Thirty-nine and counting

No that's not my age. That passed several years ago. Today is our Wedding Anniversary. My dear husband Hans and I were married 39 years ago today. I thought I would take this opportunity to introduce you to my "Silver Celebration - Baltimore Style" and tell you a little about it.

Back in 1994 my local quilt shop Quilts and Crafts in Manasquan, NJ (sadly, closed for many years) organized a year-long Baltimore Album group led by the very talented Joanne Belson. She had studied with Elly Sienkiewicz and we worked our way through the Baltimore Album books, planning, drafting, and learning new techniques each month. I decided to make mine in celebration of our up-coming Silver Anniversary - a wall hanging, nothing big, nothing too involved. After all, it's only 36 inches square. Well five years later it was finished.

The center block is 15 inches square. All the flowers were based on ones from the the Dimensional Applique book. The basket was woven and appliqued from silver ribbon and cording. The Album is three dimensional, my own creation, and holds photos and dedication.

 All the bordering blocks are 7.5 inches square.

Writing was done with artist's acrylic ink and an old fashioned dip pen.

Lots of berries, not always round and only 1/4 inch in diameter. I used needle-turn throughout, even on those little guys.

Paper cuts technique, cut like a snowflake.

Reverse applique, one of my favorites.

Strings on the lyre were embroidered with metallic thread.

This was a challenge to design our own block based on the Baltimore style.

Lots of fabrics with silver.

My other favorite. The daisy was appliqued using the Broderie Perse (sp?) technique. Then the butterfly was appliqued using needle turn and then embroidered with black floss.

I entered it in the first NJ State Quilt Guild show and it was awarded first place in its category and was chosen to be one of a handful featured in a documentary produced by NJ public television. Truly this was my fifteen minutes of fame. The following year it hung at QHC in Lancaster. What a thrill!

I hope you enjoyed this tour. Stay tuned for what might appear for our Fiftieth!!