Embellishment and Mixed Techniques By Beverly Hicks Burch Recently I wrote about how my love for applique evolved in a post called Birmingham Album Quilt. This quilt was created using a technique called Baltimore Album technique which in many cases uses dimensional techniques like ruching, folding, reverse applique, building layers and so on. But, my love of applique didn’t actually start there and of course, it didn’t end with that quilt. To get to that point I first had to hone some applique skills. I soon discovered I was adding an impressive collection of applique books to my already burgeoning quilt book library. (Note: I still haven’t quite wrapped my mind around how a quilt book can be translated to an eBook for a Nook or Kindle…even as fond Nook as I am. There just some book you have to have. Quilt books in my humble opinion are just such books.) One book I added to my library was Applique Designs: My Mother Taught Me To Sew, by Faye Anderson. The minute I saw the book, I knew I would be making some sort of my version…and maybe several versions of the quilt since there are so many block designs in the book. (The blocks are 6 inch blocks.) My process of making a quilt varies. Sometime I have the book/pattern and find the fabric…sometime I have the fabric and just need to find the pattern that inspires. In this case, I needed to find the fabric… Now, let me ask you something. Do you remember 1998 and 1999? Looking back it’s hard to believe how innocent our world seemed at the time…and maybe how innocent we seemed. In some cases, I would trade those years for a lot more of that innocence. The biggest worry at the time seemed to be the impending Y2K doom. Remember that? We actually believed that when Jan. 1, 2000 rolled around our world as we knew it would cease to exist because the computers in the world would crash because they would be unable to read the date Jan. 1, 2000. It was that clicking over from 1999 to 2000 that was going to do the trick. Our cars would stop working, ATMs would no longer spit out cash at our disposal, cell phone would no longer work, financial markets would crash, Mickey Mouse would die (just kidding!) and any other impending doom you could think of would happen. People were running out and stockpiling gasoline, food, cash, generators and anything else that would help them bunker down and be one the fittest that survived. It also happened to be about the time I began finding the fabric for “the” quilt. I gather from here and there…finding some of the last fabric I needed in San Antonio, TX when I went to my son’s basic training graduation from Lackland AFB. So, I began the quilt in the discombobulated days leading up to Y2K and finished it right at 2000. As a tribute to the times, the name of the quilt was born, From San Antone to Y2K. This little quilt (a wall hanging) was a new challenge for me. This time I took on mixed techniques and embellishments along with the applique. For my first attempt, I was fairly pleased with the outcome. Each block in 6 inches finished and has hand applique, embroidery work and embellishment with beads and sequins. I then hand quilted the top and made my own binding to complete the project. © 2011 Beverly Hicks Burch All Rights Reserved.

"The Orange Shop" is a small little trading post/country store type of place located along US Highway 301, at the northern limits of the town of Citra, FL. They have their own orange groves that they pick and sell, even ship to other locations (depending on certain regulations). I've passed it several times in the past driving from Ocala to Jacksonville, as 301 is the fastest route that I know of between the two cities, but have never actually stopped there. Until today. This inspiration to photograph this local landmark (it's really about 20-25 miles from my house) stems from a canvas painting that I noticed one day a couple of months ago when I had to go into the new judiciary center/courthouse to deliver recordings to the clerk's office for work. The lobby of the new judiciary extention has some nice art hanging on the walls after you get through the security checkpoint, including the painting of the sign and the building. Every time I go over there, I look over to admire it. The original for this shot looked like it would lend itself well to a cross processing effect. I think it's got an interesting vibe to it even though it's not what I might have originally intended. Still got a ways to go on perfecting my technique. After initial adjustment of the RAW file, I added a light orange color fill adjustment layer, 40% opacity, color burn blending effect. Then I added an almost white with a hint of green color fill adjustment layer at 12% opacity and using the Lighten blending effect.