bridal quilt well underway. Hand sewing in an air conditioned
room is my recipe for the summer heat.
Experience is the best teacher for me and, this, my latest
applique effort is the culmination of all those that have gone
before. First off, I do not like white or pastels. All my
appliques are colors of nature, midtones, mottled, marbled,
tone on tone and speckled. Small and oddball pieces and colors
saved especially for the purpose. As a background I have used
ecru, tan, camel and pale blues and greens. With the advent of
such marvelous marbles, speckles and batiks, I have gravitated
in that direction. With this new work, I used as the central
medallion a ground of very pale pink on pink in florals and swirls
which reads as a pale solid from a distance and dove grey as the
succeeding rounds between the heavily pieced borders of fuschia and
teal.
Though I have never used pink to any great degree, I am thrilled
with the effect of the contrast of the peach, deep lavender and
deep rose flowers and the true green of the leaves and vines upon
the pale pink and dove grey. I can visualize the use of pale peach
ground and every shade of orange flowers, pale lavender ground and
every shade of purple irises and tulips and a rosy beige ground with
all deep roses to fuschia. Truthfully, I would never have chosen
these combinations, and certainly not pink, except that I had them
on hand and used them experimentally. Who knew?
Whether I like it or not, my natural inclination at my present stage
of quilt development is to visualize almost all that I do in a medallion
setting. So many years of blocks and squares seem to have become
tiresome. So, yes, I’m making an original medallion quilt of country
style floral motifs with leaves and vines with the central motif and the
succeeding rounds separated by intricate pieced borders. And I’m enjoying
every air conditioned minute of it as the minute pieces gravitate everywhere.
Photos to follow in the Fall.
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