Cornucopia

Pattern Source

This block is New Pattern #5, Cornucopia With Fruits and Acorns, from Elly Sienkiewicz's book, The Best of Baltimore Beauties, 95 Patterns for Album Blocks and Borders.

Block Title

I kept the original title of this block. Cornucopia means "Horn of Plenty."

This Leg of the Journey – Completed February 2006

While working on Deus Caritas Est I found I needed some variety. Teddy loved this block and suggested that I try my hand. I wasn't sure whether I was ready for such a complex block, but I figured I'd give it a shot.

Because of Michelle's generosity I had quite a stash of fabric from which to select my "fruit fabrics." At first I thought I'd follow Elly's pattern exactly, and I was careful to compare my progress with the pattern. At one point, however, I decided to make the block my own, so I started adding elements such as more leaves and other fruit (strawberries, the pear). I'm very pleased with how it turned out.

In conversation with Teddy about the progress of my blocks, he jokingly commented that I should purposely poke myself with a needle so that some of my blood ends up on the blocks. I told him that Cornucopia already has two tiny spots—and it sure wasn't deliberate!

Lessons Learned

When I was partially done with Cornucopia I sent a picture to Patsy and Michelle to show them my progress. Michelle suggested that I use a template of some sort to perfect my grapes. They were pretty lumpy, so I tried using a dime, gathering the fabric with a running stitch around it and pressing. It worked like a charm! Michelle, my Quilting Pusher, sent me some handy nylon forms for making circles and leaves. Never a lumpy leaf or grape again!

As a result of my lumpy grapes, I learned that if I'm not 100% satisfied with my work, undo what I've done and start over. I removed all of the grapes and several other elements, repositioning and perfecting them, because they didn't please me. I figure if this quilt is going to last 100 years or more, I want it to be as perfect as possible!