Sentimental Stitches

Clutch and I can get lost for hours looking for and sewing the hidden stitches on the Cherry quilt. There aren’t any special quilting designs hidden among the pineapples on Block 3 but I did do some fabric investigating trying to get a better idea of what the original colors looked like.

Oh my gosh!!!

I just finished saying there weren’t any hidden stitches on Block 3 but when I went to Flickr to get the picture link ……………… look closely at the left side of the photograph.

Do you see it? There’s half of a star design quilted on the left side of the block.
I looked and looked at that section of the quilt and never saw it until I looked at the photo tonight.
If you don’t see the designs, click on the picture and it’ll take you to the Flickr version with note squares around the stitching.
I think I better start checking the block photos before opening my mouth next month!

Okay, now back to the fabric we were talking about.

The print fabric used on two of the pineapples was a small scale seaweed print almost the same as one of the prints in the Dear Jane Fabric Collection from Windham Fabrics. It’s print 23879-5. The Dear Jane fabric does look more like the color of a pineapple to me but it’s too golden if you’re matching the original fabric.
You’d think out of the 5000 yards of fabric that must be in this house I’d have one print close to the original but I haven’t found a single piece. I’m now on a hunt and will let you know what I find.

I can’t make myself mark on the quilt with a pencil or marking pen but I don’t mind “frog stitching” some of the applique to look at the back of the fabric. When I was in Shipshewana I think my treasured friend, Barb Perrin nearly fainted when I pulled open some of the red, green and yellow applique in Yoder’s so we could match the solid colors. We did pretty darn good. The fabrics were all P&B solids if I remember correctly. Don’t worry, I’ll applique the pieces down again.

You can see the original print was a tiny, cheddar seaweed design on a cream background. You can also see how much the green fabric has faded.

In the other two pineapples a soft, solid yellow fabric was used. I couldn’t see any difference between the front and back side of the fabric but I believe it was much brighter when it was new.

You can download Block 3 – HERE

This was Dec. 1, 2008 – It’s hard to believe it’s been a year since I was hauling water up and down the hill at the cottage waiting until we closed the Traverse City Items Boutique. On Dec. 16th I will have been unemployed for 1 year.

I’d rather think about the Beyond The Cherry Trees quilt rag!