A Spring "Egg"stravaganza!

Signs of spring are everywhere here in Germany! When I (Kara) came home from the Academy of Appliqué, blooms of all kinds were just starting to peek through. Now, after a few weeks back, spring is here in full force. Daffodils and tulips are everywhere, primroses are emerging from the leaves in the forest, and the fruit trees are ready to burst forth with their glorious blossoms!

Spring and Easter are well celebrated in Germany. There is a Fruhlingsfest or Springfest, and there are even Easter markets similar to the beloved Christmas markets. While I have not been to an Easter market yet, I had a wonderful opportunity to see a spectacular display of decorated eggs. This collection of eggs was owned by a lovely lady by the name of Hanne, a member of our town's quilt guild. She has been collecting these incredible eggs for many years and primarily collects real eggs that are decorated in a myriad of ways. Every two years, Hanne sets up little vignettes throughout her apartment to display her collection. She gave me permission to share her collection on the blog, and I thought it would be an inspirational treat!

Hanne has a large collection of eggs painted with scenes from the Root Children books by Sybille von Olfers. These images were also used in the quilt Mother Earth and her Children, which is probably my favorite quilt ever.

What a beautiful scene Hanne has created!

The next display of eggs were those that had a religious theme. They were mostly about Easter, but there was one special one that showed the Nativity.

This egg contains a surprise inside.

A beautiful, hand created, Nativity scene!

The Easter display

Scene depicting a pregnant Mary on a donkey

One of Hanne's most expensive eggs

A beautifully painted angel

Many of the eggs in the collection had birds, flowers, wildlife, or lovely country scenes. I, of course, loved all the birds! 

The scenery scroll fit inside of the egg!

The inside of the egg

The outside

Noah's Ark on the inside

The outside

What's inside?

A sweet little fairy!

The filigree eggs were made using a dental drill!

These are the sweetest!

This artist spent many years learning how to paint faces, and it shows.

I would love to stitch this scene!

These rabbits live inside an ostrich egg.

This next egg has quite the story. Hanne was bringing it home in her suitcase when security flagged it as a possible grenade! Thankfully, it made it home safely.

It is a stunningly beautiful non-grenade!

Hanne knew that I loved flowers from showing the Flora and Fauna of Germany blocks at the guild, so she kindly invited me to see her collection through our mutual friend, Birgit. I was so honored that she would think of me! Each egg in her collection is very special and treasured, and I was inspired by all the beauty created by various artists. Hopefully these "egg"cellent wonders will inspire you!

Thank you Hanne!

A Lettering Tutorial

Well it has been about a month since we wrapped up our Flora and Fauna of Germany Stitch-Along and I (Kara) have been diligently sewing the blocks together. I put together the fabric blocks and even got the border on them, but I felt it needed a little something now that I could see them all put together. Lettering popped into my head as just that something. Since each block has a name, inking that on the block—reminiscent of the old botanical prints—seemed like a good idea. It was a bit of a gamble because once done, it cannot be undone. In spite of that I forged ahead and thought I would show you how I did it.

My handwriting is certainly not nice enough to freehand the blocks, but Microsoft Word has all sorts of options for fonts. I created a document with all the block titles on it in the Edwardian Script font. This font seemed to work best for that vintage look. Two columns with a line down the center  of each allowed me to line them up, correctly centered on the blocks as you will see further on.

The next step was to spray the whole paper on the front with a temporary adhesive. I used 505 as it doesn't get too sticky. 

Next, I cut out each title and put them aside while I prepared my blocks. Ideally, you would do the inking before you put the blocks together but I wasn't going to be taking mine apart just for this. The blocks finish at 6" square so I found the center, made a small line, and then drew a line 1/4" from the bottom edge.

Ready to line it up.

Once my lines were drawn, I turned on my light-box and positioned my paper title underneath the block. I double checked multiple times to make sure I had the right title for the right block. 

Lined up  and ready to ink.

The temporary adhesive on the paper holds it to the fabric without having to worry that it will shift while inking. Before I inked on the blocks, I practiced a bit on a piece of scrap muslin. I then took the plunge and traced over the letters with my Micron pen. 

Micron pen in size .05 and color #117

The best advice is to go slowly and gently. Downward strokes are usually easiest and I tried to write with a light hand.

A nice bright light-box is essential! 

I took my time on each one and I tried not to hurry. After you are finished, you need to let the ink set for a couple of hours before you try to remove your blue marking pencil if you used one. Here are a few of the blocks once they were finished:

The inking is a subtle detail but I think it adds that little something to all the blocks. I have only inked the cotton blocks because the light box I had borrowed was not bright enough to shine through the linen background of the wool blocks. It may be that the wool version will be sans inking! 

If you would like to ink your blocks as well, you can download the titles HERE, Let us know if you have any questions about inking.

Soon we will show all the blocks together, both cotton and wool. If you have created any of the blocks, we would love to see them! 

Block of the Month 16—Pinecone

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.

My, how time has flown! I (Kara) can't believe that it has been over a year since we started our Flora and Fauna of Germany stitch-along. It seems like just yesterday that I was walking the trails in our little German village for the first time, full of wonder at the natural beauty that I was seeing. Our first block was the Butterfly, back in August of 2017. 

Our first block!

We have stitched 15 blocks since then, and we have come to the end of the series. It's a little sad, as we have enjoyed putting these blocks together for you. But all good things come to an end, and we have our last block ready, with the decidedly winter symbol—the pinecone. 

Cotton Block

I began by appliquéing the pinecone shape onto my background using a piece of fabric that contained different shades of brown. It is a simple shape with just a few, gentle, curves—the details are added with the stitching. Using my white marking pencil, I traced the half-circle shapes onto the appliqué, using the pattern as a guide.

Marked and ready to stitch.

Using a variegated brown pearl cotton, I stem stitched the marked lines, working from the top to the bottom. I love the texture a variegated thread lends to my stitching, so I tend to gravitate towards those types of threads. I used a Valdani #12 in this instance.

Looking more pinecone-like

It started to look more like a pinecone, but I felt that it needed a little something more to make the petals or scales stand out. Using one strand of a dark brown floss, I added a stem stitch directly underneath the previous stitching.

Here I have done just the top row. Can you tell a difference?

All the scales have a little shading. It's just a little detail, but it adds a lot.

Next was the branch, and that was just a simple chain stitch for the branches, and some straight stitches for the needles. Hooping the block. when stitching the branches and needles for both blocks, helped to eliminate puckering.

Hooping helps!

A #5 pearl gives some dimension to the branch.

Close-up

The finished cotton block

Stitches and Threads Used (Cotton Block)

Pinecone—Valdani #12 pearl,P12, stem stitch 

                   Gentle Arts floss, 1 strand, Espresso Bean, stem stitch (for shading)

Branch—Painters Threads, #5 pearl, Friederich, chain stitch

Needles—Gentle Art, Simply wool, Blue Spruce

Wool Block

For the wool block, I wanted to use the wool in layers to mimic the look of the scales. After I glued the pattern to freezer paper, I cut it into 6 pieces and ironed those pieces to my wool. For all the pieces but the top one, I cut straight across the scales in order to have something to stitch down. (See the picture below to show how I did that.)

There is a piece missing in this picture, but you can get the idea.

Starting at the bottom, I stitched just the top of each set of scales and then layered the next one on top of the previously stitched scale.

The first 4 layers

The finished pinecone

I used the same #5 pearl cotton for the branches, and a slightly thicker wool/silk blend for the needles. 

I tried to vary the needle angle and size as I went along.

The finished wool block

Stitches and Threads Used (Wool Block)

Branch—Painters Threads, #5 pearl, Friederich, chain stitch

Needles—Thread Gatherer, Sheeps Silk (wool/silk blend), Dark Forest

There you have it! The final block in our series and I think this was the fastest block yet. You can download all the blocks by clicking below in case you may have missed any. Have you made any of the blocks? Please email us pictures of your blocks  or post them on our Facebook page.

Stay tuned for our reveal of all the blocks put together and a special chance for those who have participated!!