Saturday, July 01, 2006

July and August - a summer of applique


July was definitely my favourite month - the 'A' word - applique - yippee!

Mind you as is always the case it's difficult thinking of subject matter and I do recall pondering long and hard before the idea of these swirls with leaves and berries sprang to mind. The swirls are done in home made bias tubing - the same as I use for my celtic knotwork and then each leaf is popped on afterwards. I used a tea plate as the pattern for the curves and an English 5p for each of the pink berries










When it cam to August I think the organiser felt sorry for us after putting such an unpopular challenge as applique in for July (not for me of course but no-one else seemed too thrilled)

She suggested that as most of us would be holidaying in August that we could have 'Stripes' for that month's challenge. Some people did a piano key border others made shapes or blocks from striped fabric - I didn't know what on earth to do until I spotted a pinkish lilac bamboo hoffmann print on ebay. I bought it and cut it across the pieces of bamboo in narrow borders so it looked like stripes - easy and simple

However once I'd popped on the thin striped borders I felt that the deeper pink one between them and the July applique looked a little bare so decided to take it away on holiday to our holiday cottage with me and worked in the evenings for the whole fortnight stitching a trail of 'lilac pennies' meandering over the pink border the whole way round. I can't remember exactly but I think there are in excess of 200 of those pennies all stitched by hand with freezer paper on top. I do love applique and as you can imagine by the end could almost do those pennies blindfold. I recall feeling quite disappointed when I came to the end and felt in no way applique'd out.

So onto September and a house move hot on the heels ...........................

9 comments:

Tracey said...

The "a" word ain't as bad as it seems now is it? :o) You did a *fabulous* job on this, Anne. Applique is so relaxing to me as is any hand-work.

Have a wonderful day!

KC Quilter said...

What a Beauty with a capital B!!! Your work is so exquisite. I'm so glad to have found your blog a while back--it is so inspiring!

Fiona said...

A little while ago I said you were a one woman quilting machine - change that to applique machine. Your work is just so lovely.

kcdi said...

Anne, I am so amazed at not only your work, but your ingenuity as well! Very impressive! I am the exact opposite of you, give me piecing and point matching anytime instead of applique. Perhaps I would feel differently if I had someone like you teach me how easy it can be.;)
Kimberly

kim said...

The dots are amazing! I love the way it helps move the eyes around. I only dream of doing even half of what you are able to accomplish. I second what kcquilter said- you are inspiring.
:-)

Patty said...

Absolutly beautiful Anne ! I love the celtic knots in the center. Reminds me of my girls Irish Step Dancing dresses. You out did yourself. Its really gorgeous.
With all the wedding preparations I have been slow in checking blogs and leaving comments : (

Tonya Ricucci said...

You've gone dotty! Quilt top looks great and I particularly like those pennies. Very fun.

Judy said...

Every section just gets more and more amazing!!

The Calico Cat said...

I love the way the pennies dance around that border.