06.15
A little while ago I got this piece of applique out to show some friends and I was suddenly inspired to get it finished. I actually started work on this design five years ago and have taken it out form time to time to do a little bit more.
The original design was inspired by a piece of Indonesian commercial printed batik sarong fabric that I bought locally here in Brunei. I’d originally planned to use it for patchwork but I felt that the design was too nice to cut up but it took me a long time before I finally made it into an applique pattern.
The original piece of batik from which I made the pattern
Once I’d made the pattern the challenge was to choose the colours that I would use for the applique as I didn’t want to use the rather dull brown, black and white of the original. I chose a dark blue, almost black mottled hand dyed batik fabric for the background and pale pastel colours for the flowers, stems and leaves.
- Detail of one of the applique flowers
One of the main reasons I stopped working on this design is that after completing most of the flowers I couldn’t decide what colour to make the two birds and how to assemble them. At that time my stash wasn’t as big as it is now and also I wasn’t too confident about putting the birds together. When I took it this recent time it was much easier to make a decision and I had several chestnut brown batiks that I felt would be perfect for the birds. I also had a book by Jane Townswick called ‘Applique Takes Wing’ which was very helpful for showing how to assemble the birds.
The tail feathers and wings were quite a challenge.
The two birds amongst the flowers
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Hi Anne, Your quilt top is stunning! You have definitely improved on the original print on the piece of Batik.
Hugz
Absolutely gorgeous Anne. This piece deserved to be finished.
Thanks Sally, it’s certainly taken me long enough to do it. I think I bought the original piece of batik fabric over twenty years ago!
Thanks Michele, I must take a photo of the hanging now that I’ve done the quilting.
BEAUTIFUL! Better than your inspiration piece.
Thank you Barbara, I’m almost tempted to try making it again now in different colours.
Beautiful!! I love it, but then I always like applique but I love how you designed it, it is so free flowing.
Karen
http://karensquilting.com/blog/
It is so beautiful, absolutely fabulous!
wow, such an intricate design. You must have a lovely glow of satisfaction that it’s now finished.
Thank you Nic, Hannele and Karen for your comments about my quilt, I’m so glad now that I persevered with it and got it finished. It was interesting looking at the back of it to see just how much my hand stitching had improved over the five years since I started it.
I just found your blog this morning and am enjoying reading your posts. That Indonesian batik fabric is awesome. I would hate to cut it too.
Thanks Violette, I’m so pleased I was finally able to use the inspiration from that Indonesian fabric and make something out of it.