This my Block of the Month quilt project from
the Venice Area Quilters Guild that
I belonged to when we lived in FL.
I started in it 2004 when I was first learning to quilt.
Each block represents something special about life there in Venice, FL.
Every block was an entirely new learning process for me,
from general piecing, applique, paper piecing, fusibles etc.
Starting at the top row, left hand corner:
1. Sailboat at Sunset:
The background is a hand-dyed fabric by Mickie Lawler,
the Queen of hand dyed fabric.
I bought that swatch at my first Houston Quilt show.
The sun is fused in place & then satin stitched
around with gold metallic thread.
The bottom row of blue & white is made
up of the pattern called "Ocean Waves".
2. Crab Claws:
The middle block in the top row is called "Crab Claws",
to represent the abundant seafood in the area.
3. Heron at Sunset:
The other half of my precious (read "expensive")
hand dyed fabric was used for this background.
The heron is fused & stitched & has fluffy yarns
hand sewn into place for its feathers.
It also has a sequin for its eye.
Since this photo was taken,
I have fixed his missing leg that
got lost in transit.
Center Row:
4. Flip Flops in the Sand:
You can see the *trapunto*...Italian for stuffed effect better in the photo below:
This block was done as raw-edge, fused appliqué
with machine blanket stitch.
The background fabric actually looks
just like sand with footprints in it.
5. Quilt Basket:
The little town of Venice, FL has one quilt shop,
called "The Quilt Basket".
This block pattern is painted on her front window.
Debbie, the owner, was very involved & supportive of the quilt guild &
allowed us to hold our board meetings in her classroom.
Of course, we always bought something that day, too!
6. City Block:
This block, representing all the little shops in downtown Venice,
is entirely paper pieced!
It has a million little quarter inch seams all over the back.
There are little machine embroidered flowers along the front
that don't show up very well.
There is also a free standing, thread painted pot of blue flowers
that I did on netting, in a round hand embroidery hoop,
beneath the quilting foot, with the feed dogs dropped.
You move the hoop with your hands to draw the picture!
It was from a class with Nancy Prince, who does spectacular work!
http://www.nancyprince.com/
Be sure to look through her quilt gallery....AWESOME!
Bottom Row:
7. Ocean Waves:
This was a difficult block to do & I,
sadly, had to cut off some of my points
in squaring it off to fit the rest of the line.
I love the blue batik fabric that I used for this &
continued it through out the rest of the quilt.
8. Thread Spools:
I thought I was being sooo creative to use a narrow striped fabric
to depict the threads on these spools.
When I got to the quilt guild meeting
to turn my block in,
I learned that almost everyone else
had done the same thing!
We always made 2 blocks,
one to keep & one to donate to the raffle.
You handed in your block as you arrived
for the quilt guild meeting &
several gals would pair them up into batches
enough to make another quilt or two &
then names were drawn that night.
Whoever won, got all the blocks to make herself a quilt from them!
9. Turtle Block:
This is my favorite block in the whole quilt.
The head & tail are 3-dimensional & lift up from the surface.
I had to make sure his head was pointing downwards,
otherwise it flopped forward!
Back side of the turtle block quilting below:
It was my first time doing curved piecing!
Thankfully, I watched Ruth McDowell on TV
right before I started it & she has lots of great tips.
The blocks handed in of this turtle were hilarious!
Someone put a pearl necklace on hers,
another was done in hippy/psychedelic color prints,
another in pink!
What a hoot!!
This is my set up for sewing on binding
as well as all those ruffled tulle layers
when I do pettiskirts.
Wait till you see the Halloween tutu I just made!
The quilt was laying over my sofa &
the morning light really showed up the beautiful job
of custom quilting that the long arm quilter did on each block.
I grabbed my camera & while I know
these are not the best shots,
it really helps you to see all the different
patterns that she used to quilt this with.
Thanks for sharing this walk down memory lane for me.
The 10 yrs. we spent in FL were wonderful &
I'm glad I now have this finished quilt to remember them.
I'm joining Susan at
Between Naps on the Porch
for her
