique

"Soft Applique" was a term I was unfamiliar with until recently. From this quilt, my understanding is that it implies taking a pattern from the printed fabric and turning it into an applique on the quilt.

The fussy cut area is appliqued onto the
background, then pieced into the blocks.

In this case, instead of piecing the print into the quilt, a pattern was chosen, fussy cut leaving about 1/8 to 1/4" around, and then carefully turned under and basted around. There is no freezer paper or glue used, so the applique is "soft." The applique pieces are then sewn onto the background. This is a Jinny Beyer pattern and technique, for any of you Jinny fans out there.

A more extended view to allow you to see how
 the quilting in each block compliments
the center block.

My challenge for this quilt was what to do with that background area that would enhance the pattern and not take away from it. This is one of those where I had to get out my sketch pad and play with all kinds of ideas, and it wasn't until I started looping from the compass points that I came up with something that satisfied me. To make the appliqued areas stand out, a micro stipple was used around them.









Simple continuous curve was used in the small red blocks, and the larger red blocks had a star points quilted into them.

Border detail

The borders were a very busy pattern, so quilting was simply done using the patterns. The inner red border was given a simple pattern that complimented the theme of the quilt. Between those busy patterns, a simple pattern is best so the eye has a place to rest!


This quilt was a great challenge for me - I learned a lot in the process.

That's it for now - until next time, happy quilting!
Cathy

Verse for the day: "For I am not ashamed of the Gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek." (Romans 1:16)

Floral Applique

An Indoor Garden Wall Hanging.

There are various methods for applique, and this quilt demonstrates the traditional applique technique. The pattern is called "Jan and Jenny's Garden". For those of us without a green thumb, this would make a cheerful indoor garden with no weeds to pull!

Quilted vine on border blocks.

To help keep the garden theme, the colorful squares around the appliqued flowers was quilted with a vine, and a couple of butterflies were quilted into the background "sky".

Some of the flower and bird detail
 with a butterfly and stipple area
 quilted in the background.

The flowers, leaves, stems, and birds were given a little more detail to enhance them as well as put some quilting into the large spaces. Some appliquers so not like stitched done on there work, but for larger pieces, this may be necessary. I always ask before I stitch!

Pinwheel, leaf, and stem details with McTavishing
in the background.

On the background area, I did a loose stipple to resemble clouds in the upper area, and some McTavishing in the lower area to appear as a hill that the flowers are blooming on.

Just a note: The birds will have beads added for the eyes. This is done AFTER the quilting - make sure to NOT do any embellishing prior to quilting - your quilter will not be happy with you!












Perhaps this will inspire you to create your own indoor garden quilt!

Until next time, happy quilting!
Cathy

Verse for the day: "But grow in grace and the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be glory both now and forever. Amen."   (2 Peter 3:18)