block 20 and beyond

Block 20  is done. I really enjoyed the berries/cherries and the chainstitch embroidered stems and stayed up ridiculously late last night just to finish them off.

My eagle centrepiece is complete and I'm quite pleased with how he's turned out.  This measures twice the width/height of the other blocks.

This exuberant eagle has been taken from the cover of Crib Quilts and other Small Wonders by Thomas Woodward & Blanche Greenstein (1981). (Hmm maybe I should have got the iron out.) 

Sweetest little birds perched atop tiny trees, with the mandatory floating pot plant (as they do).

Next up and prepped ready to start today, another deviation... a super dooper Princes Feather from Bill Volckening's glorious Mary Couchman Small (1800-1863) album quilt (with permission, thanks Bill). At the moment it looks like 4 whirling Christmas stockings, but check out the original - if mine is half as gorgeous I'd be happy.

marching to the beat of a different drummer

Always one to be a bit of a rebel, I've decided to go my own way with this quilt.

Because I have aspirations in 2011 to make (or at least start) a "Mary Manakee" style album quilt in red and green, alternative colours were selected for my version of BTCT.  Hence the blue/brown/red colourway with a variety of oyster backgrounds.

Looking through the patterns already published and those to come, I'm not in love with all of the blocks, and so have chosen to deviate from the path and do things a little differently from the original.

Instead of a 25 block quilt mine will have a centre medallion 4x the size of the blocks (ie 34x34"). 12 blocks will surround the medallion, followed by a border.

So...here's a little peek at my centre...obviously there's quite a bit to do, but this eagle has caught my eye!! (from Woodward and Greenstein's Crib Quilts.)

PS. He looks to be swamped, but I've cut the background extra large because I'm still deciding on options.

pineapple history

Hi bloggy friends,

I'm enjoying this discussion regarding pineapples, and look forward to sewing the pineapple block, but in the meantime thought I'd share a little history.

Many antique quilts sport pineapples - often appliqued or in the quilting design itself.  Traditionally pineapples mean hospitality.

The pineapple as an almost universal symbol of warmth and hospitality has its origins in Spain (“pina” after the pinecone), where villagers placed the fruit at the entrance to a village to welcome visitors.

This symbolism spread to Europe & North America. It is said that in New England ship’s captains would impale a pineapple on their porch railing to announce their return from a voyage and signal that they were accepting visitors.

In colonial America, hostesses would set a fresh pineapple in the center of their dining table when visitors joined their families.

Visiting was the primary means of entertainment and cultural exchange, so the concept of hospitality was a central element in colonial life.

The pineapple, then, symbolized the warmest welcome a hostess could extend to her guests, and then often it also served as the dessert for the meal. If the visitors spent the night, they would be given a bedroom with a bed in which pineapples had been carved on either the bedposts or the headboard -- even if that was the master bedroom.

Creative food display became a competition among the hostesses, because it declared her personality and her family's social status. Hostesses tried to outdo one another in creating memorable dining events. 

 

Colonial grocers sometimes rented pineapples to hostesses desperate to create a dining experience above their financial means. Later, once that hostess had returned the pineapple, the fruit would be sold to more affluent clients who could afford to actually buy and eat it. Regardless of ones financial ability to actually buy and eat the pineapple, however, visitors to the homes that displayed the pineapple felt particularly honored that the hostess had spared no expense to secure one in their behalf.

 

How fortunate we are that pineapples are now so afforadable!

making a start

Last Sunday morning was spent preparing my background squares for BTCT. Self discipline lasted long enough to get about 15 cut, squared up and pressed into quarters, before the lure of applique took a hold. After reading some posts about needing to squeeze the pattern onto the background, I elected to cut my squares a little oversized, then they'll be trimmed down later.

This is Block 4 but my first, not interested in doing them in order! I really liked this block and enjoyed the gentle curves of the oak leaves and the fine bias hooks.  Not too time consuming either, one afternoon and two evenings, I can see it feasible to get 1-2 made each month.

button, button, whose got the button?

I love learning something new, it only took, err, a few hours fiddle but it's finally working.  If you like it grab the code. If you would like to make any changes let me know.

<center><a href="http://beyondthecherrytree.blogspot.com/"><img src=" http://lh5.ggpht.com/_AZa6vUdMICY/TMoj-hoMLeI/AAAAAAAAAcg/UH0r3anLEdI/button%20graphic.jpg" /></a></center>

Add a HTLM/Javascript gadget to your page design, copy and paste above code and it should appear.

Kate's channelling the geek today!

Now, back to more important stuff - sewing.