Deliciously Blue; Blocks 3-5

Progress! It is so wonderful to be back sewing almost daily.

Last week, I showed you the first two blocks of my blue version of Esther Aliu’s wonderful Red Delicious pattern. This week, I have three more blocks completed.

Block 3 varies from the pattern substantially! I had a cute border print hanging out in my stash for several years and decided that I would find a way to fit some of it into this quilt. This block was the perfect space for it. It took three starts and two finishes to arrive at a block that felt right for Deliciously Blue.

I realized that the border looked a beach with plants and what goes better with a beach than water? I rummaged around for my blue dot grunge for the water and then decided that water needs fish. And I have some fantastic fishies in my stash, although they are dwindling now after several years. I last used them in my Hope quilt and they are perfect for this block.

To me, the peacock grunge background cutout sections look like water plants growing up out of the river bank and the view is what a crocodile would have drifting by…water/fish/beach/plants.

The 4th block (Roses) is a challenging on, so I was eager to get it done! The stems are very narrow and I looked for a dark, dense batik to minimize shredding. The thorns are cut along with the stems in a single piece and everything is stitched down with a tiny zigzag with MonoPoly to keep stems and thorns secure while adding the leaves.

The leaves were cut from a fat quarter that I bought several years for a different project, but I didn’t have the confidence to use them then. Now? Heck yes! It is a great compliment/contrast for the peacock background.

After the MonoPoly, the stems/thorns/leaves were then stitched with a very small blanket stitch in a deep blue twist thread from Superior Threads.

Next up are the blooms using some of the lavender/blue metallic leaves fabric used in the first block (cherries) and leftover bits of deep blue Stonehenge. The blooms are stitched with the metallic variegated thread used in the first two blocks.

Onto the 5th block! I love this fan block and have thought about doing a wall hanging with multiples of this block. The silver/blue fabric is an unusual piece of vintage brocade gifted to me many years ago from a family friend. It is thick and has a feel of being padded although it isn’t. I tried doing a turned edge with it, but the edges are quite difficult to turn with the thickness and tendency to shredding. But then I found some ribbon and used the ribbon to frame the wedge shaped piece, which is how the pattern is formatted. I use 1/4″ sticky tape to secure the ribbon to the fabric and stitched with a silver variegated metallic thread. The other pieces are seam stitched, rather than appliqué together. The fan is finished with buttons and metallic deco stitches between each segment of the fan, which makes it even more fun to put together!

Time to move onto more blocks!

Happy quilting!

Lennea