String of Beads

I first saw this block design soon after I started quilting,

but have never seen it made up,

probably because it would have been very tedious to do as a hand appliqué.

It was described as ‘modern’ in 1920s—1930s.

In June 2004 I pieced together 16 background blocks using creamy fabrics from the stash.

The beads were added at the Hi-fibre Retreat, August 2004,

then I tackled the machine buttonhole stitch around the beads on 11-12 Sept,

machine quilted 13-14 September,

and started hand quilting around the beads the next day.

The binding was completed on September 27th

and the quilt was shown in the

Golden Harvest Quilters

‘All Things Bright and Beautiful’

Exhibition

over the first weekend of October 2004

58 inches square

Machine pieced, appliquéd, machine and hand quilted.

Pattern published by Judy Butcher, 2005.

Released as printable PDF in 2010, the first pattern made available through the

Virtual Quilter’s Pattern Place