After an evening of reverse applique at the September Flowerpatch meeting I really wanted to carry on practising the technique. I'd been reading a lovely book by Gloria Loughman "quilted symphony" and felt inspired by her use of pattern within landscapes.
This is my take on Caradon an amazingly beautiful man-made landscape in SE Cornwall, sculpted by quarrying and mining in the past. It measures approx 12" x 9".
It's one of my favourite places to walk and I always take lots of photos whilst there.
I started my wall hanging by drawing the curved horizontal lines on paper and, using Gloria's method, traced them onto freezer paper in reverse. I ironed this onto the different fabrics, trimmed and folded the top edge over the freezer paper to make a hem. Then they were sewn down in order starting from the top and sewing along the top edge with the blind hem stitch on my sewing machine.
The triangles and "circles" and lines were done by reverse applique, tacking various coloured fabrics behind the main landscape.
Here are some close up pictures of the applique and stitching.
I extended the mustard yellow landscape area into the border binding after sewing on a tiny flange of the orange fabric. See this post on how to add a flange insert.
Life is Good - Anita x
At Flowerpatch Quilters we like nothing more than spending an evening surrounded by old quilts. Especially when they are accompanied by their very knowledgeable owner Sara Price - The Quilt Lady.
Sara started by showing us a quilt that had been especially made for a four poster bed with the corners cut out to accommodate the posts at the foot of the bed. She explained why some of the colours in the quilt had faded more than others as the quilt would have been originally made with very bright cottons and chintzs. The greens and purples are fugitive dyes and readily fade whereas blues remain strong. This quilt was made by the English Paper Piecing method and I hadn't realised that sometimes the "papers" were intended to be left inside the quilt. Only 5 minutes into Sara's talk and I've already learnt a lot!!
The next to be shown was a small folded log cabin - each strip was really narrow. Sara thought the design made by the positioning of each block to be very unusual and would love to know if it has a name.
There were a lot more quilts to follow including one which was made by a Cornish soldier in India. This wasn't done on papers, but the squares were barely 1" and it may have been used laying on the floor of a tent.
A silk and velvet tumbling blocks
A four patch scrap quilt in Springtime colours made by an 80 year old lady.
and many, many more.
The final quilt that Sara showed was a "Red Cross" quilt. These were sent from Canada to the UK during the war and given to those in the greatest need. You can read a little more about these on this Quilters Guild website page.
All in all a fascinating and friendly evening - thank you so much Sara.
Our next Flowerpatch meeting is on 13th December at Cowslip Workshops, when Jo will have us doing some exciting sewing in the cafe. Please bring along sewing kits.
Happy Stitching - Anita x
