APPLIQUE PAINTBOX-I LOVE APPLIQUE

IN WHICH FOUR NEW TRIANGLES ARE FLOWERED ......

Sweet Surrender by Sue Cody

Count is up to 13 triangles-5 more to make.  The quilt is going to fasssssst!  I have decided that is because I am not doing any original designing on these blocks but rather just following the pattern.  The only choices are the fabrics which are incredibly fun to play with and hard to stop. They just make themselves.  Here are the 4 new blocks:

Did I tell you that I have adopted the use of silk 100 wt thread for applique stitching?  I love it.  It is so cooperative to work with.  It blends so well and drops out of sight after the stitch is made.  You don't really need very many colors but, like all sewers (seamtresses, sewists, sewinas, sewistas, stitchers, choose your favorite), I like to collect as many as I can and they sit in their box like colorful, shiny jewels in a jewel case.  Silk thread is, in any case, almost as expensive as jewels.

I have gotten so much helpful advice from my friend bloggers about how to do foundation piecing.  I am using this method instead of the more grueling epp.  This week I am going to prep the diamonds and little triangles for these big triangles.  Since my Juki is wending its way to San Diego for an overhaul, there is no machine sewing in my future.

This is hard because I have a vague schedule on fmq training and wanted to keep up.  I brought out the Pfaff which is a lovely machine but requires a different skill set for fmq.  Since I don't want to confuse my muscle memory, I ceased and desisted with that idea.  I cannot sew the big triangles together either because it is the Juki which has the miracle piecing foot.  AArrrggghh!

Sewingmachinesplus.com has been very good so far with the return.  I thought i was going to be required to pay the almost $100 to ship and insure the Juki but they paid for that as the machine was less than one year old.  It will arrive in San Diego Tuesday 11-1 and the turnaround is 3 to 7 days.  They will pay to ship my Juki back to me.  So my report on Sewingmachinesplus.com is A+ so far.

I have had several people ask the name of my Salty Sardines quilt shown above.  Its actual name is Sweet Surrender by Sue Cody. What a name-maybe she is a Sarah McLachlan fan. I had to order mine from Material Obsession in Australia (shipping was very reasonable).  I am not sure if the pattern in sold in the US yet.  Here is a photo of the original quilt:

Lots of people have asked me the name of the background fabric I have been using.  It is a Robert Kaufman fabric called Valentina and designed by Valentina Ramos.  If you google it, you can find some online sellers.

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The fall is migratory season and we have a lot of (for us) unusual birds-that is birds not usually seen at our feeders.

This week we had a red breasted nuthatch (too fast to catch on camera) and a black capped chickadee.  Here are a couple photos of the chickadee:

Our usual chickadee is the Carolina which is very similar except does not have the rustier breast.  In the past we has lots more birds.  However, once the dog and now the orange cat Yoshi have taken up residence, the population has declined.

I am linking up with the usual suspects and thank them for their platforms!

Happy quilting!

I MISS MY JUKI!