Erica's Stitches

The wildflower parts of last weekend are now stitched down. They look more like flowers now. The echo quilting makes them jump off the fabric. Now they are ready for binding.

I've been cutting out flower pieces.  Last August I appliqued some Harebells .  I wanted to do a bunch of other wildflowers and somehow never got around to it.  That's what new years are for - getting back on focus. This time I'm working on Mexican Hats and Penstemons.  Right now it looks like flowers have exploded in my quilt room.  These flowers have a lot of smaller pieces so I'm not sure how they will quilt up.  I do know that they will definitely need the stems to give them some shape.  That's next. Looking at the scattered remains of my morning session I'm getting ideas form more quilt blocks.  Some of the shapes created by cutting out the flower shapes very are interesting.  

After a slow start, the harebells have been giving a spectacular show this year. They have inspired me.  I've been photographing and drawing them. I've also been working on an appliqued harebell quilt. So far I've stitched four small samplers playing with different fabrics and stitching styles.  So far I'm happy with the results.  Even the backs are turning out nice. Now I'm working on some other flowers to applique.  And trying to decide how to put them all together.

I've been making wings and bodies for butterflies. I don't do much applique.  I prefer piecing.  But sometimes a quilt just needs some applique.  I kept telling myself throughout the whole process ... "It's only four", "It's only four" ... The butterflies are to go with the Dresden Plates which are now Dresden Fans.  I didn't want to cut them, but now they lay flat. I arranged the fans every which way and I liked this configuration the best.  I had four empty squares to fill.  I looked through quilt pattern books and books of 30's quilts to find something suitable.  Nothing pieced looked right.  When I saw a quilt with appliqued butterflies I knew I had the solution. I created the appliques using the starch and press method and machine sewed them down with a straight stitch.  I'm going to hand buttonhole over the top of that in black.  That's why I bought a whole spool of perle cotton a few weekends ago. I have a feeling th...