Applique Center

Applique Center

I have finally completed the applique center! I have to say as much as I love the posies, I'm glad to be done with them. I've already started to add some of the elements around the center, but wanted to just show the center for now. It's a bit difficult to see in the photo, but there are ribbons connecting the posies and the bluebirds. The background was paper foundation pieced rings. I used pinless piecing to stitch the rings together. The outer edge of the circle was hand appliqued to the square piece of background fabric.
For most of the applique on the quilt, I have been using starch and press on the individual pieces, and then using glue to construct the units (such as the birds or the posies). Then I hand applique the unit pieces together before stitching the unit to the background. The background beyond the circle is a solid piece of fabric with a subtle texture. I considered piecing the outer background, but there will be enough going on with the applique pieces that I didn't want to make it more busy. As I add elements now I will add more pictures.
This part of the quilt is symmetrical, but the remainder won't be so I'm excited to really get into the work of adding the rest of the applique pieces.

© 2017 Susan Taylor Propst