Sewing Inspiration

Nearly Done

by Walter Dendy Sadler 1854-1923

This cute plastic jar of buttons came from Walmart, and it comes in many different colors. The fabric swatches are some I bought at a garage sale from a travelling salesman who shows samples for orders, to fabric stores. These fabrics can also be found at Shabby Fabrics online.  These are the sample pieces that were being sold, and I liked  them because they were already all cut the same size. 

I am showing two quilts I made, just to try out a pattern I found in an old quilt magazine. The sheep quilt is a technique called trapunto, (an Italian way of quilting)  where I opened up the back of the appliqued sheep and inserted stuffing to make the sheep stand out. The insert is then sewn shut by hand and the entire back is covered with the backing fabric. Quilt batting (wadding) is inserted between the layers. As these quilts are showing some wear, I wanted to post a photograph for memory.

This was possibly my first quilt, using applique.

This is one of my first quilts, made X years ago.  I hand stitched an outline around the birdhouse and the birds. Here is the outline from the back view.