The perfect meditation

It's Sunday and I decided to take a bit of extra time today to do my applique. I'm starting to feel a little bit of stress lately, so to sit at my Auntie Green's Garden, for me, is the perfect prescription for some down-time.

I've been working on stems and leaves for a couple of days, so after a bit more of the same, this morning I also did a bit of OTB (off-the-block) work and picked up a flower to work on. When I was picking fabrics for this section of the quilt last week, I was finding myself looking longingly at my Fassett scraps and wondering if I could sneak a few in. I decided I just couldn't mix the look up by incorporating these scraps.....but, I over-ruled myself in the end and got a couple in...

I'm so happy for another reason! I don't have as much time to piece as I would like, but I had set a goal for myself this week to finish the top of my oldest UFO.....and I did it! This one has been on the shelf since 2004 and now it's complete. I hope to have it quilted up nice for the May guild meeting as it is part of the guild's UFO challenge.

While I was sitting at the sewing machine working on this quilt, I thought of how a couple of things had made my sewing a bit easier over the years. One is the "Gypsy Sit-upon"....I have problems with my lower back, and sitting on this while sewing has made life so much more comfortable!

Another gem of a tool is this, a stiletto made for me as a gift from a dear friend. Helpful in so many ways, I will have to thank her again for such a thoughtful gift.....and it's pretty to look at too!

Looks like a beautiful day out there....perfect for shopping around for window trim??


To see what other people are poking at today, have a look at Kathy's blog over at "Kathy's Quilts".

Oh, I almost forgot! Last year I was fortunate to be able to attend my first Quilt Canada in St. Catharines. The experience was everything I had hoped....even though it took a few days to recover when I got home! The other day I saw a posting that Quilt Canada 2016 will be held in the Toronto area, venue TBA. I think I'm going to start saving my pennies!


Have a great day, and I hope it includes putting a few stitches in one of your own UFO's!

I'm ready for April showers, lol

All I have to say this morning is.....ARRRGGHHH!!!!!!

This is the scene outside my window at the moment....

 I mean, at the end of March I can deal with a flurry or two, but this is snowing! I guess I can be thankful that we haven't had a blizzard this month, which we all know can very well happen at this time of year. Hope I haven't jinxed us!

I worked on a nice quilt this week. It would be what I call "light custom". It had a nice freehand design in the main body of the quilt, a sweet inner border treatment and a fun feather in the 8" outer border. I am happy with the results.

Here is a picture of my inner border. I love quilting this and I love how it looks.....

I was thrilled with the outer border. I quilted a "hooked" feather, which is probably my favourite feather to do and to look at. It's a bit technical to try to explain here maybe, but usually I do a feather in the border by going around the quilt three times....once for the spine, once to feather up one side of the spine and, finally, once more to complete the other side. For some reason I did it differently this time in a way that's "new to me" but I know other longarmers have been doing it a while. I was able to complete the feather in one pass around the quilt, and it looks awesome! I'd say it cut the time  of quilting it out by at least half and doesn't compromise the integrity of the feather at all. Love it!

I finished up by quilting a "beadboard" on the outside edge of the feather.

Have a great (snow) day!


P.S. I'm going to add to this by saying that I'm going to "link" this post over to a blog by Gemma at  Pretty Bobbins. Have a look and enjoy her take on Modern quilting!

Auntie Green's Garden

Yesterday I finally took the time to prepare some applique pieces for my Auntie Green's Garden. I haven't touched this project in months which makes me feel bad since it's supposed to be my main project!

Here it is waiting to be worked on again. I have even had all the little freezer paper templates cut out and ready. I guess the worst part of applique for me is the prep work. I just want to get to the part when I can sit down and poke at it!

After what you see in the above photo is complete, there is another final border to be attached of another neutral fabric. Then......more applique!

I still love the quilt and am glad to have sat with my morning coffee and stitched at it once again. It's one of the more difficult pieces I've worked on, as usually the background I work with is "block" size.....anywhere from 6" to 18" perhaps.

This has a lot more size to it so it's a bit more of a slow-go for me.

I thought I'd share the tip/technique that, for me, improved my work and made applique more enjoyable for me.

I've tried most methods of hand-applique....freezer paper on the top, freezer paper on the bottom, glue, liquid starch, removing paper afterwards by cutting a slit in the back of the piece, soaking the block to loosen the glue and remove the paper.....etc.....

These are all great methods.....but not for me. As I've said before, I can't stand all the fiddly prep-work! Some of the above methods, I have to admit, may even give more precise results in the end.....but I'm in it to enjoy the process and hopefully it pays off in the end!

What helped me a few years ago was a book I purchased called Applique the Piece O' Cake Way.
The book has very good directions and pictures. What I learned that most improved my technique was their instruction on circles (the bane of my applique!) and finger-pressing.

I like to do traditional needle-turn applique. I start by taking a freezer paper pattern, pressing it on to the front of the fabric and tracing around it.

I cut around it leaving a scant 1/4" around and snip any curves. I remove the paper and fingerpress on the drawn line to make a crease. Hopefully you can see that in these two pictures....

I pin the piece onto the project then proceed to needleturn. The cotton fabric "remembers" that crease for a long time...I can't remember it not doing so!  So, as I sew along I just swipe that seam allowance under easily  with my needle.

.....and, voila.....

It might seem scary to some people to try this, but I say why not give it a try? It's not difficult and you will only get better with practice!

Have a great day!