Quiltingboard Forums - Bluebird on the Garden Gate Quilt

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Oh my! This is beautiful! I have 2 large wall mount racks in my large,large living roon and it would look great on one of them. That is if she decides not to like this! Ha! Oh, maybe I could store it for her. HA!

OMG It is beautiful. How did you do those flowers?

Wow you did a great job on this. Love, love the hollyhocks.

Oh my this is absolutely awesome.

Wowser! That is one gorgeous wall quilt.You have a very lucky sister.

Have you done broderie perse before? This looks absolutely perfect. Such a great way to create a stunning applique picture.

It's so pretty. It looks like a painting.

Bluebird of Happiness

Quote:

Originally Posted by BuzzinBumble (Post 5835456)

My SIL asked me to make her a quilt tailored to a specific space, color and theme. (Aaaaccckk!)
It needed to be 27 by 36 inches, the theme - a bluebird in a garden, and she gave me a decorative plate to use to pick the colors she loves.

It took some searching for fabrics that had the right colors. The fabric I used for building the hollyhocks is done in a technique called broderie perse applique, where you cut out a motif from one fabric and applique it to another background. I posted a picture of that at the end. It isn't fabric I would have ever wanted to buy otherwise. I also used Inktense pencils to add a little bit of realism, highlights and shadows to the appliqued shapes. Dawn (sewnsewer2) made the beautiful label for the back.

This is absolutely beautiful...
I so wish you were my SIL...I want this so badly....You are a master quilter..Love pours from this gift you
made her...Bless you ...
Amazing gift you are blessed with...

so beautiful, it looks like a painting!

Gosh .... I am so amazed at the wonderful and nice things you all have written. Thank you for such a boost to my confidence!

Quote:

Originally Posted by rvsfan (Post 5839913)

OMG It is beautiful. How did you do those flowers?

Broderie perse applique has been around a long time and was traditionally done by hand with needle turn applique. I had never even heard of it until KrisB told me that is what I had done in a quilt I made for her in the Doll Quilt Swap. I prefer raw edge applique, although I hope to learn needle turn.

Here is a brief description of how I did them:
1. First you find a fabric that has design elements you would like to cut out and use.
2. Next, saturate the fabric in heavy starch and let it air dry. Then iron it nice and flat. It needs to be very stiff. The starch helps prevent fraying and makes it easy to cut out.
3. Cut out your design elements. With all that starch it's almost like cutting out construction paper.
4. Play around with the layout of these elements on your new background. Once you are happy, glue them on with a regular school glue stick. I like to photograph the layout and then work on one section at a time. Too much jostling makes the fowers fall off, as the glue stick hold is not permanent.
5. Lastly, using either smoke or clear invisible thread, machine stitch around the edges of each shape, adding definition to petals as you go. I found out the hard way on the bluebird that you need to use a smaller needle, or needle holes will be too apparent.

Hope that answers your question rvsfan.