Appliqué Academy: Woodland Reverie—Owls and Wood Roses

It is that time of year again! The catalog of classes has now been published, and we can finally reveal what we will be teaching at the Academy of Appliqué in Williamsburg, Virginia in 2023. Check out that catalog of wonderful offerings, and you will have a difficult time deciding what classes to enjoy: there are so many amazing instructors with a wide variety of techniques and skills presented. We do hope you will keep scrolling all the way to the end (p. 58) to see our classes, but we will show you a bit of detail here, too. 

In our first session (February 27–March 1), we are continuing our woodland journey with two new blocks from our growing Woodland Reverie quilt. Both of these dimensional blocks are filled with many different fibers and stitching techniques. 

The Great Horned Owls sit amongst winter greenery, with wool pinecones and stuffed holly berries.

Wired ribbon roses surround our Wood Rose Garden filled with lovely little posies.

All skills for both blocks will be covered in this class—and some will overlap—so you will be able to increase your appliqué and embellishment skills. Multiple methods of appliqué will be taught, along with ribbon work and embroidery. We will play with exciting new fibers and techniques to help you bring life to these dimensional woodland blocks. 

We are creating our Woodland Reverie blocks on both a dark and light background. Which will you choose?

Which woodland block will you select for this session? Or perhaps you will venture into our woodland reverie and choose both! We have presented four of the blocks thus far, and those patterns are available in our web store. If you want to learn more about our Woodland Reverie quilt, CLICK HERE.

Details of Great Horned Owls

This sleepy owl is embellished with wool threads and turkey work.

Wool roving and Ultrasuede add the final touches on the owls’ faces.

Dimensional wool pinecones with stuffed holly berries and simmering ribbon mistletoe and fun texture to this block.

Details of Wood Rose Garden

Dimensional cast-on stitched posies are centered with a bias silk ribbon flower.

Hand-dyed bias silk ribbon bloom

Posies made with cast-on stitch and silk ribbon leaves

Wired ribbon adds eye appeal to these layered wood roses, centered with padded silk. Broderie perse leaves add realism and fun to our featured corner blooms.

Every year at the Academy when people see our work, they comment that they wished they could have seen them in person, as a photograph never quite captures the dimension and texture of the blocks. We have striven to capture images that illustrate those qualities and hope that these larger pictures help you to see that. It is always a challenge!

As always, if you have any questions, please reach out and email us. We are happy to answer any queries for you as you choose your classes. There are so many awesome classes being offered this year that we do not envy your selection process. But we sure would love to see you in our room! 

If you love appliqué, this is the place for you. It is perfection: a gathering of sisters (and perhaps some brothers) who share your passion for stitching, who will become fast friends. Its location on the James River in Williamsburg adds to the charm of this event. Many thanks to Barbara Blanton and her staff, who work so hard to create this opportunity for us. The link below will take you to the site, where you can learn all about the Academy, as well as access the catalog. We hope to see you there!

WWW.ACADEMYOFAPPLIQUE.COM

Nesting Nuthatch

We are thrilled to have had such a great response to our Blue Jar Medley offering, Nesting Nuthatch! If you have followed us for any length of time, you will know that birds of all kinds are near and dear to our hearts. I (Kara) particularly love the nuthatch, as it was one of my Grandmother's favorite birds.

There are a few new techniques in this block—none of which are difficult, but we thought we would show some more detailed pictures for some of those techniques. Let's show you the nest according to your pattern directions. 

The Nest

In the nest directions #2:

Gather your two brown wool “noodles” and the piece of sari silk ribbon. Holding them all together, begin to coil them around on top of the pedestal, twisting and overlapping the strips. Pin in place loosely.

Nest materials

Gather your two brown wool noodles and your piece of sari silk.

Holding them all together, begin to coil them around
on the top of the pedestal.

Twisting and overlapping the strips.

Pin in place loosely.

Nest Directions #3:

Starting at the top of the nest, use brown thread and take tack stitches to secure the nest pieces and build your nest, arranging as you go. You may want to snip the pieces to help with arranging. Stitch the nest down to the bottom inch, and then stop, leaving the remainder of the nest pinned.

Nest Directions #4: 

Take the green roving and thinly spread it over the center of the nest, as pictured. Stitch into place with a few tack stitches. Note that the roving will only be in the center, and not out to the edges, to give the illusion of the inside of the nest.

Nest Directions #5: 

If you want to stuff your eggs, cut a couple of layers of batting scraps (we used a high loft poly batt) a bit smaller than the eggs. Layer the batting under the eggs, one at a time, beginning with the back egg. Appliqué in place, being sure the batting is beneath the egg. You may find it easier to use individual stab stitches around the eggs to help achieve the rounded egg shape.

Nest Directions #6: 

Finish the front of the nest, being sure to stitch a bit of the nest material over the bottom of the front two eggs.

The Straw Flowers

The straw flowers are made with a yellow wool center and a Pekinese stitch applied around that center.

If you would like to see some close-ups and an entire post about the Pekinese stitch, follow the links below:

Pekinese stitch blog post

Close-up pictures

We also have some close-up pictures of the ribbon stitch in a Facebook post linked below, as well as a link for a whipped chainstitch (Queen Ann'e lace stems) tutorial:

Ribbon stitch

Whipped chainstitch tutorial

As hard as we try to make sure our patterns are complete, we are human and sometimes little things slip through our proofreading brains. Neither Teri nor I caught our lettering omission until now, so we have sent out an email to all those who have downloaded our pattern and have fixed the pattern for future downloads. If you didn't get the lettering addition, then you can download it below. We also are linking a post that we have written earlier on using Press and Seal.

Press and Seal Tutorial

Mason jar lettering: Updated template with lettering

Hopefully these pictures and links will help you as you stitch our sweet little nuthatch block. We loved making this block, and we can't wait to see the finished quilt with all the designers' blocks included!

Happy Stitching!

Happy Holidays!

From our homes to yours, 

we wish you the happiest of holiday seasons!

Fun Fact: Did you know that the very center of the poinsettia is the actual flower,

 which is surrounded by red and green leaves? 

 

We will be taking a short blog break for our family celebrations, but we look forward to stitching with you in the new year! 

What is on Your Wishlist?

Wishlist:

1. A place to just stitch for a time.

2. Learn a new stitching skill.

3. Relax with no chores to do.

4. Spend time with old friends.

5. Make new friends.

6. Have someone else cook my meals.

7. Be surrounded by like-minded stitchers.

Are any of these things on your wishlist for this year? If you need something to tell friends and family what they can get you that will make your wishlist come true, we have just the thing! Going to the Academy of Appliqué in Williamsburg, Virginia, or Baltimore on the Prairie in Nebraska City, Nebraska, will be a great suggestion to those who want to give you just what you want this holiday. We will be teaching in both places, and we would love to have you join us!

Academy of Appliqué

We have two classes this coming year—2022—at the Academy. The first session will be two blocks from our Woodland Reverie project—Cascading Creek and Butterfly and Trillium. Both blocks will cover exciting, new techniques with texture and appliqué, and you will have fun while you are learning.

For Session 2, we will be doing the final two projects from our Village Wanderings quilt—the center medallion and the corner trees. These two projects will be in wool (but could be done in cotton,) and your wool appliqué will be enhanced with threads, ribbons, and even a bit of wool roving.

Both of these classes still have a few openings left, so that you can get in before it fills up. Williamsburg, Virginia is a beautiful place to stay, and there are plenty of things to do in the area for spouses who might want to come along but not stitch.

Baltimore on the Prairie

Last year was our first year teaching at Baltimore on the Prairie, and we had a fabulous time. This event is a little smaller, and it is a wonderful place to immerse yourself in a great, learning environment! Our offerings for 2022 include two sessions, the first being Session A: Woodland Reverie in Wool.

Our Session B class will be our Baltimore Fraktur. The class will focus on the center medallion, but each student will be given the entire pattern for the wallhanging or the quilt as part of the class fee. This quilt can be done in wool or cotton, and we have used a mix of both in the quilt. Both of these classes still have spaces for you.

So we hope you have some new items to put on your wishlist now. You can't go wrong with either event, and you might even want to attend both! If you have any questions, check our website, and please feel free to email us or comment below.