The fabrics for this 16″ x 19 1/2″ machine quilted wallhanging were gleaned from my Liberty of London tana lawn scrap bag. There are so many beautiful fall colors in the prints that a leaf quilt seemed to be an appropriate and worthy project for these treasured scraps. Each block is 2 3/4″ square. The solid ivory in each block is Swiss lawn from Capitol Imports.
As for technique, Liberty Leaves is a ho-hum standard quilt, except for the stippling. I love the compressed effect of stippling and discovered some time ago that in order to get really close, tiny stitches, ultra fine thread is required. The triangle on either side of the leaf stem is stippled with 80/2 wt. Madeira Cotona thread and a size 60 needle. This made possible very close stitching without the thread creating bulk and becoming the center of attention in the stippled area. If you enlarge the photo below, you can see how tight the stippling is.
It’s hard to think about autumn when it is 92 degrees outside. Here in Central Florida, rather than falling temperatures, the appearance of yellow floral spires on the Golden Rain Trees is a more reliable indicator that fall is on its way. That and the ripening of satsumas and naval oranges.
But since I homeschool my 5 year old granddaughter, the change of seasons is a major topic, deserving of serious attention in spite of the tropical temperatures. So in our little classroom, this quilt will hang on our fall bulletin board, perhaps showing Laurel the only brightly colored fall leaves she will see this season.
I love Liberty of London tana lawn. I love the incredibly precise registration of the prints, the exquisite silky texture, the William Morris signature prints. I love virtually every single thing about this fabric, except the price and scarce availability– unless, of course, you are in London. A significant portion of my stash is Liberty and I intend to keep it that way, which is why I hoard every single little scrap.
The first time I saw and felt this fabric, it was love at first sight. I have been collecting it ever since. Pieces in my stash have come from Sydney, Australia, where they have a Liberty store, including Liberty solids (who knew?), from Tokyo where it was very plentiful at a store whose name I cannot recall, but which consisted of 5!! separate buildings, from G Street Fabrics in the DC area where they had a very good selection, from the divine Britex Fabrics in San Francisco and minutes later from a sidewalk sale a few blocks away.
There, the elderly “dry goods” store owner was ridding himself of old stock, at a great price. Now that I think about it, you don’t hear much about “dry goods” stores or departments anymore. Maybe the phrase “dry goods” is too easily misunderstood for flour or sugar.
But anyway, my greatest find was at JoAnn Fabrics, many years ago, just outside Orlando. Â By then I had studied a lot of Liberty up close and personal. My mother and I were shopping at one of the first really huge stores and headed for the clearance aisles. About 30′ away, I gasped, “Mom!!!!! It’s Liberty!!!! “No,” she said, “it couldn’t be,” and how could I tell from this distance? But Liberty it was, bolts and bolts of it marked down to $8 py.
I called my sewing friend, Mildred Turner in NC, and we decided to split it. The clerk measured out a total of 85 yds. I was trembling, at both the total cost and the exciting discovery. For some strange reason, I am more reluctant to use those pieces than others that cost much more—kind of like the Seinfeld episode where George refuses to drive his car because he doesn’t want to give up his great parking spot.
The Liberty stash does get used, but only sparingly. I am motivated to cut into it by the tongue-in-cheek story shared with me by my dear librarian friend, Jane. A fictional colleague of hers was hurrying across campus with two books clutched in her arms. When a passing professor asked how things were going at the library, she replied, “Just great! These two books were checked out but as soon as I get them back on their shelf, everything will be perfect!”
Oh dear, I’ve got to stop hoarding my Liberty and use some of it.
NOTE: Read more about Liberty of London fabric here.
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