appliqué

Gosh, it’s been so long. [Do I even remember how to do this? LOL] It seems unfathomable to me that two years have passed since I posted anything here. In the last three months I’ve been able to get back to some of the things I love.

 

In October 2016, I was able to spend some time with the two little darlings pictured on the left and their parents [not pictured] and my youngest son and his girlfriend on the right.

 

Work on my many WISPs has been sporadic at best. I have just a bit to go to finish up on the Death Star pillow and Tonopah Nevada topographical map. The topographical map is embroidered with a layer of thin cotton batting behind it to give it some depth.

 

At the beginning of January there was a flurry of Instagram posts about the 1 Year of Stitches project. I decided to join in. A large part of the project is the daily practice of stitching something on cloth and posting a photo of your progress on social media. There are probably as many reasons to participate as there are participants. Many are stitching a motif that has meaning for something happening during their day. Others are brand new to embroidery and are using the project to learn new stitches. Others, like me, are using their daily practice to brush up on a long-forgotten skill. I’ve decided to post a weekly photo update here on the blog.

 

Finally, I’ve been making steady progress on this scrappy hexagon flower quilt top. It’s made with .75 inch hexagons. I used Inklingo to print most of the hexagons long before I knew anything about fussy cutting. If I were to start another one, there would definitely be more fussy cut hexagons! Above shows the bottom third of the quilt stitched together. There are a couple rows of the middle section and I’m working on the top third now. I’ve got about 100 more flowers to stitch together so my rule is to stitch nine flowers, then stitch a half row of flowers together.

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I got a little carried away in my original plan on the borders for Nancy’s Ocean Waves. I decided I needed to scale back a bit. My original design has a Mariner’s Compass in one corner and a ship’s wheel in the opposite corner with this rather intense swirly-twirly ocean applique design.

intense-border1Hahaha. Yeah, I just kept drawing. And adding circles. The other two corners include a house with a lighthouse.

intense-border2

I am kinda in love with my borders but the free design sheet will have a much simpler border. I don’t want to overwhelm anyone. The borders for Nancy’s Ocean Waves will be something like this with some starfish and shells. And probably some circles…

new-border1

I am determined to keep working on these until they are done so I can post the update to the design sheet. No promises on a date though. Real life always interrupts my plans…

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In October and November managed to get 5 long-standing projects to the finished top stage. Some quilters call them “flimsies” but I don’t like using that word to describe something as wonderful as a finished quilt top. (Just my opinion.) I had set a goal to finish 5 projects before year end, but I should be able to finish up 3 more before the end of the next week — potentially 8 finishes. Granted they are machine pieced and were in various stages of being completed, but I am feeling quite proud of my accomplishment especially since I hadn’t done much quilting in the 12 proceeding months.

Perhaps I am a bit overconfident — inspired by my recent finishes — but I’m setting a goal to finish 15 projects in 2015. Here’s the list in no particular order:

  1. Priscilla’s Beauty – hand pieced blocks with applique
  2. Case of the Secret Garden – hand pieced blocks
  3. Crazy Quilt block – Alaskan cruise class project
  4. Transfer Artist Paper (TAP) – old class sample
  5. Patchwork of the Crosses (POTC) – hand pieced
  6. Hexiflowers – hand pieced
  7. Rachelle – hand pieced blocks
  8. Colonial Garden
  9. Patriots in Petticoats – machine pieced
  10. Sun, Moon & Stars – appliqued blocks machine pieced
  11. 9 Patch Leader/Ender with Heart – machine pieced with applique
  12. Thea’s Baby Quilt – machine pieced
  13. Ethan’s New Quilt – machine pieced [same as Thea’s with different backing and binding]
  14. Scrappy Log Cabin – machine pieced
  15. Scrap Baskets – machine pieced / appliqued handles & hearts

While I was working on this post, Linda posted a photo to the Inklingo Facebook page. Yes! That’s the look I want to see 15 times this year.  (hahaha)

15-in-2015-300px

 

 

Translate

My focus in 2017:

Sewing in 2017

  • 1 Year of Stitches embroidery project
  • Hexiflowers (aka Grace's Garden)
  • Death Star pillow
  • Tonopah Nevada topographical map
  • 1855 Wales Center map
  • Winnie the Pooh map
  • Ethan's Quilt
  • Thea's Quilt
  • Rachelle Fae CQ block
  • Machine quilting with a walking foot

Inklingo: What’s New?

Colonial Garden Collection

Judy Martin's
Waltzing Matilda


6, 9 & 12 inch blocks


The traditional size: 1 inch Patchwork of the Crosses


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