Wednesday, June 18, 2008

rebekah's quilt square

Here's my first quilt square for the Common Threads virtual quilting bee. This one is Rebekah's.

I used all three fabrics she sent, but one stood out to me. The red background with black mushrooms seemed to scream for a little embellishment. I cut the piece so the part used in the upper left had the detail print and the lower right corner had only the black mushroom shapes. After sketching a bit on paper, I came up with something I thought was the same style as the print and embroidered details in red perle cotton floss.

Since a lot of time would be spent on the embroidery I needed to keep the rest of the design simple. Based on the inspiration quilts that Rebekah provided us, I went with something "wonky" and geometric. I have to agree with all the other Common Threads quilters who have said that wonky isn't easy. I was so worried that I'd mess up the wonky part and run out of fabric that I drew it first, cut out the shapes and pinned them for a pattern. I think that may have been first time jitters too. Seems I'm not the only one of us afraid to cut into the fabric when it arrives.

All in all though, this was a lot of fun. I got to work with fabric that I don't have in my stash, try out a few new ideas and stretch myself a bit. In fact, I was so excited when I'd finished the square that I mailed it off without taking pictures and had to send a semifrantic e-mail to Rebekah asking her to take a photo for me. Thanks, Rebekah! Hope you like it.

8 comments:

Unknown said...

I really like the embellishment. I think you did a great job! I didn't even think of that as an option, and it looks wonderful!

Lunden said...

Your block is terrific!

jacquie said...

Very fun block. Love the stitching! What a great idea!!!

abcgirl said...

great embroidery! what a perfect accent.

A Spoonful Of Sugar said...

Great block - love the embroidery embellishment - it looks really effective!

Oiyi said...

Your quilt square is fantastic! I didn't get any of the mushroom fabric to work with.

www.oiyi.blogspot.com

Rebekah said...

this block is so cool and the embroidery adds the perfect touch! Can't wait to get started on the real quilt :)

Susie Sunshine said...

It's fantastic! How fun to see you getting all wonky!