Sunday, October 16, 2016

 THREE IS HOW THE GARDEN GROWS!


 I received a couple questions asking how these triangles were appliqued without getting warped out of shape.  You can see from above how it is done.  2 more triangles will be fitted between these three only will be upside down.  After a soaking to remove the glue and blue pen marks and a good pressing, this section will be cut into 5 nice triangles.

Here are close ups of the triangles:

This one is my favorite-I just love the berries.  The stem is just basted down at this point because I don't have a good shade of thread.  I have started using 100 wt silk thread which is so wonderful but I have limited colors.  Nothing seems to be right to me.  A couple new greens are arriving tomorrow so maybe those will be better but it is very hard to determine exactly what color the thread is from the photos on line.  It helps to pull up several sites which sell the same thread but have different photos of the colors-you can come to a general consensus as to color.



I like the bell flowers on this one.  I am using more Kaffe fabric aside from just the leaves.  This stem is still basted also.  I have had requests to see the evolution of a design instead of just the end product.  Here is an earlier version of the above triangle. 

The only difference is the yellow/pink leaves in the upper right.  You can compare the two and see the green leaves are much more effective as they set off the pink bell flower rather than compete with it.


I had a devil of a time getting the color of the blue flower right.  It looks a bit electric but it is not really.  This triangle also went through some translating.  I did not like the original hexie in the center of the blue flower so I sewed a Kaffe circle over it.  I still may change out the blue flower as it is not very strong.  However, is replaces another hexie flower which seemed to argue with the purple bells.

I kept the hexie flower and will use it sometime.

Here is what everything looks like so far:


There are 18 of the appliqued triangles and 4 half triangles so you can see it is going pretty fast.  Gretchen at Gretchen's Little Corner blog is doing foundation piecing for the big pieced triangles instead of epp.  She sent some good links for me to check this out and foundation piecing will be so much easier than epp.  I am so grateful to her as all that epp was really frazzling me.  It frazzles some people to applique and others to epp-just depends on what you like.  The end product of epp is spectacular and such fun designs can be made when fabric is carefully chosen.

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On to free motion quilting practice..........

  All but one of the stitches comes from my new book Fill Harmonics by Sue Heinz.  This book is really helpful in learning and practicing fmq.  One advantage is that the printing is only on one side of the paper so that page can be laid on your light table and traced to acquire muscle memory.  The circle pattern is called potted pasta and does not really show to best advantage in this piece.  It looks better in this piece:

The Martelli hoops arrived.  I ordered a set 8" and 11" but soon realized the 11" would not fit on my machine! Duh! So i sold it on ebay and kept the 8".  I can recommend these rings-the cheapest I found was on the Allbrands site (49.99 for 8" and 99.99 for the set of 2).  Here is what it looks like on the sewing machine:


It has a slide in for the hopping foot and two handles to help move the quilt sandwich. The gripping is excellent with enough weight to hold firmly without compromising on ease of movement.  I have bad shoulder problems-I had rotator cuff surgery and while the shoulder is fully rehabbed, nothing is ever "as good as new".  One advantage is my hands are further apart and the rim is about 1" tall and the handles another inch.  There is no stress about pressing down with my hands and pulling and tightening the fabric while I am quilting.  I cannot say enough good about this ring.  I looked at several but this was the one that looked like it was for serious.  It is worth the price.

Look at this photo to get an idea of quilting area which I found to be more than adequate.  

All and all, I am very pleased with my new book and new quilting aid.
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We will part with a bird photo-Here it is the middle of October and we have hummingbirds at our feeder.  I like to think that the travelers know they can get a bite to eat in our backyard before they continue their long migration.  We get so many hummers in October!


Okay, quilters and other interested parties, a new week.  Continue to enjoy October and find pleasant activities for yourself.  I personally will again be battling facebook which has it out for me-I have not even been able to access facebook for about a month! AARRRGGGGHH!!!!! Sometimes I think facebook is a malevolent dark force.

I am linking with Silent Sunday, Em's Scrapbag, Patchwork times, Esther's blog, Let's Bee Social, Bambi's blog, and Whoop, Whoop!






26 comments:

  1. Thanks for the explanation! Gorgeous, absolutely gorgeous!

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  2. Lovely applique, such a lovely choice of colors.

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    1. Thank you Deb. These are exciting fun colors to work with and a challenge after the pastel tones of Chuck, Susan, and Me.

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  4. Very nice pattern with excellent fabric choices. I love the bright-colored fabrics. The appliqued berries which look fussy cut are awesome. Our hummingbirds are now gone for the season.

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  6. Your fabric triangles are gorgeous! I just love your fabric choices!

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  7. I love your applique project....I have this one waiting in the wings and will definitly try your method of appliqueing the blocks before cutting them into triangles!

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  8. You are making fabulous progress on this quilt!
    I too love the triangle block with berries, although they are all beautiful.
    Your free motion quilting is quite stunning. Your progression with the various techniques is fabulous.

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  9. You should consider yourself fortunate that you're locked out of Facebook right now, because every time I log in I am so depressed and discouraged by all of the political posts and nasty streams of commentary from supporters of BOTH candidates... Thanks for showing the applique before you cut it apart into triangles. So you wash out the markings before you trim your blocks? I am so afraid to get anything wet or try to wash anything out until the WHOLE QUILT is finished right down to the binding! What if I can't get my block flat and square after I try to rinse away the glue or markings? Is there a reason that should be done before blocks are trimmed and sewn together, or is that just your preference?

    I am VERY interested in your Martelli rings. Going to go check those out now...

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  10. I just can't get over how stunning your fabrics are and so beautifully put together. Lovely quilting - that hoop looks like a good idea. I must admit free machine quilting has eluded me! Beautiful hummingbird. xx

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  11. You shared so much good stuff, thank you! Love your applique project, especially the Kaffe fussy cuts. I'm surprised you're having trouble with the silk thread -- I had read that it's so fine you only need a light or dark neutral for everything. Have some but haven't tried it yet so glad to have your POV on it. Hadn't seen Ms. Heinz's book before, definitely worth a look!

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  12. Beautiful, beautiful! Thank you for all the photos of your process. I was especially intrigued by how you changed those pinkish leaves to the green/blue ones because the pinkish ones were competing with the flower.

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  13. More beautiful blocks love your fabrics.

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  14. Wow, your applique work is really lovely, and the prints you've used are spot-on!! :)

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  15. I am loving your new project! The fabrics, and your fussy cutting, really make it all very exciting! I am impressed with your machine quilting...I would really like to try my hand at that. I just need to make a practice quilt sandwich and dig in. Even if I just did table toppers and mug rugs, that would be fun. I am not sure I have the patience to do anything larger on my domestic machine. I am going to look into finding that book...GREAT WORK!

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  16. What a logical and perfect approach to appliqueing on triangles! Brilliant! Thank you for sharing. I am slowly making my way through an Irene Blanck applique project with triangles - must reevaluate even though the batik backgrounds seem stable at this point. As always - great info and photos of your fussy cutting!!

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  17. Oh my goodness! These are the sweetest little things! So beyond anything I would ever attempt, as both applique AND epp frazzle me, lol! This is just so lovely!! Perfect fabrics, beautiful workmanship!!

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  18. I swoon every time I see your gorgeous applique. And your FMQ is fabulous, too. Will you make a quilt from your sample squares? This was a very resource rich post. I'm going to look for that book. Thank you for sharing, Pam, and thanks for linking to WIPs Be Gone.

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  19. Wow. Everything I've seen in this post is so beautiful. Your appliqués are very lovely. And what a clever way of making your triangles! That is something I will definitely keep in mind. :-)
    As for you FMQ... fabulous!

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  20. Your work is amazing, I love how traditional-style designs are reborn with the bright and bold colors and patterns! It just make me happy to look at them. And you FMQ practice is impressive, I'm intrigued about the ring.

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  21. What a good trick for doing the applique triangles. No stretchy sides by doing it on triangles that are already cut out.

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  22. Those triangles are stunning. What a nice bright quilt it will be.

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  23. Your triangles are beyond beautiful - such gorgeous applique! Your quilting is also so pretty! What a talented lady your are! Thank you for sharing!

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  24. A very vibrant quilt. It looks cool and refreshing. I have decided to give needle point applique a try on a baby quilt for a friend. I will see haow that goes.

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  25. Beautiful choice of fabrics and amazing applique. I love hexagons and will try to do something like this. Thanks for the inspiration.

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