Modern Applique Illusions: Grove

Good morning, and welcome back to the Modern Applique Illusions blog tour! Today, Kevin Kosbab has posted a lovely review of the book at his blog, Feed Dog, so click over to check it out and enter for a chance to win a copy of the book!

Over the course of the tour, I’ve been exploring each of the quilts in the book in greater detail here, and today’s quilt is Grove. Grove creates it’s illusion of three-dimensionality through the use of oblique shadows. I wanted to capture the long, dramatic shadows that occur late in the day, as well as the sour, golden light that characterizes late afternoon and sunset.

This is one of the three quilts in the book that I didn’t quilt myself. Instead, I sent it to the incredibly talented Angela Walters, and we discussed how the quilting could further the appearance of the trees being three-dimensional. Similarly to my Receding Quilting technique, Angela quilted the tree trunks with vertical lines that get closer together as they approach the edges, creating the illusion that the trees are rounded. She used a fantastic wood grain motif in the white spaces, and quilted the shadows with closely spaced parallel lines.

Dear Stella’s Piper collection included a perfect print of Seed Pods that I used for the backing. I alternated it with panels made using Elizabeth Hartman’s Mod Mosaic technique and leftover fabric from the front of the quilt.

I love how the back turned out, but it unfortunately left me with no scraps to give away with this post. I’ll still be giving away a package of Pellon 805 Wonder Under. In addition, it happens to be my birthday today, and so to celebrate I’ll be giving away a copy of the book in lieu of scraps! To enter, simply leave a comment below, and I’ll draw a winner at midnight on Nov. 19. And congratulations to usairdoll, who has won the scrap bag from Still Life!

In addition, if you like Grove, make sure to check out the related tutorial I’ll be guest posting at Sew Mama Sew next month! (I made the project for it yesterday at our guild sew-in, and I’m quite excited about it–I think you will be, too!)

The blog tour and giveaways continue this coming week, and we have lots more great stops lined up! Continue to follow along, and enter for your chance to win!

11/10: C&T Publishing
11/11: Jenifer Dick/42 Quilts 
11/12: Debbie Grifka/Esch House Quilts 
11/13: Kathy Mack/Pink Chalk Studio 
11/14: Shannon Brinkley/Bottle Tree
11/15:  Pellon 
11/16: Kevin Kosbab/Feed Dog Designs
11/17: Generation Q Magazine
11/18: Krista Robbins/Sew What’s Cooking?
11/19: Fat Quarter Shop/Jolly Jabber
11/20: Violet Craft 
11/21: Kristy Daum/St. Louis Folk Victorian
11/22: Cindy Lammon/Hyacinth Quilt Designs
11/23: Modern Quilts Unlimited