Ho Ho Ho Merry Christmas

First off, Wow!! I can't believe how fast the year has gone... I hope 2013 was kind to you all and 2014 will be an even better one.

I'd like to wish everyone a happy and safe Christmas...(happy holidays) I hope your day will be filled with Happy Christmas memories of family and friends.

Have a good one
Merry Christmas
Enjoy every moment....
Anne

"Affairs of the Heart" - Corner Scroll Hearts

As you can see I've trace and stitched the corner heart motif four times at each mitered corner of the heart scroll borders, taking care to align the centers of the hearts with the mitered border seams.

Then I cut the purple fabric hearts out leaving a generous turn-under allowance. At this stage the heart is a solid shape.

Then I carefully cut the inside of each heart revealing the black background fabric.

The last step after reverse appliqueing the fabric in place is to sew a small yellow circle on each heart and a purple circle the same colour as the heart below complete the scroll heart boarder.

Happy quilting until next time
Anne

Affairs of the Heart - Quilt Top Assembly

I'm back! and posting again, so what have I done while away? I've completed the hand sewing and squared up all my blocks to measure 7½" x 7½" taking care to ensure the design was centred on each block before trimming. My plan was to arrange four embroidered blocks in the centre and the others at the corners in each row. Sewing the block together. Then sewing the rows together.

I’ve spent time playing around with the border and corner designs.

The border scroll design had to be appliqued 4 times along each border strip. I am using the back basing applique technique to sew the scrolls in place.

As you can see I am sewing the narrow multi-colour border strips to quilt and getting ready to mitre the corners.

Happy quilting until next time
Anne

Our Holiday begins....

Woohoo! Our bags are packed.

DH and I are getting excited here in WA, early tomorrow morning (at the ungodly hour of 2am) we will be heading to the International Airport to flying out to the United Kingdom - we are spending the kids inheritance on a holiday of a life time, our 1st tour is the "Britain & Ireland Grandeur" we will be starting and finishing this tour in London visiting places like Stonehenge, Belfast, Dublin, Edinburgh, and maybe see the Loch Ness monster, then crossing the channel by ferry, on our 2nd tour the "WW1 & WW11 Battlefields " ending up in Paris for four days then flying to Amsterdam to connect with the  APT Tour on the boat MS Amabella which will take us down the Rhine ending in Budapest, then heading across to Prague - staying 5 nights before we pick up our final tour "Highlights of Austria, Slovenia & Croatia" – should be a great holiday - 3 months away all up - back home to WA on the 5th October. (All tours are with Trafalgar except the river tour which is with APT).

Yes - I have packed my travel project "Affairs ofhe Heart blocks" the last 12 blocks which are ready to be embroidered.

Until next time - Happy quilting
Anne

"Affairs of the Heart" - blocks 16, 17,18, 19, 20, 21, 22 & 23 down only 12 to go

I've realized this hobby has become an addition for me, Yes - I am admitting it ... I've become a quilting junkie who needs a daily fix... LOL - a perfect day for me is when I am planning a new project or reading about quilting tip or technique that I can use. But the best feeling of all for me is hearing the steady hum of my sewing machine as I work on a project. How about you? Do you feel the same?

So what have I been working on? - it's the final applique blocks of "Affairs of the Heart" this is block number 16

block 17

block 18

block 19

block 20  isn't she a beauty? I love this block

block 21

block 22 is all marked up and ready for the next step.

& finally block 23

I have run out of time to applique any more block so the remaining 12 blocks have been marked up and will be embroidered on my holiday.

Happy quilting until next time
Anne

"Affairs of the Heart" - Blocks 13, 14 & 15 down only 19 to go

Today, I want to share more of my appliqued "Affairs of the Heart" blocks so without further ado here is block number 13

 

Block 14 which contains 8 hearts and was very quick and easy to sew and construct

 

and last but not least block number 15 as you can see this one has been marked up for the next step of embroidering embellishment, by using stem stitch.

 





 

 

Until next time happy quilting

 

Anne



"Affairs of the Heart" - Embroidered block no 1

 I am having a what if moment - what if I don't applique all of the block? What if  I just embroider some of the blocks instead and sprinkle them through the quilt top with the appliqued blocks hmmm...What do you think? Below is my practice hand embroidered stem stitch block. I used Gutermann Sulky col 4106 it's a variegated thread - this is what they would look like.

 

I need a small and portable project to take with me while on our 3 month trip overseas starting in July- so I am planning on taking all of the completed applique "Affairs of the Heart" blocks with me so I can start on the second step of embellishing them with embroidery - but what if I take all of the unfinished blocks as well and embroider them.

 

Until next time happy quilting

Anne

"Affairs of the Heart" blocks 10, 11, & 12 down only 23 block to go

This is my Block no 10,  I will be adding embroidery to all of the block later on but isn't she a beauty now? 

 

This is Block no 11 -  I wish my photo's could capture the true colours of the fabric better. They are very bright and in your face. 



And this is block  no 12 - If you look closely you can see the Embroidery details I have marked with a Clover - White Marking Pen (Fine). I love this pen, the markings disappear when you hit them with a hot iron. I plan to embroidery all the blocks and sew them by hand using stem stitch with a variegated Gutermann Sulky thread colour no 4106.

Thanks for dropping in... happy quilting until next time.

Anne:)

"Affairs of the Heart" 7 ,8 & 9 down only 27 blocks to go

I am so happy to show you these blocks, this is block no 7

 

 

And block 8

 

and block no 9

 

 

Happy quilting until next time.

Anne

"Affairs of the Heart" 6 down 30 blocks to go

"Affairs of the Heart" block 6 - These blocks are so beautiful.

Ooops!! I forgot the colour rule of applique: Threads must match the colour of the applique fabric not the background fabric. Yep I have unpicked all the offending blocks. I must also remember to choose threads that are darker than the applique fabric.

And the best way I have found to end my threads is to use the "Double Tailor's Knot" This knot was used by tailor's who made garments by hand. This knot is very, very strong and will not come undone.

I take the needle to the back of the applique block then tension the last stitch by holding your thumb over the thread, I then lay my thread in a circle away from myself to form the circle. Passing the needle under the thread of the circle and into the background fabric catching a few threads (make sure you don't come through the applique on the other side) then pass needle up through the centre of the circle, by pulling the thread tightly, the knot is then formed,  the Double Tailor's Knot is formed by repeating the above steps in the same place.

Until next time, happy quilting
Anne

 

It's Done - Dylan's Stardust Quilt is finished.

And he loves it. His big smile and hugs warmed my heart when I gave it to him.

The quilt label was the very last important step to finishing this quilt. This time I drew a heart on a piece of muslin approx. 5¼″ x 5¼″ in size and I monogrammed  the following using my Janome Horizon machine.

We are made from Stardust so shine so shine Dylan shine.

Quilted with love for Dylan Howell,

18th Birthday,

by Grandma Anne,

25th May 2013

 

I stitched interfacing (stabilizer) to the front of the label (covering the label), stitching a scant ¼in seam all the way around the edge of the heart label, I then cut a small slit in the middle of the interfacing and turned the label inside out, the back of the label was now encased and all of the seams were enclosed,

then I ladder stitched the label to the quilt back in one corner by hand.

And a big thank you to everyone, who has encouraged me along the way, I have really appreciated all the advice and comments I have received.

 

 I am on the lookout for a new project to quilt for my next grandson's 18th birthday Lachlan. I will keep you posted when I find one.

Until next time. Happy quilting
Anne
 
 

Update Dylan's "Stardust Quilt"

OMG, the weeks have gone by so quickly the time has flown, this quilt has to be finished by the 25^th May, only a few days left to get it finished in time for my grandsons 18^th birthday on Saturday.

So here is an update on what I've been doing, the quilt has been sandwiched and hand basted (the back is a mirror image of the front only the colour placement in the stars is different on the other side) Whew! It was a mammoth job to get this step done.

and thanks to Leah Day's blog at  http://freemotionquilting.blogspot.com.au/p/365-designs.html I was able to used combinations of different stitches from her blog 365 + Designs to free motion quilt this  baby.

 

 

Then I squaring up the quilt

Now I only have to put in a few more hours into preparing the binding and it will be ready for hand stitching. Yay. Fingers crossed I make the deadline.

Until next time happy quilting
Anne

 

"Affairs of the Heart" 5 down and 31 blocks to go

"Affairs of the Heart" block 5 -    I love the colour combinations on this one.

 

Until next time happy quilting

 

Anne

"Affairs of the Heart" 4 down 32 block to go.

"Affairs of the Heart"  - block no 4 - I am not totally happy with the way this block turned out, the colours are a bit bright, (in your face colours), I am crossing my fingers and hoping that when I embroider the scroll hearts around the applique they will tie the block together.

 

Until next time happy quilting

Anne



"Affairs of the Heart" - 3 down 33 blocks to go

Wow!! "Front Basting" Applique.   This technique is truly wonderful another block done.

 

No pins or freezer paper to remove, and best of all, the marked lines are all on the back of the block. Only 33 left to go. Yikes, I had better crack on. Lol.

Until next time happy quilting
Anne

 

 

"Affairs of the Heart" - 2 down 34 blocks to go

I am using "Front Basting" Applique to do these blocks. This technique is super easy - no freezer paper, no glue, and no pins are used to hold the applique pieces in place. Instead the applique is machine basted in place.

This technique is so simple all you have to do is draw the design (which will later become your basting sewing line) on the back of the background fabric, pin a large piece of fabric that is large enough to cover the whole shape to be appliqued on to the right side (front) of the background fabric.

Then simply machine sew on the wrong side (back) of the background fabric with the applique piece pined in place on the front, following the drawn design line made earlier, making sure to stitch exactly on the design line on the back of the background fabric. The fabric is  now basted to the front of the background fabric and ready to be appliqued in place.

Trim around the basted shape leaving a scant ¼" or even less a scant ⅛". Then needle turn (applique) the basted fabric in place by removing a couple of basting stitches (only two or three) at a time follow the perforations left in the fabric by the removed basting stitches. The applique fabric will want to turn under and follow the perforated basting line naturally.

And so far it has been so easy to use this applique technique and the results are great.

Until next time happy quilting
Anne

Adding Borders & Miter Corners

Yippee - last night I finished appliqueing the centre of the quilt to the four side borders, making sure to leave a small section at each corner unstitched, this to allowed me access to join the corners by a mitre,

 

then pressing the mitered seams open, I then appliqued the unstitched section to the border.

 

Until next time happy quilting

Anne

"Affairs of the Heart" Quilt - 1 down 35 blocks to go

My  quilt group are starting a In-house Group Quilt-a-long, we were so impressed and inspired by the book "Affairs of the Heart" author Aie Rossmann's bright and colourful wall hanging quilt, it was easy to pick this design to replicate - the original wall hanging quilt is 62" x 62" and consists of 36 heart applique blocks, 3 narrow borders and one large sashing border full of scrolls and has 4 corner Hearts.

Here is my first needle-turned applique block, which is slightly different from the original block in the book:  Can you pick what I have change?

I will post more blocks as I do them. This will be my travelling project for 2013.

Until next time happy quilting
Anne

Update Dylan's Quilt

Progress - It has been hard to stick with it over Christmas and the New Year!!!  But I have done it the front & back centre panels are finished. I kept telling myself to keep going, keep stitching, keep moving on to the next row, don't stop because if I stopped, it was never going to get done.

Edge of quilt -using Elmer's Glue and heat setting with hot iron

I'm now ready to applique the green border fabric, I cut eight, 6" border strips parallel to selvedge, down the full length of the 2.2m green border fabric. (4 strips for the front and 4 strips for back) The border fabric is cut wider than the finished width, as I will lose some of the border fabric when it's applique under the edge of the quilt centre panels.

Well I had better get cracking --- lots of hand sewing to do.

Until next time happy quilting
Anne