For those of you who may have wondered what piece of work those trees on this blog's banner came from...I thought I'd give you a little history. It's from a small wall quilt I made called "A Bit of Heaven." The quilt is 22 inches square. Actually I have written about this quilt before...on February 28th, however that was BEFORE I knew how to add photos to my posts, so I thought today I would show you this quilt in more detail.
Those of you who know me never expect this kind of work from me. The leaves on these trees are machine appliqued. I sort of have the reputation of being the dinosaur of quiltmaking, as I love doing all my work by hand. And this applique, well, I'd hardly call it applique - it's more like "simply held in place." I really didn't know what I was doing to be honest. I like to surprise myself once in a great while, so I thought I'd give my sewing machine another try, as I, one of the few hand applique people left around here, just hate to admit I can't do this machine embellishment type stuff. I see other people do this and I am crazy about their work, but when I do it..well, no fire is lit, for sure. This is the result. You'll notice that all the other work is done by hand. That's because I fell back into my old habits....what's that about old dogs and new tricks?
My son-in-law loved the quilt, so it's now in the VanHook Family Collection!! I actually liked the quilt enough to use it for the banner on this blog.....for several reasons...Rick liked it a lot and so did my daughter. She's always kidding me for being "old-fashioned" and for a bit, she probably thought I was changing my spots. Nah!!! I do kind of like the funky colors and I love the embroidery!!! To my way of thinking, some really nice embroidery makes up for a lot of shortcomings and I really LOVE DOING IT. Then, too, I did NEED a quilt on the banner and my kids say this one is "special."
Well, yes, it is special, because it will be one of the FEW I make on the sewing machine. Those trees. Yeah, they're ok. Colorful. But, that old-fashioned embroidery.......now, that's what I'm talking about!!! Hope you enjoy the photos! Pat
7 comments:
Beautiful!
I'm with you Pat - love the hand embroidery. But I especially like the fabric you used for the leaves. It really gives the quilt some zing! I'm not good at picking colors like that - I'm envious of quilters who seem to do it so easily. blessings, marlene
Good morning, Pat! What a beautiful work of art! You ought to be very proud of yourself!
Good Morning, Pat~I'm so glad you shared this. I enjoyed seeing the technique you used for your leaves and hope to give it a try someday. There is a lot of life in this piece. :-)Gayle
Had to come see what your doing. I think the combo of maching and hand work is delightful in this quilt. I like the mix.
Further to my previous comment..your machine v hand statements made me realise that although I love handstitching, I use the machine to get a quick effect becasue I am producing things to sell. I think my blog has definitely improved my sales figures, so maybe thats one of the reasons I blog.
Dear Pat,
I can say nothing that hasn't been said before,but your work is wonderful. What a wonderful treat for the eyes. I just stair in wonderment. Your work will be treasured for a truly long time.
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