Remember I said mom and I decided to make this amazing quilt? She finished her light years ahead of me but finally we had them in the same room! Hers is hanging on the wall, mine is across the bed. We know we had a hit on our hands when her cat made himself comfortable! If you hate cats on quilts, turn away for a few more pictures as you scroll down.
So very much the same, so subtly different here and there.
I have scanned all my “add-on” patterns. If they are something you’d like, send me an email and I’ll send you the file. I’ve scanned each pattern with a 6” ruler in the pattern so you’ll know if your printer is to scale.
My email address: RhondaDort@gmail.com
That’s it! This is officially the end of blog posts about My Primitive Garden! This quilt remains one of my favorite projects, so much so that I’m mulling over starting a new wool on cotton quilt top but this time I’m thinking about designing my own pattern. Lofty idea but possibly doable…possibly…
Here’s a little sneaky-peek of my next blog post:
It’s time to consider the New Year, it’s quickly approaching. I’ve been blessed beyond measure this year and come mid to late February, more blessings await me as hubs and I will be first time grandparents! I can hardly wait!
I’ve scanned and commented on most all of the following pictures of the “Add-Ons” to my Primitive Garden Quilt, just as a reminder, this is a wonderful pattern by Lisa Bongean of: Primitive Gatherings.
Why is there a 6″ ruler in each of the black and white pattern pictures? For scale! Often times our printers do not print full scale. This way if you print, you can use your own measuring devise to determine if you’ve printed full or 100% scale.
😦 I cannot find the patterns for the 3 little gourds at the bottom of the left block but they should be very easy to replicate on your own.
I also could not locate the pattern I used for the Carolina Wren on the Birdhouse Block. You can easily use the House Wren pattern, enlarge it a bit and make the tail feather pattern piece stand up.
The Queen Anne’s Lace flowers in the picture above… they are just lots of ivory wool 1/2″ squares that I’ve cinched/gathered in my needle and embroidery floss. I put a pale yellow french/colonial knot in the center of each of the cinched squares. You’ll need 12-15 little squares per blossom head to get the same look. Once the blossom heads were in place I embroidered stems where needed.
***And just as a reminder, create all your “multi-pieced” motifs on a teflon pressing sheet. Once they are fused together and have sufficiently cooled off, gently peel them from the pressing sheet, audition them on your quilt block in several different places. Once you think you have the perfect placement, walk away from your block for a few minutes. Once you return if you’re still happy with the placement, then it’s time to press them in place. Keep in mind that if you’re working with felted wool, don’t use the hottest setting on your iron!***
The turtle is only 3 pieces, the shell, the body and the front leg on the left. The additional details are highlighted by the hand embroidery.
If you vary the size of the leaves in this block, you will add visual interest. You can choose to place any number of birds in your tree branch, I just decided that 2 of them would be enough for me.
About the Tree Branch pattern, you should feel free to add or subtract branches, whatever fits your needs.
I had intended to put a couple of Walking Stick Bugs in my quilt as I used to be both terrified and intrigued by these bugs growing up. Sadly I forgot to include them but thought you might like the diagram for them anyway.
Mr. Field Mouse. He is tiny but cute! The exploded pattern pieces are down below the Blue Jay pictures, they are unmarked but you’ll find them in the top right hand corner of a black and white pic.
The Bumblebees and the profile Dragonfly.
This pattern underwent some serious changes but I stayed true to the intent of the original design. I added undulating ivy, extended the cone flower blossoms to almost touch the bottom of the feeder and redesigned the structure to include the roof. Using my rotary cutter, I placed pieces of “bird seed looking wool” on my cutting mat and sliced them almost to bits. I laid them carefully on the background fabric and placed smoke colored netting/tulle over-top. The netting holds the pieces generally in place. You could use a bit of very light weight fusible directly under the bird seed wool bits if desired.
The Left Cardinal pattern
Are you surprised the Robins are only 5 pieces? Again, its’ the hand embroidery that creates excellent detail. I’m sorry to say I think I have lost the pattern for both the beak and the feet but they are easily re-created.
Above you’ll find the pattern pieces for the Robins.
The top right 3 pieces are for the House Wren.
The Male Ruby Throated Hummingbird is one of my favorites!
The exploded pattern pieces are the Hummingbird. The little tear-drop looking thing is a pattern for tree leaves.
I love the Blue Jays. They have a lot of pieces but I feel like they were well worth the effort!
The top right 3 pieces (ignore the cone shape with the X in the middle) are the Field Mouse.
The left pieces are for the sitting Blue Jay.
And finally, the frog/toad. You will need to enlarge him to create both the large and small frog/toad on the Garden Tools Block.
I also can not find the individual pieces to the American Gold Finch. He is composed of: yellow body, black tail and head cap, white spot at the top of his tail, his beak and his feet.
While I liked the original pattern for the Hollyhocks, I decided to use a graphic I found instead. They are fuller flowers and leaves. I added a lot more of each to the left border.
This pattern addition is my favorite. Mr. Baltimore Oriole is feeding his 3 babies. The nest is just a bunch of pieces of brown felted wool layered on top of eachother. The hand embroidered chain stitch creates the “branches” that hold the nest onto the tree. I added a worm in the dad’s mouth.
If I was doing this over again, I would have the plant stem coming out of the dirt and angled much more sharply off to the left. I didn’t have a pattern for the spilled soil, just wing it, it’s easy.
Mr. Grasshopper
The pattern for the darling little grasshopper is found way up in the black and white picture that also had the Field Mouse. He is 3 pattern pieces, the body, the front and the back leg. Again, it’s the hand embroidery that finished this one!
You may remember, mom made and gave me the Squirrel so I don’t have a pattern for him either.
Does this help you in choosing to personalize this wonderful pattern? I hope so!
Do you have questions? I’m ready to answer anything I can, just send me a comment and I’ll answer back as soon as possible.
If you find that you cannot print the black and white pattern pages from this blog, email me ( rhondadort@gmail.com ) and I will sent you all the patterns of my little extras.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone, and of course, happy quilting!
By now you already know how much I love this pattern and what a wonderful time I had creating each and every block and border. But with each pattern I tried to add a personal touch or two or three. This blog post is jam packed with pictures, 41 I think, and each one is included to show you the details of my additions.
The 2 pictures above show 2 of the 7 House Wrens I added to the top border. Below you’ll see I added a tree branch (to the upper left border) featuring a male Baltimore Oriole feeding a worm to one of the 3 baby birds in the hanging nest. Just for fun I added several clumps of red cherries to the tree branches.
Above is a pic of a tiny field mouse that’s found a home at the base of the left fence post in the Birds on a Wire block. In the 2 pictures below you can see close-ups of the beautiful Bumblebees buzzing the Morning Glory vine flowers.
Sorry this pic isn’t clearer, but this is my tiny garden variety snail crawling along the lower edge of the Geranium block.
This sweet little yellow and tan butterfly is flying around in the right upper border, just above the Zinnias.
Here’s one of 2 male Ruby Throated hummingbirds flying around in the quilt. This one is finding nourishment amongst the Zinnias.
The Garden Hoe block features this tiny spider dropping down from his web at the head of the hoe and below you’ll see 1 of 2 green grasshoppers resting on the top left of the same garden hoe.
Here’s the 2nd yellow butterfly hovering above the robins in the Shovel block and below is the 2nd of the 2 hummingbirds searching for nectar in the flowers of the orange Trumpet Vine.
The Shovel block also features 2 male Robins observing their surroundings as they perch on the Trumpet Vine tendrils.
Below you can see I made several changes to the bird feeder design in the left border. I revised the design of the feeder structure, changed from one blackbird to a male and female Cardinal, placed chopped up wool pieces behind smoke colored netting/tulle to resemble bird feed and added a green Ivy Vine that winds its way up the feeder pole and onto the roof.
Here’s the 2nd of the 2 green grasshoppers making an appearance on the Seed Packet block.
More Bumblebees and a tiny little Dragonfly are additions to the Sap Bucket block.
Oh the Rake block! I had a great time creating these 2 male American Goldfinches! They replace the original 2 blackbirds in the original pattern. And, am I the only one that thinks the leaves in the Rake block look like moose antlers?
Mr. Squirrel is at the bottom right of the rake handle. I must confess, my mom made the squirrel for me during one of my visits to Missouri. I was thrilled! It was only because I was not paying attention to things that created the circumstances of the vine appearing to be growing out of his nose 🙂 At least I remembered to provide him with acorns to eat.
Another “tree branch” addition features 2 more House Wrens perched in the right quilt border.
Oh the Blue Jays! I love both of them! Dad Blue Jay is coming in for a landing to join mom Blue Jay on the edge of the birdbath bowl.
In the above 2 pictures you’ll see a small Carolina Wren addition to the Birdhouse Block and look closely and you’ll find a Chameleon resting in the leaves of the plant at the left base of the birdbath base.
Below is one of many red LadyBugs I’ve added to the quilt.
A tipped, yet still flourishing plant in the flower pot on its side and below at the left base of the Hollyhocks is the 1st of 2 turtles.
3 very small gourds round out all the additions to the left border. Below is the 2nd little turtle underneath the Wheelbarrow. You’ll notice I added a second set of leg supports to the wheelbarrow.
A very tiny little yellow butterfly is visiting a flower in the Seed Packet block.
A tiny LadyBug on a leaf in the Garden Tools block.
In the picture above you can see I added 7 bunches, both large and small, of Queen Anne’s Lace blossoms atop the sunflowers.
Below you’ll note I changed up the right border to include a stylized American Flag with vining ivy to replace the original green garden hose.
The top border also got a few more flowers: 2 more red flowers and 1 more purple flower on each side.
And finally, again in the Garden Tools block, I added 2 little green toads, a blue butterfly and deleted the garden clippers.
I’m sure given more time and concentration I could document 1 or 2 more changes/additions but I think I’ve covered the majority of them.
I’ve said it before but it bears repeating, I thoroughly enjoyed making this quilt, many thanks to Lisa Bongean of Primitive Gatherings for such. Wonderful pattern!
Are you still with me? Please know that if you’d like any of my bird/animal/insect patterns, I could scan and send them to you, just let me know.
As a closing note, take time to remember that as we approach this blessed Christmas Season that Jesus is the reason we have this “season”!
Rhonda Dort 