Fleur d'Lis Quilt w Silk Needle Keep

Hand stitched Hardanger Table Runner

This is another of my early reproduction hand applique projects.

My thinking at that time was - repeat the petals will be great practice!  The three tips have to come together, and the petals have points.

Thank goodness for fabulous border fabrics!
    (Tulips - I used to live on Tulip Street)

This is a little walnut sewing chest about 15" long with double doors on top that swing open.

Could use a little repair...think I'll leave it for now...

The needle keep is silk with hand stitched silk ribbons that tie it closed.  The silk has shattered in a few places.

Very accurate hand sewing - fine stitches so evenly spaced.  Someone took a lot of care to create the beautiful silk needle keep.

The interior is a lofty wool.  The lanolin in wool is thought to protect steel pins from rust and provide lubrication.  However, I have also read the wool needs to be raw to retain the lanolin(?).

I see no evidence that a lining fabric was covering the inside.

The outer silk covering is wrapped to the inside, and stitched with the tiniest of feather stitches.

I've been making a pair of pillow cases for each quilt I complete.  One gets folded inside before storing, the other I use to store the quilt.

In this example I used the extra backing fabric and some other coordinates for the cuff and trim.

This way when I look at the shelving in the store room I can identify each quilt.  There are several I have still in labeled white pillow cases.  One of these days I'll share a photo of the storage area.

This is my full quilt.   Hand applique, machine quilted with silk thread.   I used a large variety of stripes in the sashing.  The binding is the red strip from the vertical sashing.

Pattern:  Fleur d'Lis
Lewis & Clark Vol. 2
Quilts Inspired by Bird Woman
By:  Terry Clothier Thompson
It's a nice book just for the reading and illustrations too!
"Along with the projects, we include writings from Lewis & Clarks journals and stories about the expedition. Dozens of drawings and sketches of animals and plants found on the journey"

I think the photo in the book has 49 blocks and no border.
If I ever made it again I would make it even more scrappy and not match the petal fabrics to their square centers.



My applique improves with each project - and each project has been a bigger undertaking...
Are you working on any hand applique this month?

Have a great week!