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
