Fussy Cutting Acorns

[catlinyemaker]

Posting weekly has really helped with making progress on this block. The inner motif is finished but for embroidery: the birds’ beaks, eyes and legs will be embroidered, and perhaps the “moss” on the moss rose buds. I’m of two minds on that; I like the way it looks plain, and I don’t know if the embroidered moss would be additive. On the other hand it would be a way to hide the overlarge stitches (ok, perhaps only large to an appliqué-er) on the one bud. The acorns are all attached, and they are getting their caps. I am still pondering the green of the oak leaves for the outer wreath; it may come down to cutting mock-ups and laying them out all around the wreath before making the final decision. Part of the problem is that acorns are Fall, which leans to making the oak leaves brown/gold, but the center branch is Spring or at latest Summer, which means the oak leaves ought to be green. Plus the earlier thinking that the oak wreath should be the dark frame to the light center branch… Clearly more pondering is needed.

In the meantime I can sew on acorn caps, using the perfect fabric from a color/pattern perspective. Unfortunately it’s also somewhat thick, at least when working at this scale, and prone to fraying, so the seam allowances are actually stuffing the caps somewhat. It’s a neat effect but a PITA to stitch.

The acorn fabrics worked out just right; the ginko leaf pattern works splendidly for the glossy nut and the dark brown tapestry fabric adds texture to the cap. I fussy-cut both; pretty much everything I do any more is fussy-cut, sometimes even pieced blocks The moth-eaten fabric that results always makes me laugh. Our quilt guild had a speaker who was a piecer, and she was talking about using fabric wisely with minimal waste. She said: “Applique-ers! Now they’re just crazy! They’ll take a perfectly good piece of fabric and cut a hole right in the middle!” I laughed so hard at that, it’s so true!