I am excited to be a part of the Dust Off a Quilt Book Blog Hop by Beaquilter today! I went searching through my quilt book stash and found one from the year I graduated from high school...it's old enough I think. Here's a hint...
Circles of the East is based on traditional Japanese Family Crests. The funny part was that the book had post-its marking the ones I liked....many years ago. Guess what? My taste hasn't changed much. I picked one of the marked patterns.
I didn't want to make it as large as the book said, so I played around with it on my scanner and in photoshop. You can see that the design is a flower with butterfly antennae coming out. When choosing fabrics I of course dug into my pile of Island Batiks! I am an Ambassador for Island Batiks and I simply love working with their fabric. I also chose their gray solid to use as the background.
Here's the first round of pieces all stitched down. I do blanket stitch applique as it's my favorite.
You can really see the stitches on the back.
I decided to do something different with my circles in the middle of the flowers. I used suede. Yes, you read that right. There is an advantage to using leather. It doesn't fray! I also decided to add some more circles outside the design. I think I'm a glutton for punishment. Those circles were not large.
Next came the quilting. You may ask why the quilting stops....wait for it...
The batting is Hobbs Tuscany Silk. I love how it drapes and find it works well for minis. It is of course quilted with my favorite Aurifil thread.
And the back...keep scrolling! It's worth it I promise.
Ta da! I did a scalloped binding. This binding is 1/8 inch wide and it was a real trick to do those inner points. NEVER AGAIN (though I did say that two years ago too...I guess this technique just has to age for me to try it again!).
And the back.
Here's a list of the participants in this blog hop. Be sure to visit them all.
Monday Feb 18th
Turid at densyendehimmel (it's me)
Pamela at Pamelaquilts
Joan at Moosestashquilting
Anne at seems like a plan
Susan at Desertsky Quilting
Selina at Selinaquilts
Kathleen at Kathleenmcmusing
Tuesday Feb 19th
Cindy Stitchin at home
Jennifer at curlicuecreations
Stephanie at stephjacobsondesigns
Kathy at Kathysquilts
Wednesday Feb 20th
Sharon at Vrooman’s quilts
Suzy at Websterquilt
Nancy at patchworkbreeze
Karrin at karrinscrazyworld
Denise at craftraditions
Thursday Feb 21st
Anita at Domestic Felicity
Leanne at Devoted Quilter
Jennifer at Dizzyquilter
Carla at Creatin' in the Sticks
Lee Anne at Podunk Pretties
Andree at quiltinglearningcombo
Lyndsey at Sew Many Yarns
Friday Feb 22nd
Bea at Beaquilter
Barbara at Bejweledquilts
Laura at slice of pi quilts
Sherry Powered By Quilting
Pat at Life in the Scrapatch
Carol at Just let me quilt
Kathy at Kathy's Kwilts and More
Marian at seams to be sew
Brenda at songbirddesi
I hope you get to quilt today!
Suzy
Gorgeous! I am so impressed with your blanket stitch, but so perfect on those tiny circles.
ReplyDeleteThis is gorgeous! Love the quilting!
ReplyDeleteI have to say, you tackle some of the trickiest stuff and pull it off. I've done scalloped binding, and those little corner turns are a challenge, much less with an 1/8" wide binding! Yikes. It is an absolutely beautiful piece, Suzy.
ReplyDeleteYou are a glutton for punishment doing all these curved bindings. The upside is that they look amazing.
ReplyDeleteanother gorgeous one! and you're the queen of applique and awesome quilting!! and rounded edges!! love it all
ReplyDeleteThis is really stunning and your quilting just makes those shapes pop. Love it!
ReplyDeleteThis is just awesome!
ReplyDeleteGorgeous with lovely quilting!
ReplyDeleteThis is an amazing piece of art. Your quilting is awesome. Great work.
ReplyDeleteWow! Absolutely stunning.
ReplyDeleteVery cute! Have a great day! :-) :-) angielovesgary2 atgmail dotcom
ReplyDeleteOh so beautiful! Love the scalloped binding. Well worth the effort!
ReplyDeleteYour machine applique and quilting are beautiful. Love your project.
ReplyDeleteVery pretty and your quilting is superb.
ReplyDeleteWow!! You did a spectacular job on the pattern chosen from your book. Your quilt is simply stunning!!
ReplyDeleteAgain, you just amaze me with what you create!!
ReplyDeleteI love this, my favorite thing to do is applique
ReplyDeleteWOW!!! WOW!!! WOW!!! So beautiful - love everything about it.
ReplyDeleteWOW! There are so many things to love about this little quilt...the colours, the precise applique stitching, the incredible quilting and that binding, too! Well done all around :)
ReplyDeleteSimply equisite! ♥♥♥
ReplyDeleteHi Suzy, your piece is really stunning! That is really beautiful FMQ.
ReplyDelete