Back to applique......

With all the embroidery, PLOS, TIFC etc that I have been doing recently, I haven't had much time for Baltimore Album applique, but with the Applique Academy coming up in 10 days, I wanted to finish 2 blocks that I have been working on. I have set myself the goal of bringing both blocks (finished!) to show Elly at Academy, so I need to get cracking! Here's the first one, finished tonight. It is a "miniaturized" version (7.5" x 7.5" design area) of the original block, which was about double the size. In addition to miniaturizing, I am also trying to develop a personal style for my small BAQ, including use of Chinese silk fabric and my new found embroidery skills. On this block, the flower urn is sewn in chocolate colored Chinese silk which has a rose pattern woven in. The color comes from a "mud-dying" process. For this series of blocks, I intend to do all the urns in various chocolate brown and blue Chinese silks that I have collected. For the leaves, I have used a couple of batiks and the rest of the leaves are also Chinese silk of various varieties. The flower buds are 4mm silk ribbon and the embroidery on the leaves is in Silken Pearl. Small details like the calyxes, urn details etc are in ultrasuede. The roses are made from ombre French wired ribbon. This is my first attempt at silk roses and while I am happy with them, I think much more practice is needed! The background fabric, which is lovely to sew on, is one of Elly's recent fabrics from Kaufman.