The Splendid Sampler IV

Just before I left for Israel there was a block with a lot of embroidery.  At the same time, Massdrop was having a special on wafer thin light boxes. I ordered one.Here is my old lightbox, as in over 20 years old. When I actually worked as a textile designer a light box was a must. A very large one was a must, I was doing repeats by hand (no regrets there, I can tell when someone just plugged their pattern into a repeat program).

Well This box takes up a lot of room, and these days when I want to use it, I usually keep it on the floor and sit hunched over it, really not fun. So of course I placed an order for a smaller lighter one.The frog is for size reference. This is what I just got.Since I no longer do textile design repeats by hand, I also didn’t need as large of a surface, so I chose the 12.” x 9″ ‘box.  I took the old one to Goodwill, it’s not like I was going to get any money trying to sell this old behemoth.Back to the embroidered block I went, I enlarged only the flowers, cut out the vines, the leaves the bugs and the butterflies.  Really, it’s a 6″ block, there will be 100 blocks in this quilt, simplicity and paring down are my new buzz words.I love hand embroidery, like knitting, I find it very soothing.

The organizers have admonished people for deviating from the patterns. Well, when it’s a pieced pattern, simply how one places the fabrics can make a world of difference. When it comes to embroidery, I figure, a little editing is like my fabric choices, so I edited down the embroidery.I really like my end result. I posted it on the Splendid Sampler FB page and got quite a few compliments and no complaints.

A few days later, another block, this time an appliqué bunny holding a tulip almost as big as him. (he was a he, he had a waistcoat on). Did I mention I’m getting picky? With the bonus blocks that have been offered, I will be able to pick and choose and not necessarily use all the hundred blocks being offered. There are already a few others I’ve made that I will probably eliminate. So instead I went into my stash of Sublime Stitching embroidery transfer and I found this wonderful owl. I prefer owls over bunnies, I also prefer embroidery over cutesy appliqué.

LOVE this owl, both the making and the end result. There already are a few more blocks with embroidery, so I think the over all affect will be fine.  I am not sharing this block on the FB page – this really has nothing to do with what the designer offered.Meanwhile in the piecing categories, the orange triangles were a very interesting method. I like this block.As well as this one.This Dresden plate is appliquéd onto the background, I like this kind of appliqué. The designer included some circles on some of the blades!  NO! I understand, it is so easy to add just one more element.  I want a pleasing overall quilt, I don’t want a messy compilation where one can’t see the forest for the trees.I have 29 blocks here, I’m sure the placement will change, there will be smashing between the blocks, but I’m still happy with what is happening here.