Being a bit of a slow coach with this one

image of applique block

Applique block

But I’m pleased to say

“that’s one block down and eight to go”

Today I prepped another block in anticipation of something good on the telly tonight,

I haven’t checked, I’m just hoping there is :-0

image of applique block in progress

In progress

Click on the picture for a better view, you’ll see that I don’t mark my background fabric at all,

but I do press the halfway marks, vertical/horizontal and diagonal.

I have a large light box (but even it isn’t quite large enough to fit these very large blocks)

and I prefer to just lay the background fabric over the pattern sheet.

The applique shapes are marked with the stitch line directly on to the right side of the fabric with whatever will show up.

In this case all the fabrics are marked with a white pen except the lighter blue which has been marked with a frixion pen (heat activated) so I have to remember not to iron that one.

I have finished this quilt below which you have seen snippets of

 here

and it looks like this

image of Applique quilt

Quilt previously known as Vintage

Okay I know, you can’t see that much of it but a girl’s got to keep the odd thing up her sleeve.

It does have a name now, it only had a working title of Vintage which either had to go or be extended somehow.

I have decided to call it Eastleigh after the town in Hampshire where my Grandmother was born.  It rolls off the tongue easily.

I can tell you that this quilt is destined for Homespun magazine next year, about mid way through so don’t hold your breath just yet.

And I thought I’d just share with you that this elderly lady is still hanging in there despite a few scares this year

image of Rollo

" I know I forget lots of things but I don't think I've eaten yet"

Rollo has just had her summer clip and is looking forward to Christmas, just around the corner now.

I’ll be back before then of course,

’til soon

Margaret

Comments

  1. always interesting to me to see how others work, this is such a pretty block, love your fabric choices. OK I love the center of the quilt going to the magazine, what a tease! not sure I can wait till next spring so that means our fall?
    Rollo looks adorable!
    thanks for sharing what your working on….curious what did you find at market that inspired you? what new fabrics lines are you just waiting for????
    any new books are you intrigued with ?
    Kathie

    • Thanks Kathie, the newest applique is all Smithsonian fabric which i know you will recognise :-) I’m really enjoying this block, may struggle with the last few tho as they’re all identical. At market I thought there was a scary lack of Repro fabrics coming up, tho Blue Hill fabrics has some great repros based on a collection of Antique quilts. The quilt show there was fantastic and I will go through the camera (still not loaded all the photo’s on yet) and get some up on the blog. I was blown away by the quilts on display. At Festival I got some great early repros, I’m just waiting for the parcel to arrive in the mail, I bought far too much to fit in the suitcase (again!!) then I’ll blog them, there are some treasures there. I must say I have only one parcel coming, not about 5 like last time LOL

      • So glad to have found your blog. Your work is just so lovely and inspiring. I do love this block and it is very interesting to see the ways quilters work their appliqué. I always enjoy that.

        Your little lady is quite a cutie :)

        Smiles,
        Sue

        • Hi Sue, thank you and thank you from Rollo too, she tjinks she’s pretty cute too ;-)
          I’m really enjoying working on this quilt, it is based on an 1849 quilt I bought in the USA this year. There was some good stuff on telly last night so I did get a bit done too, gotta love that. M :-)

    • Thanks for sharing! I like the style of your blocks, the colours you use, and I just love the Eastleigh quilt… I do not have a light box, I use a lamp placed under a glass-topped table… I do mark my background fabric, but on the wrong side, then use the lines to baste the fabrics in place on the right side. Then I remove the excess fabric, leaving just a little bit of fabric outside the basted line to needle turn. I like that, as it is easy to work with (no pins falling off or freezer paper getting unstuck), and no mark being visible on the background. A friend from Texas taught me the technique, that she calls “reverse-stitched appliqué”. The basting is removed a bit at a time (3-4 basting stitches at once), so the design can be followed thanks to the small needle-punctures still visible. If you do not mark your background, how do you keep the fabrics in place? Do you baste them or simply pin them? I am a very slow worker too, but that’s why I love appliqué! Who is keeping time anyway… LOL

      • Hi Helene, thanks for writing. I too have used the method you descirbe and like it. I do change my method around a bit, it depends how much preparation I feel like doing, sometimes as little as possible LOL. In all cases I glue using either a tiny dot of Roxanne’s glue or a quick dab with the sewline glue pen. I pop a pin in too if the glue doesn’t quite grab.
        M :-)

  2. Lovely blocks! thanks for showing how you work. I like to use a light box sometimes too. Hope you found plenty on TV to keep you sewing! I find it’s best if the viewing isn’t too good ..otherwise you might be tempted to stop :)
    eEvery Stitch

    • Haha, yes there were a couple of good documentaries on so I only needed to listen and just look occasionally, perfect. Hopefully the same tonight, I’m about a quarter of the way through the block…lots of tight little in V curves, that’s slows me down. M:-)

  3. Hi M
    Your quilt in the Winter Special 2012 Quilt Mania is lovely. A nice thing about that design is it is so easy to make to fit a Queen bed or larger. The european blogs had the issue prior to the U.S. but since I subscribe I got my copy today. I skipped all the european blogs as soon as I saw the QM I did not want to ruin my surprise. I do not mark my back ground for appliqué either. Your blocks look nice. The quilt center with the vase and leaves looks cute, I will keep my eye out for that one. Well done!

    • Hiya,
      thank you Meredithe, I haven’t seen a copy ‘in the flesh’ yet, only on line. I had hoped to have a chat over the weekend but every time I went past you were so busy!!! will catch up soon somewhere i’m sure.
      :-) M

    • ooops a different Meredithe, I’m sorry you probably wondered what I was going on about re ‘the weekend’. Meredith, I’m very glad you stoped by and left a comment, thank you.

  4. Hi Margaret
    Your quilts are Truly inspiring. I loved chatting to you at Melbourne and look forward to seeing you again at the Taupo symposium.

    Regards Sharon

    • Hi Sharon, it was good to meet and talk to you too, Love a chat with a fellow Kiwi. Thanks for the kind words, I really admire your quilt style as well. yes hope to catch up in Taupo :-)
      M

  5. Loving the look of Eastleigh! Can’t wait to see more…..

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