Quilts, Embroidery, and Meg

The power of the internet is an amazing thing for quilting and crafts. Back in the B.I. age (before internet), a quilter might go into a shop and find a great pattern, buy it, and show it to a friend, who would then have to get the pattern as well. They'd show other friends and before long, many of the quilters in a community would have the same pattern. But it wasn't global like it is now that we've entered the internet age--unless a manufacturer advertised a product in a national publication. Now we can just post a great find on our blogs and other like-minded quilters see it and go out and buy it--or, better yet, order it off an internet website. That's GOTTA be good for the economy, doesn't it? Maybe someone should do a study.

Speaking of studies, I saw a headline the other day that said, "study reveals women don't like to look at deformed babies." Or something like that. I knew I should bookmark it but I forgot. Anyway, a couple questions came to mind. As usual one of my first thoughts was "Gee, they needed a study for that? How much did they spend on the study?" And the second question was "So MEN like looking at deformed babies? Or is this a really sexist study?" Anyway, like I said, I forgot to bookmark the site and never did read the article, so maybe I'm waaaay off base--maybe the article would have justified the study. But I'm rambling. Back to the subject.

The other day, Dianne Flamingo Feet posted the first block she'd completed of a 12-block stitchery by Crabapple Hill called Hocuspocusville. Really cute. It's a Halloween pattern, and each block is a different "store" in town--for instance, Dianne showed her finished quilt shop block. And, having recently discovered the wonders of embroidery--yet another craft to spend money on--and being a complete sucker for any type of "house" pattern, I had to buy it. She megged me.

(Do you know about megging? If not, check out this old post of Vicky's. I love the term! Up until I saw Vicky's explanation, "megging" to me--me being the typical soccer mom--meant tricking someone in soccer by kicking the ball through their legs. Which is kind of similar when you think about it!)

So, anyway, here's a photo of my brand spanking new pattern:

Have I megged anyone yet?

If not, well it's kind of hard to see the pattern and then there's that glare on the packaging. If you'd like you can go HERE and see it at the Crabapple Hill website. Click on the image to enlarge it. (By the way, if you're feeling a bit megged, let me help you out here: I found mine on sale at Over the Rainbow.)

I like the way some designers have used stitcheries in quilts, but sometimes I feel the pieced portions of a quilt overwhelm the stitchery parts--and since the stitcheries take the most time, that doesn't seem fair. If/when I make this, I think I'll at least want to change the colors used in the pieced portion of the quilt. Maybe I'd use something like that Michael Miller spider web fabric in place of the black squares to lighten it up some.

I think, though, that Helen got it right in designing this Christmas quilt:

To my eye, it looks much better balanced, and the stitcheries hold their own. Have you gotten hooked on embroidery yet? What do you think about using it in a quilt? Inquiring minds . . . .

The other question in my mind involves quilting a quilt that has a lot of embroidery. How do you quilt it? That's a bridge I haven't come to yet, but I'm sure I will some day. Are there any "rules"? In the photo for this Crabapple Hill pattern I just bought, the quilting on the stitchery blocks is just a kind of meandering in the background that looks a bit like clouds. I think it works pretty well. But what about where the embroidered block is words, like the block above that says "Merry Christmas to all . . ."?

Maybe someone should do a study. Let me know if you come across one, okay?