The final three blocks for The Empire Quilt

Today I'm sharing the final three blocks that will make up my hexagon quilt that I call The Empire Quilt. There will of course be some filler bits to fill the gabs but they don't involve much in the way of sewing. Without further ado here is the first block.

The star in the centre is English paper pieced and then simply appliqued to a background. I like to repeat some fabrics in blocks to give a quilt a more unified look. The fabric in the centre of the star was used for the broderie perse in some of the bird blocks.

The leafy fabric was used in the kingfisher block below. I added the leaf at the top, the leaf below the branch and the blue flowers at the left end of the branch. They all come from the same piece of fabric.

They were also used in this bird block. I tried to select background fabrics that were similar to the background in the floral print so that the broderie perse applique would blend in.

Here's a close-up of the broderie perse. For a more detailed explanation of what I did you can read this post.

Right, back to the blocks I am sharing today. I also made this eight point star block. I English paper pieced the eight point star made of diamonds and then appliqued it to the background. The print I used is quite large and I've struggled with what to do with it. It has been in my stash for many years. I finally decided to turn it into what I call a sacrificial yard of fabric. I cut into it to make this star and have decided that the entire yard will be used for fussy cutting. It will eventually look like a slice of Swiss cheese but that's okay because it will be used to make beautiful things. The first cut is always the hardest but now that it has been done it will be much easier to cut it up! I really love the look and feel of this block.

The last block is an applique block that features an owl and again I used my floral print to do some broderie perse applique. I chose a background that worked relatively well with the background on the floral print so that the broderie perse just blends in nicely. The pieces for the owl and branch are relatively large and very easy to applique. The talons were embroidered with a chain stitch. I figure if something is too small for my fingers to applique I'll just embroider it!

This is one of my favourite blocks in the quilt. I like it so much that it is inspiration for another quilt that I plan to make. It will be a variation on The Empire Quilt. I've sketched it up and will eventually start working on it. For now it is just on the drawing board but when I get started you know I will share it with you!

That's it for today. Until I post again, happy sewing!
Karen H