Holiday Catch Up!

Well Christmas is over and while we really enjoyed the holiday and the time away, it is always good to be back home.  I have quite a bit of blog reading to catch up on! 

It was good to have the stitching time that long rides in the car give me.  I was able to get caught up on my Sweet Hearts and finish the Candy Cane Bouquet.

Today I am getting the last few rows of Sweet Hearts sewn together and added to the quilt as we wind down to the last couple of days of the year and the last couple of Sweet Heart blocks!

The red berries are now all sewn onto the Candy Cane bouquet wall hanging and I even added a frond at the base of the urn.  I guess no one will know that the bottom of the urn was crooked.... opps.  But quilters always find a way to correct their 'challenges' in a creative way!  Now just to decide whether to hand or machine quilt this....

I think this lovely poinsettia fabric would be great on the back.

Now here is another Christmas project I made this year.. but couldn't share because it was a surprise!

This table runner is based on the quilt Pines & Presents from McCall's Quilting Nov/Dec issue.  It is machine pieced, machine quilted with some hand big-stitch quilting. 

Perfect Scissors were the perfect quilting gift from a quilting friend.  Can't wait to use these!  Hope Santa brought you some new toys!

Happy End-of-the-Year Stitching!

Deb

Sunday Stitching - A New Technique!

I wanted to show you what I have been working on.  Now, as you know, when it comes to traditional applique, I am needleturn appliquer and almost always applique by hand. I am not much for machine applique - unless on a kid's quilt, art quilt, etc.  But I saw this technique and cute table topper in the current issue of BH&G American Patchwork & Quilting and thought I would give it a try just to see what it was like.

This is a pattern by Kim Diehl.  I must admit that the applique process was much quicker by machine, but the prep work was a little more labor intensive.  Once my four blocks had the bias stems machine appliqued, I joined them together into a 12 1/2" block.

Pattern pieces are traced onto and then cut out of freezer paper.  The pattern piece is placed dull side down and the seam allowance pressed onto the shiny side of the freezer paper.  

With monofilament thread in the upper part of the machine and regular thread in the bobbin, I machine appliqued with a very small zig-zag stitch around each piece.







Pattern pieces were held in place with a tiny bit of fabric glue from a glue stick.

 

Once the stitching was done, the back of the applique was cut away and the freezer paper removed.  I am not a big fan of cutting way the back of the applique, but I know a lot of quilters applique this way.

Here is the back of my block after it was pressed. 

I love using red & green non-Christmas fabrics in Christmas projects!

I am pleased with how this block turned out even though some stitching is somewhat visible even with the monofilament thread.  It was, of course, much quicker than needleturn applique.  So it is great for certain projects!

Now onto the flying geese pieced inner border!

Of course the perfect way to spend a November Sunday afternoon is wrapped in a quilt made by Mom. : - )

Happy Stitching!

Deb