"Little Trip to Bali"

I have had this as a UFO for about 4 years.  I was working at a local quilt shop, and saw this in the book, "Keepsake Baby Quilts from Scraps"by Julie Higgins from Clotilde.com.  (See I was liking scrappy quilts for some time now!)

It was my first time using batiks, so I ended up buying lots of fat quarters, and a charm pack.  

I had all of the elephant blocks appliquéd, and the center blocks all cut out.  I went ahead and assembled the center blocks and then went on to make the top.  I also used a batik for the background, which can be hard to find the lighter colors.  

I now have it sandwiched and pinned and working on the quilting.  So far I have done cross hatching in the center, as the blocks are on point.

I chose to do shadow quilting around the elephants.  There are twelve of them, and this part is taking longer than I expected.

Then there were the blank corner blocks and the blank blocks in between the elephant blocks that I needed to do some kind of quilting, as that was lots of big spaces.  

So I took the original stencils of the elephant, and outlined it on each block and just did a stitching around the outline.  

It's a little hard to see when taking pictures, but it finished out these blank spaces just perfect.

I have about three elephants to do the shadow quilting, and then I will be able to get it bound and another one will be completed.

I'll be back with finished pictures in a few days.  

Warmest...

Applique Blocks

A couple of posts ago, I showed a sneak peek of the appliqué' blocks that I started working on for the Patchwork Party Spring Edition 2007 BOM that I pulled out as my next UFO project.

It has taken more time to complete these blocks than I originally planned on spending.  But as the saying goes, in for the penny, in for the pound.  Lots of little pieces, lots of time doing placement, lots and lots of satin stitching around all the little pieces.

I will have to say, this is also a learning curve for me, as I have not in the past ever used the satin stitch on an appliqué.  I had to figure the best place to start, how to pivot in the "V" parts of the pieces, how to move slowly around curves, and how to make crisp points.  You probably can tell the areas I first worked on in the learning curve, as it shows some not so perfect stitching.  All in all though, I really like the way they all turned out.

Here are the appliquéd blocks:

This block is called Nosegay.

This block is called Rose at Dawn.

This block is called Floribunda.

This block is called Sweet Dahlia. 

This block is called Antique Tulip.

This block is called Tulip Time.

The blocks are beautiful, and will blend in with the 12 sampler blocks just perfectly, so it was worth the time and effort in getting them done.  

Warmest...

More Prairie Primrose

I spent the last two days, cutting out, doing the placement and stitching of the next two blocks in my UFO BOM Prairie Primrose.  The background of each block is different, as well as the flower design.  Each block will be completely different from each other.  So I have been doing the machine stitching around the pieces with different color thread.  

This is block two.

This is block three.

Close up of block three.

And a picture of the first three blocks.  I used a wheat color thread on the first block, a navy color on the second, and a brick red on the third one.

I thought any of you who do machine appliqué might like to know, I did not use any adhesive produce to hold down the appliqué pieces (like Heat n' Bond, Wonder Under, etc.).  I laid out the whole design with pins and stitch in place.  For years, I have read, been taught, and understood the only way to do machine appliqué is to use one of these type products.  Of course, the underlying reason to use these products, is to hold the design in place so it doesn't move, get distorted, or pucker.    But the draw back in using these products is they cause a stiffness in the overall block, and then as an end result, causing the quilt to be even stiffer and not draping well as all.  Originally, I was going to do the needle turn appliqué  hand technique, thus using freezer paper to cut out the design for the first block.  Since I didn't use one of the adhesive products, I went ahead, without too much thought, and started machine stitching down the pieces.  About half-way through the first block, I realized that the pieces were staying in place just fine without using the products, and the end result is a very soft and supple feeling block.  I am very happy with this result, and most likely not be suing any appliqué adhesive product in the future.  This will be a money saver, as these type products can be quite costly.

Warmest...

Taking a Stab at Applique

I just completed this, Block 1 of Amela's Rose Garden. I still have much, lots, a ton to learn about hand applique. I really struggled with this, probably because I chose a complicated tiny piece project to tackle for my first project. I have 13 more blocks, and a center mediallon to do before this quilt will be done. Yikes!

I am not sure whether to plow ahead and keep working on it, or if I should try some larger pieces project, to get in some good practice? What does anyone out there think?