Sunday, August 21, 2011

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!


17 comments:

  1. Dawn, another beautiful quilt. I might do some applique this week. I leave for a retreat on Wednesday and I am not sure what I will pack.
    I love the tip about two pillow cases.

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  2. Lovely quilt, Dawn! How big is it? I love the border and the stripes you used for the sashing. Will have to check out that book. The pillow cases are a great idea!

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  3. Your quilt is wonderful; you are too hard on yourself. I think the blocks are just as nice as the border. Terry Thompson has some great books out, but nothing lately, does she? I took a class from her in Indianapolis. What a wealth of quilt knowledge.
    Love that you make pillowcases to match your quilts, and to store them in. May I borrow that idea?

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  4. What a great idea, making pillowcases that match.
    Your quilt is beautiful

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  5. You capture my heart with Fleur d'Lis first thing this morning. That's all it took to begin to turn me around. Thanks for the giving.

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  6. oh I love your quilt I have seen this pattern in another book that I have bookmarked to make some day
    love the tulip border and the significance of it
    what a great tip to make pillowcases to store the quilt in and be able to identify the quilt easily
    thanks!
    Kathie

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  7. What a beautiful quilt! The hand applique looks wonderful! I love hand applique. Not that I've done it in a long time. But I love it. I also love how you store your quilts -- how clever to make pillow cases to store your quilts in! Now show off that storage room! :D

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  8. Great minds think alike...making a pillowcase to match my quilts is as close to organization as i get! Love your quilt. I am doing some applique on a Halloween quilt this month.

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  9. This is a wonderful quilt. And I love the pillowcase idea. Definitely share a photo of the storage area where the pillowcased quilts rest!

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  10. Although you would make it another way now, I still find you have a wonderful quilt and the border fabric looks great.
    Yes plase, I would love to see the storage place :-).

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  11. Lovely quilt---Your hand applique is fabulious! A treasure for sure.

    Thanks for sharing :) Carolyn

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  12. Oh my! what a gorgeous quilt! You have done a brilliant job of putting it together and the borders, lovely choices! Just exquisite in every way!!!! I love the Needle Keep as well, very unusual!! A lovely post Dawn!!!

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  13. Lovely quilt, Dawn, gorgeous pattern that I would love to make one day.......making a pillowcase to match the quilt is a great idea!
    Julia ♥

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  14. Dawn - I love that border fabric! How come I don't have that one? Lovely quilt.

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  15. Gorgeous!
    I am working on some hand applique, but nothing as fine as this - nice prim stitches for me *s*

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  16. I just love your quilt and all of the stripes in the sashing.

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  17. Dawn, I like it just the way it is.

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Thanks for your comments!