Pumpkins!

I have not worked on the World War I poppy quilt in the past couple days, besides, I feel like writing something offbeat.  Lately, I have had pumpkins on my mind - palettes piled with pumpkins (and gourds too). 

Look at all of them!  I have been occasionally visiting a nearby produce auction to fill in gaps in my winter pantry.  The cucumbers for my great pickle canning binge came from this auction, along with other purchases of things I have not successfully grown myself.  I'd love to buy a palette of pumpkins, the variety of shapes, colors and textures are fascinating, even though I know they won't last long.  Some of them would be good eating, they would freeze well if I had room in the freezer.   

At this auction, the pumpkins are sold in large lots.  I could buy a bin of 50- 100-some traditional orange pumpkins, or a lot of 30 of the mix that you see above.  Of course, I'd want the mix of colors and textures of all the odd varieties.  What would I do with so many plain, boring orange pumpkins?  Well, what would I do with 30 warty, skinny, flat, chunky, smooth, blue, green, tan, and white ones?  I'd love them, save seeds from them for growing next year, and try to come up with a way to commemorate them in an art quilt.  Yet another idea!

World War I Challenge Progress

Sadly, I am missing the entry deadline for this quilt, it is still not finished.  I'm not upset by missing the deadline, I will still finish the quilt and since I am going to be a vendor at the show it was to be entered into, I will have it on display (and for sale) in my booth.  I have a few more things to add to it, but here are a couple of detail images of the quilting and the very cool stamens in the poppies (hand stitched - straight stitches with French knots).  Enjoy!

images and design copyright RPS

This week is quieter than last, so I really have every intention of posting on Thursday... will it be about the finish of this quilt, or something else?

World War I Challenge

Yikes!  It has been a while since I posted here.  I have gotten wrapped up in  the World War I challenge piece that I mentioned previously.  The challenge is a poppy themed quilt, inspired by the poem, "In Flanders Fields."  Here are some in progress images:

First, my initial idea involved rubbings from gravestones in a nearby cemetery.  I only found a metal medallion indicating the grave of a World War I veteran.  In my collection of fabric collage stuff, I found a vintage hanky with some red poppies on it, and a felt tobacco premium flag  (Belgian flag, of course) from the World War I era.  I wanted those two items to be a part of the collage.

Image and design copyright RPS

Adding the flag and hanky would be the last steps in the collage, at this point I really needed some poppies.  I free-motion quilted the outlines of the flowers and leaves:

Image and design copyright RPS

Then, I colored the poppies with crayons, and heat set them by ironing.

Image and design copyright RPS

At this point, I wanted to add some detail with hand stitching, so I auditioned the flag and hanky again, changing the planned locations for them.  I didn't want to hand stitch where the extra pieces would cover my hard work.

Image and design copyright RPS

Check back on Thursday to see how the hand stitching and additional quilting turned out.