I have been sewing the Hosannah Palm Blocks for years. I even have one that has a seam down one center diagonal. Traditionally this block has been sewn using templates. What do those templates look like (from a vintage quilt pattern book)?
Here's the pattern book cover:
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| Bible Favorites Pattern Booklet |
And now for the templates. Yikes!
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| How do you like these templates? |
About 15 years ago I took this pattern and drafted it for a single foundation pieced unit. I have made quite a few blocks and quilts. You can see some of them on my
Palm Quilts Showing Off page. I put this up for the Vermont Quilt Guild that I am visiting TODAY and teaching the Hosannah Quilt to in a workshop.
But to get myself up to speed, I pulled out some of my 10" foundations and some new shot cottons by Pepper Cory, I pieced 3 blocks in a new rendition using 3 colors for each palm frond. Want to see?
Of course you do! I made these on Sunday afternoon.
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| Gray, deep purple and very lime green |
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| Fuschia, mint green and turquoise |
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| Red, brown and grape purple |
I am hoping to remake these using a bundle of Windham shot cottons called Artisan Cottons. Here is the bundle they sent in January. I've been waiting for some inspiration. What do you think? I don't want to use a gray as I did in the blocks above. In "real life" the gray dulls the shimmer of the fabrics. I think I'll use some sort of white.
This will be a pattern on my Craftsy site. Because of the size, you will have to draft the block yourself. But that's where my directions come in. When I teach the workshop, I include a lesson on how to draft a Palm Block for any size. And when you're done piecing you have a block. This is created like an off-center log cabin. And as is true with many of my paper piecing patterns (at least the ones for my published books) I will include what size fabric to cut for which patches. Then the guesswork is gone.
I'll keep you posted. Oh - and as is true in my last two books which include foundation piecing, I will have a lesson on how to make needle punched copies in case you don't want to go to the copy shop. One master can make many more patterns! I'll show some of my needle punched stacks soon. For now, I'm heading to Vermont and the husband has the dog to take care of (and the garden, mail, dinner, dishes, trash, etc - you get the picture).
This was one of the first paper pieced blocks I made many years ago. I like the idea of revisiting and old block and the new Windham shots look fantastic.
ReplyDeleteI have finally bought a DVD on foundation piecing so I can hopefully get over the mental block,yours looks complicated. Lovely selection of fabrics you have for the project
ReplyDeleteI really like the pattern and I haven't seen it before so it will be something new to try. Thanks for digging it out...
ReplyDeleteHi, Debby,
ReplyDeleteA good pattern will play nicely with almost any fabric. This is one of those! I look forward to seeing your gallery of past expressions. Safe travels on your Vermont trip. Nothing beats good hands-on instruction when it comes to learning a technique the first time (or 2nd or 3rd). It would be interesting to see your students' results. (janeherbst at roadrunner dot com)
Thanks for sharing, Debby. It's a wonderful pattern. Was wishing for it. I saw similar pattern yesterday on a do-it-yourself item where she burned the pattern into a black piece of foam that had been painted white to use as an outdoor lantern. Now I can piece it on a wall quilt. Right on time.
ReplyDeleteI do like this block, made some many years ago...do not remember how though? Anyway I agree, the background color of grey is one of my petpeeves...I like white, but sometimes even that is too much...I keep heading to a lighter shade of yellow and green lately...Will have to see what you do with the white you have in mind.....
ReplyDeleteCool block!
ReplyDeleteI do like your new ones. I can kind of see the dulling, but I like the effect with the bright cottons. However, if you want that shimmery goodness, white is probably your best choice! I hope you'll show the white and the gray side by side in a future post.
ReplyDeleteNice block. I like when colors sparkle with white-white or black. Of course, I can hardly see anything on black any more!
ReplyDelete