Postage Stamp Baskets – 2003

This wall hanging got its inspiration from a packet of 5″ squares I received from a new line of fabric.  The colors were all so nice that I wanted to use them together.  I decided on a postage stamp baskets wall hanging.  I pulled out the strongest colors and used them for the baskets and handles,

surrounded the basket blocks with the lightest colors putting the blocks on point, then surrounded those blocks with the medium prints.  I was able to get two basket handles out of a 5″ square.  The entire center of the quilt was pieced from the 5″ squares plus the flowers in the corners.  I used other fabric for the borders and binding.

I used fusible interfacing to applique the flowers in the corners.  The flowers and interfacing are sewn together, right sides facing, using a quarter inch seam.  The seams are trimmed a little bit, a slit is made in the back of the interfacing and the flowers are turned right side out, pressed and appliqued down.  The nice thing about this method is the flowers are held in place when you press them down because of the fusible interfacing on the back, making it easier to applique whether by hand or machine.  The down side, in my opinion, is I didn’t feel that the flower edges were rounded enough.  Maybe I need to practice this method more.

The wall hanging is machine quilted.