Five Shadows

Appliqué vines, leaves, flowers, buds! Oh My!

Above is the box holding some of the appliqué pieces I’ve made this month.

The last pieces I’ve worked on were circles for flower centers.

Not only did I get the appliqué pieces prepped, using a turned appliqué method, starching the edges and pressing the edges under each piece, I also pinned the pieces in place for the two sides of the center of the quilt.

Photo above, missing buds and flower centers.

Once I figured out placement and photographed for placement, I removed everything but the vines.

I used Roxanne’s Glue-Baste-It to hold vines in place while machine blanket stitching.

Then I pinned the leaves and flowers back in place.

I’m stitching leaves in place using a walking foot.

I still have a long way to go with machine stitching the appliqué pieces to the quilt. October’s goal?

Here is what the appliqué looks like on design wall with the center of the quilt.

Goal for September – lots of appliqué prep! I completed my goal, and moved on to stitching the pieces on to the quilt!

Linking to One Monthly Goal hosted by Patty of Elm Street Quilts.

Happy First Day of Autumn!

This is a blast from the past! One of my fav creations made back in 2015, offset leaves made with Fairy Frost fabrics. Free Motion Quilted.

What I’m currently working on – I’m bouncing between appliqué and piecing.

This is a portion of the quilt I’m making for my son and his bride. This past week, stitching the vines in place.

After pinning the vines, leaves, flowers & buds in place, I took photos for reference of placement.

Then I removed the leaves and flowers. I dabbed on Roxanne’s temporary basting glue to vines, then machine blanket stitched vines in place. This was my first time to use Roxanne’s glue, and I really liked it.

Background fabric was layered with a thin Quilters Dream batting. Batting helps stabilize the sandwich for stitching the vines in place.

 

After the vines were stitched in place, I repositioned leaves and flowers. Here is the start of attaching the leaves. I’m not happy with the free motion quilting on the edge of the leaves, so on to plan B or C.

Seaside Table Runner is complete. This is the first project presented by Jaybird Quilts in her Journey 2 Nebula quilt along.

Last week we cut hexagons for the second Journey 2 Nebula project, Lucky Charms.

I went ahead and sewed the hexies together into a table runner. But didn’t like the blue at the ends.

Rip rip! And change out for some prints to go with the solid blues.

Border on and sandwiched. Ready to quilt this week.

Last Week’s To-Do List:

1. Stitch vine and leaves in place. ✔️ Vines stitched. ✗ Still working on leaves.
2. Maybe finish prepping flower appliqué pieces. ✗
3. Cut and stitch Lucky Charms #Journey2Nebula ✔️Ready to quilt.

This Week’s To-Do List:

1. Finish stitching leaves in place.
2. Prep flower centers, hope to start stitching flowers in place.
3. Quilt & bind Lucky Charms #Journey2Nebula.

Linking to To-Do Tuesday hosted by Home Sewn by Us.

Prepping appliqué flower pieces is almost complete! I still have to make centers for flowers and green buds.

Vines, leaves and flowers pinned in place for the sides of the quilt.

Close up of the different flower shapes. And leaves, vines.

This is how the appliqué looks pinned on design wall next to the curved pieced center.

I’ll get all these appliqué pieces stitched down before starting on the top and bottom sections.

Moving on, I did some piecing this week. Seaside, pattern by Jaybird Quilts. This is the first in her Journey 2 Nebula Sew Along.

I did simple quilting, 1/4″ echoing of the zigzag piecing.

Tomorrow I’m taking a road trip with my quilt group to Middlebury, IN. Lunch at Essenhaus and shopping at The Quilt Shop. Then on to Clothesline Creations Quilt Shop where I hope to buy fabric to bind Seaside and fabrics for a few of the other projects coming up in Journey 2 Nebula. Penny of Clothesline Creations is one of the quilt shops participating in Jaybird Quilts Nebula BOM that starts in January 2021. She still has kits to claim. Go to her website to take a look.

Last Week’s To-Do List:

1. Prep next several sets of appliqué flowers. ✔️ Prepped and pinned in place.
2. Maybe cut fabric for appliqué background and start pinning vines, leaves, flowers in place. ✔️ Yes!
3. Sandwich and quilt Seaside #Journey2Nebula ✔️ Need to buy fabric for binding, I have nothing in my stash that matches. New color way for me!

This Week’s To-Do List:

1. Stitch vine and leaves in place.
2. Maybe finish prepping flower appliqué pieces.
3. Cut and stitch Lucky Charms #Journey2Nebula

Linking to To-Do Tuesday hosted by Home Sewn by Us.

Appliqué flower petals are multiplying. Slow but sure.

The patterns calls for 4-5 of these Daisies, 8-9 petals each. I’ve got 5 sets ready, but still need the center circles.

This week I’ll be moving on to the next flowers, 6 petals flowers, heart shape, and buds.

I’ve joined Jaybird Quilts Journey 2 Nebula. The first quilt is Seaside and the goal for this past week was cutting fabric.

Pieces cut with a pile of confetti from cutting off the points. Cutting off the points will make for easy alignment of the diamond shapes for accurate sewing.

Pretty rows sewn together.

Top all pieced.

Fabric for the back of Seaside. Next up, sandwich and quilt. I’m not sure what I’ll be using for the binding.

That’s my week. How was yours?

Last Week’s To-Do List:

1. Appliqué flower time! ✔️ Making progress.
2. Cutting for Seaside, following Jaybird Quilts Journey 2 Nebula. ✔️ Cut!
3. Daughter asked me to hem some pants. ✔️ Did those, and repaired a blouse.

This Week’s To-Do List:

1. Prep next several sets of appliqué flowers.
2. Maybe cut fabric for appliqué background and start pinning vines, leaves, flowers in place.
3. Sandwich and quilt Seaside #Journey2Nebula

Linking to To-Do Tuesday hosted by Home Sewn by Us.

Shopping! I needed a few things for the appliqué I’m working on.

I bought a brush with a cartridge to hold starch. Brushing the starch makes easy application to fabric edges.

I’m using home made freezer paper templates made with 2 layers of freezer paper. Iron on to the fabric. Brush starch on edges of fabric, and press over the template. Once cooled,  freezer paper template is removed and reused for the next set of leaves.

I bought a tone on tone white, above, for appliqué background. And blue floral for the back of the quilt.

Flower prep time.

Freezer paper templates fused to fabric by using a hot iron.

This is going to take a while. First 9 petals for the first flower.

In case you need a reminder,

this is the quilt I’m working on, vines and leaves completed but not attached yet. Starting flowers.

As if I needed to start new projects, I signed up for Journey 2 Nebula with Julie of Jaybird Quilts. The Journey starts today, September 1st!

More shopping, above. Patterns and Tula Pink precuts for Journey 2 Nebula purchased at Clothesline Creations. InvisiGrip for the back of Jaybird Quilts rulers to keep them from slipping. Sewline glue sticks to attach appliqué vines, leaves, flowers to the background fabric.

The first project in Journey 2 Nebula is Seaside, a table runner. Above, my fabric selection, ruler & pattern.

Prepping flowers is my One Monthly Goal for September, and I’m thinking it might take all month! I’m hoping adding in a little piecing will keep me sane!

More masks.

I got another request for masks. I tried a different pattern this time. I only had enough elastic for one mask, added that to the shopping list. Completed masks but forgot to take another photo. I like this one with the tied elastic so it can be adjusted to fit. But there is no wire for the nose piece. This friend likes bears, and I found a scrap of the cute little bears in my stash. I hope she likes cats too!

Last Week’s To-Do List:

1. Continue with prepping appliqué leaves, move on to the flowers if I complete the leaves. ✔️
2. I have an order ready to pick up at a LQS, I’ll look for backing fabric while there.  ✔️

This Week’s To-Do List:

1. Appliqué flower time!
2. Cutting for Seaside, following Jaybird Quilts Journey to Nebula.
3. Daughter asked me to hem some pants.

Linking to To-Do Tuesday hosted by Home Sewn by Us.

September, will be all about appliqué!

In August I pieced the center of the quilt that is on the cover of Sue Pelland’s book Hearts and More.

My goal for September will be to create the appliqué pieces for the next section of the quilt. Vines, leaves, and flowers.

The pattern calls for 330 leaves.

And several different flowers.

Petals in progress.

I’m using home made freezer paper templates which I cut using Sue Pelland’s Hearts and More template. I’m starching the edges and pressing them over the template. The freezer paper is easily removed once edges are pressed and can be used multiple times.

So, goal for September – lots of appliqué prep!

Linking to One Monthly Goal hosted by Patty of Elm Street Quilts.

My goal for August was to learn how to use Sue Pelland’s Hearts and More templates and create the center of this quilt.

Here’s the center, 4″ unfinished blocks in rows on design wall.

And top pieced, finished 3 1/2″ blocks.

The pieced center measures 42 1/2 inches x 49 1/2 inches.

Read about how I used Marti Michell templates instead of Sue Pelland’s for cutting and piecing the center. I didn’t want to do raw edge appliqué, and curved piecing with Marti’s templates seemed like the solution.

As seen in the top photo, the next portion of the quilt will be appliqué vines, leaves and flowers.

Hello September’s goal!

Linking to One Monthly Goal hosted by Patty of Elm Street Quilts.

168 curved pieced blocks makes the center of the quilt I’m currently working on.

This section of the quilt measures 42 1/2 inches by 49 1/2 inches.

The next step is creating appliqué vines, leaves and flowers to border the center of the quilt.

To make the vines I cut 1″ bias strips. Using  Pauline Rogers Sasher tool the strips are pressed making 1/2″ finished bias fold strips. They are ready to pin in place on the back ground fabric.

To make the leaves I’m using Sue Pelland’s Hearts and More templates. I’m following the instructions for cutting the leaf shapes, page 21 of Heart and More book, but I’m shifting the template just a bit to enlarging the leaf shape by 1/4 inch. Next I’m pressing the edge of the leaf fabric around freezer paper templates also cut using the Hearts and More templates. This will eliminate the raw edges, making turned edge appliqué.

I found that using starch helps with holding the pressed edges in place.  The freezer paper templates are easily removed once the leaf shapes are pressed. Also, the templates can be used multiple times. The pattern calls for 330 leaves. I have 200 cut. I might change that number using   fewer appliqué leaves and adding more flowers.

Cover photo of Sue Pelland’s book, which is the quilt I’m currently working on.

Last Week’s To-Do List:

1. Finishing piecing rows, above.  ✔️ Completed and moved on to appliqué pieces.
2. Shop or dig through stash for a back for above quilt. ✗  I didn’t find anything in my stash to use, and didn’t go shopping.

This Week’s To-Do List:

1. Continue with prepping appliqué leaves, move on to the flowers if I complete the leaves.
2. I have an order ready to pick up at a LQS, I’ll look for backing fabric while there.

Linking to To-Do Tuesday hosted by Home Sewn by Us.

Here they are, 168 pieced and trimmed 4″ blocks.

120 with pieced curves in opposite corners, and 48 with one pieced curve.

Trimmed blocks and trimmings.

The layout on design wall. Ready for stitching rows together.

The pattern is from Hearts and More book by Sue Pelland, starting on page 53. Sue is known for her rotary cut fusible appliqué designs using her speciality templates, Hearts & More and Leaves Galore. Instead of doing fused appliqué for the center of the quilt, I decided to do traditional piecing. This quilt will be well used and machine washed. I thought piecing might be steadier in the long run. There will be appliqué flowers and vines around this pieced center, and then 3 rows of Clam Shells bordering the flowers. I’ve got a long way to go to finish this quilt!

Back to row piecing!

Last Week’s To-Do List:

1. Continue piecing curved blocks. ✔️ All 168 pieced!
2. Lay out center of quilt, maybe even sew rows? ✔️ Layout on design wall and piecing rows started!

This Week’s To-Do List:

1. Finishing piecing rows, above.
2. Shop or dig through stash for a back for above quilt.

Linking to To-Do Tuesday hosted by Home Sewn by Us.

The More:  I did hem 3 pairs of pants for a friend. Check that off the list!

And More: I started the quilt on the cover of the book Hearts and More.

Figuring out the piecing for the center of this quilt is my One Monthly Goal for August. The quilt made as designed, all the prints would be fusible appliqué. I’m changing up the center of the quilt by doing the curved pieced blocks.

I’ve played around with Marti Michell’s Drunkard’s Path templates and have come up with 3 1/2″ finished blocks.

For the background I started with 4 1/2″ squares and used Marti’s “B” template to cut off opposite corners.

I used Marti’s “C” template to cut the prints to be sewn into the corners.

6 units sewn, pressed and trimmed to 4″ square. I only need to stitch up 114 more!

More piecing, and now 74 more to go!

As you can see, I made the pieces oversize so they can easily be trimmed down to 4″ square.

Happily I sew along.

This week I’ll continue with the piecing, 74 more! And then lay out the rows for the center of the quilt. Looks like I’ll be sticking with this quilt for a while instead of complicating things by working on more than one project at a time!

Last Week’s To-Do List:

1. Hem 3 pairs of pants for a friend. (shhhh! don’t tell anyone this quilter knows how to hem pants!)  ✔️ All knit fabrics too. But they are done!
2. Piece lots of the Drunkard’s Path blocks. At least as many as I have time to do.  ✔️ Figured it out, and sewn just over half.

This Week’s To-Do List:

1. Continue piecing curved blocks.
2. Lay out center of quilt, maybe even sew rows?

I’m linking to To-Do Tuesday Linky Party hosted by Home Sewn by Us.