The Gardens Of A King, Part 3!

Hello Again! In the last post I mention what might be coming next in the quilt. Well you saw a few sharks teeth in a border along with the blocks in the last picture. Here is another view of those sharks teeth.

In fact there are several rows of sharks teeth! The way I sew them is pretty easy...just a zig zag appliqué line. One of the simplest shapes to appliqué! Here's another view below...

 

If you look close in the picture above you can see a few repeats of blocks I've shown you already. These have some different values from the blocks shown before. What other elements do you notice in this picture? A bit of appliqué! With the circular shapes in the blocks, there are elements of Appliqué mixed in with the piecing. I've prepared these curved pieces with starch, just like the geometric shapes in the blocks. When you prepare them with starch it is very easy to appliqué good shapes. The work is done before you use your needle and thread and takes the hard work out of sewing on these curves!

 

There is another type of appliqué in this quilt... In fact, it's wool appliqué! Since the blocks are so detailed, I thought the simplicity of wool appliqué would be a good element to add. The original King George III Coverlet had appliqué scenes of the king inspecting his troops. I wanted to show something else about the time period.

 

This block represents the quilt's name...The Gardens Of A King. As I have been listening to the historical fiction novel while I sew, ( set in the same time period the original quilt was made) I realized how important gardens were. The castle land had fine gardens, and the towns people also had gardens. They needed the plants for all sorts of things...medicines, food of course, dyes and more. The garden was a very important part of survival in the days of yesteryear. When I gained permission from the V & A Museum to do this quilt, I was given permission to reproduce the pieced blocks only, but I knew I would want some appliqué in the quilt also. The block above represents a fanciful English Garden that you may see on castle grounds. I'm sure you are familiar with the shaped gardens, or perhaps the maze gardens. This picture shows a wool appliqué block with cotton sharks teeth. I chose a large green plaid wool, which gives the shape some nice shading.

I've done a little research on plants that grew during the 1700s and early 1800s and have put a few in this quilt. These plants would have grown in English Gardens at the time this quilt was made. Above is an appliqué block showing Plumbs. You can see this block is framed in a sharks tooth border.

And here is a twig of Peaches...

The herb Persalane...

Some apples... They ate well back then...

 

And of course, they enjoyed the beauty of flowers, but also used them for their medicinal qualities, scents, and flavors.

The Hazelnut tree was a bountiful tree. They brewed tea, ate the nuts, and stained fabrics.

 

Be sure to visit the wonderful ladies who've tested the pattern for me...Karen and Carrie's blogs. They will be posting about the quilt as well in the coming days. Both ladies have a unique view of this quilt and have done a wonderful job! Be sure and look back a ways to see all their posts about the process.

I hope you are intrigued with what's to come in the next few days. So far we have English Paper Piecing, Appliqué and Wool Appliqué....my three favorite techniques in quilting. Be sure to come back Saturday and Sunday mornings to see some more and finally the entire quilt top. I'm so excited to share it with you!

Let me know if you are interested in being put on the list for first notice of the pattern, but make sure I have access to your email. The pattern should be ready pretty soon.

Thanks so much for spending a few minutes here today...

Take care,

Missie

PS...please go back to your previous comments and check to see if I've left a reply for you to send me your email address. If you don't get an email back in reply to your comment I don't have your email to send you the information early :-)

 

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