Fast Piece Applique

Here's a little quilt  (it's about 12" x 12") I made a few months ago using a technique by Rose Hughes that I found in the April/May 2013 issue of Quilters Newsletter Magazine. The pieces are cut out using freezer paper templates and sewn together as shown in the  YouTube video below. Very easy and fast! Instead of couching the seams with yarn, I zig zag stitched over the seams with a variegated metallic thread. I happened upon this video this morning when taking a break from sweeping and baking (aka non-quilting time) and remembered how satisfying this technique is. Try it and see for yourself!

Summer in Maine

 Wow, things sure have changed here in Maine. Last week I went on a bus trip with a friend. It was 50 and showery all day. Do you recognize this? This is the tea room at the Marble House in Newport, Rhode Island. Alvah Vanderbilt had Votes for Women meetings here in the early 1900s. We visited the Marble House, The Elms, Chateau sur Mer (my favorite), Rosecliff, and the Breakers. Just unimaginable how rich these people were and how they lived. I'd like to go on the servant's tour sometime and also stroll the grounds. 

In the meantime, strolling my own grounds isn't so bad....

Bearded Iris in full bloom...there are some lovely pale yellow iris with these, too, but the flowers were either gone by or still in the bud for this photo

Aw, who can resist Johnny Jump Ups?

Bachelor Buttons

The last of the magnolia blooms

I planted this this morning while it was still a "cool" 80 degrees. We went from 50 last Saturday to 90+ today. 

A little crazy...Part 2

A little more progress on my crazy quilt block. The green silk patch is foxgloves made in a buttonhole stitch and fishbone stitch leaves. 

The rose silk patch is not finished. I started with the band of blanket stitch on the bottom edge. This stitch is embellished with silk ribbon leaves done in ribbon stitch with french knot flowers in silk ribbon and linen thread. 

The top seam I started last night. Chain stitch arches and the little fans are topped with beads. 

Not sure what will come next!

When I got home from work yesterday this was on the doorstep. Hmm, something Bill must have ordered, a motorcycle part perhaps? No! It was something I had ordered!

Elizabeth Zimmermann's Circular Stranded Surprise Jacket! I've made a baby surprise jacket but never wanted to make the adult pattern. Then they came out with this beauty and I ordered the pattern and yarn immediately! Can't wait to get started and if the cool weather lingers any longer I just may get to wear it before fall (not going to happen). Delighted!

Springtime and I'm a little crazy

Every year at the end of May my quilt group has an auction. We all bring in items from our sewing rooms that we no longer want and donate them to the auction. Plenty of fabric, patterns, unfinished projects, rulers, and gadgets fill the tables. We have a great time; it is a lot of fun and a great way to finish off our official year. Of course, the ice cream social helps, too. 

One year someone brought in a crazy quilt kit that she had been given and never made. One member won the bid and this year she suggested to the group that each person who wanted to participate could work on one block and we would get it done. The blocks are 14 inches with a center block about 12 x 18, I think. The sashing is black velvet and we will all get together to work on that. The silk ribbon in the kit is just gorgeous, all hand dyed in lovely soft colors. Each block is a different flower or herb. 

Here's mine, the tea rose. There are two folded ribbon roses in the center, made from 1 inch wide ribbon. The leaves are from narrow variegated green ribbon. So much fun! Luscious...

Arranging the fabrics around the center rose was quite a challenge. Balancing color and texture, trying to make all the pieces fit took two days. I added a bit of tea dyed hankie at the bottom. The little flowers on the lower right were made from loops of 5 inches of ribbon gathered together. Stems in stem stitch and the leaves in ribbon stitch. 

A good friend and I went to Longfellow's greenhouse on Saturday. I bought petunias and other annuals, a lettuce mix, and two packs of tomatoes-cherry and beefsteak which my friend and I split.

We also went to Bonnie's sewing room sale (she's downsizing) where I picked up a fistful of fat quarters for a song. I'm delighted!

That's all for today. I've done some more on the crazy quilt block and will show you an update soon.

Happy May!

Journey

I've been a little behind in my blog posts. Life has been very full lately. Did I tell you my word of the year is journey? Last year it was enjoy and this year I chose journey. Well, that is shaping up with a bang at my house!

Last week I visited my dear daughter Zoe in North Carolina. It was my first time there since she moved a year and a half ago. On my last day we went to the beach! Jesse drove us to Emerald Isle which has a lovely long long white sand beach. The temperature was around 76 and Zoe and I got a little sunburned. We used sunscreen but there always seems to be that little patch you forget to apply lotion to. 

That Kaffe Fassett fabric log cabin will the the extent of the quilting content for this post, ha ha.

Pelican, you don't see those in Maine!

These little kids were the only people in the water that day. The water was just too chilly!

I hope you enjoyed my little travel journal. I've been working on some projects, too. We are making a crazy quilt at Back Roads. I stitched leaves in variegated green silk ribbon today. I started a big rose that is made in two different pieces, one with a ribbon 1.5 inches and another 1 inch ribbon in a gorgeous peachy color. I've also cut out fabric for a Turning Twenty quilt. This one uses a 1.5 yard of fabric for the center with smaller blocks around it separated with white sashing. I chose a Kaffe Fasset green paisley for the center. It's wild! Oh, look, you knew I had more quilting content, didn't you!

Enjoy your journey!

Jelly Roll Race

Have you heard about the jelly roll race? My quilt group did this last Saturday but I could not go. Darn! It looks like so much fun. I may have to go shopping for a jelly roll. I used a Kaffe Fassett jelly roll to make DD a log cabin quilt a few years ago. Send me a photo of your quilt if you did this speedy quilt!

Silky Doodles

Recently I spent a pleasant afternoon dyeing silk ribbons and silk fabric. I used a spray dye that gives these luscious watercolor effects. I have had some white habotai silk in a bag for a long time. I can't remember why I bought it, but finally the time came that I could use it. I cut some 4 inch squares and sprayed and played to my heart's content.

The piece on the right is my first little project. Feather stitch rings. A pink daisy, purple rose, and buds all in silk ribbon. I basted the silk squares to some silk chiffon (found in another bag) so that I could put the piece in a hoop.
Here's another one done in white perle cotton on blue. I love white on blue.

Do you like my cloud? When "Needleplay" went on a field trip to Wiscasset I bought the white wooly bumpy yarn that I used here. I just tacked the yarn down every so often in an oval.

The "hills" are buttonhole stitch, the plants are feather stitch with several different threads including some silk ribbon.





                                                                                                     

Trees in chain stitch

This landscape is from a photograph that had mountains in the background (buttonhole stitch), a forest in the middle, and a winding road from front to back. The dark green trees are done in fishbone stitch. I'm not so sure I want to keep that clump on the left, it may have to go. 

 These may end up in the sampler book I would like to make. The silk chiffon would be trimmed and turned under. I think this would be fun to do with wool yarn on wool felt, too. Lots of possibilities.

Here's a small section of my messy workstation. I need to have all my materials within arm's length reach. iPod front and center, always a podcast or audiobook to keep me company! Those purple scissors were a door prize I won on a shop hop. They are great-they have serrated blades so the grab slippery fabrics. Thank you shop hop!

There will be some quilting content coming up soon. So much to do, so little time to do it all!

Enjoy the journey!

p.s. just looked at the preview of this page and see the layout is not what I'm seeing as I am writing this. I don't know how to fix that so I'm just going to post as is and just heave a sigh. ha ha