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

Slow Sunday Basting Stitches

I was able to get caught up on my Save the Bees, block 3, this weekend.

I wonder if I should have taken the paper out of the hexies before appliqueing them onto the background? It would have made it a bit easier....I'll try it next time.

I really need to prep some applique...meanwhile I am prepping more English Paper Piecing for my Tula Nova...

I have this project packed in a little take-along case which made it handy to work a bit in the car on an outing to Brantford yesterday.

 I'm finding the basting difficult at the moment as the arthritis pain in my finger joints is really acting up lately. I wonder if weather really does play a role in arthritis? I tend to find that I have flare-ups when I don't watch what I eat, but then again, the weather for the last couple weeks has been mainly grey and damp. The swelling in my index finger is at an all time high....for years I've referred to this finger as Arthur....get it?..Arthur-itis?

Something came up this week about what people's favourite quilty tool is. I was at a loss, so just said my Karen Kay Buckley scissors.

As I sat stitching this morning I realised that I had a favourite that isn't the star of the show, but plays a supporting role in my applique....literally.

As long as I can remember, when I do my applique, I've had something resting on my lap to rest my work and hands on as I stitch. In the beginning it was an over-sized children's book, Lady and the Tramp. (Why do I remember such things, but not what I had for dinner last night!?)

Quite a few years ago, someone gave me a thank-you gift. It is a Clover product and you see it in every picture that I take of my hand-work. It's called the Clover Patchwork Board and I use it every day. 

One side is padded so you can use it to press your work, although I've never used that side. The other side has a leather flap that opens up to reveal a rough surface, which I hardly ever use....except for this past week.

I always forget about the rough, sandpaper-like surface....but it is awesome for tracing my EPP shapes on to the fabric...

Someone asked me once if I get sore wrists from all the applique, and I said I did not. I realised then that this board must help me in that respect, as I probably rest my hands on the board at regular intervals between stitching/pinning, etc., without really realising it.

I'd better get a move on....I'm having a run with my friend this morning in beautiful Waterford. I'm not sure it will be a good run as there hasn't been much time for it the last couple of weeks, but the sun is shining and that will make it a good run!

I am linking up today with Kathy for Slow Sunday Stitching.

P.S.  By the way, in my my last post I mentioned a curiousity about Temperature Quilts. It turns out, there is great inspiration on Pinterest and I'm definitely going to put this on my to-do list for the new year. Check it out and hopefully you will want to join in! (and, yes, I have been called an enabler from time-to-time, as recently as this past week, bwahahaha!)

Oh, Happy Day!!!

In my previous post I was moaning about the fact that I'd found a spot of blood on my Happy Days quilt once it was on the longarm.

I thought I'd share the outcome of how I solved the problem.

Here is how it first looked....

...actually that first picture is probably taken after applying a bit of spit....I also dabbed it with a bit of lemon juice once it was off the frame, which did lighten it up a bit but not totally.

Here is what I did next. I appliqued a little "band-aid" in matching background fabric, which has worked in the past but this still shouted "here I am" to me....

I probably could have left it at that, but it was bothering me. 

Here is my final (I think) solution...

So, Happy Days is now a real quilt....with only half of the binding still to sew down! It's such a cheerful quilt :)

I quite like the background quilting in this quilt. It was easy and fun to do, so I will definitely be doing this again.

Today I am linking up with Lorna at Sew Fresh Quilts for Let's Bee Social, and with Susan at Quilt Fabrication for Midweek Makers. 

It's a snowy, blustery morning where I am....a perfect day for visiting bloggers to see what they are up to!

Tips and Tricks

I was reading Yvonne's post today over at Quilting Jetgirl. 

The topic today is Tips and Tutorials and Yvonne is inviting people to write a post and link to her post.

I have a little applique tip, but I think it is an important one....and maybe everyone this already, but here goes!

When finishing appliqueing a piece, make sure the tail of the thread is secured underneath the applique. Try to avoid leaving a long dangly thread.

Here is a bit that I appliqued today...

....and here is a picture of the back-side of the same piece.....

See the orange thread that I stitched with? Whenever I finish a thread I always tie a little knot anchored to the background fabric, then take two running stitches, making sure I'm just catching the background fabric.

Here's why...

As a  longarm quilter, I have quilted applique quilts where there have been long dangling dark threads. If they end up straying under a light coloured background fabric, they may be noticeable after quilting. Then your quilt could have what's known in the longarm industry as having "varicose veins"...not a nice look! 

By securing the the threads the way I have shown in the pictures, there is no chance of that happening.

Secondly, I always take these little stitches in the applique's seam allowance so that if I choose to clip away the background fabric behind the applique, I can do so without a problem.

On a side note....there is always discussion on whether or not to trim away that background fabric behind the applique.

 Here is my opinion...but in the end it's up to you since it's your quilt.....

I leave it if the quilt is going to be quilted on the longarm. If it's just a layer or two, I don't believe it adds much bulk. If I am going to hand-quilt the quilt then I will take the time to trim the background away, as it will be easier for me to quilt.

Next to be added are the bumble bees...

I may have to do the wings over as they should be further up the body of the bee...but maybe not, we'll see.

I'm quite on-track to finish the two rabbit borders this month. I'm pretty happy about that as I'm still hoping to begin hand-quilting on this one in February :)

As mentioned, I am linking up with Yvonne at Quilting Jetgirl for Tips and Tutorials. I am also linking with Sew Fresh Quilts for Let's Bee Social and with Susan at Quilt Fabrication for Midweek Makers. 

Have a wonderful day and try to keep warm!