Another block for my Gardenhurst quilt (pattern by Irena Blahnik in her “Focus on Quilts” book).

The design wall, which shows that I am less than half done with these blocks.  This makes five out of 13:

And

And a closeup of block 5, glue basted and ready to hand stitch.  (The little “tags” at the ends of the points get turned under when I do the applique’ing.)  This quilt is all flowers/urns and birds on a branch, so it’s fun to work on.  I’ve collected a few border stripes for the various urns.  All fabrics were found at Reproduction Fabrics in Northfield, MN.  She also does a great deal of mail order business, and has a great selection of Civil War fabrics, as well as other eras.

I love this block!  See my previous post for information on the applique technique I’m using or about the handy-dandy design wall sheet I’m using.

Linking to Judy L’s Patchwork Times.

I have a new project to show you today, plus I’m going to talk about a couple of new-to-me products that I’m enjoying.  (No association, no compensation, etc.)

First, I actually have a design wall!

It is in the guest room, so it has to be something I can easily take down.  I bought a Clover Design Layout Sheet from Amazon.  It is so lightweight, it is hanging from straight pins stuck into the wall…so it will leave minimal holes.  It has a super-duper microfiber texture that really grabs the fabric pieces.  Down side — you’re advised not to iron it as it will reduce that grabbing ability.  So I have creases.

As you can see, I have lots of sections yet to do.  Here are close-ups of the ones I have done (or almost done):

Now for the True Confessions:  I don’t do applique.  I love the look of needle-turn applique, I have learned prepared applique using freezer paper…I still don’t do applique.

I really wanted to do a pattern from the book “Focus on Applique” by Irene Blanck.  And I wanted it to look like needle turn, but dumbed down for me!

I decided to try Wash-Away Applique Sheets by C&T Publishing.  You can get them on a roll, or in 8.5 x 11″ size sheets.  I got the 8.5 x 11 so I could run them through the copier, saving a tracing step.  They are fusible on one side, so you iron them unto the wrong side of your fabrics, then cut 1/4″ larger on all sides.  Finger press the 1/4″ to the back of the applique piece and secure with a bit of glue.  Then you would glue-baste the pieces to your background with tiny dots of glue, and secure with hand stitching.

This is going to be a wall hanging, so I don’t mind that there will be a bit of extra thickness in the applique’d pieces.  I’ve read that the product softens in washing, but does not disappear or “wash away”.  So far, it’s working well for me.

And finally, a picture from this past week:

 

Linking to Judy Laquidara’s Patchwork Times.  Pop over to her blog to see what other quilters are working on.

Sue

My, how time flies when you’re busy!  I have six or seven weeks to update you on, so go get your cuppa coffee, and let’s go!

After the State Fair (six ribbons — three were blue), I enjoyed going to two get-away quilt retreats, a Fun Friday stitching at a friend’s home, attended an INSPIRING lecture by Edyta Sitar, and did some other non-quilty fun things as well!

QUILTS WITHOUT BORDERS:

That’s what I worked on at the second retreat.  The following got their borders and are now languishing in the To Be Quilted pile.  The first one may look familiar as I made a queen-sized quilt like this one.  I had 12 blocks left over, so I made a lap-sized quilt.  I knew it needed mitered borders, so this one is ready to quilt.  Arlene, this one is for you!

Old, old, old UFO…like maybe from 2005.  The pattern is from the book “Serendipity Quilts” by Sara Nephew.  This one needed some actual construction in addition to the borders, and I’m thrilled to have the top done.

A queen-sized Christmas Roses quilt I started too long ago to remember!  Just needed borders.

And a close-up shot:

This was a problem child…a Jelly Roll Race made from Kaffe Fasset fabric, and I just didn’t like it.  I saw where someone done some slicing and dicing, and added vertical stripes.  At least I don’t hate it now.

OTHER PROJECTS:

We have some new nieces in the family (I think they are great-great nieces, but that gets too complicated) so nieces, it is.  I made up some Minkee snuggle blankies.  They are so quick to make, so maybe now I can match my blanket supply to the booming supply of babies!  MSQC has a video here.

Some of us spent a day making happy birthday runners.  I don’t have the pattern handy (and I changed it up quite a bit anyway).  I’ll add a link when I run across it.

This is a tumbler quilt done in homespun fabrics for Nephew Bill.  Now THIS one needs borders!  Then ready to quilt.

AND….LUCKY ME!

I won a stack of hand-dyed fabrics from Colorways by Vicki Welsh!  You MUST go check out her gorgeous shop here.  These are all hand-dyed gradients!

So with some trepidation, I cut all this beautiful fabric up and have made these blocks so far:

And, Wait!!!  There’s More…

On another front, I’m in a 9-Patch Challenge Exchange.  We have completed our nine months of exchanging blocks, and now it’s time to get designing our quilts…all very secret, of course!  The good news is I got 162 3″ finished nine-patch blocks…the bad news…I need about 80 more.

I’ve done lots of sewing, but this blog post really shows me how much I have to do, so I better put down my cuppa coffee and get busy!

Linking to Judy Laquidara’s Patchwork Times!

Sue