Love Apples

Last night I finished preparing my applique pieces for my civil war round robin quilt I decided to name after Rebekah of the Bible, wife of Isaac and mother of Esau and Jacob.  These applique shapes are called Pomegranates or Love Apples.  I think those are super fun names for the flower, or fruit, or whatever you want to call them!  Maybe the quilt will be called Rebekah's Pomegranates.  I guess pomegranates are native to Persia, Iran, Pakistan, and the entire Middle East and Mediterranean areas, and they have many symbolic meanings, mostly ancient, because it seems these days we are too busy to care about symbolism too much anymore. (kind of sad)  Fertility, prosperity, and ambition are just a few of the symbolic meanings of the pomegranate.  Wikipedia says that scouts brought the fruit back to Moses as a sign of the fertile land ahead - the promised land.  It also says that some scholars think the pomegranate may be the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden.  Well, with all that pomegranate info, lets get back to quilting!

Here is the quilt I am using as my pomegranate inspiration.  It was finished in 1865 by Mrs. Benjamin Franklin Buckner of Virginia.  Her husband rode with Jeb Stuart in the American Civil War and was an amazing whistler, performing for the Confederate troops often.  I think this quilt is divine!  It measures 80" by 99".  The hand applique is amazing!  I like how only one side has the swag border.  It was made that way because the bed the quilt covered was probably pushed up against the wall in the corner.  If you have ever done hand applique, you would be like Mrs Buckner, and not waste such time and energy appliqueing that border around the entire quilt when it would be up against the wall!

So here is my quilt.  Yeah, I know, its not full of pomegranates like Mrs. Buckner's quilt.  I would drive myself mad with all that applique!  I am just putting four sweet little love apples around the center block, in the light minty green triangles.  I started this quilt in Jan 2010 as my round robin for the year. (Click on the link if you are interested.)  I included the fabric with my center block that got passed around so the ladies would use civil war reproduction fabric as they added each border for me.  I included that nasty light mint green thinking it would look okay, and not knowing really for sure if it were similar to cw repro fabric.  Well, I know a lot more now than I did then, and it is NOT at all similar to civil war fabric colors.  I don't want to take the quilt apart and replace it.  That is why I want to cover it up a bit with love apples!  I want to camouflage that hideous green, because the rest of the entire quilt is made with good quality civil war reproduction fabric. 

Hopefully in a few days I will have the final picture of Rebekah's Pomegranates ready to see.  I hope my plan does not backfire, and bring MORE attention to that ugly minty green!  I always love participating in round robin quilts.  3 different ladies did the first complex borders for me, then I finished it up with the dark green, squares, rectangles, and the  little dark green borders to make it bigger.  I just remembered while typing this that I need to make a center block for quilt guild next month to begin this year's round robin exchange.  Any suggestions?