Woodland Fern. Take a Walk in the Woods

Woodland Fern, table runner XVI

(14” x 56”)

“Take a walk in the Woods in the cool of the day.”

I grew up in upstate NY, where the forests were thick with trees and babbling brooks wandered through them.  Beside those brooks were beautiful lush copses of ferns.  You could feel the cool air drip off of the ferns as you walked by and through them. It was my memories of these experiences that inspired the fern block design used in our newest table runner pattern Woodland Fern.  But it was the batiks that I found from Turtle Hand Batik that brought this design out of my idea files and into reality at this time.

It all began at AQS fall Paducah 2019.

I was teaching and lecturing at AQS fall Paducah, and on some of my breaks I was gave demos of our reverse applique methods in Turtle Hand Batik’s booth. In between demos I did some impromptu creative play with their batiks.  That’s my kind of fun. I pulled out fat quarters and put together combinations to see what I could come up with.  (I challenge myself to do this not only with colors and fabrics I like, but with colors and fabrics that I’m not naturally drawn to. (It’s part of how I expand my own artistic sense of color and design to discover new creative possibilities.)

I was immediately drawn to the uniquely, beautiful Malaysian Marble batiks. They are stunning. Though I am not naturally a green, yellow and orange person, when I saw these Malaysian Marble batiks inspiration struck and I knew that I knew that these were the perfect colors and the perfect fabrics for my fern block design.  My creative juices were flowing.

Green Marble (Malaysian Marble batik from Turtle Hand Batik). top fabric.

Yellow 1 Marble (Malaysian Marble batik from Turtle Hand Batik). background fabric.

Yellow 2 Marble (Malaysian Marble batik from Turtle Hand Batik). border strips.

Orange Marble (Malaysian Marble batik from Turtle Hand Batik). border strips

Remembrance, Medallion XIV, a collaboration with Turtle Hand Batik in 2018.

Tina, my lovely friend and owner of Turtle Hand Batik, was excited about doing another collaboration (We collaborated on Desert Blooms Medallion XI, 2015 and Remembrance Medallion XIV, 2018).  Once home and I came up with several design ideas using the fern block and shared them with her.  The winning idea is the pattern that you now see, Woodland Fern table runner XVI available as a print pattern or a PDF digital pattern. 

It is a simple, effective pattern with a modern feel that can be made by hand or machine reverse applique. The fern fronds sweep across the table runner as actual ferns drip over a stream.

Fern Block

Fern reverse block

I made two samples, one for Turtle Hand Batik and one for my business, and so made them slightly differently. 

Sample for Turtle Hand Batik machine reverse applique with satin stitch, layered and then quilted.

For Turtle Hand Batik I made the Fern blocks as straight machine reverse applique using the satin stitch to cover the raw edges.  I used two threads: Floriani #PF259 for the stems, and #PF2417 for the leaves. The pattern has complete step-by-step directions, but you can always visit our Machine Reverse Applique tutorial for more information.  After I constructed the entire Woodland Fern quilt top, I then layered and quilted the piece.  I made sure to quilt in the yellow leaf spaces to give added dimension to the receded reverse applique, and I used Wonderfil’s Tutti #TU01, a variegated yellow. Using Wonderfil’s Tutti #TU31, a variegated green, I quilted simple diagonal lines following the direction of the fern fronds in the green top fabric staying a ¼” away from the leaves.  Then I quilted in the ditch of the pieced border strips and used a June Tailor stencil shape to create graceful swirl in the green of the border.

My sample in which I constructed the top and then Appli-quilted with raw edge applique.

For my sample of Woodland Fern, I constructed the whole quilt top before I did any of the machine reverse applique, and so did my Appli-quilting method.  Find out more in our Machine Reverse Applique tutorial.  What that means is I machine reverse appliqued and quilted in one step.  Frankly I was pressed for time, so did raw edge applique, which I rarely do on my patterns.  But it was fun to do something different. Doing all free motion quilting and using the Floriani thread #PF2417, I raw edge appliqued/ quilted the leaves, veins and stems. For the rest of the quilting I switched to the Wonderfil Tutti #TU31 variegated green thread and quilted the same diagonal lines in the same direction as the fern fronds on each block.  I quilted in the ditch of the pieced borders and then stitched down the middle of the green border strip. Deadlines require changes to the plan.  But in all honesty, when I’m making two samples, which I usually am, I like to do something different on the 2nd or 3rd samples.  It keeps my creative life interesting.

I hope you will visit our shop and enjoy making Woodland Fern table runner XVI.  It is available as a print pattern or a PDF digital pattern. It will look lovely on your table or hanging on a wall as a piece of quilted art. You can purchase the fabrics from Turtle Hand Batiks.

We have the notions you need too. All print patterns and notions are 19% off from March 19 - April 19, 2020. Enter: 19OFF at checkout.