Happy Days - Sarah Fielke BOM 2016!

 Everywhere I turn, there are online BOMs to tempt me! Some free and some for a fee. Since I am such a fan of Sarah Fielke's quilts, I chose hers. It's not even too late to begin, as the first pattern just came out the last of January and it's pretty simple - above. Here is the link to this BOM.

She shows three different color ways and since this happened to be one of my favorites right now, I chose it. Of course, you can do anything you like but I like the aqua and pinks and greens.

 Here is my quilt, Botanical Gardens, I did last year from her book below. She makes happy quilts that make you smile!

This is just one of her many books!
Stitch when you can!

Di Ford Mystery Quilt 2014

Here are some borders of the Di Ford Mountmellick 2014 Mystery Quilt. I now have this appliqué ready for stitching.

The little hexagons went together well and I did use a suggestion from Lisa Bongean in one of her recent posts. She said quilters need to use darker threads so the light thread does not show through so I followed her advice and probably went a couple of shades darker than I might have. It worked! Now the paper is removed and they are 'glued down' with Roxanne's glue to hold them in place while I stitch.

My stems are already stitched.

 Here is a little of the process. I most often have done needle turn appliqué with the freezer paper still on the top to use as my guide - no marking on the fabric, no glue, etc, but you have to continually put your overlay on the block for placement. With the starch appliqué method, you can lay it all out, glue baste in place with tiny dots to hold it down and stitch. I like that part of it.

Since this is a tight border, I decided this method would work best.

Above you can see my new Clover iron. No steam, 3 settings and it is small. 

 I have never mastered using the tiny Clover iron many people use so this seems perfect for me. Before, I used a small travel iron I had. I get better control with this. I have my spray starch in the lid with my little stencil brush. Under my muslin is a teflon pressing sheet so my ironing board is not absorbing all the liquid going on the muslin.

Here are some leaves that are starched. I remove the paper (three layers of freezer paper) and press flat again before I glue them onto the background fabric. It is suggested that you rinse the appliqué in water before you proceed to get rid of the glue and starch. Now I have some good handwork to do for a few evenings!! Happy Stitching!

Gardenvale Jelly Roll Quilt

 I purchased a jelly roll of the Gardenvale fabrics by Jen Kingwell for Moda. I thought they would work for the Gypsy Wife quilt but once I got the fabric and tried to put it with other things I had, it was just not working.

 Meanwhile I quilted a quilt for a customer that had this pattern - I have no idea what it was called but I realized it was so easy and I could use a jelly roll since the strips were 2" finished. I sewed my 

2 1/2" strips together in coordinating pairs, cut them 4 1/2" long and pieced them as shown below.

 I used the whole jelly roll. There were some blocks where the sets were not all identical but that just added to the variety to me.

I found an unusual colorful piece of fabric for the border I had on hand 

and used some leftover squares and rectangles of the jellyroll 

for the back! It is fun to make quilts when you don't know the end results but are pleased when it is finished!

Bible Quilt Completed

 Here is my finished Bible Quilt. This was a pattern by Jan Patek in the late nineties.

 Some more close-ups.

 I loved it when I showed my 5 year old grandson some of the blocks and he could identify the stories in the quilt!

I like pretty quilt backings and I really liked the colors of this floral - not sure if it's a Kaffe fabric or Philip Jacobs. I happened to have just enough of the plaid on hand to cut on the bias and use for the border. My first UFO completed for 2016!!

Bible Quilt

Wahoo! I have just finished quilting the Bible Quilt that's been in progress for 16 years!! It's about time, I'd say!!

It's still hanging on the longarm but I was so excited I wanted to share! I know my embroidery is better by waiting but really . . .!!

I still have a hard time deciding how to quilt things with custom and also used about ten different threads to have things blend instead of stand out so much. 

This has been my handwork for the last week in the evenings. 12 little hexagons all ready for my Di Ford Mystery Quilt 2014, Part 3. Slowly but surely. I did enjoy piecing them - they are 1/2" size hexagons (each side) and I used the SewLine glue pen. I also punched a hole into the back of each paper for ease of removing but the glue seems to unstick fairly well.

As recommended by Nancy, I will starch them and remove the papers before I appliqué them to the border fabric. Happy Stitches til next time!