Back-to-School Redwork Wall Hanging

To commemorate back-to-school time, my oldest daughter gave me a redwork panel she had embroidered with a charming old-fashioned schoolroom scene.  She got the pattern from Quilting Bee Designs and used her usual excellent embroidery skills to make it special.

I thought the size of the panel would make it an ideal piece for a wall hanging and started thinking of what I could use as a border that would frame the work without overwhelming it.  I found a block pattern on Judy Martin’s Stars and Sets software that I adapted to use as a border.  The name of the block is Virginia Backroads and typical of Judy Martin’s designs, it takes a relatively easy pattern and adds an extra twist or two to make it interesting – to sew and to view.  I like the way the star overlaps the adjoining blocks and I extended the 9-patch portion to make the size I needed on each side of the embroidered piece.

I used a lot of scraps in red and white to piece the backing and the quilting is made up of very simple outline stitches and stitch-in-the-ditch with machine embroidered feather stitching along the edge of the panel.

The finished size of the wall hanging is 20×26-1/2 inches.

Above the wall hanging I like to place a small picture or piece of needlework.  My daughter adapted an internet drawing to make a design of a schoolhouse and tree with falling leaves which she did in redwork.  I simply framed the piece with a border.

These cheerful, colorful pieces are a nice addition to my living room.