Gail Pan - Bring Me Flowers quilt top

 I finished the quilt top for the Gail Pan Block of the Month - Bring Me Flowers.  I added a flange in the border, the first time I have tried this and I do like the look it gives.  I made the flange 3/8" and wish I had just done a 1/4" flange, but its done now.  I hope to do a mixture of machine and hand quilting which I have done on other quilts and liked the look.  The embroidered blocks will be hand quilted and the remainder of the quilt machine quilted.  Can't wait to start on it, but need to finish the quilting on the Brimfield first.

Brimfield - quilting

 I have started quilting my Brimfield quilt.  I have had more trouble deciding on thread choice and pattern for this quilt than any other I have done.  I started out with just regular hand quilting thread (40wt) and the dark green just did not look dark enough on the back of the quilt.  So I ordered Bold (25wt) Coats and Clark hand quilting thread from Sewing Parts on-line.  It is almost impossible to find local sources of C&C thread other than Michaels and they have a very limited selection. This is odd being that the C&C threads are headquarted in Charlotte. I can drive to Charlotte to Joanns and they have it, but once again a limited selection.  Once I had my thread, I then debated on the pattern to use.  It took me quilting three blocks and ripping out the stitches twice to finally get what I am satisfied with.  Now I can really enjoy the process.

These are pictures of the quilting on the front.  The area in the dark green sections are done with Forest Green thread.  I use a white chalk pencil for marking and left it on for the picture just so the quilting would show up better.  The actual EPP blocks are quilted in white bold thread.  I did not like the way the dark green thread looked against these blocks.

And here are a couple pictures of the back side of the quilt.  The white thread does not have a strong contrast against the backing, which is a golden yellow.  In person you can see it better, but in a photo it is hard to see.

To me there is nothing more relaxing than hand quilting and I am thoroughly enjoying quiet times in the morning and afternoon, listening to a book on Audible and doing my quilting.

Spikes and Specks - Katrina Hadjimichael

Here is my finished Spikes and Specks quilt, designed by Katrina Hadjimichael (https://katrinahadjimichael.com.au/ ).   I thoroughly enjoyed making this quilt. It will be a gift to my special niece, Cindy, and right in time for her wedding :)  My dear friend, Donna K, quilted it for my on her long arm.   I will give it to Cindy on Thanksgiving Day when she and her future husband will be here.

My sweet niece Cindy with her quilt

Chickadee Workshop with David Taylor

 I attended the first in-person workshop yesterday since this Pandemic started.  It was great fun to spend a day with quilting friends and learn some new techniques. The workshop instructor was David Taylor. 

Three techniques that will especially impact my future applique were:

1. How and when to use a lining behind the applique pieces to keep a shadow of the fabric from showing through, as well as what fabric to use for the lining.

2. When David applique curves, he only turns the fabric under on convex curves.  For concave curves, he does not turn the fabric under, but rather fits the adjoining applique piece such that the adjoining convex curve overlaps the convave curve.  Hard to put this into words, and can be a little complicated doing it as well, but was an interesting technique to learn.

3. How to use a finger stilletto.

    I finished up my little 12" square Chickadee block this morning. Sweet little Chickadees are among of my favorite wild birds, right up there with blue birds.  Not sure yet what it will become, but I am considering a pillow, and maybe more "bird" theme pillows to put out in the spring.

Gentle Gems Block of the Month update

 An update of my progress on the Val Laird, Block of the Month - Gentle Gems.  These are so fun to make!

September blocks

 

Blocks January - September

English Paper Pieced blocks

 I have been doing a lot of English Paper Piecing lately, working on my Grandmother's Flower Garden quilt and some additional blocks to use in the border of this quilt.   My plans are to make a series of 7" EPP blocks to put all around the border of the quilt.  To date I have 3 rows of the GFG sew together, and additional 1 1/2 rows of completed blocks for Row 4 and Row 5.  I have made 5 blocks to go around the borders.

Daisy block- Sharon Burgess block

Geranium Delight; I first saw this one on Samilia's Mom blog.  I elected not to include an outer round of pieces.

May Blossom - Elise Baek pattern

Tenderness - Sharon Burgess pattern

Round We Go - Sue Daley pattern

Mosaic Tile Quilting

 I recently became interested in Mosaic Tile Quilting and found a book on Thriftbooks called Tile Quilt Revival. I believe I saw a reference to this book on Barbara Brackman's blog.  I also did some researching for YouTubes showing how to do the technique, and nearly all  involved fusible applique, which I am not interested in.  I did find one site that was all sewn by machine and I did not like that either. 

The Tile Quilt Revival book shows how to do the technique with needle turn applique and gave excellent pictures and instructions on the technique.  I am somewhat comfortable with needle turn applique so was anxious to try.

One particular difference in this technique is to only fold under 1/8" seam allowance, I usually try to allow at least 1/4".  I wasn't sure I would like this, but I am game to try anything.  After a few efforts, I found that I really like the 1/8" seam allowance.  This is the piece I chose to work on, and I had already appliqued the blue bird, but you can see how close the pieces are.  The way you cut out the pattern, they should fit exactly together like a puzzle, you baste in place and then applique with the 1/8" fold under.  This will reveal a 1/4inch "grout" once all the pieces are appliqued.  Obviously I did not cut my pieces exactly right, but not too bad for a first attempt.

I would have preferred a white fabric for the "grout" but because I used light fabrics for the block backgrounds, they did not show up well on the white base fabric.  So here is my finished block:

Obviously I have a ways to go, but I enjoyed the process and will do better on the next block.  I am making the table runner below: