River Thames Heron

I am a member of the Thameside Quilters we have been invited to make quilts for a special exhibition to promote our group at the annual Sandown Quilt Show held at the end of June. We decided on the theme 'The River' as we meet in a church hall right on the River Thames. I don't normally enter competitions and have to admit that I am a little nervous about my work being on display, but as it will not be judged I decided to give it a go :) I had a photograph that my husband took of a Heron sitting on the lock sign on the River Thames near Windsor and decided to use that as my inspiration. I also had an applique pattern of a heron by Eileen Campbell that I altered considerably.

I spent a lot of time drawing and erasing until I was happy with the overall design, and then made a full size pattern...

Then came the problem of fabrics, when you look at the photograph you can see that the river is a sludgy green colour that blends into the bank and trees. I bought some batiks to try and get a natural realistic effect and assembled the heron onto baking paper before auditioning background fabrics. Then it was just a matter of peeling off the bird and fusing it in place.

The applique was then machine stitched with a feather stitch for the heron and button hole stitch for the rest of the pieces, before being machine quilted. It is one of the few quilts I have made totally by machine and could definitely use some more practice, but I am happy with it overall.

My quilt along with lots of others from the group will be hanging at the National Quilt Championships at Sandown from the 21st to 23rd June. Full details HERE if you want to come along :)