Two more Applique Affair blocks

Last week when I was stitching around the Applique Affair blocks I realized that my stitch length and width were a little different than my other blocks.  I thought I’d written down what I had been using but couldn’t find it anywhere (sound familiar?).  After adjusting the stitch to where it looked correct I hit on the idea of taking a picture of the machine settings.  I can’t believe it took so long to come up with such a simple solution.  Now when I stitch this week’s blocks I’ll know exactly how to set up the machine so my blocks will be consistent.  Woo hoo!



Two more blocks completed!

2013 Week 12 Recap and Stash Update

This week I made progress on several projects but only had one finish.  Last Monday I posted the Applique Affair project on Design Wall Monday at Patchwork Times.  This project has been hanging untouched in my sewing room for years.  I’m happy to report that I stitched down blocks 6 and 7 (out of 25) this week.  It really helps to get it out in the open so I can work on it in little bits of time. 

I also sewed borders on two quilts:  Bundle of 10 and More Geese on the Ridge.  I finished piecing the Bonus Triangle top.  All three of these are ready for quilting.  Bundle of 10 is loaded on the frame and I’ll start quilting it later today.  I’m using the same pantograph as I did on the Pineapple Blossom quilt (more panto practice!!). 

I cut out two new projects, Bundle of 12 and a Disappearing Nine Patch baby quilt.  Still in progress this week is Bali Breeze, a pattern from Moda that I’m making from scraps.  I’m hoping to make a few more blocks today and post those blocks tomorrow on Design Wall Monday.

The big finish of the week is Pineapple Blossom.  It is such an easy quilt but it seems like I’ve been working on it forever!  I cut it out on February 22 so it was just over a month.  When I look at the list of projects I’m working on it’s no wonder I really like the way this turned out.  It’s a great pattern and I’m hoping to make another one with 2” strips out of scraps.



Here’s the weekly stash report:
Used this week:  8 yards
Used year to date:  90 yards
Purchased this week:  0
Purchased year to date: 18 yards
Net year to date:  72 yards used

Check out other stash reports at Patchwork Times

Applique Affair Block 6

On Wednesdays I go to my two volunteer jobs so don’t have a lot of time for sewing.  Yesterday I had even less because it was book club and I had to finish reading the book.  This month’s book was Call the Midwife: A Memoir of Birth, Joy and Hard Times by Jennifer Worth.  This is the book upon which the PBS series Call the Midwife was based. 

It was a great book and an easy read.  It was arranged in stories about people the author knew while she worked as a midwife in London’s East End slums during the 1950’s.  The stories were funny, sad and poignant.  It is amazing how times have changed regarding childbirth.  At that time the midwife delivered most babies at home then made follow-up visits 2-3 times a day for a couple of weeks while the mother stayed in bed “recuperating.”  This book, though, showed how hard most of these mothers’ lives were.  Money was very tight and living conditions were often deplorable but they still welcomed their babies as if they had no worries.  It was inspirational to see the love in these families despite hard times. 

After finishing this book, I’ll be reading the other two in the series, Call the Midwife: Shadows of the Workhouse and Call the Midwife: Farewell to the East End.  Season 2 of the PBS series starts March 31 so set your DVR’s!

It really helps to have my sewing machine set up in the dining room so I can work if I just have a few minutes to spare.  I managed to finish Block 6 of Applique Affair with odd bits of time yesterday.

The blocks are all fused down and I’m just stitching around them now.  I used to finish these with a blanket stitch in black thread but now I use a little zigzag stitch in colors to match the applique.  The blanket stitch was good for more primitive style applique but I think the zigzag looks better for this more “formal” style blocks.  Block 6 is now finished—only 19 more to go!

Design Wall Monday-Applique Affair

A couple of weeks ago I started linking posts to Design Wall Mondays at Patchwork Times.  It was great motivation to work on those projects.  The first one, Pineapple Blossom is now on the frame for quilting and last week’s More Geese on the Ridge is a completed top that’s next in line for quilting!  So this week, I pulled out a project that’s more than overdue for some attention—Applique Affair, a beautiful quilt designed by Edyta Sitar of Laundry Basket Quilts. 

The blocks are raw-edge fusible applique that I started about five years ago.  Most of the center blocks are fused on and about half have been stitched down.  I need to finish those and make the rest of the border blocks.  There’s also a pieced border.  For awhile I had my Bernina set up in the dining room so whenever I had a few minutes I could stop in and stitch a bit on these blocks.  That seemed to work pretty well so I’ll give it a try this week to see if I make any progress.