fused applique – Daily Fiber

Some how the days of March went marching by me. Days I spent trying to finish my quilt were, unfortunately, insufficient. But by yesterday, I had completed the top.

This image came out a little dark, so below are the three sections for a closer view.

If I were to grade myself on following the prompts, I would earn less than an A. In the end, I had to choose between the fidelity of my theme and completion of each prompt. Maybe I get a C+.

In the final analysis, I had to drop the hourglass blocks. Given more time, I might have redone them. Instead I used the “double it up” blocks of double tulips to suggest some of the flowers that I saw in Costa Rica. These two blocks look a bit like an abstraction of the ginger flower to me.

Another round that I sort of ignored was the “curves” prompt, unless you accept that my appliques contained curves (especially the squirrel monkey’s gorgeous tail.)

I fully indulged myself in rendering animals, a subject that I have come to love. Hence ~~eleven~~ nine coatis.

The finished quilt will measure 45 by 32.

Many thanks to the group of clever quilters who provided the weekly prompts and the spaces where we participants could share our photographs. Here are the links to Brenda, Kathleen, Emily, Wendy, Gail and Anja. You ladies rock.

The Schedule

January 21: 1^st Round: Brenda @ Songbird Designs
January 28: 2^nd Round: Kathleen @ Kathleen McMusing
February 4: 3^rd Round: Emily @ The Darling Dogwood
February 11: 4^th Round: Wendy @ Pieceful Thoughts of My Quilting Life
February 18: 5^th Round: Gail @ Quilting Gail
February 25: 6^th Round: Anja @ Anja Quilts
March 25: Parade: showing all of your finished SAHRRs! Link at Kathleen McMusing

And many thanks to my DH Bill for sharing the photographs that served as subjects and inspiration for this project. We are, after all, a team.

It’s been two weeks since I last posted about my 2026 Stay At Home Round Robin project. This week I am finally getting back to the monkey blocks. For a reference image I am using the photograph above, by Bill, for the center panel of this round. When we spotted this guy working his way down a long palm frond, it was hard to tell where he would end up. Reaching the end of the branch, he just leapt away to safety. What a plucky little creature! I just had to include him in my Costa Rica quilt.

I started in my usual manner. Making an applique transfer of the monkey was not difficult. I just traced the shape from the photograph in one piece, laid the tracing onto fused fabric and cut it out just as you would a paper doll.

In this photo you see the monkey cut-out overlaying the background fabric pre-painting You also see the tracing I made of the palm frond. It required multiple pieces of fused fabric to render a convincing applique version of the various leaflets.

The work happened over several days. Here’s the background fabric painted and the monkey and palm applique pieces fused but not sewn down yet.

Today I got out my Jacquard Textile paints and finished the work.

And here is how my monkey row will look with the two monkey wrench blocks at each end.

I have a plan for one more landscape panel to finish out this quilt. It will depict a sunrise as viewed from the villa we stayed at in Costa Rica last September.

Wish me luck.