Bountiful Baskets Applique State Flowers

A few years ago I started making P3 Designs Bountiful Baskets, by Pearl P. Pereria. The basket blocks all had the same basket, but each basket contained a state flower that represented each state. The quilt also had one large center block and the basket blocks surrounded it. Well the whole quilt was way too large for me to want to make it, but I really liked the little state flowers in a basket. I didn't want to make all 50 blocks, so decided I would only make the blocks of flowers that I really liked the best and some of those blocks happened to be where I had lived or visited.

I made 16 blocks in total. I machine blanket stitched around the applique pieces and added some hand embroidery touches to each block. Then the blocks sat for a couple of years as I wasn't sure how to set it into a quilt. Recently I had an idea about making each block and backing it with another block so it would look like I had 8 blocks instead of 16, and hanging it like a mobile. I tried to hang them from a round ring, but that didn't work well as it was hard to get it balanced and when it moved all the strings just kept wrapping around one another. So I decided a bamboo rod would be better to hang them from. As they gently move, you can see the back side of each block. This is hanging in my bathroom across from my sink in front of a window. I really like it and since wall space is getting scarce, I needed to start hanging from the ceiling, lol!

I added a narrow inner border and recently decided on the outer border when I knew this is what I wanted to create. All the fabric that I used for the outer borders was fabric I had painted one day when I was playing around. They were 2 different painted fabrics I used and the colors were painted differently. The painted fabric looks so much better in smaller pieces like this.

Here are 8 of the blocks. The very last photo I have turned the blocks so the other 8 show. It was hard to photograph as a mobile without having the blocks moving around, so the wall kept them still for their photo shoot.

I am showing each block and then a closer look at each so you can see the machine and hand stitching. This is the Sego Lily from Utah.

Sunflower from Kansas. I just liked this flower, so I made it. I never lived there or visited, but I love sunflowers!

Oregon Grape Flower from Oregon. I lived in Portland, Oregon as a young child for a few years. My younger sister was born there. These also grew well in Washington and we had some there.

This is the California Poppy from California. I remember seeing lots of these growing wild as I grew up in California.

This is the Rhododendron from West Virginia. Never lived or visited there, but just liked this flower. Having lived in Washington, I saw lots of Rhodies.

This is the Wild Prairie Rose from North Dakota (as well as from Iowa). Never lived or visited either of these places, but I like the flower. Plus I have a friend who has the last name of Prairie.

The Black-Eyed Susan from Maryland. Never lived or visited here either, but I had a grandfather who was born in Maryland. I have a friend named Susan too, lol. Love these flowers.

This is the Yucca Flower from New Mexico where I have lived for the past 20 years.

The Hawthorn Flower from Missouri, my birth state.

This is another Wild Prairie Rose from Iowa. (I showed the one form North Dakota earlier above). 

This is the Violet from Rhode Island. New Jersey also has the Violet. I have been to NJ once, but never to RI. I like this flower.

This if the Columbine from Colorado. I have visited Colorado several times.

The Orange Blossom from Florida. I have never been to Florida, but growing up surrounded by orange groves in Southern California, I saw and smelled the wonderful sweet scent of the orange blossoms! All those orange groves slowly were made into housing developments, many while I lived there in the 60's.

This is the passion Flower from Tennessee. I simplified this applique by not adding a lot of hand embroidery in the center of the flower. So that is why it may not loo so much like the passion Flower. I have never been there before.

Apple Blossom from Arkansas. I have never been to Arkansas before, but have seen many apple blossoms when I lived in Washington.

The Coast Rhododendron from Washington, where I lived for 17 years and where both of my children were born. 

These are the flowers on the flip side of the ones in the very first photo.

On some of the white background fabric I had used a glow-in-the-dark fabric and since this is hanging in my bathroom, it acts like a night light with some of the backgrounds glowing.

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Tropical Flowers Lap Quilt

My daughter loves tropical flowers (so do I!), so when I saw this panel, I asked her if she would like me to make her a lap quilt using the panel. She said yes she would like a lap quilt (I have to ask first, because sometimes she doesn't like what I make for her and I end up getting it back)! I thought of how I would cut apart the flower blocks and what I would do to create the top using the blocks. I wasn't sure what I wanted to do. The panel had 16 flowers with black separating each flower. That black didn't look good and was too harsh looking. But since I thought I would cut apart the flower blocks, I wasn't concerned with the black because in the end it wouldn't show. Well since nothing really came to me as to how to create this quilt and the size of it was about right as it was once a border was added, I decided to fuse the orange/yellow batik fabric over the black that was in between the flowers and blanket stitch the new sashing in place. It looked so much better with the orange/yellow batik fabric as it really picked up those colors in the flowers. Then I added turquoise batik border and had a long arm quilter quilt the quilt in a Plumeria pantograph. I really like how this turned out and so does my daughter. (Thank goodness)!!!

Ah, Plumeria flowers (known as Frangipani in some places of the world); I can almost smell their sweet scent. I loved seeing the trees covered in these beautiful flowers when I was in Hawaii years ago. I love the pink flowers as well as the yellow flowers.

Hibiscus flowers are so pretty too.

I think this is and orchid of some kind. 

Bird of Paradise. I remember we had these growing in our yard when I lived in California.

The quilting pattern is called Plumeria and was a perfect choice for this quilt.

Plumeria quilting design.

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Craft Show Vendor Apron

I made this craft show vendor apron to use for when I am selling my bags and quilts at my quilt group's annual Outdoor Quilt Show in April. The quilt show is today, so I will be wearing the apron for the first time since I made it about a month ago.

There are several pockets including a zippered pocket and a business card pocket. It is a very handy apron to have.

This was a tutorial from Crafy Staci. I made some changes on my apron. I sewed my zippered pocket and the flap pocket differently than Staci instructed. I also interfaced some things that she did not. I added a Velcro closure to the flap with a decorative button to make access to the pocket easier than trying to fiddle with buttoning and unbuttoning the flap. I like this apron and I am sure it will be so useful for the show and for other times when I want to put my tools in the pockets when I am working on other crafty things to have easy access to them.

The long narrow tie will wrap around to the front to tie, or can also be tied to the back in a large bow. I prefer to tie from the front. I also like the narrow tie as I think it stays tied better than a wide tie. I find the wider ones work their way loose too easily, but maybe that's just me?

A cute sewing machine button decorates the flap. There are pockets for a little notebook and pens too.

Another sewing machine button on the business card pocket. I also added some rickrack around the pocket and my label.

The zippered pocket is perfect for holding cash and checks and keeping it secure.

Instead of a fabric loop here, I used a hair tie instead. The hook will hold my key.

This is the back side of the apron. I really like this fabric too and it's a shame it is hidden on the back.

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