Appliqué, I'm a huge fan but.........

I love appliqué! I look at all of the different Baltimore Album quilts & I think that, Yes I can make one of those quilts! When in actuality no I can not. I've tried machine appliqué & that is complete torture. If I'm on the machine I want to be piecing! I just got done "attempting" to hand appliqué. The best that I can say is that I tried my best but I just don't love appliqueing like I love my embroidery. Here's what I was attempting to work on

I remembered that I had some EPP flowers & Bonnie Hunters new appliqué/EPPtutorial & I thought why not. Hard to tell if I'll ever get around this single flower. 

Hope yall are doing well. It's quite soggy here & will be all weekend. Hopefully there will be some sewing time! More later on,

Vicky

 

Well it's not Monday but I'm working on the remaining 2800

I'm hoping that I have fullfilled my husbands desires of me making quilts that take a long time & use up lots of fabric. I've spent just about 100% of my time this past week next door at my in laws helping take care of my father in law. I've got a sewing project at home & next door. The next door project I'm calling "The Chess Board" It will be  10,000 1" squares when it's all done. I'm using my Civil War Reprodction fabrics for this monster. It all started because I had a Rubbermaid container full of bits & pieces that needed to be gone through, cut up & used.  As I cut up the scraps I have 3 piles, 1.5", 2' & 2.5". Here's what has accumulated in those piles since starting this quilt.

The pile on the left is 2.5' strips & on the right is 2" strips. It does slow the process of the primary quilt making by taking the time to cut these strips. When I'm cutting down my scraps I cut to use the maximum efficency of the piece of scrap. When I get done with this current quilt I will have two bags of strips already cut up & ready to use! 

I've got 9 rows out of 12.5 done on the Chess Board. Here is my current progress

I've got 7200 pieces done! Woohoo! I'm working on the reamaning 2800. As you can see I did make one row a tad bit longer than it was supposed to be. That easy oops has already been taken care of. My good friend Liz was having a hard time looking at it. She said that it was hard on her eyes. It's much easier in person than in a picture. I'm on the serious down hill leg of this quilt & I'm hoping that I can keep the momentum up on it! Mostly because my mind is already working/plottting on the next quilts. This quilt has been made completly on my little featherweight. I think that she might want a long vacation after this monster is completed.

My home project of the black/red batiks quilt has made snails pace progress. When you're never at home you can't work on it. I'm really ready for that quilt to be done. 

I have made a few more blocks since taking this picture but I've not taken a new picture. The setting will be a 12 x 12. I think that I have to make 30 or so more blocks & then I can lay it out & start putting it together. It'll be over 100" square when it's done. I like my quilts BIG! I believe that if I'm going to make a quilt for us to use it needs to be 100" or larger. That way it can cover any of our beds with ease.

I guess I'd better get back to cutting up scraps so that I can make more progress on The Chess Board. I hope that y'all are having a great day. It is perfection here in the middle of the USA. It's green, fairly cold (for May) and the sun is out. The only thing that would make it perfect is if there was no pollen. Check out what other quilters are up to at patchworktimes.com. More later on,

Vicky

It's Monday again & I'm working on a new pattern & a few other projects.

Mondays seem to roll around so much faster here lately. I do wish I could slow it down just a little. My kiddo will turn 13 in 2 weeks or so & he likes teasing me that I'm going to be the mom of a teennager & I'm just not ready for that. It will come though if I'm ready or not.

I've been busy this past week. I had a quilt presentation with the Starlight Quilters Guild in Overland Park KS & had a great time. What a great group of quilters. I dropped off my new to me Singer 301 for a much needed makeover. I'm hoping that I can pick her up tomorrow because I can't wait to put her through her paces. There are lots of projects in the works. Shhh, don't tell my husband but I've got multiple projects going at the same time. ( When I first started quilting he said that he had only one rule. Don't start another project until you've got your current project completed). I had been sewing happily on my Kite project 

Well quilty inspiration hit & a new project started and well it took precident over the Kite project.

I am using the Kite quilt as Leader/Ender for the new quilt. To add to the quilting pile my LAQ finished the White Nostalgia quilt & I need to get the binding on it & to the quilt store. It is beautiful but I prefer the original with black & batiks. When I get the new quilt done I'll post pics.

I'm still working on the Civil War 10,000 piece quilt when I'm next door. It is coming together a piece at a time. I need to iron these pieces & sew them into 16 patches.

We'll see how much I can get done this week. I've got presentations in Manhattan KS next Monday & I'm hoping to have some new quilts with me. I hope that y'all are having a great Monday. It's looking to be a rainy week. That sounds good to me. It should mean lots of quilty sewing time. Check out what others are up to at patchworktimes.com.

More later on,

Vicky