Old dog, new tricks....

Well, I wish I was someone who used the Covid time as an opportunity to work on their UFO's....but I've been caught up in a couple of sewalongs along the way.

I've said it before....I'm a sucker for a sewalong!

The latest one is hosted by @thenextstitch on Instagram. She started a sewalong a few weeks ago called @shutdownstitchalong....I think because her area in Melbourne, Australia had entered a shutdown again because of an uptick in Covid cases. (I just have to say....up until a couple of weeks ago, I'd never ever heard the word "uptick" before. Now I hear it all the time and here I am actually using it!)

During this stitchalong we are encouraged to slow stitch for at least 15 minutes a day. Hey, I start everyday with slow stitching, so I'm in!!

Somehow during the beginning of the sewalong I saw the quilt Hills 'n' Hollers being shown and remembered that I have this pattern and what a good opportunity to try it. 

Should have worked on a UFO, right?...oh well. 

I thought it would be a great opportunity to use my Jen Kingwell Stash....just needed a background fabric. So, I made my way to my local quilt shop, Quilt Junction. Well, didn't I find out that Lana has started carrying a couple of Cotton & Steel fabrics....and I have a lovely stash of C&S fabrics sitting in a box at home. So I switched thing up to use these fabrics.

You can see that I basted down all the pieces first to make sure the "hills" were spaced out nicely across the fabric. 

I baste in my applique once in a while....normally to attach all the "vines" in a piece of applique. It takes extra time, but I find it worth it in the end.

When I posted a picture on Instagram showing my progress in the sewalong, a friend commented that it looks like surfboards....I like that and I think this quilt will now be known as Beach Blanket Bingo!....anyone old enough to catch that reference???

Once the surfboards were in my head, my brain somehow leapt over to a pattern I bought recently and thought that if I incorporated part of that pattern it would kind of look like sun rays. The pattern is "Hunt" by Carolyn Friedlander...

So I read through the pattern and was surprised to find out that she uses a whole other method of applique in this design. 

It scared me and thrilled me at the same time, lol!!!

I've been a quilter for over 40 years now and I've got a lot of my methods down pat....but I always enjoy learning a new tip or trick that I may be able to add to my toolbox. 

Here are all the pieces pinned to the background...

The next step was to baste each piece down....with the stitches precisely 1/4" from the edge of the applique piece. Not difficult when you've been a quilter for a while as the 1/4" measure comes quite naturally, right?

Then I was to needleturn applique the pieces. But wait a minute....for years now I've been finger-pressing my seam allowances....how was this going to work????....that was the scary part. I was prepared for the fact that this would not be my best work, but it would be a learning experience.

So I started this morning...on a straight section as the curves were going to be the messy part...

Well, here's the brilliant part of this method....those basting stitches really make a nice "edge" that my needle used to follow as I was needle-turning. So pleasing in an inexplicable way.

Then came the curvy bit, and it worked out just fine. I'm quite happy with my work this morning, and I can see using the "Hunt" pattern for a full-sized quilt.

I will digress for a moment.

A long time ago I read this book and I came to call it my applique Bible...

Almost everything in this book revolutionized my method of applique.

 When I have trouble with curves (and circles were my nemesis for a long time), I always remember this bit of the book...to just make that next stitch a good stitch, concentrate on just that stitch...and this passage of the book served me well again doing the curves this morning. 

My design wall is full at the moment, but I had to see how Beach Blanket Bingo was really looking...

I like it....a lot!!! I can even hear Annette Funicello singing in the background as she dreams about Frankie Avalon.

This quilt has been quite the journey that has morphed in many different ways since I began the #shutdownstitchalong!!

On the design wall is my Halo quilt....a long-time UFO that will finally be a real quilt because of another sewalong on Instagram.

I put the blocks up haphazardly to live with for a while and shuffle them around when I see something that needs shuffling...

Already I know that this is a quilt that will call for hand-quilting.

Halo will be my One Monthly Goal for August. I am linking up with Elm Street Quilts for One Monthly Goal.

I am also linking up with Kathy for Slow Sunday Stitching

A little bit of applique and a little bit of handquilting....

I truly didn't think it would be such a long gap between this post and my last one.....the days slip by so quickly sometimes!

Today marks the 7th anniversary of Slow Sunday Stitching hosted by Kathy at Kathy's Quilts. Every week she invites us to share the projects that we are stitching away at. 

Lately I came across the new quilt published by Kim McLean, called Animal Album. I had no interest in starting a new applique project, but I just love Kim's designs and I finally caved in....thinking I'd get the pattern and it would be a new start for 2020.

I've completed two of Kim's patterns and loved both of them. I told myself it's ok to just work on one block...just one! 

Kim McLean's are "a little bit much", as I overheard a woman say once when she was viewing my Stars and Sprigs at the Fair a few years ago...and as I began this block I've realised, once again, that I really do like quilts that are "a little bit much"!

The blocks are 18" and there are still a lot more pieces to go on block #1.

This week I also started hand-quilting a quilt that was part of an online sewalong that just wrapped up, called Shimmer...

I love that I can baste quilts on the longarm. Back in the day I would pin quilts to the wall-to-wall carpeting that I used to have in the living room and spend a few hours crawling around the floor basting them. This is so much quicker and easier, and a service I love to provide for my hand-quilters.

Then I just had to sit down and put those first lovely stitches into the quilt. I wondered which feeling is better....those first few stitches quilted on a quilt....or the last few? I don't think I know the answer, both are pretty good!

My favourite thread and needles....and my new thimble, ready for action...

....and who'd a thunk it....I can't use my beautiful new thimble to quilt with .... it will have to be only used for applique :(

I wrote about my new silver thimble in my last post, which you can find here. 

I bought it at the quilt show hosted by the Genesee Valley Quilt Club in Rochester, NY. I do have a few more pictures to share with you from this wonderful show.

I always love house quilts. This one was beautiful and you can see in the close-up one of the "pictures" that were quilted into the background...

I like when we can see different quilters' interpretations of the same quilt. Especially nice when the quilt is from one of my favourite designers, like this one designed by Sue Garman...

This one is my favourite...

The following quilt was their raffle quilt...I haven't heard from them so I guess I didn't win. It's probably the most beautiful raffle quilt that I've ever seen at a quilt show. I also love the extra effort they put into the beautiful feature around the edge of the quilt...

I always love a good scrappy quilt. This one really caught my eye, I think the blocks are 3 or 4"....

I'm thinking it would make a good "leaders and enders" block. I made one up to try it out. I cut a 3.5" square, sliced it in half and and inserted a strip...

I seem to remember someone once being hesitant about attempting a scrappy quilt, worrying about how everything would go together. But I also remember hearing how each of the fabrics are usually in your stash because you liked them at some point, so they should be wonderful together in a scrap quilt!

Today I am linking up with Kathy for Slow Sunday Stitching. I hope you have a moment to visit with her to wish her a happy anniversary and maybe visit with other slow-stitchers.

Have a lovely Summer's day!

Beautiful quilts and a silver finger...

It seems like the perfect morning to spend a little extra time with some hand-stitching.

 It's a bit grey outside and I've had a lovely couple of days away and feel relaxed, refreshed and peaceful.

On Monday evening I will be presenting the next section of our BOM, Queen's Garden, and I'm almost finished the embroidery part of the blocks...

I was having a bit of trouble marking the lines for the embroidery on this type of fabric, when I thought of my Hera marker, which did an excellent job. Can you see the marks on the lower leaf?...

Here is the quilt so far...

There's still some embroidery to add. I'll try to catch up on that over the Summer. 

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Friday and Saturday we went on a little road-trip to Rochester, NY. 

My husband had come across a big quilt show there put on by the Genessee Valley Quilt Club and suggested we go down...I guess he's a keeper, after-all :)

It was quite the event, held in the Rochester Institute of Technology, a venue that was 70,000 square feet. I think it may have been the best quilt show I've been to. 

Here is the picture I took of the event on the first day...

I didn't realise until the next day that past the furthest bit of the picture was another half of the show! There were 700 quilts and 60 vendors. I was surprised at the amount of quilts that were somewhat new to me....and that a lot of the vendors were selling items that I'd never seen before. 

Since this is Slow Stitching Sunday, I'll stick to showing you mostly handwork that I saw at the show.

A lot of quilts had this "hand" attached to it...

I thought it meant "keep your hands off the quilts"...but it was to indicate a hand-quilted item.

 There were more than usual that were hand-quilted. The most fantastic and my favourite was this one...

Here is the Best in Show, also hand-quilted...

This one is not done by hand, but I love that the applique is done on a background that has been pieced of diamond shapes...

Then there is this fantastic quilt. All of the letters on the quilt spell out the words to the song, Morning Has Broken. Truly fantastic.

I was lucky to see someone selling some of the same type of fabric that I'm using in my Queen's Garden, so I picked up a bundle to add more interest to my quilt...

I made a couple of other purchases that I'll save for another post....but I will show you one more.

There was a woman at the show who is a silversmith and she had a booth filled with the most beautiful thimbles and chatelaine's. I was positively drooling over the thimbles....but made myself walk away and think about it so I wouldn't make an impulsive purchase (yay, me!)...as the thimbles were a little on the expensive side.

I thought it over until the next day when we were returning to the show and convinced myself that I did indeed deserve such a beautiful thimble. After-all, it's like a piece jewelry and art...and something I would use each and every day, right????

I was looking at the thimbles that were open on the back and had lovely filigree work over the fingernail area. It wasn't until I was almost ready to make a purchase that the silversmith had me try it out on a bit of quilting. Well!....it turns out I use a part of my finger that was more toward the fingernail to do the pushing....not protected at all by these beauties! Even the silversmith was surprised. I'm glad she had something to test on before I bought one and returned to Canada. (Although, they come with a lifetime guarantee, so I could have switched it out later)

I ended up with a fully enclosed thimble, which I quite enjoyed breaking-in this morning with my applique...

When my eldest grandson was about 4 years old, he would ask permission to try on my "silver finger"....and proceed to walk around the room carefully balancing my thimble on his tiny finger.

Now I am happy to truly have a real silver thimble and I will use it with great pleasure.

I could show you a lot more to inspire you from this wonderful quilt show, but I'll save some for another day. 

This show is held every two years, the first weekend of June. I'm sure we will go back again!

I am linking up with Kathy for Slow Sunday Stitching. I think I'll sit with an extra cup of coffee and see what everyone has been up to this week!