Rose of Sharon in the Cabin
 

Most of my blocks are from Sharon Schamber's Rose of Sharon blocks, I did find a few on this site on a BOM before I discovered the Rose of Sharon Book. It started out as a guild project called Log Cabin Sampler from Carol's Collectibles 1993. I don't like piecing and the pattern had a couple of applique blocks. I went south for the winter 2011 and just kept looking for applique I could adapt to fit the blocks. I finished most of the applique last winter, I didn't take my machine and really enjoyed the quiet sewing. It will be a very large king size as we have one of those really deep mattresses that you can't buy a duvet wide or long enough for. I have hand quilted these blocks, 22" square, and will put them together with sashing when I am finished the other 10, then I have a sashing for each side of the log cabins. I had a friend who really thought I should send it out to a LA. I just wasn't ready to part with the project and kept seeing it hand quilted, after all of that hand applique I just couldn't turn it over to be machine quilted.

Wow that's some gorgeous appliqué.

You do great work! The quilt will be beautiful and your applique is outstanding!

very nice applique quilt....

OOPs Sharon Pederson on Sharon Schamber Sorry!!!

I especially like your quilting... it fits the entire theme so well! Wonderful job all around!

That is so gorgeous. Oh how I wish I could applique. Ten thumbs up!

That quilt is stunning. A showstopper!

Oh, my dear...they are quite remarkable!! Simply lovely!

Awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

what a beautiful, stunning, amazing quilt you should be very proud of yourself

What a lovely combination of the two styles of 'blocks'. It will be stunning when done!

Stunning work! Just beautiful.

those are just gorgeous!

omgoodness, great quilt

Beautiful handwork and quilt...! Love it!

Your quilt is absolutely beautiful, the details in the applique look perfect. That is a true work of art.

Whew, I totally agree that this is gorgeous. And I agree with your decision to hand quilt rather than long arm. It's truly stunning.

Beautiful ..... I hope one day I might aspire to create as wonderful quilts as you have

That is AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

These are so beautiful. You did a wonderful job. I have just discovered the joys of needle turn applique and your posting is an inspiration. I love your fabric selections as well. Please make sure you post a picture when this beauty is completed.

very beautiful

It is so gorgeous. I like the handquilting. I am a longarmer. Only a custom job by a really experienced longarmer would do this justice.

Awesome.....Simply beautiful.

wonderful quilt, I love it.

Your applique is awesome and this will be one beautiful quilt when you have it completed. I would not send it to a LA either because I think it deserves the hand quilting and if your hand quilting is as beautiful as the applique then it will be a gorgeous addition to your home. Thanks for sharing
Pat

Your applique is awesome and this will be one beautiful quilt when you have it completed. I would not send it to a LA either because I think it deserves the hand quilting and if your hand quilting is as beautiful as the applique then it will be gorgeous. Thanks for sharing
Pat

I love applique and the log cabin is my favorite block. I love the way you incorporated the 2 together! Makes for a stunning quilt. Love the colors you used also. Beautiful quilt, you should be very pleased.

My compliments. This is quite spectacular!!!!!

Very pretty, awesome appliqué.

Beautiful just beautiful~!

WOW. wow!!! wow!

Exquisite! Hand quilting is the only way to go with this beauty!

Very, very beautiful and creative. Your applique is lovely. I hope you'll show it again when you have finished it.

Your work is beautiful! Such great precision , color choices, and pattern. This is going to be one of my favorite quilts posted this year.

This is so beautiful! I can't even imagine what a show stopper it will be with 10 more blocks. Fabulous work! Don't forget to show us when you finish.

As everyone else said, BEAUTIFUL!!

I have a couple of questions though. You are hand quilting blocks, so when you put them together with sashing is it like a "quilt as you go" method of putting it all together? Also, is the white fabric a batik fabric also? I would think that batik's would be hard to hand quilt through or needle turn applique with, since the thread count is so much higher. Can you share the experience of doing this on batiks and if you needed to use a different needle, etc?

Such a stunner!

Suzanne

you do beautiful work its beautiful!!!

Applique is my favorite. The next favorite is log cabin. What a winner you have.

Suzanne, yes it is a quilt as you go method I'll be using. I think the method taught by Ann Peterson-Quilting Big Projects on a small machine, will work, it leaves only two 1/4 inch seams then sewn together so only a half inch sash that are already layered with batting- then I don't have to add any more batting. I'll use the same fabric as the outside of the log cabin so it shouldn't show too much- except where the white tails meet. The white fabric is a marble I bought at the local Fabricland, it has a rusty mottle in it which you can't see on the photo, it is a perfect match to the cabin blocks. Some of the batiks are very difficult to needle I used Clover Black Gold #10 Applique needles, they are wonderful! The tightest batik of my choices was a solid rust colored one. It took me 6 weeks to struggle through on one of my blocks and it didn't make the cut when I decided which ones to use-it just didn't needle turn the way I wanted it to. The others were ok with the black gold needles, I did retry that rust colored fabric when I discovered these needles but it was still to dense of a weave. many of my applique fabrics are not batiks but have a similar look. I picked up a quarter yard of coordinating fabric where ever I went last winter in my travels so I had a lot to choose from.
The mottle needles very nicely, I've been doing a bit of quilting around the centers of flowers and it is difficult, but there isn't a lot to do on each block. I'm quilting SID on the batiks and my stitches are a bit larger than they are on the mottled fabric probably 7 vs 10. The quilt police are welcome to tackle it if they don't like the variance:)
I have fallen in love with this project, I have a few others going and ones I want to start but just can't leave this one alone. I had surgery a month ago and this has truly kept me from going stir crazy, I'm not a person that can sit and do nothing. I'm still very weak, I had a Nissen Fundoplication for severe GERD, I am living on very few calories as the swelling goes down and I relearn to swallow soft foods. We will be home this winter as I won't be able to get health insurance so I should have this done by spring at one or two blocks a week:)
I have to give credit to the Penny Haren Applique group on this board, without them I never would have tackled applique, even though I was intrigued and kept looking at patterns. The challenge really taught me a lot and gave me a love for it. I prefer needle turn to the PH technique but they both have their place.
Thank you all for your kind words.
Ruth