Five Shadows

Jawbreaker is quilted and bound. I used a stencil to mark the quilt design. Then stitched using a free motion foot to stitch over the marked lines, next echoed the design.

I stitched a simple ribbon design in the outer border. For binding I used the flange technique to add a pop of purple between the blue binding and border. This quilted table topper measures 21  1/2″ square. Quilted with Superior Threads King Tut DeNile Variegated thread Color # 927. This was project three in Julie Herman’s Journey 2 Nebula quilt along.

I started a new project. Which is a repeat baby quilt I made earlier this year. I bought 2 Geo Zoo panels when a LQS sadly went out of business. I didn’t have plans for them at the time, but 2 family members have since announced babies on the way. One panel baby quilt has already gone to the new little fellow. And this second one will be going to baby due in February 2021.

To make the top, I cut the elephants and walrus off the right side of the panel and stitched them on to the bottom below the whale and zebra, making the panel long and narrow rather than short and wide.

Then I added a 2″ black border and 6″ wave print as an outer border. The back is also pieced and ready to sandwich.

For the appliqué quilt, I have decided to do the 9 sections of the quilt in the quilt-as-you-go method. I have the center section pieced, and the two sides appliquéd.

This past week I sandwiched those three sections so they are ready to quilt. They will be joined together once quilted.

Last Week’s To-Do List:

1. Sew Jawbreaker into a pillow case, project 3 in #Journey2Nebula.  ✔️ Completed, but decided to go with a table topper instead of a pillow.
2. Baby quilt! ✔️ Top & Back pieced!
3. If there’s time, figure out next step in appliqué. ✔️Sandwich the three completed pieced & appliqué sections.

This Week’s To-Do List:

1. Cut pieces for project 4, Rock Candy in #Journey2Nebula.
2. Sandwich baby quilt.
3. Short week for sewing, hubs and I are doing some traveling the next two weeks.  Hand embroidery just might happen.

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

Wow! Stitching the appliqué flowers in place didn’t take as long as I thought it would.

3 petal flower, bud, and six petal flower

4 heart shaped petal flower, bud

Heart shaped bud, 6 petal flower. There are 20 flowers appliquéd in place in a mix of shapes and sizes show in photos above.

Next up was sewing strips and cutting triangles for the Jawbreaker pillow.

Jawbreaker is a Jaybird Quilts pattern, fabric is Tula Pink’s True Colors.

Playing with lay out. This week it will be sewn into a 20″ pillow top.

Granddaughter time!

I had broken up the Pocket Organizer sewing into 3 lessons. But she just didn’t want to stop sewing when she came over this week.

We got the 12 pockets stitched, and the back sewn on which in my mind was lesson 2. Then she moved on to the appliqué pieces which was lesson 3. She traced the butterflies and heart from templates on to fabric with Misty Fuse attached to the back. After cutting the shapes out, they were pressed in place. Directions say to outline appliqué pieces with glitter glue. It went to her house for that step. Finished pocket organizer sewn on to a hanger and ready for use!

Another new project has creeped in. A nephew and his wife have announced they are expecting their first baby. Time to make a baby quilt. I’ll use Geo Zoo panel by Robert Kaufman. I hope it goes together easily so I can drop it off to them later this month.

Last Week’s To-Do List:

1. Stitch appliqué flowers in place. ✔️ This step went much quicker than I thought it would!
2. Prep Jawbreaker third project in #Journey2Nebula. ✔️ Ready for sewing.
3. Lesson 2 with granddaughter, Pocket Organizer. ✔️ Lesson 2 & 3, the organizer is finished and super cute!

This Week’s To-Do List:

1. Sew Jawbreaker into a pillow case, project 3 in #Journey2Nebula.
2. Baby quilt!
3. If there’s time, figure out next step in appliqué.

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

Lots and lots of appliqué!

Here is where I am at the moment.

Leaves and vines are sewn in place on the left & right sides of the center of the quilt.

Next up, sewing flowers in place.

I’m just starting to stitch the flowers in place. For the leaves, I found the walking foot worked best for stitching. I might try free motion for the small flower petals.

Phew! That’s a lot of machine stitching and will be my October goal.

If I complete that, I’ll move on to pinning the appliqué pieces on to the top and bottom 12″ border of the center of the quilt.

Here’s a reminder to where I’m heading.

The quilt I’m making in on the cover of Sue Pelland’s Hearts and More book.

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

I’m still moving along on the appliqué pieces for the quilt I’m making for my son and his bride.

This past week I made flower centers.

To make the circles I made freezer paper templates. I layered three pieces of freezer paper adhering them together with a hot iron. Then I traced a quarter on to the freezer paper, and cut out the circles. Adhered the circle templates to wrong side of fabric. Cut around the circle templates with a generous 1/4″ seam allowance. Using thread and needle, hand baste around the circle in the seam allowance. Pull the thread and it wraps around the freezer paper. Next I added some starch to the edges and pressed with hot iron giving me a nice fabric circle for the center of the flowers on the quilt. The freezer paper templates pop out leaving a nice fabric circle. Template can be used multiple times!

Plus I moved along in stitching the leaves in place, I switched from free motion quilting to using a walking foot.

I’m happier with the results. I stitched along the edges and then stitched veins in the leaves. Next up will be stitching flowers and buds in place.

Journey 2 Nebula, second project completed!

Lucky Charms, I made as a table runner instead of a pillow. Flange binding. Pattern by Jaybird Quilts.

A new project popped in this week. My granddaughter wants to learn to sew. We selected fabric to make a pocket organizer for her room.

She loves pinks and purples. Can you tell!?

The pocket organizer is going together faster than I thought it would! She sat on my lap at my sewing machine, so she could carefully sew the fabrics together. She learned placement of her hands to keep her fingers away from the needle. She loved pushing the button to cut the threads at the end of the seams, and figured out the knee lift to control the presser foot!  Here she is proudly showing family the beginning of her pocket organizer.

That’s progress on three projects this week. Rain is predicted for most of this week, so it should be a good week for more sewing.

Last Week’s To-Do List:

1. Finish stitching leaves in place. ✔️ Slow going but completed!
2. Prep flower centers, hope to start stitching flowers in place. ✔️Flower centers and buds made.
3. Quilt & bind Lucky Charms #Journey2Nebula. ✔️

This Week’s To-Do List:

1. Stitch appliqué flowers in place.
2. Prep Jawbreaker third project in #Journey2Nebula.
3. Lesson 2 with granddaughter, Pocket Organizer.

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

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.