Lots of Appliqué Going On!

Here is Allietare, the Bonnie Hunter Mystery Quilt 2015. It was supposed to be my February finish and it came close. All is done but the binding and I must find a red that works and just haven't gotten that purchased. I went scrappy on my narrow gold border but I want the binding to be one fabric.

 Here is the appliqué! More circles - these are just a few I've sewn. Think I'm up to about 45 now and I began on February 28. My goal is to make 366 this year so I am playing catch up. Just can't help needing to have it all in one year.............crazy, isn't it?? They are fun and easy though. 

I am now moving into my Kaffe Fassett box as can be seen on the top right and bottom left. The bottom left is one of my favorites. It was used in Lollypop Trees and I think even reprinted years later. The tulips on the bottom right - of which I have about seven color ways, were a Jeffrey Gutcheon fabric from the early nineties I think. I just loved all those pretty tulips.

 Here is some finished appliqué from my Sarah Fielke BOM, Happy Days. I used the starch method for appliqué so it's a good bit of prep time but it sure makes it easy to stitch once you get that done.

 Here are more waiting to be stitched. It was fun choosing all the colorful leaves and arranging them.

I used a very unusual background - low volume - which I still wonder about but in the grand scheme of things, I think it will be fine. It's going to be a large quilt and these are just a few wreaths along the borders. 

 This is the pieced block for the second month. A challenge to put together but I am happy with the results.

One day I had the idea of making two BOM quilts so I pulled fabrics together and came up with this block. Once I received all the appliqué on the second month, I came back to reality and said no. I have way too many other things to finish but I like the block. I'll figure out somewhere to use it one day!

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!

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!

Words to Live By - SBOW 2013

I have another quilt finish to share! This could be called my 'quilt of the year'!

 I finished the top in the spring but waited until recently to quilt it. It took a while but was worth the time! This was the SBOW from Primitive Gatherings for 2013. 

Lisa Bongean (the designer and shop owner) even had a lettering guide so we could 'write' our name. I really enjoyed stitching all this beautiful wool! Here are a few close-ups. 

 This wording was not in the pattern but I feel it to have the most important words of all so I changed one of my blocks.

 Still on the longarm!

 Between 6 and 700 half square triangles. The biggest challenge of all!

There is a quilt show in North Augusta, SC, on November 6 - 7, where I will put it to show. I'm still a member of this guild after living away for 16 years - a great group!!

Flower Garden Blocks

 I began this quilt in January 2012, but as you know, I get sidetracked easily and have many projects going at once. I did lots of tracing, months later I chose many fabrics, and even stitched a couple of blocks and then set it aside.

 However, I picked it back up and now have six blocks completed. I had even debated on whether to try the starch appliqué method that works so well for others but I already had my freezer paper cut for needle turn so decided to stick with that.

 I suppose the only drawback to my method is that occasionally the freezer paper comes off a little. I try to get it ironed on well the first time and then leave the paper on and use the edge as a guide.

 As usual with most of my appliqué, I am trying to use the fabrics just as are pictured on the pattern. That is often what draws me to it.

 Happy fabrics is what these are and they make me smile!

That's all for now. I do have many more quilts to show if I'll just get back to blogging!

Di Ford Mystery Quilt

 I resisted for a while but then finally caved. I signed up for Di Ford's Mystery Quilt with Homestead Hearth and the package arrived in 2 days. I began working on it this week and almost have all my pieces ready to appliqué. Here is the center vase minus one section.

 I have now joined those making hexagons and began prepping them with glue. The last time I made hexagons was about 20 years ago and I basted the edges with thread. I also was not doing so much handwork then so did not get very far. I used the Bohin glue stick. These hexagons are small - 1/2"....

 but won't they be pretty when all sewn together?

You can see how small they are when I hold 28 in the palm of my hand.

I had to tea-dye the floral fabric for the flowers to fill the vase. I used instructions from an older Little Quilts book which was very simple. It turned out well. 

Hope you have a wonderful Easter weekend as we celebrate our risen Savior!

Words to Live By

I have another of my "Words to Live By" blocks completed. This is going to be a really large quilt. Again, this was a summer block of the week last year but for me it takes a full year (or more) to complete a quilt like this. If you go to the link you will see that there are 672, yes, 672, half square triangles for the center block and borders and I did buy the finishing kit for that. So, I just did a test on the triangle method - see below - to see if they were accurate for 2" finished squares . . .

and my test showed that they were!! Yeah! I've not been as happy with some other paper triangles that I have used but these seemed just right!

 This week I have prepared the corner border blocks which are 8" finished, a little smaller than the center blocks.

 I changed the wording on this block to more reflect what I felt about words.

 Then getting this one with your own name sized to be just right was a little challenge, since the font size was not available on my computer.

And the last block - Respect! You trace these words with a lightbox which might seem simple enough, but when you are 'looking' through medium-dark fabrics with dots, etc, on them, it is not always easy to see through. I did iron freezer paper on the back when I traced to keep the fabric stable and it helped, yet did not seem to block the light.

Okay, now more stitching to do, but I enjoy the preparation as well!