Aurifil Artisan Challenge :: Appliqué

During the pandemic, when we did more online shopping than normal, one of the things hubby got interested in was reduced waste items. I think it might have begun with eco-strips laundry detergent, which totally eliminated the plastic jugs our old detergent came in. Another item we tried were TruEarth wool dryer balls. So I'm not really here to laud the praises of these products - though we are still using several of them, and do check out their website if you're interested. But the little (7" x 8.5") bags the dryer balls came in were perfect for a small appliqué project - the theme of this month's Aurifil Artisan challenge. Basically, I wanted to repurpose the bags, cover up the advertising (no offense!) so they could be reused as fabric gift bags.

After mulling over a design to appliqué, I finally settled on Carolyn Friedlander's Bow pattern. Originally designed as a quilt, I printed out the pattern at 71%, which was perfect. It seemed an obvious choice to use some of my CF fabric scraps, and also used Carolyn's method of basting, though I did do mine by machine, where she usually bastes by hand. I'll be sure to try that another time!

As you can imagine, the rainbows were pretty quick to needle-turn. And perfect for the job was a spool of Aurifil 80wt #6722 [Sea Biscuit]. This thread is super thin and sleek, yet strong, and would also be great for English Paper Piecing. It took very little effort at all to hide my stitches with such a thin thread. After I stitched each curve of the rainbow, I removed the related basting stitches, which worked really well, and then I didn't have to dread doing all that at the end.

Once the rainbows were done, I trimmed 1/2" around the top curve, and turned all the edges under and pressed well. I used small, fine Little House glass head pins to place the rainbows on the bags, then appliquéd them on with the same 80wt thread. It worked perfectly, though I did learn two things, unrelated to the thread.

1. With using such a light background fabric, the lettering on the bag faintly shows through on the left rainbow above. 

2. Stitch the bottom of the rainbow first. When I started with the curve, the bottom of the bow shifted ever so slightly by the time I got to stitching it. 

Neither are deal-breakers, but things to remember in the future. Another note - because the bags were already constructed, it was just a tad finicky stitching the rainbows on, basically with one hand inside the bag so I wouldn't stitch through to the back. Appliquing before constructing the bag would obviously be a little simpler. But still, I'm super happy with how they both turned out, and am glad I gave it a go. Plus it felt good to repurpose those cute little bags!

And honestly, I'm glad I had a project that was able to use that 80wt thread, as it's lovely to work with. I'll definitely keep it in mind for my next appliqué project, that's for sure.

Minimal Day :: The Quilt Top

Though all the blocks for this year's Seattle MQG BOM have been presented, our hostess Jonna/@bespokeoutlaw will yet be presenting some ideas for quilting. Basically, our assignment this month was to sew our quilt top together. Jonna offered some suggestions for filling in the couple of blank half-blocks, but I kind of liked the openness they offered and just let them be.

I'm still debating whether or not to add borders of some sort. That decision will probably wait until I'm ready to start quilting. But it feels good to have traveled this far.... appliqueing no less! And I'm glad I took up the challenge. 

Minimal Day :: Dalle de Verre

The latest block for the Seattle MQG BOM is called Dalle de Verre, named for the "glass art technique where slabs of glass are set in a matrix of concrete and epoxy resin or other supporting material. " (thanks Wikipedia!) There's a cool example pictured in this article about glass artist Russell Day, for whom our BOM is named, and who happened to be our hostess Jonna/bespokeoutlaw's great-uncle. Pretty cool!



I can't said that my fabric choices did me any favors when it came to this block. Up until now, the voile was easily appliqued onto the Essex. But working the opposite - reverse-appliqueing linen onto the voile, was a bit fiddly. I also had a quandary over using matching thread. First I chose a dark brown thinking that was the way to go (why?) but no, it was eventually obvious that it would be better to match the top fabric color, not the bottom. So I switched halfway through my stitching. Not my best work, but...... nestled in amongst the other blocks, I think I can live with it!

Minimal Day :: Reverse Quarter Opal

This month's block for Seattle MQG's block-of-the-month may just have been the quickest and easiest of them all. 

I kinda love the 'reverse' aspect of it and how it 'fits' with its predecessors.

More complicated reverse applique is up for next month, and though it's been a while since I've done that, I've actually done quite a bit, so I'm looking forward to getting reacquainted. Until then....

Minimal Day :: Buildings

True to form, I started in on the latest Seattle MQG block-of-the-month the same day it was posted. With a variety of angles, it was its own unique challenge, but our fearless leader, Jonna, gave some stitching tips, so it all went easily enough.



Once done, I arranged all the blocks so far in a layout somewhat similar to the final, and I liked what I saw!



Still so surprised at how much I'm enjoying this project, I've been mulling what other applique I might do. Hmmm.....

Back in the Day

After posting my latest applique block for this year's Seattle MQG BOM, I confessed to Jonna, our hostess, that I actually had done plenty of applique back in the day, and of course she wanted to see. I had already posted about one of the quilts when I was a new blogger - a Sunbonnet Sue quilt I made for daughter dear back in 1995.

Well there was actually another that came before - Gazebo Garden, completed in 1993. I'd taken a class with Carolann Palmer, who I can't find anything about on the web, but she was a popular teacher at my local quilt shop at the time.

It was machine pieced where applicable, with needle-turn applique blocks and border, and then hand-quilted. Because for the first 20+ years I quilted, hand-quilting was all I knew.



The quilt measures 94" square and was the first quilt I ever made my mom. Besides the hand-quilting, it also has a muslin backing, since that's all I used to back my quilts for ages. And of course, the binding was bias, because that's what I first learned to make and I just thought it was what one did.

So even though Gazebo Garden might not fit with my current style and taste, it holds fond memories and looking at it at mom's the other day, I realized just how much work went into it! And of course it's a reminder of just how varied this quilting journey of mine has been.

A Little Punchy

Yeah, I wasn't overly thrilled when I saw that this month's Mighty Lucky Quilting Club
challenge was totally applique. But after reading through Sarah Fielke's "Favorite Pieced Blocks as Inspiration for Applique," I was not only intrigued, but interested enough to start in on a plan.

I had just randomly purchased some Kona Punch, and just for fun, decided to build my project around that. The green and aqua were unidentified stash finds, and of course the background is from Latifah Saafir's Grafic.

As much as I whine about applique, it's not that I haven't done it. In fact I've made at least two large quilts in days gone by that were completely applique. But seriously, it's been years.... and for some strange reason, as much as I used to enjoy that kind of slow stitching, these days I'm inclined to sew much faster.

But that wasn't the assignment here, now was it? Applique was the name of the game, and I started in with the method I'd used years ago - drawing shapes on my fabric, cutting a rough 1/4" around them, then pinning to my background with short pins, with the intention of folding under along those lines as I stitched.

But I'd seen daughter dear do something different when she appliqued, and in conferring with her, was reminded to reference Carolyn Friedlander's Savor Each Stitch: Studio Quilting with Mindful Design, and there Carolyn suggested machine basting 1/4" from the edge of each shape, and then turning under 1/8" as you stitched. Similar but different and to me, new-fangled and worth a try. Since I'd already marked and trimmed my shapes though, my measurements weren't quite like Carolyn's this time, but I tried the general method at least.

I chose to remove my basting as I sewed on each shape, and without those little pins, the whole piece was very comfortable in my hand as I sewed. The finished piece is 17" square, just like my other Mighty Lucky challenge projects. A slightly askew quarter log cabin block, with logs separated somewhat, I quilted it with an equally wonky quarter-log cabin design. 

Though overall a pretty simple little quilt, it was a very good reminder to me to keep trying new (and including old) techniques in my work. And that applique? Thanks to a recent road-trip where I couldn't access my machine at all, I found it most enjoyable, and much like riding a bike....