Winter's Finally Arrived on Applique Day

Today we woke up to a beautiful, post-card picture perfect snow.  The snow settled only on the grass, trees and shrubs; all the streets and sidewalks were bare and dry.  I didn't get a picture before it melted, but it reminded me of a Currier & Ives drawing.  Since we have been having Spring-like temperatures so far this year, it was a jolt to leave the house early with 32 degrees temp registering on my car. Brrrr. I was heading to my monthly applique meeting (The A Team).

Our topics today were not strictly applique, but still applicable to quilting and forms of embellishments that can be used on applique.  We learned about Sashiko, it's origins, supplies and saw examples of the many different designs used.  Terry J. was the leader of this discussion and she brought her beautiful quilt showing the different techniques discussed.  This is a Sylvia Pippen design shown in her book "Paradise Stitched, Sashiko & Applique Quilts". Terry bought this as a complete kit with all the thread and fabric included along with the pattern.  It was truly a work of art.  I wanted to come home and start making one just like it.  I have a thing for butterflies and these were made with marbleized fabric.  They looked as if they would just fly off the front of the quilt.

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Next we saw many examples of Crazy Quilting (blocks and small quilts) which is Barb W's speciality. She uses many different embellishments from beads, buttons, charms, multiple threads, tatting, fringes, and many more too numerous to mention.  Barb also demonstrated several ways to secure seed beads and antique buttons onto a quilt surface. Darn, I was so enthralled with the discussion, I forgot to take pictures of  Barb's beauties.

Our last topic was a technique to quilt and embellish in one step as illustrated in Linda Pool's book, "Quilt & Embellish in One Step!" by C&T Publishing.  I took this class but did not finish my piece yet, but my friend Linda R did.  She was kind enough to lend me hers for the meeting. 

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All in all, we learned a lot of new techniques and enjoyed the morning.