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Wednesday, May 1, 2013

Mr. Phebe suits up!


Mr. Phebe - Planning how to make his suitcoat was fun, appliqueing the lapels was not. His suitcoat will have embroidered buttons, probably French Knots. Giving him "salt and pepper hair" was fun but appliqueing those little pieces before they frayed out sure wasn't fun. I think he turned out fairly well though. 


Mrs. Phebe - Because her jacket color melts into the skirt, I plan to embroider around the jacket hem and give it buttons also. Instead of holding a flower, Mrs. Phebe is carrying a basket. I hope you recognized it because it took me a long time to make! 

I'm sorry you can't see their facial expressions very well. I just couldn't get a good photo. My camera hasn't taken very good photos ever since Bonnie (the cat) pulled it off the kitchen counter. She's our kleptomaniac and loves shiny things. Twist ties are also not safe if she's around but you're not here to read cat stories so back to quilting!

Except for Mrs. Phebe's eyes, which are French Knots made using 1 strand of DMC floss, I used silk applique thread to embroider their eyes, eyebrows, nose, mouth and chin. The DMC floss just seemed too heavy.

This is the first time I've ever appliqued people. Unfortunately, I didn't choose a good skin tone fabric for their faces and Mrs. Phebe's hands. I'm glad Mr. Phebe is wearing gloves. The fabric looked quite tan in the fabric shop so I bought it. I'm going to try embroidering an outline stitch around her hands using light gray applique thread to make them more visible.

The quilt's center block is now mostly finished except for moving a leaf and the embroidery work. I'm planning to do the embroidery in the evenings and move on to piecing more of the Ohio Stars and prepping the applique vine border next.

We're having weird weather for it being May 1. Tonight we're expecting lows near freezing and the possibility of snow! I hear the wind howling outside and could think of this as really bad weather or I could think of this as good quilting weather. I know which option I'm going to choose!

Till next time, Mayleen

7 comments:

Barb said...

Your couple look wonderful! I love the suit and the basket - great applique work

Jan Hutchison said...

That Mr. Phebe is quite the dude! I'm dragging my winter coat back out of the closet - this weather is wacky!

Heather said...

Great job, your block is stunning!

Judy Dietrich said...

I love your vase in the center block!!! I cheated and bought the block of month kit, but have not had time to get to the sewing of it. So watching your construction of the center panel is making me want to move it to the front line of the quilting projects!!! I like your fabric choices---don't be so hard on yourself. I like the hair color of your Mr. and Mrs. and love the little basket. I love all the stars that go around the quilt---that is what drew me to this pattern. I should get those kitted up so I could piece them. Keep stitching!!

Merilyn said...

Mr and Mrs Phebe look quite wonderful!! I can't imagine how small these little people are, but the detail so far looks great, you are getting there strand by strand!!!
You're doing a great job with this Mayleen!!!!

FlourishingPalms said...

The weather there in the Midwest has been crazy, hasn't it? Snow in May? Really? Makes you want to visit Florida, I'm sure. Your Phebe quilt is looking more wonderful in every blog post.

Kel said...

This is Fabulous, Really lovely.
I love your vase fabric and shape. Im still not happy with my vase but im leaving it as is!
Keep going with it :)