Because Quilters (Like RAMONA!) Are the Nicest People, I Am FINALLY Joining a Quilt Guild

I'm starting today's post with a shout-out to Ramona, who blogs about her quilting and other needlecrafts over at Doodlebugs and Rosebuds Quilts.  I have never met Ramona in person, but she is one of the many kind and generous quilters I've had the pleasure to connect with on the Internet through the various quilting linky parties in which I participate.  So Ramona read my last blog post  where I mentioned that I'd given up all hope of finding anymore of the leaf fabric I needed to complete my eight remaining FrankenWhiggish Rose needle turned applique blocks.  And then Ramona, out of the sheer goodness of her quilter's heart, took it upon herself to hunt down my discontinued, out-of-stock fabric and FOUND IT for me on eBay!!!

This Project Has Been SAVED By the Kindness Of a Stranger

Can you believe that?!  Of course you can, because if you're reading my blog in the first place, chances are good that YOU'RE a quilter and you have heart of gold, too.  I cannot even begin to express how grateful I am.  Of course I had done every Internet search I could think of when I first discovered the fabric shortage a few months ago, but at that time I came up empty-handed and it didn't occur to me to keep checking since the fabric was so old to begin with.  I started working on this in 2014, so the "Sandy's Garden" fabric was LONG since discontinued.

YES!!!  New Yardage From eBay Is An Exact Match to My Strip From 2014!

Seriously, you guys -- my heart runneth over.  And Ramona, if you ever need a kidney or anything, please give me a call.  I owe you one!

I'll probably give this quilt another name if I ever finish it, but for now I'm calling it the FrankenWhiggish Rose because I cobbled the pattern together from different sources like a Frankenstein monster.  The traditional Whig Rose applique pattern was very popular with 19th century quilters, there are lots of variations, and I love every antique Whig Rose quilt that I've ever seen.  The quilt pictured below is a stunning example of an antique Whig Rose quilt from the collection of the International Quilt Study Center and Museum:

Whig Rose Quilt Attributed to Del Patterson circa 1895-1905, International Quilt Museum Collection

Isn't that gorgeous?  Quilter Kim Diehl reinterpreted the traditional Whig Rose pattern in 2004 in her book Simple Blessings:

Kim Diehl's Country Whig Rose Wallhanging, from her Simple Blessings Book (affiliate link)

I hadn't seen Kim's original quilt when I started mine, though -- I was smitten by another quilter's adaptation of Kim's pattern when I saw it published in the September 2006 issue of Quilter's Newsletter Magazine:

Joyce Stewart's Village Gardens Quilt, Adapted From Kim Diehl's Country Whig Rose Pattern

So I started with Joyce's pattern from the QNM magazine, but I am not a fan of hearts so I swapped those out for reverse appliqued tulip and leaf templates that I got from an antique quilt reproduction pattern in another magazine, and then I added the stuffed berries because stuffed berries are fabulous, and the broderie perse rose buds that I decided to put around the center of my main flower were because I'd never tried needle turned broderie perse and wanted to see if I could do it...  See?  An arm from this pattern, a leg from that one...  If Dr. Frankenstein had been a quilter, I'm sure this is how he would have put his quilts together, too.  

Anyway, that's where my quilt block came from, and then after making one complete block, I imported a photo of my actual quilt block into EQ software, using that photo to color plain blocks in my quilt design (the same way you'd import a photo or scan of a fabric and use that to color patches in your design).  I like to work this way, making a single block out of real fabric and then using the design software to try it out in different settings so I am sure I really love what I'm seeing on my computer screen before I go ahead and make all of the blocks, especially when it's something really time-consuming. 

My EQ8 Design for My FrankenWhiggish Rose Blocks

When I made my first block, I didn't have a whole quilt design in mind and didn't know whether I'd be making one block or several.  Once I finalized my design and knew I'd need eight more blocks just like the first one, I decided to do them assembly-line style for efficiency.  So, by the time I realized I had nowhere near enough green fabric for all of my leaves, I had already spent hours and hours and HOURS appliqueing the stems, the large layered petals, and the stacked centers onto all eight remaining blocks.  When I discovered the fabric shortage and wasn't able to locate anymore of it, I got so discouraged that I shoved the project in a bin and stopped working on it.

Now, do you understand why Ramona's gesture of kindness, taking the time to hunt down discontinued fabric for a fellow quilter she's never even met, means so much to me?  I am so excited to get this project back in my fingers again!

And the kindness of Ramona got me thinking about ALL of you wonderful quilters that I've come to know online.  My Internet quilting buddies are the best -- when I asked for help, you have emailed me lengthy tutorials, mailed me samples of your favorite products, notions, etc.  Someone made me a beautiful embroidered needle book and mailed it to me from New Zealand when I broke my collar bone in a bicycle accident a few years ago, just to cheer me up -- from NEW ZEALAND!  

And so an introverted, secretive closet quilter named Rebecca ventured forth to last night's meeting of the Charlotte Quilters' Guild, thinking that if quilters from all over the country and all over the world who've never even met me can be such wonderful people, then maybe it's worth the risk of walking into a room full of strangers to meet some of the quilters who live in my own town.  I'm going to have to play hooky from choir rehearsal on the first Wednesday of the month so I can give this quilt guild thing a try...  Wish me luck!

Do you belong to your local quilt guild?  Any advice you'd care to share with me in the comments? 

 I'm not even 100% sure that I know what one does as a member of a quilt guild besides paying the dues and showing up at the meetings.  But for now, if you'll excuse me, I have 128 leaves to cut out of my green fabric!


Today I'm linking up with:

• Let’s Bee Social at www.sewfreshquilts.blogspot.ca/ 
• Midweek Makers at www.quiltfabrication.com/
• WOW WIP on Wednesday at www.estheraliu.blogspot.com 
• Needle and Thread Thursday at http://www.myquiltinfatuation.blogspot.com/  
• Whoop Whoop Fridays at www.confessionsofafabricaddict.blogspot.com 

• Finished Or Not Friday at http://busyhandsquilts.blogspot.com/ 
• Slow Sunday Stitching at http://kathysquilts.blogspot.com/  
• Oh Scrap! at Quilting Is More Fun Than Housework at http://quiltingismorefunthanhousework.blogspot.com
• Design Wall Monday at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts http://smallquiltsanddollquilts.blogspot.com  
• Main Crush Monday at Cooking Up Quilts http://www.cookingupquilts.com/ 
• Monday Making at Love Laugh Quilt http://lovelaughquilt.blogspot.com/ 
• Moving it Forward at Em’s Scrap Bag: http://emsscrapbag.blogspot.com.au/ 

Whiggish Frankenstein Applique Block is FINISHED!

16" Whiggish Rose Block FINISHED!

I finally finished my Whig Rose applique block over the weekend!  Now that the tulips (that look like duck feet) and the stuffed berries are in place, the "rotary phone dial" rosebuds in the center of the big flower are nicely balanced and don't bug me anymore.  I love little stuffed berries on applique quilts, and I centered a tiny flower print on each of these to look like the end of the berry where it came off the vine.

Someone asked after my last post about where I got this pattern.  It's actually my own reinterpretation of Joyce Stewart's reinterpretation of Kim Diehl's reinterpretation of a classic Whig Rose block, combined with tulips from a reproduction quilt pattern that I found in a back issue of Quilter's Newsletter Magazine, plus the stuffed berries that were Bernie's idea (he liked the stuffed berries on the Jingle applique project).  That's why I've nicknamed the block "Frankenstein."  So I can't point you to a pattern that you can purchase to make a block exactly like mine, but if you hunt down my sources you should be able to cobble together something similar -- hopefully with your own personal twist!  You can read more about the sources I combined and adapted for this block in my earlier post here. 

Meanwhile, I am still thinking about how I want to use this block in the quilt I'm planning, but I'm leaning towards either an alternate block layout (blank alternate blocks? pieced alternate blocks?  appliqued wreath alternate blocks) or else some kind of a medallion quilt that would use this block to anchor the outer corners.  So at some point next week I hope to get started with prepping at least three more blocks just like this one. 

I'm linking up with Slow Stitching Sunday at Kathy's Quilts and with  Design Wall Monday over at Patchwork Times, and I'm looking forward to seeing what others are working on this week.  Maybe I'll get some ideas for my Whiggish Rose project!  Have a wonderful Monday, everyone!

Evolution of Applique Inspiration: Kim Diehl's Country Whig Rose Pattern

Country Whig Rose pattern by Kim Diehl from her Simple Blessings book, photo by Martingale

So, do those applique blocks look familiar to anyone?  Today I stumbled across Kim Diehl's original Country Whig Rose applique pattern, from her 2004 book Simple Blessings (which Martingale just rereleased in 2013, available here).  This is the pattern that inspired Joyce Stewart to make her Village Gardens quilt, the one I saw featured in the September 2006 Quilters Newsletter magazine:

Now that I've found Kim's original pattern, I can see how Joyce changed the pattern by adding a third layer to those large flower petals, changing the orientation of the leaves and berries on those little twig branches, and altering the proportions of the stacked circles that form the flower center.  She also chose to set her blocks on the diagonal and added those little bullseye appliques at the block intersections.  If you look carefully, you can see that Joyce's flower petals are more curved in the center rather than pointed like Kim's were, a detail that really appealed to me for the country French vibe of my inspiration fabric from Vervain.

Now in my version, inspired by Joyce's quilt, I've swapped the hearts out for vintage style tulips, added some berries, and am changing up the flower centers as well, adding berries or seeds or whatever in an outer ring:

My Version: No Hearts for Rebecca!

I'm thinking of setting my blocks straight like Kim's, but with alternate "blank" blocks for some special quilting.  What do you think?  Both Kim's and Joyce's quilts have a deliberate American country folksy appeal.  I'm going for more of an antique quilt style, like this gorgeous Whig Rose quilt that I found on Pinterest today:

Whig Rose variation by Lavinda Rudicil Rubottom, circa 1865

Kim's pattern was of course originally inspired by the many surviving 19th century Whig Rose applique quilts, of which Lavinda's quilt is just one variation. 

Of course, if I REALLY wanted my quilt to look like an antique, I would have used a solid white background fabric and a solid emerald green instead of insisting on combining as many print fabrics as I could possibly get away with.  Ah, well -- I seem to have an aversion to plain white fabric.  I'll have to work on that.  Anyway, I thought it was neat to see how this design evolved from Kim's original concept to inspire other quiltmakers, especially since I had only seen Joyce's quilt when I started designing my own version. 

Coincidentally, I discovered that another quilt blogger is currently using Kim Diehl's Country Whig Rose pattern in one of her current projects.  Click here to see how Karen of Quilts... etc. is using this applique pattern as an alternate block with red and black 9-Patch blocks.