Block of the Month 14—Apple

Thank you for your interest in our Flora and Fauna blocks! They are no longer free but will be part of a future quilt pattern.

What a spectacular autumn we have had here in Germany—warm temperatures, sunny skies, and loaded apple trees! Although we haven't had much rain, the orchard we walk in was full of every shape, size, and color of apple that I have ever seen. 

The dogs and I walk in this area every single day rain or shine. One time, a kind gentleman gave me a bag of apples from his tree. It was a little challenging getting home with two, large dogs and about 5lbs of apples, but it was worth it. There was no question that the apple would make it into our free block of the month series.

Cotton Block

When I decided to do the apple, I remembered a particular fabric at my friend Birgit's shop. I knew it would make the perfect apple. The green is a Van Gogh inspired fabric that has many colors, but the yellow-green section was just the right shade

The name of my perfect apple fabric.

Before I back-basted the apple, I cut out two pieces of thin batting—one slightly smaller than the apple and then another piece about a quarter inch smaller than the first piece. I positioned those in place with a little dab of a glue stick and then proceeded to back-baste the apple. Make sure that the batting is thin so that the apple doesn't draw in the background too much. I fussy cut the fabric so that the little bit of yellow would be near the top right giving the illusion of a highlight.

Batting pieces cut out.

Fussy cut apple ready to appliqué,

Appliqué finished.

The embroidery consisted of straight, stem, and chain stitches. At the base of the apple, I made 3 straight stitches vertically and one tiny, tight one horizontally to draw in the bottom to give it some depth. With the same perle cotton, I chain stitched the stem using 3 chain stitches and then I brought my needle up through the second chain stitch from the bottom and made two more chain stitches next to the previous ones. A straight stitch over the top and the stem was finished.The leaves were done with embroidery floss and a stem stitch.

A tiny, tight, stitch at the top of the three straight stitches
draws the fabric in at that point.

Stem close-up

One strand of floss for the leaf veins.

Two strands of floss for the main leaf vein and stems.

The finished block!

Stitches and Threads Used (Cotton Block)

Leaves—Gentle Arts, Green With Envy, floss, stem stitch

Stems—Painters Threads, Friedrich, #5 perle, chain stitch and straight stitch

Wool Block

During my "Quilty Visit to Rothenburg", I bought a large bag of wool knit scraps from a fashion designer there and one of the red scraps was perfect for my wool apple. It's a little fuzzy which I thought would give the apple an interesting texture—not that I would want to eat a fuzzy apple!

As always, I glued my patten pieces to freezer paper and then cut them out. Then I ironed them onto the wool and cut those pieces out and stapled them in place on my background. Using a matching thread, I stitched them down. I did not pad the wool apple because the wool I used was already dimensional.

Ready to stitch.

Ready for embroidery.

The embroidery stitches are exactly the same for the wool block as the cotton.  I used the same #5 perle cotton and a more olive shade of green floss.

The finished wool apple!

Stitches and Threads Used (Wool Block)

Leaves—Weeks Dyeworks, Moss, floss, stem stitch

Stems—Painters Threads, Friedrich, #5 perle, chain stitch and straight stitch

This has been one of my favorite blocks to create, mainly because I love it when the fabrics and threads come together to make something very realistic to the original. I also think, for me, apples are one of the best parts of fall—the colors, the smell, apple pie, cider, just to name a few. Hopefully you will enjoy stitching this block too!

Only two more blocks to go until the big reveal of all the blocks put together!!