
On
this page:
My
First Appliquéed Quilt
Teapots
Celtic Table Runner
Cabo San Lucas
Gazebo
Hummingbird Quilt
Dragonflight
Spring Daffodil
I've been intimidated by and interested in appliqué for a long time. I finally screwed up my courage and machine appliquéed this quilt in 1995. I used a pattern for most of the dogs, but I designed the Doberman myself and made other changes that would reflect the dogs I've known and loved. They are in an Attic Windows setting to give them their own spaces. The dogs are echo quilted by hand, and they have a supply of dog biscuits quilted in the borders. The pattern I used was called "Family Dogs," created by Critter Pattern Works, and the quilt is roughly 45" x 44".


I like tea, so when I saw the pattern for this quilt, I just couldn't resist! This was done using the same technique as for the dogs. That is, the pots were fused and then machine satin stitched. However, instead of hand quilting, I machine quilted this piece. It was only the second time I'd done free-motion quilting on the machine, but the quilt won a blue ribbon in the 1998 county fair. What a lovely surprise! The quilt measures 34" x 32".

And here's a detail of the center teapot:




This is not only appliqué;
it's
also drappliqué!
I
took a class from Pam
Holland at Quilt Camp in the Pines in July, 2005,
and her technique combines machine appliqué with drawing on the
fabric with special pens to make the fabric look the way we need it to
look. The quilt is entirely machine appliquéed and quilted,
measuring 19" x 23". I finished it in September, 2005. I didn't
actually do that much quilting, since the appliqué was combined
with the quilting in the main part of the piece. The wide border is
quilted in a stylized wave pattern.

And here is the
photo that inspired the
quilt:







Dragonflight
After
a machine appliqué class from Sharon Schamber, I used her technique to
make this small quilt. It's a gift intended for my eye doctor, who has
gone above and beyond for the past few years to get my eyes to work in
a more normal fashion. The dragon on the quilt came from a pattern by Carol Bruce,
and I added double corded piping between the quilt and the binding. I
machine quilted the piece using a variegated thread in shades of
lavender and raspberry to do feathers, small pebbles and flowing lines.

Here is a close-up shot of some of the quilting:

Spring Daffodil
This quilt is the result
of the class with Sharon Schamber on machine appliqué; I took it in
order to be able to make the Dragonflight quilt, above. I didn't have
enough fabric to make binding, so I experimented with making a facing
instead, and I'm quite happy with the result. I began the quilt in
July, 2008, and finished it in March, 2009. It is entirely machine
appliquéed and machine quilted on my home machine, and it measures
approximately 16" x 29".

Below are a couple of close-up shots of the quilting. I used lots of feathers and several different styles of stippling to make the feathers show easily.
