Crabapple Hill's Friendship Signature Quilt

Hi Everybody!

What better time than the Holiday season to be thankful for family, friends, and everyone else in this big, wide world who shares our love of hand embroidery? I’ve had (what I think!) is a glorious idea! I’ve wanted to do a signature quilt for a long time, but, quite  frankly, don’t have enough signatures to fill one up! It would look like a signature quilt made by some pitiful person who has no friends! (That’s a play for your sympathy...did it work?) Then I realized I have YOU! We have each other! We’re sort of friends without really knowing each other personally… all of us! We all love fabric. We all love to stitch. The calm pastime of pulling the thread through the fabric and creating beautiful things sings in all of our hearts.

Could you possibly take a few minutes (who am I kidding here… an hour or so…) to trace your name on a piece of white cotton fabric and backstitch or stem stitch it in red floss? I’m going to use 2 strands of Cosmo #5006 Seasons Embroidery Floss because it has a nice, obvious variegation and so far hasn’t bled in anything I’ve washed. You can use any brand of red floss you’d like.  

The size of the template linked here is 2 1/2” x 4 1/2”. After it’s sewn into the blocks it will be 2” x 4” (the dashed line’s size). You’d probably be more comfortable stitching if you trace it on a piece of fabric large enough to fit your hoop. To prevent shadowing of the floss tails and knots (and inevitable little crossovers) I’m going to also back my stitching with white muslin.

It’s easiest to put the template under another piece of paper on your lightbox and sign/draw on the paper. That way, if you don’t like the way it turns out, you can just draw it again somewhere else on the paper. Once you’re happy with your block, you can trace it onto your fabric.  

If you include a suggestion for a pattern name with your entry, we’ll put you into a drawing for a prize!

Click here to get the template if you'd like one.

Send your block (if you roughly cut it out at about 3” x 5” it will easily fit in a regular envelope) and pattern name entry to:

Crabapple Hill Studio

Friendship Quilt

1522 N. Dallas Rd.

Benton City, WA 99320

USA

I SO hope you’ll decide to take part in this, and I’m really looking forward to see how many are sent in and who will take part! If we get too many for one side of the quilt, I’m going to either make two… or piece the back! How fun will THAT be? Then, this will be a free pattern next year! I’m looking forward to seeing your signature blocks!

UPDATE MAY 2020: You can now download the "Signature Stars Friendship Quilt" pattern!