Wetlands Update: Completed Quilt Top

Hello Friends and Welcome!

This week, instead of my regularly scheduled Project Update, I'm excited to be sharing my completed Wetlands BoM quilt top!

Wetlands is the block of the month project hosted by my quilt guild over this past guild year. The top has been done for over a week at this point, in enough time to be shared at the year end guild meeting last Thursday, but it took me some time to write up everything I wanted to say about it!

The pattern was designed by Mary Dodd and Marian Baidacoff, including eight applique blocks featuring common wetland plants and animals, as well as six traditional pieced blocks. With borders, the quilt top finishes at 47"×68". Pattern instructions can be found on the MQG website.

I challenged my Mother to make the pattern alongside me. Fusible applique was a new technique for both of us, and a lot of fun to learn! Since I grew up in a swamp, and my parents still reside there, the wetland theme is actually very personal, and I wanted my quilt to reflect that. The result was a quilt top that reminds me a lot of my childhood and of where I come from.

Read on, Friends, to see my planning process, changes made, and additional sources of inspiration!

Planning - September 2020

Back in September, when this BoM first started, the guild released samples of the Wetlands quilt, finished dimensions, and fabric requirements. Colour suggestions were left vague to inspire participants' creativity.

Based on the samples and the wetland theme, I assumed most people would choose neutral greens and blues that would commonly be seen in an actual wetland ecosystem. But I wanted to showcase some of the less common wetland colours in my quilt.

I was inspired by this photo of the sunrise over my home taken in 2012. I love the bright orange of the sky and the starkness of the black tree silhouettes. I thought these colours would translate really well to this pattern!

The colours weren't the only thing from this photo that inspired me, I also loved the way the clouds affect the texture in the sky, creating streaks of light and dark, and blending into an even wider array of colours. I wanted to reflect these textures in my quilt top using curved piecing, and to use colour placement to create the illusion of a variegated sunrise sky.

With my colours chosen, I took another look at the design. I've always loved making personal alterations to my BoM quilts, changing the size, block placement, and border design allows me to make a totally unique quilt!

Over the last year, I've become really interested in square quilts, so I planned to add a few extra blocks to make this one into a square format. Based on the dimensions provided and the number of blocks, I calculated that the pieced blocks, including borders, would be 14" square, and the applique blocks would be 14"×7", both finished sizes.

With all of that in mind, I drew up a plan for my version of the Wetlands quilt:

The original pattern included six pieced blocks and eight applique blocks, my alterations resulted in a quilt centre with nine pieced blocks, twelve applique blocks, and four smaller 7" blocks to fill in the gaps.

For the borders, I did very little planning. I decided to include a narrow black border around the quilt centre, referencing the borders apparent on the pieced blocks. For the wider, outer border, I wanted to include some additional applique details, but that was all I had in mind.

Piecing the Applique Background Blocks

I started piecing my applique backgrounds in October, after block instructions confirming their size had been released. I decided to use paper templates to piece these blocks, giving me lots of control over their finished design. If you’d like to read more about the method I used, check out my post on curved piecing, and scroll down to the section titled “Wetlands Block of the Month.”

At first, I only pieced the background block I would need for October, but after completing it, I realized that piecing was a very time consuming additional step. Since I was making my quilt with my Mother, I wanted to remove that step for future months to be sure both of us could finish our blocks in the weekend we were scheduled to sew together. I ended up piecing all of the applique backgrounds in the later half of October so they would all be ready for whatever November had to offer.

In addition to the rectangular background blocks, I needed a few smaller, square blocks to fill in a few gaps. Those were made much more recently, in May.

Fusible Applique

With the backgrounds pieced, I could finally start adding the applique! This pattern uses a technique called raw edge or fusible applique, which is great for creating detailed and complex shapes.

Fusible applique uses a product called fusible net to stick the applique fabric to the background. It can be found at most sewing and quilting stores, as well as online. The brand carried by my local store is steam-a-seam, which I found to be easy to work with. It is also the only brand of fusible net I have any experience using, so I have nothing to compare it to.

The pattern instructions included printable templates for the applique, but I wanted to add a little more of my own style by drawing or redrawing the templates myself by hand.

Referencing the templates provided, as well as photos of the actual species portrayed, I drew a sketch of the silhouette on blank paper, including any cutout details. Once I had a sketch I was happy with, I traced over all the lines in a black marker, making the template usable from both sides. This is an important step since the template has to be traced onto the fusible net in reverse, and a double sided template gives me more control over the outcome of my applique.

You can see what I mean in the photo above. The template of the heron has to be traced facing to the right in order to get a block where the heron applique faces left.

My templates were all drawn the month they were assigned, I did not pre-plan them other than knowing which applique blocks I wanted multiples of. For example, two swallow blocks, but only one loon.

Once my templates were complete, I simply followed the instructions that came with my fusible net:

Without removing the protective paper covering, trace a mirror image of the template onto the marked side of the fusible net.
Loosely cut around the shape to separate it from the larger sheet of net.
Peel off the paper on the unmarked side and stick the net to the wrong side of the applique fabric. Smooth it out using the heat from your hands to help it stick.
Cut through all the layers (paper, fusible net, and applique fabric) along the template lines drawn on the marked side of the net. I used small thread scissors to help with detailed areas and cutouts.
Peel off the marked paper, then stick the applique shape to the right side of the background fabric. At this point, the pieces aren’t fused, so they can still be peeled off to make adjustments.
With a pressing cloth between the applique and iron, press the applique in each area for a minimum of 30 seconds to melt the glue and fuse the layers together. The pressing cloth will protect the surface of your iron in case there is any exposed glue from the fusible net.
Stitch around the edges of the applique to secure them and prevent fraying.

There are a lot of machine stitches that can be used for this purpose; satin stitch, zigzag, or a simple straight stitch. There are even some quilt makers who use dense, all-over quilting to secure fusible applique, rather than specifically stitching around the edges of each shape.

I was worried about the longevity of these different methods and decided to try a hand stitch to secure my edges instead. More specifically, I used a hand-sewn buttonhole stitch. If you're interested to learn how it's done, check out this video tutorial by Bernadette Banner. Unlike the video, I chose to use a single length of a thicker thread.

Applique Block Designs

With the methods out of the way, I'm excited to share a little more about each of my blocks. The blocks that follow were all based on those provided by the original pattern, but may include some additions or alterations designed by me.

October Block: Cattails

When I first planned out my Wetlands quilt in September, I wanted to use multiple cattail blocks to separate the different species in the quilt top. It seemed irresponsible for me to knowingly place a predatory species beside a prey species without giving them some cover.

But I knew there was a good chance of me making changes along the way, so when the cattail block was the first to be assigned in October, I decided to make only one and add more later if needed.

This was the block I made in October. In accordance with the original template, it features a clump of cattails including two spikes and a lot of leaves. I later decided that I actually wanted the cattail block on a dark background, so I set that block aside to be used in the border instead.

I ended up drafting a new cattail template, featuring three spikes instead of two. I love the organic, natural composition of the original block, and it was a lot of fun to try my hand at drawing my own template. Creating a natural configuration of the leaves that is also aesthetically appealing was a very fun design exercise!

November Block: Red-Winged Blackbird

For the red-winged blackbird, I made very few changes to the original design. I reshaped a few parts of its body to better reflect the proportions of the real bird, but otherwise changed nothing.

In hindsight, I wish I had put a little more thought into the stem the bird is perched on. The long, slender leaves and stem look like some kind of grass or phragmite, but I don't think those could hold the bird's weight. I also considered that it could be a black willow, but I ended up making a separate black willow block that looks completely different.

As a result, this is the only block containing an unidentified species.

December Block: Mallards

In the original pattern, this block is simply listed as ducks, but I chose to specify that mine are mallards. I think it's pretty clear that the pair in the original pattern are also mallards, based on the scoop shape of the beak and curled feathers on one duck's tail (the male).

Based on my plan, I knew I wanted to make at least two different duck blocks, so I decided to feature two adult mallards and three ducklings. I was really excited to design the duckling templates, and interested to see if I could give each of them their own unique personality.

I think I was really successful in my duckling designs! I love how small and fluffy they are, and how well they interact with the two adult mallards shown in the original design.

January Block: Barn Swallow

The swallows were another block I chose to make multiples of. From my experience, swallows are a little competitive, I often see them chasing each other through the air in pairs or small groups. I wanted to reflect this behaviour in my applique.

For these blocks, I specifically chose the barn swallow. While the field swallow might have been a more thematically appropriate choice, they have a much less pronounced fork in their tail, so don't really exhibit the classic swallow silhouette from the original pattern. Barn swallows do live near the swamp I grew up in, and have a very classic swallowtail.

I'm really happy with the diversity of swallow silhouettes I was able to make, but they are a little large in proportion to the other birds in the quilt. I’m not too bothered by this though, since the templates from the original pattern don’t seem to be proportional to one another either.

February Block: Northern Water Lily

Of all the blocks so far, the water lily felt the most stylized in the pattern provided. The lily pads appear perfectly round, and the flower is perfectly symmetrical, a little too unnatural to work with the style I'd been using for my templates.

I made my templates more organic, and adjusted the proportions of the lily pads and water lily. When placing my applique shapes, I chose to layer them to create the overlapping, slightly chaotic formation they naturally grow in.

In later months, I decided that my wetland could use a little more vegetation and added two more water lily blocks to be used in the border.

I love how each of them came out totally unique simply by changing the size of the water lily or the placement of the lily pads. This was such a great block design and so much fun to redesign and experiment with!

March Block: Great Blue Heron

This block is another that was listed in the pattern with a simplified name, heron, but which bears obvious resemblance to a particular species: the great blue heron.

For my design, I chose to follow the original pattern for the bird's pose, but to add a lot of additional detail to the feathers. Specifically, you can see it along the chest, and in the addition of the crest. While I really love how the block turned out, I wish I had used a medium valued background since the block placement looks a little odd in the finished quilt top.

April Block: Common Loon

Since this is my Mother's favourite water bird, we were both really looking forward to making this block! I was really inspired by the creative cutouts on the original loon pattern. By allowing the background to show through, you can add a lot more detail to what would otherwise be just a dark silhouette.

To match this block to all my others, I chose to rearrange the placement of the cutouts to better reflect the markings on a real loon. My block ended up with a lot more cutouts than the original, but all the extra effort was definitely worth the beautiful outcome of the finished block!

Because of all those extra details the loon ended up being my favourite block to view from the back. I wanted to keep a picture of it so I can remember how it looked even after this project gets quilted and bound.

May Block: White-Faced Meadowhawk

I think this block is the one that I made the most changes to. Like the water lily, the original dragonfly block is highly stylized, and would look out of place alongside my redesigns. Unlike every other block, the original design didn't point me towards a specific species, which gave me the freedom to interpret it however I wanted!

I chose to base my design on the white-faced meadowhawk, a species I've seen in my own wetland. Unfortunately, because of their speed, dragonflies are really difficult to photograph in the air, so I had to reference pictures of stationary meadowhawks and hope they were believable.

I'm really proud of how these templates came out and ended up deciding to make an additional meadowhawk block to use in the border! I love that by reflecting and rotating each silhouette, I was able to create two unique blocks using the same set of templates. And I definitely think the illusion of flight is believable, helped along by the random and uneven spacing shown in the original pattern!

Additional Applique Blocks

After making all of those blocks, I still had two additional spaces to fill in the quilt centre, not to mention all the blocks needed for the borders. Some of these blocks were inspired by the designs from the original pattern, while others were based on some of my favourite wetland species that had been overlooked.

Painted Turtle

For some reason, it really stood out to me that turtles were missing from the pattern, so the painted turtle was the first totally original block added to my quilt. I decided on the painted turtle over the others native to Ontario because they are the species I’ve personally seen most often.

I was really excited about the idea of adding a turtle, so much so that I designed and assembled the block back in December, well in advance of most of the other additional blocks. I chose to show the turtle sheltered in the weeds, which were inspired by the leaves on the cattail block. Here, it would be safe from any nearby predators, but still able to enjoy the warmth of the sun.

I really love this block, so much so that I decided to make a second turtle block for the border!

This block is a little different from the first since it features two painted turtles and no vegetation, I don't see these two being in any danger, since any predators are so far away from them. Instead, they are engaged in the typical turtle behaviour of basking in the sun on a rock, something I wish I could spend more time doing!

Common Milkweed

For many months during the making of my Wetlands quilt, I was mulling over the species to choose for this last centre block. I knew I wanted to include another wetland plant, but wasn’t sure which plant to feature. Wetlands are incredible ecosystems, home to a huge variety of plants, animals, and insects, so there was a lot to choose from.

I ended up deciding to feature a milkweed plant, which has a very distinctive shape, beautiful flowers, and a special place in my memories.

I originally considered including the milkweed’s seed pod, which is the feature many people commonly associate with the plant, but is also the reason it is considered a weed. I decided to show it in the flowering season, using cutouts to highlight some of the individual blooms.

Canadian Geese

A gaggle of Canadian geese is a common sight over my wetland. Regardless of the season, they can be seen, flying in V formation towards whatever the horizons might bring them. While the geese on my quilt don’t exactly get the formation right, they are definitely on their way to new horizons!

Each of the goose silhouettes is unique, and represents a different stage of the motion of flight. Some have their wings raised, ready to push the air past themselves, others have wings lowered, propelling themselves through the skies, and still more are gliding, allowing the winds to tell them where to fly.

I found it really interesting to see the way the different parts of this cycle affect not only their wings, but the goose’s whole body; the slope of the neck, the flair of the tail, and the pose of the shoulder all work together to keep these geese in flight!

Like the mallards, I made the decision to spread my flock across multiple blocks, giving each of them space to spread their wings, and to create some personality by having some lag behind while others pushed forward.

Leopard Frog

Of all the blocks, I think this one is the least clearly defined. Frogs use their ambiguous silhouette to their advantage in the wild; predators may find it a challenge to differentiate between a frog sitting on a lily pad, and a stone protruding from the water.

Unfortunately, this was not to my advantage when I attempted to draw just that, a leopard frog sitting patiently on a lily pad. I chose the leopard frog since it is the frog I grew up seeing most often in my swamp, although I have had a few memorable encounters with American toads too.

Red-Winged Blackbird

Inspired by the red-winged blackbird in the original pattern, I wanted to include a second one in the border, this time in flight.

I loved that the original template included cutouts on the wings to represent the red patches that give the bird its name, and I wanted to replicate those. I think doing so gave this bird something special that sets it apart from the others.

Black Willow

This is another block inspired by the original red-winged blackbird block, but by the plant it’s perched on rather than the bird itself. I already mentioned that the plant in the original block was somewhat ambiguous because, at the time I first made it, I was more focused on linking the bird to reality and overlooked the stem.

The long, slender leaves on that mystery plant reminded me of those found on willow trees, like the black willows that grow in my own wetland. I suppose I could have chosen to draw a willow design that more closely referenced the plant in the red-winged blackbird block, but I was having a lot of fun with my design, and when it turned out completely different, I loved it even more!

Beaverpond Baskettail

To be honest, I’m not sure what inspired me to draw one additional dragonfly of a different species, but I decided to include the beaverpond baskettail as an additional border design.

This species is a little larger than the white-faced meadowhawk, and has a much wider abdomen (the tail part). They also have very different colours which aren’t visible in the silhouette alone. This design was based on one of my own photos, of a dragonfly in the very wetland that inspired so much of this project!

Piecing the Quilt Blocks

One of my favourite elements of the Wetlands quilt design is the mixing of modern and traditional techniques; fusible applique and pieced blocks. I love the way the blocks look as though they’re floating in the swamp, untethered by the laws of gravity, separated by borders but integrated with the environment nonetheless. It’s something I would love to experiment with in some of my own future designs!

The pattern includes instructions for six traditional blocks, but for my larger version of the quilt, I wanted nine. My plan was to make duplicates of three of those blocks using a different background colour each time to preserve some variety.

Since I wasn’t redesigning or altering the pieced blocks, I don’t have a lot to say about them individually, so enjoy the photos I have of each!

October Block: Amish Diamond

This was the first block to be duplicated, one in yellow and one in brown.

I love how reversing the placement of the black and coloured pieces creates a block that feels totally different!

November Block: Broken Wheel

My version of the broken wheel is a little difficult to see. The wheel itself is pieced in black on a yellow background, it ends up looking more like an abstract block than a pictographic one.

December Block: Carrie Nation

I don't know very much about the origins of this block, but I really enjoyed making it! I think I stands out from the others as the most abstract and, when seen in the context of the quilt top, almost looks like miniature version of the quilt.

January Block: Patience Corner

This was my second set of duplicate blocks. The colours used were copper and orange.

The piecing in the corners has a really interesting interaction with the borders that creates an interesting illusion of changing proportions.

February Block: Sailboat

The last block to be duplicated was the Sailboat, using orange and brown.

The colour placement really changes the mood of the block; the orange looks like a ship sailing at sunset, while the brown looks more like a night scene. I added a little more variety to the duplicate by setting them on different angles.

March Block: Anvil

This traditional block gets its name from a blacksmith's anvil. I find it to be a very whimsical block, the heavy anvil sitting on point, defying gravity.

In hindsight, I could have used nine unique blocks rather than repeating half of those provided in the original pattern. It would have done more to preserve variety than simply changing the colours, but I’m really happy with how each of my pieced blocks came together anyway!

The Finished Quilt Top

Once all the blocks had been completed, I could finally assemble my quilt top! I laid out all the blocks according to my original plan, and ended up rearranging some of them to create a better overall balance.

I pieced together the centre first, before adding the narrow black borders, and finally the pieced and appliqued outer border. Once I've trimmed the uneven edges, my quilt should finish around 70" (1.78m) square.

I’m so happy with how the quilt top looks! I really love the slightly jarring transition between pieced and appliqued blocks, I almost wish I had included some pieced blocks in the border too. And the interaction between the different appliqued species really makes the quilt feel like a complete ecosystem!

I’m especially proud of the colour gradation in the background, though it isn’t perfect, it creates such a beautiful effect in the combination of colours and curved piecing. The next time I attempt something like this, I’ll try to make the mid-tone area larger, and might include a wider variety of fabrics to make the transition between colours a little smoother. I learned a lot from making this quilt and I look forward to using what I’ve learned to make some even more impressive quilts in the future!

Friends, I have had so much fun making this Wetlands BoM quilt! Thank you once again to Mary Dodd and Marin Baidacoff for sharing this amazing pattern with my guild. Free instructions can be found on the MQG website if you'd like to try making this pattern for yourself!

If you've already made your own quilt from this pattern, feel free to share photos in the comments below! To see more photos of my Wetlands quilt, visit me on Instagram @vafibrearts!

I appreciate that you've taken the time to read until the very end of this longer-than-average post! I'll be back again next Thursday with a normal, and much shorter Project Update, so check back to see what I've been up to since completing the Wetlands quilt project!