Row by Row ...

I purchased my local quilt shop's (North Country Quilters) "Row by Row" row kit a few weeks ago and have been working on it this past week. The design is a representation of Smith Millennium Bridge in Plymouth. Applique. I will make it a wall hanging to place in my stair well.

I haven't done applique before and this piece is going to be a combination of machine stitching and hand stitching. In all honesty, I find hand stitching has a depth of beauty and quality that the machine cannot match. I love hand stitching. The big pieces were laid down with the machine. The smaller pieces: The trees, the rocks, and the moutain tops (which are not yet cut out) will be hand stitched in place. I took liberties with the directions and did not use fusible adhesive to lay the pieces in place, but simply basted them by hand instead. That's more my aesthetic at the moment.

I love the design. I'm currently stitching the 3 central trees in place. The darkest one on top is done, the middle one is pinned in place (see the big green dot of the pin head!), and the lower one is simply placed in situ "to see" what it will look like. There are a few more trees for the far right, the mountain tops, one of the bridge's posts to finish.

The ducks are my own touch--my signature birds! :)



In other news, the cochineal dyed wool makes a pretty yarn:


I will be making a scarf with these skeins.