Lemon Tree Tales

Mary's Peacock Quilt

Last year Mary P sent me an email sharing a picture of her version of my free peacock applique block (here). She said that it was going to be the center block for a round robin that she and her friends were running. Well it's now a year later and her top is finished and has been returned to her.

 

Wow, am I impressed with the talent of her friends. Christine G added the little scallop border to the peacock block. Then Becky R (with a little help from Andra R) added the lovely applique vine border. The french braid was from Mary E. While Mary R (boy, they had a lot of Marys on their team!) created the white and blue border. Finally the last border of 10-minute blocks sewn with peacock fabric was thanks to Debbe S. The ladies did a fantastic job of bringing the peacock block to life. Thank you so much Mary P for sharing this with us! You and your friends have created a beautiful quilt that you'll treasure for a long time.

I'm so happy to see how many people have used the peacock applique. And remember, if you use it I would love to see what you've created. And if you're looking for the peacock pattern, it can be found here.

Peacock Wall-hanging by Alma

For one of my swaps I made a peacock applique quilt block and liked it so much that I offered the design as a freebie on my blog in January 2009 - here. I asked that anyone using it to please send me a picture of it so that I can see how they interpreted it. Just the other day I received an email from Alma W. in Arkansas with this absolutely stunning peacock wall-hanging. I just had to share it with everyone too. (Alma kindly gave me permission to share her pictures with you.)

Look at all the fabrics she used:

And the bedroom set that inspired her to make this wall-hanging:

with matching pillows:

and a matching curtain valance:

Here's what Alma has to say:

I normally make doll dresses, and why I took a notion to spread my wings into quilting I will never know LOL  Well I guess I really do, I was all excited about getting a new Janome sewing machine this spring after losing mine in a tornado, and while I was researching machines I saw a yahoo group for Janome owners and joined.  There are many quilters in the group and the beautiful projects they were working on got me interested in tackling one.  I've been sewing since I was 14 (Home Ec in 1959) but only clothing and curtains.  My first ever quilt this spring was a pastel floral for my room, then decided to make something new for the guest room which my plans were to do in blue and yellow to match some oil paintings I did back in the 80s.  I had bought the purple/blue geometric print just because it was so striking, then looked at it a couple of weeks thinking how pretty it would be to put in a quilt.  I found an inspiration quilt on flickr that looked like it would be beautiful in jeweltones, then rummaged around in my 'stash' of fabrics bought for doll dresses,  and found 5 that seemed to harmonize with the geometric.  One thing called for another - the purchased dust ruffle didn't look right (different fabric, different color of white) so I split it and added the band of quilt fabrics.   Then made the valance to match the dust ruffle.  Copied some of the bedspread design into the pillows.  The wall hanging was an afterthought - I couldn't find any kind of framed print with the right colors and after seeing how gorgeous your peacock turned out, it inspired me to try my own very first wall hanging.  Now I'm hooked - I have a million ideas I want to try.  :o))  One of my friends is wanting me to make a quilt with a big peacock as the center. Thank you for sharing!

I think that Alma deserves a big round of applause for making such a gorgeous guest room. Wouldn't you just feel welcomed to her home when you walked into this room? Thank you Alma for sharing your pictures with us.

Peacock Quilt Applique

Many months ago I created a peacock applique center block for the second session of Spring Fling Round Robin. I was influenced by this quilt, this embroidery, and of course by an actual peacock here. Also I was told that the final recipient wanted a quilt that was inspired by Kim McLean's Princess Feathers Quilt. I was constrained by how to make a peacock fit into an 8" square so I opted not to make a more realistic bird and instead chose to stylize it a bit more like that first quilt inspiration piece. Many sketches and tweaks later I came up with this:

With the exception of the face detail, it's all traditional applique. I made a plastic template from the top row center feather and made all ten plumes the same shape. That was a lot easier than trying to make precise templates for each placement. I also chose to make one leaf template and repeat it. I used the perfect circles for the berries and opted to use raw edge applique for the face details with lots of machine embroidery over it. At first I was going to make a center contrast for each feather but decided that the materials were so pretty on their own they didn't need it. I was a bit disappointed to see that one of the later RR partners decided to add their own circle appliques to it.

That very first block was lost in the mail so I had to make a second one ... fortunately the first one surfaced and became a gorgeous quilt. Sadly the second one is lost in the mail service and has yet to make an appearance. Here's a picture for the curious:

Isn't it interesting how this one had a bit of a different expression? I suspect that's mainly because it's beak was placed more downward.

Now that it's home with Lil I can show you what the finished quilt looks like (this is Lil's picture):

Sharon made the first border, Luisa did the second, and Julia did the fabulous quilting. Didn't they do a fantastic job?

***************************************

Now here's a freebie for anyone who wants to make a peacock of their own:

 

Here's the file Download Peacock Applique quilt block by Tami Levin.   Have fun with it and please show me pictures of your versions!

Get'yer Mermaid Here!

Remember the Mermaid ATDs? I thought that you'd like to make one too. Download the pattern here Download freebie_mermaid_atd.pdf . Make sure that you print it without scaling the size so that the finished mermaid will be the size of a trading card. If the 1 inch box measures accurately when printed you'll be fine. Have fun and let me know when you've made one. I'd like to see what variations you come up with. Enjoy!

Get'yer Monkey Here!

I've had some people ask me where I got my sock monkey embroidery designs for the quilt. They're just quick little sketches that I drew directly on the quilt using the purple fade-away marker. But I thought that some of you may want to use them for your own personal projects. So here they are in a file for you. Download sock_monkey_embroidery_designs.pdf  Give me a holler and show me when you're finished. I'd like to see what everyone does with them.  :-)