Thursday, May 30, 2013

Hand Applique Projects in the Works

I have several hand applique projects I have been working on.  Please excuse the wrinkles because as we all know projects get crumpled when we are holding them in our hands to work on them and when they are folded up in our project bags.  I will press the heck out of them when I finish the applique.

I am on the last block of Daisy Days, which is a quilt I started for me too many years ago to count. I did prepared applique with liquid starch and templar plastic. I love the pattern and have been working on it off and on. It is one of my travel projects that I carry in the car or on trips to work on. I need to finish the petals on the last two flowers and sew down three centers and then this one will be ready for me to put the top together.
I started this morning glory block years ago when I decided I wanted to try my hand at needle turn applique. I had never had a lesson, in fact I had never done applique at all. You can tell that my points are not perfect, and my curves are a little square. I plan to finish this and make it into a small wall hanging, though there were several blocks in the pattern. I consider this my learning block. Since I started this I have taken a couple of needle turn classes and learned a few tricks. I see this block as an educational experience and my flowers near the end will be much smoother on the curves.  I decided to finish it rather than toss it because it shows or will show the progress I have made over the years in needle turn applique.


These blocks are from my first English Paper Piecing (EPP) class. I did all the leaves EPP, and some of the cherries. I did some of the cherries using the liquid starch and templar plastic method. The branches are all machine appliqued down.  The pattern which is below shows an additional leaf on each branch. I have the additional leaves mostly basted using the EPP method, but am thinking I may just add them randomly to the blocks to make it more my own.
I also have to applique all the cherries, leaves, and branches on the border once I get the top together.  This quilt is WIP as it will be a while before I get all the applique work done and have it ready for quilting.
I believe this pattern was called Wind Blown Tulips. All layout is my own as it called for you to scatter the tulips on the background. The original pattern had a pieced background, but I wanted mine to me one large piece of fabric.  The tulips are all glued down with Roxanne's Glue.  I made the tulips several years ago and just finally got them laid out the way I liked this last fall. I am trying to finish Daisy Days before starting to hand stitch these down.  I am thinking this is the perfect project to take with me next fall when I go on trip to visit my son and my mother. I am thinking of flying to Seattle and taking the train rather than flying all over, and handwork is perfect for the train. It will keep me busy as there are a lot of stitches needed to finish this.

Last I have Mouse Pad, which I posted in a previous blog, but I did not give any details.  The mouse pads, cords, and mice are all hand appliqued.  I still need to finish the mice, cords, and the outlet.  

All the blue lines will then need to be embroidered.  This wall hanging is on the list tight after Daisy Days, except I can only work on it when my hubby is not home, because it is a surprise.  I also know that being a man he does not read my blog, so I am safe posting it here.

 With summer here my quilting time will be cut back even more as we are doing some work on the house and will be out riding our tandem.  My posts may fall to the wayside for a while, and my projects may sit until I get back to them or we have some rainy weather, but I will still get some things done this summer.


4 comments:

  1. Lots of great projects in the works. The applique is so pretty. I think I know thw daisy pattern, And you are almost done. The quilt for your hubby just makes me smile. Bet he will love it.

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    1. Now I just need to find time to work on it when he is not home as I have not done much this week and he is done with his class tomorrow.

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  2. Wanda, I love the wind blown tulips quilt top. It's a wowzer!

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    1. I love it also now that I finally got the flowers where I want them. I just need to start working on stitching them down.

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