APPLIQUE PAINTBOX-I LOVE APPLIQUE: April 2023

36 YEARS IN THE MAKING

I began this cross stitch when my daughters were 5 and 3. My 5 year old is now 41. Cross stitch is not my thing and really I feel like the stitcher cannot claim any credit for its loveliness except as a demonstration that one can follow instructions. Place this x here in this color. DROVE ME BONKERS! That is why it took so long. I think I did an excellent job of putting each colored x in the right place and the design is totally beautiful.

I loved this pattern with its garden and flowers and especially the honey bees. Honey bees are my motif and appear on most of my appliques. My love affair with honeybees began about 45 years ago when I had several hives of bees on our zen farm. I will have this framed and set off by some miniature skefs I have bought over the years of ceramic and natural materials. It will make a nice display.

Here is one observation: if one does not blog often, then one looks very productive when they post everything they have been working on. For instance:

This looks like I have been very busy but the only addition to this applique is the center block:

This is my design which took quite a while as it was like pulling teeth to dredge this up from my imagination. I wanted something that would represent the 4 season as that is the motif of the tree quilt. So winter, spring, summer, fall fill out the 4 quadrants. It is meant to be an impression of the seasons: holly for winter; acorn, wheat and orange for fall; sweet peas and new green for spring; and morning glories for summer. Each quadrant has its own colors and shape of leaves. I am pleased with how it evolved.

Here is a close up of the embroidery. I did the skep in chain stitch and the bees are silk ribbon embroidery

Next: make the edge blocks which will also be appliqued I think in a vine and the top block which will be about 10 by the width of the quilt (or so? who knows) and will have a sun with rays shining on growth and the cycle of life.

The flimsy of Fields of Flora by Verna Mosquera is also finished. Quilting is next.

This applique has about 50 different fabrics in it mostly Art Gallery and Tilda. I think the border is a bit bland so I am thinking about quilting it in a golden honeycomb and embroider honeybees onto the comb. Here is the stencil. Usually I free motion quilt but I think this pattern will require marks. The individuals combs are about 1 inch.

I bought this pattern from Urban Threads. It is the inspiration for my border plan.

And last but not least...A FINISH!

My version of Yoko Saito's Imaginary Garden, a Quiltmania pattern. She used blue and brown Japanese taupes but, after several different fabric line failures, this is what happened for me. The fabric is Good Vibes by Sue Zipkin. Here is the fabric line-I used about 6 of the different fabrics in this line to make the applique.