In the Jungle – finished

In between everything else I am having a lot of fun with my Folk Art Stitches… Lots of embroideries inspired by folk art from around the globe.

Remember the Mayan Hieroglyphics?

They have finally made it onto a quilt!

I struggled with taking a picture. It keeps raining, so this is as good I’ve got right now.
The fabrics in the quilt are from Frond Design Studios in Cedar Rapids.

When we were in Belize we took a boat up the river into the jungle to see the ruins.  The plants were so lush and green and I think the Bird of Paradise panel set with the bamboo and large leaves work together well to give that feeling?

I constructed the background and quilted it with a large all over leafy design before arranging the hieroglyph motifs around the bamboo border.It looked OK but was definitely lacking something. I thought a monkey might be the way to go. We saw a monkey on our trip… But what about the fabric I’d found in my stash for the back of the quilt?Toucans! I made a quick check to see that you might really find Toucans in Central America. Yes. That’s good. I drew a pair of toucans onto red Kona cotton and set to stitching. Folk art style so any color works… Lovely hand-dyed threads from House of Embroidery.
Good job I’d recorded the whole of Poldark series one when PBS showed it last weekend!

Final step, bring the eye to life with two little white french knots.I think I like them!I backed my beautiful birds with red wool felt and added them into the center of the quilt.They look like they belong?

And from another angle.
In the Jungle will be coming with me to Houston. I think it will make a nice backdrop during the Samplers I’m taking part in. The Friday one is sold out. There’s still room in the Saturday one.

Both my walking foot quilting classes are full along with the Bold Hand Stitching workshop and the three hour Introduction to Wool Appliqué. As of this morning I have space in the six hour Wool Appliqué class, the English Paper Pieced clamshells and the Sunday morning embroidery class. Details are on the Festival website.

I’ve been getting all my supplies together but I’m teaching in O’Fallon (near St. Louis) and Grand Forks before I fly to Houston so I might have to replenish my stock… I think it’s a good problem to have?

Tomorrow I’m heading to Galena ready to lecture in Elizabeth on Monday evening. I’m almost ready to go. Just the laundry to do today. And maybe a little stitching!