Apple Stars
Up a long winding rode, on a mountain hillside in North Carolina, there is an orchard, a Skytop Orchard. If we're lucky, we make our way there late September or early October to celebrate the arrival of autumn.
Have you been apple picking? Or blueberry picking? Strawberries? We pretty much pick whatever we can. Our picking traditions mark the turn of the seasons. It's not about getting the food into our kitchen so much as feeling connected to each other and to nature and to what's real.
When I was invited to join the Travelin' Pic Stitch Blog Hop, where we let a place we've visited inspire the color choices for an English paper pieced project, this is the picture that settled in my mind. If I could somehow bottle the way the late autumn light shines so beautifully among the yellow and greens and reds of those apples. Oh! And the apples on the ground. And the pretty painted buckets!
Well, I didn't. Bottle it I mean. These English paper pieced stars are pretty and were so very fun to make, but they don't hold a candle to the apple orchard. Just like any shiny moment captured on film, nothing could be so sweet ever again, quite in the same way.
My apple stars join the other I made early October for a charity quilting bee quilt with the Love circle. If you fancy making these large stars, use my Google printable to print out the diamond paper pieces for your project. Each block will require 12 diamonds, 6 for the star and 6 for the surround. The blocks will finish as 10 3/8" hexagons, which I plan to machine piece together.
If you're new to English paper piecin, check out my intro video tutorial for the very basics. This patchwork skill is all done by hand, which makes it great for taking to the couch on a cool autumn night or on a road trip, as the case may be!
Tomorrow the blog hop stops at Let's Eat Grandpa!
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| by Letterform via Flickr |
Have you been apple picking? Or blueberry picking? Strawberries? We pretty much pick whatever we can. Our picking traditions mark the turn of the seasons. It's not about getting the food into our kitchen so much as feeling connected to each other and to nature and to what's real.
 |
| by mbsurf via Flickr |
So, we follow the signs to the apples of our choosing.
And allow the children to climb a few trees, on the sturdier limbs.
Oh-so-careful not to break things
Did you know, Daddy is a tree doctor?
We pass down apples to waiting hands.
And fill the buckets to the brim.
Until we cannot carry anymore.
Repeat, repeat every year if we can.
Wonder if our children's children will come here too?
Grateful to think the apples will be here for them...
Especially if we keep picking.
When I was invited to join the Travelin' Pic Stitch Blog Hop, where we let a place we've visited inspire the color choices for an English paper pieced project, this is the picture that settled in my mind. If I could somehow bottle the way the late autumn light shines so beautifully among the yellow and greens and reds of those apples. Oh! And the apples on the ground. And the pretty painted buckets!
Well, I didn't. Bottle it I mean. These English paper pieced stars are pretty and were so very fun to make, but they don't hold a candle to the apple orchard. Just like any shiny moment captured on film, nothing could be so sweet ever again, quite in the same way.
My apple stars join the other I made early October for a charity quilting bee quilt with the Love circle. If you fancy making these large stars, use my Google printable to print out the diamond paper pieces for your project. Each block will require 12 diamonds, 6 for the star and 6 for the surround. The blocks will finish as 10 3/8" hexagons, which I plan to machine piece together.
If you're new to English paper piecin, check out my intro video tutorial for the very basics. This patchwork skill is all done by hand, which makes it great for taking to the couch on a cool autumn night or on a road trip, as the case may be!
This post is part of the Travellin' Pic Stitch Blog Hop. From 1st October - 30th November we are hopping all over the world EPP-ing in some fantastic locations. Check out the full list here and be sure to check out the other participants.
On 30th November anyone who makes some EPP during the hop can link up for a chance to win some fabulous prizes! Sponsored by Paperpieces.com, Fabricworm, Pink Castle Fabrics , Marmalade Fabrics, the Fat Quarter Shop, WantItNeedItQuilt, and Aurifil. Full details for competition entry can be found here.
On 30th November anyone who makes some EPP during the hop can link up for a chance to win some fabulous prizes! Sponsored by Paperpieces.com, Fabricworm, Pink Castle Fabrics , Marmalade Fabrics, the Fat Quarter Shop, WantItNeedItQuilt, and Aurifil. Full details for competition entry can be found here.
Tomorrow the blog hop stops at Let's Eat Grandpa!