Baskets, Berries and Leaves

 

Finally, after more than three years, Baskets, Berries and Leaves is finished.

 

 

Needle turn applique and hand quilted.

 

I used Valdani pearl cotton #8 for the hand quilting.

 

This was a 1998 BOM from Jan Patek and Alma Allen. 

I think Jan still sells it on her website.

Quilting....

 

Here's my hand quilting progress on Baskets, Berries and Leaves.

 

A minimum of very prim quilting, mostly outlining the applique.

 

This way I may be able to finish it soon and use it for a summer quilt this year.

 

This is the quilt that broke my leg a few years ago. 

The quilt is so large that I had to get up on a ladder

 to pin the two border sections together to make

 sure they lined up right, lost my balance,

fell and fractured my femur. 

I did get those borders lined up though.

Thanks for the comments on Jim, very much appreciated.

 

 

 

 

 

Baskets, Berries and Leaves

 

Baskets, Berries & Leaves by Jan Patek and Alma Allen.

I finished the top back in 2014 and I am finally ready to quilt it.

Needle turn applique.

 

It's big....very big, king size so I had to push all the furniture out

of the way to make room to lay it out to baste.

 

I'm hand quilting it using a variegated Valdani thread in golds and browns.

May take me awhile.



Baskets, Berries and Leaves

 Who would have thought I would be back working on Baskets, Berries & Leaves. 

Too great of a quilt to think bad karma, but I did think to find a safe way to line up the borders and applique.  The top border has been added, needs the corner swags and I'm appliqueing the bottom border now.

Won't tell you how long it took me to drag the quilt outside and pin it to the clothes line.  I'm getting around better every day with my cane, but am very, very careful, especially outside not to lose my balance or trip.  Can't over do either or my leg reminds me.

 

Funny as in odd, the picture with no snow, even bits of green grass, not even terribly cold.

 

Remembering our Veterans on this special day.

 

The First Border

I have the swags appliqued to the first border.  Lots of time going up and down the step ladder to get the placement correct.  There is a stop border that I need to sew to the main quilt which is why the border is longer than it needs to be for now.  I'll finish the applique on the birds and such in the border in the next few days and then I'll make myself take the quilt down from the wall and sew those borders.

Yay!

I still need to sew those three blocks to the rest of the quilt, but dang if I didn't get it done.  I changed the applique on the last block after going back and forth about adding my initials and the date.  I'm pondering my plan on where to lay out the borders for measuring and placement before I get started on the first one.

A female Pronghorn behind the house.  She was with a small herd, about four fawns, but one of the fawns was limping so I didn't want to scare them with the click of my camera.

Wool Vines and Another Block

Yep, only one more block to go. 

I received the vine roll from Cathi, very pleased with the soft wool and colors.  I will cut the width of the strips down just a best for some bold vines that I want to put in a quilt. 

Another Block....

Another block from the BOM, Baskets, Berries and Leaves finished and a view of the quilt hanging over the closet doors.  You can tell how big the quilt is getting in reference to the rest of the room.  I'm going to go back and add more applique to the basket.

Baskets and you know the rest

Another block completed on the BOM, three more to go and then on to the borders. 

I'm handquilting the Collector Series when it cools off at night.  I don't have air conditioning, but have had some severe storms the last few days, lots of hail, enough to cover the ground and look like snow so it has made the evenings very cool and worth sitting under a quilt.

Baskets, Berries and Leaves

A beautiful day to show off my progress on the Baskets, Berries and Leaves BOM.  I think I've already said how much I love working with such large applique, the blocks are 20" square, such a bold look and definately one of my favorite older Jan Patek designs.

I guess you've seen that Jan will be offering a kit for the Eagles & Roses quilt that I like so much, pondering that purchase. 

Glad you all enjoyed the pics of my little squirrel.  He's very unusual in his antics, rolling in the dirt when he sees me.  I guess he's excited that the nuts and seeds are coming and now lettuce. 

Baskets, Berries and Leaves Progress

I'm working on another block from Baskets, Berries and Leaves, had to show this pic when I noticed I captured a smidge of Sidney's face.  She's sleeping just outside the open window.

My favorite background in this quilt so far, a rusty orange with black stripes in a brushed cotton by Brannock and Patek.

Lots of berries to applique.

Hoping my code for Bloglovin gets inserted into this post so I can start changing everything over. 

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Progress and Critters

My progress on the next block from Baskets, Berries and Leaves.

A little one enjoying the shade under the trees next to the house.

A view of Yellowstone and a herd of elk grazing on the slopes.  Nice to see the grasses turning green.

Baskets, Berries and Leaves, Blk 4

I finished the fourth block from the BOM.  This block is called Berries and Leaves.  Simple block but makes a big statement, quick and easy even with the small berries.

I was watching the ewe as she kept slapping the water in the pail with her hoof.  I have no idea why they do that, in the winter I thought it was to break the ice away, but now, I don't know.  Over the years they have broken all the nice cement bird baths so this is the best they get now.  She's a mess, still shedding her winter coat. 

Baskets, Berries and Leaves, Blk 3 and Critters

I completed block three from the Baskets, Berries and Leaves BOM.  The background is a brushed cotton, a pumpkin colored check from the Moda Basic Woven line.  The sun is making that background look a bit lighter than it is.  I was too impatient to wait for the sun to drop behind the mountain.  I was wanting to try a hike before I got too tired. 

The big horns, grazing and feeling good after a very long winter.  The red collar looks even bigger on the ewe as she sheds her winter coat.  I guess she doesn't mind the collar, but it still looks like they used part of an old Folgers coffee can.

Thanks so much for all the compliments on my wool mat in the Primitive Magazine.

Baskets, Berries and Leaves, Block 2

Block two from this BOM completed and hanging to give me a visual for the next block.  The backgrounds of these two blocks are from an older line from Moda Basic Wovens in various shades of orange with lines or checks. 

I hope to complete the entire quilt, even the border, in a year since the needle turn applique method takes more time, but needle turn seems to suit this quilt and the design. 

My heart goes out to those affected by the Boston tragedy. 

Baskets, Berries and Leaves BOM

After several attempts to start this BOM from Jan Patek and Alma Allen, the first block is done.  I decided I needed an applique project for my hands while I bounce back and forth from the sewing machine to hand quilting. I'm using the needle turn applique method.

The blocks are large, as in 20" square large.  I'm using Brannock and Patek fabrics that I have been collecting over the years just for this quilt.

A closeup of the first two blocks.

Baskets, Berries and Leaves, by Jan Patek and Alma Allen

 Last night I was looking for an orange plaid homespun for an internet friend, have had this drawer full of all things orange or orange/red for Baskets, Berries & Leaves, a BOM from 1998. 

 I intend to make it someday.  I have been collecting those fabrics since 1998. 

I must have got side tracked, thinking you won't make the whole quilt and made one block into a wall hanging.  The design is one that has to be made, so I hold on to those fabrics.  I will make it.

So I had one more place to look for fabrics, some boxes in a closet. Didn't find the fabric.  Instead I found of box of cards and letters from long ago.  Of course some were from Jim or the cats, he would write for the cats.

I dream a lot. And I often dream about Jim as I did last night. I woke myself up this morning singing the song from Dirty Dancing, "I've Had the Time of My Life."  The cats were looking at me with a strange look that cats can have as I belted out that song, probably because I can't really sing, but it felt good.