Hey, Let's Appliqué!!
Posted by Sheri Howard on Oct 16th 2015
Please welcome Sheri Howard to the blog today for our continuation of National Sewing Month!
Hi! I am Sheri Howard, and I am excited to be here on the C&T blog and to tell you about my book Pretty Petals: More Fantastical Designs. If you like flowers, you will love this book; if you like flowers and appliqué, you will love it even more. The main Pretty Petals quilt has 12 blocks, which make a great block-of-the-month project, and don’t forget the four appliquéd borders. I love those!
My love of flowers inspired the blocks for Pretty Petals, and my love of the colors in a 1960s Prang watercolor set and a box of 24-color crayons was the jumping off place for the colors. The blocks are large and easy to appliqué.
Every flower block has a small snippet about a memory or encounter I’ve had with that particular flower and asks what memories you have. Take the Carnation block: I love how pink carnations look and smell, and their color and fragrance often lasts longer than other cut flowers. But I also like them because they were in several of the prom corsages I had while in high school. Oh those were the days…a prom, a boy, a dress, and a corsage! Who was your first prom flower from? What was your favorite prom corsage?
Each block can be put together in a group of four to form a kaleidoscope quilt. I used the Iris block for this quilt.
A women in our town told me her iris garden had over 95 varieties. I was intrigued, so my husband and I drove out to her house and had a little tour. She showed us all the different kinds and spoke about each one like it was one of her children. Many were world-class, and some had even won national awards. She had little sticks by each variety with its name and what year it was made famous. They were so fragrant—it was a lovely iris garden! Whom do you know who has irises in their garden? What varieties do they have?
This effect is my favorite, and any of the twelve blocks can be a kaleidoscope! I don’t know how old I was, but I remember that the first time I saw a kaleidoscope, I was mesmerized by it, and I if I ever see one in a store I pick it up and look through it. Maybe you do, too!
You may already know about my other books, Ruby Red Dots: Fanciful Circle-Inspired Designs, or Not Your Grandmother’s Quilt: An Appliqué Twist on Traditional Pieced Blocks. They too are available through C&T. Yes, all my books are appliqué since that is my passion. Perhaps it can be yours, too! The winter months are upon us, a perfect time to sit and APPLIQUÉ!
“Just living is not enough. One must have sunshine, freedom and a little flower.” –Hans Christian Andersen
Happy quilting!
Want to win a copy of Pretty Petals? Enter our giveaway here: a Rafflecopter giveaway! Only open to US residents; winner will be announced one week from today.
Congratulations to JoAnn W., winner of this giveaway! We're sure you'll have a blast sewing this beautiful appliqué!
