Quilting Elegant Garden

This was a busy week so I only completed two Elegant Garden blocks. It takes time to stitch around all the leaves!

I like all of this block except for the flower. I wish now I would have just come up with my own design. I had tried to improve the block by adding the embroidery but it's a disapointment. Oh well.

This block ticks all the squares but it took me several days to get it quilted.

I did not stitch around the yellow circles, too many thicknesses of fabric under it.

I was in Wakarusa last week. The downtown flower garden has been completely cleaned up and tilled. Those red dahlias were a disappointment, they just weren't colorful. Hopefully next year's flowers will be more vibrant.

Then I stopped at Grandma's Pantry, their flowerbed was alive with color! The begonias and dusty Miller plants were bright and cheerful with color. I couldn't tell if they mums were planted or if they had pots sitting in the center. They look nice which ever way they are. 

I don't know how long they'll leave their plants in the bed, maybe until it freezes?

Here is another picture of Elegant Garden. Row two is completed and I rolled the quilt stick. I quilted the seamline between the two rows then rolled again. Row three is the center row, I've started quilting the pineapple block.

Elegant Garden is designed by Edyta Sitar, Laundry Basket Quilts.

Linking to Patchwork & Quilts, Kathy's Slow Stitching Sunday, Stitching Stuff, Oh Scrap, Sew & Tell, Handmade Monday, Craftastic Monday, Design Wall Monday, Monday Musings, To Do Tuesday 

Two Comforters

This week I sewed the bindings on two comforters from church. Comforters are normally donated to comforters for MCC but if they don't meet MCC specifications, they are donated to a local agency for distribution. Just to be clear, I did NOT piece these comforters.

These comforter tops are pieced by various people then given to church who knot them. I'm one of several people who finish the bindings. I use the self binding method listed in the top right corner of my blog.

Sometimes these tops aren't the prettiest but I thought the first comforter looks very nice.

This simple patch work is an easy to make top.

This second comforter is too busy for my taste but because it is flannel, it will be warm and cozy. 

Linking to To Do Tuesday, Wednesday Weight Loss, I Quilted This, Put Your Foot Down, TGIFF, Finished Or Not Friday, Off the Wall Friday, Beauty Pageant, Patchwork & Quilts 

Quilting Elegant Garden

Three more blocks have been quilted on Elegant Garden. The pictures are from the right side going toward the left side.

These blocks are from the second row of Elegant Garden.

I'm enjoying quilting these blocks, it's nice to see them all again.

It seems like the quilting is going fast but then this is a small quilt, 60" compared to the king sized quilt I had been quilting over the winter.

There are two more blocks in this row then I'll be starting the quilting on the center row. Maybe I'll have all the quilting finished in time to take along to my November retreat and display at show & tell.

All the fabrics in this quilt came from the civil war fabric tub, none were purchased, I guess you could say this is a scrap quilt?

I'm glad to see that Blogger has corrected whatever their problem was with updating. Have a great week with lots of stitching time!

Linking to Patchwork & Quilts, Kathy's Slow Stitching Sunday, Stitching Stuff, Oh Scrap, Sew & Tell, Handmade Monday, Craftastic Monday, Design Wall Monday, Monday Musings, To Do Tuesday 

Framed Squares, the Other Baby Quilt

 The second baby quilt is now quilted, the binding attached and the quilt washed. The finished quilt measures 46.5" which is rather strange because it has the same number of blocks all cut the same size as the Berenstein Bear quilt and that one finished at 47.5.

For this baby quilt I used fabrics left from the Twinkle quilt. For some reason the fabrics in the Twinkle picture have a yellow tint. This baby quilt has the correct shades color.  

I used the same quilting as the Berenstein Bear quilt. I had made way too much binding for the Twinkle quilt which was used to finish this quilt.

The backing is this dotted fabric which I had on hand. 

I'm pleased with both quilts, hopefully they will receive a lot of use for the babies.

Linking to To Do Tuesday, Wednesday Weight Loss, I Quilted This, Put Your Foot Down, TGIFF, Finished Or Not Friday, Off the Wall Friday, Beauty Pageant, Patchwork & Quilts

Quilting Elegant Garden

The bottom row of Elegant Garden is completely quilted. Here are pictures from the left side to the right side.

As you can see, I've quilted the bottom part of the blocks on top of this row.

Elegant Garden is designed by Edyta Sitar, Laundry Basket Quilts.

I don't have pictures of quilt gardens for you today but I do have a picture.

Where I live we have old order Mennonites. They are a conservative sect but they're not Amish. They have electricity and telephones. However they drive horse and buggies. 

This is a picture of a spring wagon delivering home grown flowers to the local produce market. Some are already arranged and placed in vases while others are in bunches. It's a beautiful sight when you drive past her garden.

Just a random commment, Blogger is being weird. My blog doesn't update, even when I click the refresh symbol. My blog list doesn't update either. And sometimes I'm not able to leave comments on other blogs! I think they just want to get rid of us older bloggers.

Linking to Patchwork & Quilts, Kathy's Slow Stitching Sunday, Stitching Stuff, Sew & Tell, Handmade Monday, Craftastic Monday, Design Wall Monday, Monday Musings, To Do Tuesday 

Berenstein Bears Baby Quilt, Framed Squares

This summer has flown by, September probably will also. It's time to get those baby quilts quilted, the Berenstein Bear quilt is first.

As usual I used simple quilting. First I stitched in the ditch in between all the blocks. Then I stitched around the inside of the squares in the blocks then added half orange peels.

There wasn't enough of the Berenstein Bear fabrics left for binding so turquoise Kona fabric was used. 

After washing the quilt measures 47.5". And a picture of the backing.

I wrote about piecing the quilts in this post. The pattern used is one that I call framed squares. The inside square finishes at 4" and displays the fabric nicely. The fabric around the square finishes at 1".

One quilt is finished and ready to be gifted. I'll start quilting the second one right away, it should quilt faster than the first one, I've got the technique down. 

This little quilt is my favorite finish for September, this fabric is so cute! It was nice to finally use this layer cake and move it out of the stash.

Linking to Wednesday Weight Loss, I Quilted This, Put Your Foot Down, TGIFF, Finished Or Not Friday, Off the Wall Friday, Beauty Pageant, Patchwork & Quilts, September Favorite Finish

Prepping Tree of Life

Today's post is not about normal hand applique, it's about what happens before the applique starts.

Prepping Tree of Life is going to be a tedious process but once it's completed, I'll be able to keep appliqueing without stopping to do more prep.

I washed my fabrics in HOT water. Washing is a deceptive word though, never throw your fabrics into a washer to wash them. I put them into a pan of HOT water and swish them around. I keep changing the water until no dye comes out. Not all of the fabrics bled but the red definitely did. After I'm done washing them, I squeeze most of the water out then take them onto the porch, hang on the metal furniture and let them drip. Once they're done dripping, they are carried to the basement and hung on a clothes rack to finish drying. 

After they were dry, I heavily sprayed them with starch then left them to dry. Once the starch is dry, they are ready to be pressed. Once they're pressed, the freezer paper designs can be ironed onto them. 

I'm not going to recommend any certain starch, you use whatever starch you want to use! I've learned over the years that starch brand is a controversial subject.

The original fabrics have the pieces to be appliqued stamped onto the back side of the fabric, the pieces are even numbered to show you the order to applique. You do need to make sure you turn the edge enough that the stamping ink does not show on the outside.

When I prep applique pieces, I normally leave a larger 'turn-under' edge than what this shows, I won't be placing my pieces as close together as they show here. 

I placed the marked fabric on top of my light box then put freezer paper on top and traced the applique design onto the paper. The next step is to cut out the design. 

After the pieces are cut out of the freezer paper, I ironed them onto the back of the new fabric. 

I cut around the pieces making sure there is 'turn under' fabric.

I will have to do some trimming on the applique pieces before they're appliqued. I even wrote the numbers on the back of the pieces, just like the originals were.

My fabrics aren't an exact match for the fabrics from the kit but they're close enough. I know it looks like the new brown fabric has lines in it, it doesn't, it's a solid brown Kona fabric. All the pieces needed for this fabric have been prepped and are bagged together along with the original fabric.

This is a long process but I'm going to have a beautiful quilt when I'm finished. Remember, I'm planning to spend New Year's Day starting the applique on this quilt. I had better get more of the fabric prepped, January 1 is just 4 months away!

Here is something pretty to show you since this post was rather boring.

Autumn is coming soon and most of the perennials in my flowerbeds have finished blooming but the flowers in the pots are going strong!

These fushia flowers in the front are called SunPatiens, I'm definitely growing them again next year. I've saved the label so I know what they are next spring.

Linking to Patchwork & Quilts, Kathy's Slow Stitching Sunday, Stitching Stuff, Sew & Tell, Design Wall Monday, Monday Musings, To Do Tuesday