Making Progress

Three Leaves

The last few weeks haven't been ideal for quilting, but on a road trip last weekend I was able to work on my embroidery/ appliqué leaves project. I was pleasantly surprised that I was able to appliqué so much in the car. By the time we got to North Bay, I had finished the green leaf.  It wasn't my best work, but when I was extra careful, I was impressed with the results. The trick now is to try to be careful more of the time!

The green leaf was the third leaf of a project from the book Applique Inside the Lines by Carol Armstrong. During the 30/30 Challenge in March I had completed the orange leaf. I now have to sew the pieces together with sashing in between to make it look like a picture frame. I'll then sandwich and quilt it. Since this is such a lovely small piece, I'll probably hand quilt it. It'll be a nice summer project.

Before the weekend, I had a chance to start quilting a lap quilt. This is one of the projects that I made several years ago but didn't finish it since I couldn't free motion quilt (FMQ). What a joy to be working on these UFOs (unfinished objects).

Jewel Tone Quilt

I wanted to try something new for this quilt (of course). Since I've invested so much in Craftsy, I had to try out some of those new techniques. This one comes from Design It, Quilt It with Cindy Needham.

I started quilting it as she advised - "stitch every stinking seam"! I stitched most of the seams but didn't quilt the 9 patch blocks since that's where I'll be quilting the motifs. Not sure which ones yet. I'm waiting for my muse...

I've started working on my Grandmother's Choice blocks again. I've even been trying different techniques, but that'll be the subject of the next blog.

What I learned:

• Applique is difficult! It can be done well, but it demands a lot of attention. I'm still very sporadic in my attention but generally speaking, it is getting a little better. I'm not sure that I'm going to practice till I do it perfectly!
• I really appreciated Cindy Needham's suggestion of quilting every seam before doing the design FMQ. It stabilized the quilt, helped me get the feel of the quilt and gave me time to think about how I'm going to quilt it. Unfortunately I still have no idea what to do....that means that I'll have to wait till inspiration hits - or watch her video a couple more times!

Hope your first day of summer was good. Mine was awesome since my son came home from his summer job and we were able to celebrate his 23rd birthday.

Friendship is sewn with love and measured by kindness.