HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME:)

Another year passes and 

how do we mark them?

This year has had many 

challenges and one was all

my work cancellations.

As October approached, 2

contracts remained and both

groups decided to go forward.

So the day before my birthday

I taught one of my favorite

workshops ever, 

Fabric Collaborations

to the 

Florida Sewing Sew-ciety up

at the Lake Yale Baptist Center

near Leesburg, FL

.

Beautiful setting and a 

FABULOUS group of ladies.

They really took my inspiration

and made it their own.

Below is Margaret Travis and 

her sister, Marie.

Margaret is known for her Fabulous 

Cheerleading in our industry!

On my actual birthday, I spent 

the evening showing off the 

LADIES to the 

Ladies of the Lakes Quilters

in Lakeland, FL.

They loved them almost as

much as I do:)

I was somewhat apprehensive

getting back out with the 

new little coming to visit.

Thankfully most were very 

understanding of wearing masks.

I received lots of wonderful gifts 

from family and friends including

fabric, a salon tray for upcoming

filming assistance and ….

This sweet little

 (ca 1940s??) machine &

This Awesome book about

the Colonial Williamsburg

textile collection!

Four Centuries of Quilts

The reason I was so excited

is that back in 2018 I was 

privileged to stitch with some

of the volunteers on this quilt (above)

as they reproduced it for the 

house displays around the property.

When I received the book, I 

was able to find the exact 

quilting diagram of what I 

had been working on.

Nerd here finds that

very exciting:)

So, HAPPY HAPPY

BIRTHDAY to 

all the October kids and

Thank you to everyone

who reached out to make

me feel special!

 

Keep quilting:)

Well-Loved Ladies QAL: Pomegranate

Welcome to Block 4.

The photo above is a portion of 

a circa 1860 quilt in my collection.

The quilting is straight lines about

1/2" apart along with echo in 

the leaves and fruit.

Also fun to note that the cheddar

insert is pieced in NOT

reverse applique' as I had

originally assumed.

My first exposure to pomegranates

was from my grandma.

She loved breaking one open

and giving my brother and I 

a section in a small bowl.

We would watch tv with 

her and suck the pulp off

each little seed.

Very fun for a child!

My quilter did a linear layout

with poms going in 

different directions.

Pomegranates were one of 

those exotic plants coming 

into the US as early as 

the mid 1700s.

I am fascinated by the origin

of words and so this

name comes from a mix

of medieval Latin and French

to describe its shape and color;

pomum "apple" and 

granatum "of a dark red color".

So let's talk Pomegranate or 

Love Apple variations!

This design is highly recognizable 

from the large roundish shape

usually in red with a sliver

of cheddar peeking through

to represent seeds even

though the seeds are red too:)

Here is a variation from

The Christ Collection book

America's Applique'd Quilts.

A phenomenal collection to 

get your creative juices going!

The Shelbourne Museum has 

this lovely in its collection.

SO many leaves and vines, OH MY!

Barbara Brackman, Queen of

design indexing, has 10

variations in her Encyclopedia

of Applique' book.

ASSEMBLY TIPS

Once you have folded and creased

your block for alignment and use

the triangle pots for stem/

pomegranate alignment.

You will notice that my 

triangles come 1/4" into 

the design where the side 

petals get sewn into 

the seam allowance.

IF you are a seasoned 

applique' quilter, you 

could very easily reverse

applique' the center gold. 

Come quilt along with us

as we learn about the quilts

that inspired my 

WELL-LOVED LADIES 

SAMPLER PATTERN

FULL PATTERN

Available HERE

Pomegranate TEMPLATES ONLY

HERE

My Well-Loved Ladies lecture is

where I showcase the 

variations of designs and 

it is exciting to announce that 

this lecture will become available

in ZOOM format in 2021

for so many more guilds to access

and see all the lovely details.

ADDITIONAL READING:

The links below go into more depth about 

either the history of the plants if you are a 

gardener OR the history of the quilt block. 

Barbara Brackman will blow you away

with all the variations she has accumulated!!

ENJOY~

Barbara Brackman

Barbara Brackman 2

Origin of the Pomegranate

LEAVES

I love designing them, 

looking at them, &

making them!

Sometimes getting them just 

where I want them can be

a bit tricky so here are a few 

tips for better alignment.

Remember nature isn't perfect

and we don't have to be either!

Here is my traced

leaf with my lines going

way beyond where my

template would have been.

I do this so that I can 

measure 1/4" past the

point for my seam allowance.

To place leaves, put a pin

straight through at the seam

allowance point and into the

vine where you want 

them to meet (top pic).

Rotate the pin up until

leaf is aligned, glue baste 

in place, remove pin and

you are ready to stitch

(bottom pic).

I always stitch into

the point where the leaf

meets the stem first so that

if the alignment isn't perfect

I can fix it now before 

I get too far into the project.

If I find that it didn't meet 

exactly the way I would like, 

I can always use the thread to 

add a few stitches between the leaf

and the vine to connect them

(pic below).

Almost unnoticeable, right?!

Perfect:)

KEEP STITCHING &

Join us over on my FB

group, Robin's Rocking Needles.

Sweet Persimmons

I have never had a persimmon 

and maybe I should try 

one now that I have named 

a quilt after them:)

New in the November

issue of AQ Magazine

meet Sweet Persimmons.

This sweet design started 

out in a 30s rendition.

Once I started thinking in Autumn

colors, I came up with this palette.

Still really like it and may have

to put this grouping to work

in another project!

Looks great, right?

Sometimes I can't see past my 

own vision but I also had 

this Sandy Gervais print sitting

around that I had been wanting 

to use in something....

Voila'! 

Pull some colors right out of 

the print and it is the perfect

assembly of color for this project!

When I started this, I was preparing

to help my daughter after the birth

of our first grand child so travel

hand work was appropriate.

The pic above shows alignment

for needle turn curves.

The pic below shows turning under

my edges to assemble the berries

before applying to the background. 

Here I stitch on a leaf.

Wow, my lighting was 

all over the place.

IF you own a rotating mat, 

it is the perfect way to trim

4 half-square triangles blocks

at one time by cutting 2 sides, 

rotate, cut 2 sides, etc. 

until finished.

Time to quilt.

I free motion quilted this 

sample myself...WHAT??!!

I used my freezer paper leaf

templates to create more

leaves that I could add 

swirls into the center

(bottom of pic).

When done quilting, 

you need a label:) 

I really like using a square 

of fabric folded in half 

and sewn into a bottom 

corner seam allowance.

The size of the square

depends on how much

you want to write.

This was 2 scraps of fabric

sewn together for an 

approximate 4-1/2" square. 

Thank You again, AQ for an

amazing layout!

It is Awesome!

Well-Loved Ladies QAL: Oak Leaf

 Welcome to Block 3.

The photo above is a portion of 

a circa 1900 quilt in my collection.

The quilting is a nice job of 

outlining the applique' and adding 

a larger leaf in some of the open areas.

Everywhere you see white leaves

and vines used to be green but 

the synthetic dyes of the day

sometimes faded away completely.

Again we see the familiar rosettes.

My Well-Loved Ladies lecture is

where I showcase the 

variations of designs and 

it is exciting to announce that 

this lecture will become available

in ZOOM format in 2021

for so many more guilds to access

and see all the lovely details.

So let's talk Oak Leaf variations!

This design is usually recognized as

oak leaf and reel.

I purchased this one because

I was looking for inexpensive

examples at the time.

The large 4 block layout

was also attractive to me.

These blocks measure 36" each.

Along my studies it has been

suggested that this leaf could

also be a watermelon leaf 

or  tobacco leaf.

Barbara Brackman, Queen of

design indexing, has some 

variations in her Encyclopedia

of Applique' book.

Watermelons were in the US

by the 16th century so very possible.

I definitely see the shape in my leaf

to this leaf with the open center.

We all know that tobacco was a 

big US crop so that leap isn't

far fetched either.

There is always a lot of discussion

about how variations occur.

Quilter #1 sees it in nature

and while showing her design,

quilter #2 decides she can make 

that too.  Before you know it

the telephone game has begun 

and no 2 look alike and actually

start to take on their own identity.

Fascinating don't you think? !!

ASSEMBLY TIPS

Once you have folded and creased

your block for alignment, 

pin the center square to 

help align leaves and vines

correctly.

IF you are a seasoned 

applique' quilter, you 

could very easily reverse

applique' the center gold. 

Come quilt along with us

as we learn about the quilts

that inspired my 

WELL-LOVED LADIES 

SAMPLER PATTERN

FULL PATTERN

Available HERE

Oak Leaf TEMPLATES ONLY

HERE

ADDITIONAL READING:

The links below go into more depth about 

either the history of the plants if you are a 

gardener OR the history of the quilt block. 

Barbara Brackman will blow you away

with all the variations she has accumulated!!

ENJOY~

History of Watermelon

History of Tobacco