Giving applique a bath

I got busy doing some prep for two applique borders before Christmas so I could sit and relax with some stitching. I feel like I've been productive now that two are done. The first is for my Baltimore and the second is for the Aunty Green.

The Baltimore border has lots of embroidered stems which I did using a wrapped stem stitch. You might be able to see if you click on the photo above.

I draw the pattern on the background with my special pens and I do use basting glue so my applique needs a good bath when I'm done.

I generally fill a sink with warm water, not too hot and leave the piece to soak for anything from 15 minutes to half an hour depending what else I'm busy with. I do swish it around in the water a couple of times and I'll only add a dye catcher sheet if I'm concerned about some of the fabrics bleeding. I don't need to use them to catch the ink in the pens. I pre-wash most fabrics but sometimes those reds bleed regardless. 

You can see how the water has changed colour from the ink,it's suspended in the water and has never affected my fabrics or run onto them. They are acid free and non toxic. Sometimes I steam press my applique with a hot iron and that doesn't even affect how effectively it washes out. I have left ink in a quilt for a couple of years and it still washes out beautifully. For more information, see this post.

I rinse a couple of times in cold water and then squeeze, not wring the excess out. I then flatten it out on a towel as in the photo above, roll it up inside the towel to get more water out and leave it flat to dry.

Once it's dry, I'll double a towel on the ironing board and give it a good press with steam. The soft surface stops the applique from pressing too flat and it helps to get the wrinkles out between the applique shapes.

 It's hard to get a good photo of long borders but you get the idea. I've left quite a bit of negative space to fit some nice quilting in and I also didn't want the border to be too busy looking. There's still more to do to turn the corners at each end but I can't do that until later when sides are joined.

I finished another border for the Aunty Green quilt and thought I'd show you more close up photos so you can see the fabrics. The above is the center section.

The right side

And lastly, the left. I have to do some math now and do some trimming before I join the last four borders to the center medallion. After that I guess I have to get on and fill the corner applique parts in. That could take awhile.
Until next time, happy stitching, Janet

A new old quilt and little cotton rabbits

Happy New Year to you all!
Now that Christmas gifts have been unwrapped, I'd like to share with you this red and green antique quilt that my husband gave to me.
It's one of my favourite patterns in my favourite quilt colours. I know it as Whigs Rose but I'm sure it has other names depending on the political affiliations back in the day.
It was made around 1860 and was definitely pre-loved as the red fabrics and binding are looking pretty worn.

No worries about how to turn the corners on the borders, it looks like they were just placed at whim, I love that but I'm not brave enough to do it to my own quilts.

There are feathered wreaths quilted between the blocks and in a couple of other places. They don't show up very well because of the shrinkage and cotton batting. It's pretty expertly quilted with triple lines going through all the applique. Who quilts like that now?

The applique stitches are tiny and even, done with beige thread stitched in an overcast manner. I think this quilter must have been an accomplished sewer.

I put my hand in the photo to show just how tiny those berries are. This will be a quilt for display every Christmas now.

 

I can show you what I had been busy making for the grand children for Christmas now they've received them. I think they have a competitive streak when it comes to soft toys and cushions on their beds so these were well received.

It started off with this wee fella. The patterns are from Little Cotton Rabbits. I've always secretly coveted the rabbits Julie makes to sell so I was very happy when she started releasing the patterns which you can find here.

It didn't take much to talk me into making one for each of the kids despite never having made a kniited soft toy in my life. Every one came out looking a bit different depending on the wool used for the rabbit and that also seemed to determine the size and shape of each one.

 

Until next time, Janet

Ok, now where was I?

Whoops, time has flown by and I've been so busy that my poor blog has had very little attention. I do appreciate your visits on the occasions when I do pop in and have something to say.
Even my sewing time has been cut back a bit for the last couple of months. It's just as well I go to the monthly class at Quiltsmith so I can at least keep a pace going with the Aunty Green quilt.

I cant remember if I've shown this panel before but here it is anyway.

This one took a little longer because I couldn't decide what to do for the broderie perse. I'm pretty happy with it now but I do wish the manufacturers would bring out more broderie perse fabrics. 

I'm still working on the last panel that surrounds the center. I'm liking this one a lot for it's bigger shapes. I've done a bit more prep since I took this photo so I can stitch over the holidays.

This is how the sections look so far. There's lots of measuring and trimming to do before I can join them and then fill the corners with  more applique. Of course the applique will look pretty packed in there at that stage.

Every year it's a tradition of mine to give the grandchildren a Christmas decoration for the tree. This year I made knitted these stockings for them, a free pattern from Little Cotton Rabbits. They weren't as hard as I thought they'd be but sadly my attention span was too short to make myself some.

 

If I don't get back to blogging before Christmas, have a very happy and joyful time with loved ones.

 

Until next time, Janet



It's been ages

We've been having major Internet issues here, it seems there was a voltage leak up the road that kept making the Internet drop out and go ultra slow. I'm sorry if you missed my posts but hopefully I can update more regularly now. I sure have missed visiting my favourite blogs.

I have been fabric bombing in the sewing cave, it seems I can't play with fabric in a tidier fashion and there's no point in folding it neatly until I'm done with it anyway.

I've been keeping myself busy with a ton of drawing. I had an idea for a quilt and spent a lot of time on that.

I even shopped for Japanese fabrics for it. I proceeded to hand piece one compass and then abandoned the whole project.

At some stage I came to my senses and decided not to start something new. Guilt made me pull out an old sleeping beauty that has to be finished or it might end up never being done.
I did draw some borders for the old Baltimore quilt which I showed back here. I knew I wasn't that happy with them and so I put pencil to paper and started again. It took days which is why I put it off.

This time I used one of Sue Garman's urns from her Friendship album with some adjustments and drew the floral arrangement using some of the flowers in the quilt.

Once the drawings were finished it was time to start colouring with fabric.

Here's a peek of the first section. The corners have to be done last after they are mitred and joined to the top plus I have some embroidered stems to do as I go. I've left plenty of space to do some quilted feathers later on which I'll most likely trapunto.

I'll be back next time with an update on how I'm going on my other applique project, the mighty Auntie Green.

 

Happy sewing, Janet

Wrangling with a travelling rabbit

Last week I made a bunny from some vintage chenille pieces for a grand daughter's 6th birthday and it turned out to be a bit of a saga. I used a commercial pattern for a twenty inch bear (that's big) and made up the ears myself. There was fluff spread from one end of the sewing room to the other.
During the stuffing part, there was a bit of an injury to the chest area due to a weak spot in that piece of chenille.

I managed to save the limbs and made a new body and carried on. Oh dear, the ears are way too long for this poor rabbit as you can see.

After sleeping on it, I decided to unstuff the head and try and extract the ears and do them again.
So here is the final result which turned out as good as it was going to get. It's very cute for a stuffed toy bigger than a newborn baby but it is light in weight.

And of course bunny has to have a tail. I wasn't sure how to do that so turned a seam allowance on a circle, gathered it, stuffed it and sewed it in place.

It's all squishy in the middle, I tested it with cuddles.

I just didn't get to the Post Office in time to send it across the ocean so it got packed in a suitcase and flew interstate to Queensland for photographing and posting the next day. It'll be well travelled by the time it gets to it's destination.

 

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We had a wonderful four days away to see the V and A quilt exhibition and have a relaxing break and also catch up with my son. We got to celebrate his birthday and also David's while we were up there.

 What an absolutely wonderful thing it is to see these incredible works up close.  

The embroidery on the quilts was so incredibly fine, the stitching was superb and I was surprised to see the above coverlet had been done by the English paper piecing method. That whole center was stuffed like a pillow. Not sure if that was for display. No photos were allowed so these are off the net. I also loved seeing a very old needlework casket stitched with Stump work, some sewing paraphernalia and other items of interest. It was well worth seeing.

The weather in Queensland was perfect, warm and sunny during the days cooling at night. This is their winter!. 

 

The locals were very friendly where we stayed in Surfer's Paradise.

These ladies dressed in gold sequined bikinis put coins in the meters along the beach front as a courtesy to the public. Not a job I would qualify for ;-)

Even the police were dressed for the weather.

Until next time, Janet