A Little Update

04 Oct 2014 19 Comments

by averyclaire in Applique, Family, Hand Quilting, Quilt Borders, Quilting, Sewing Tags: , , , ,

The king sized quilt was on the frame by the end of June.   The borders took a long time to finish and then even longer to blanket stitch all those tiny designs I created!   With the busy summer and lots of traveling the actual quilting has been slow going.   Here is a photo of the giant first being basted and then on the frame.

Irish Chain being basted

Irish Chain in Frame

In the meantime, I did create an adorable “Frozen” princess dress for my three year old granddaughter, Maya.

Maya Frozen Princess1

Maya Frozen princess2

Lots of traveling included a week in the woods of southern Indiana in June for DH’s hobby interest.  Then we did two weeks out west in Boulder, Colorado and the Black Hills of South Dakota in July.  We took a couple of grandchildren with us and my oldest granddaughter broke her arm the first day we left!   Next we spent ten days in Atlanta, Savannah, Tybee Island, Hilton Head, and Charleston, SC in Aug for a woodworking convention and just R&R for the two of us.   And one more week in the woods of southern Indiana in September at which time I did a lot of sewing on baby blankets in our RV!   Whew!   Fun, but nice to be home.

Grandchildren…Haley, Sophia, Noah and daughter Kathleen enjoying the Niwot, CO evening concert.

Niwot 2014

We had a GREAT family campout while in Boulder, CO.

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Since then I have completed 20 baby blankets with teddy bears for my Quilters’ Plus Holiday Boutique coming up November 7 and 8.   My heart wanted to do a lot more projects for the Boutique, as some of the money goes to support our group, but alas, I did not do what I had hoped to complete.   Oh well, there is always next year.

Some of my blogging buddies have been wondering where I have been.   Just busy with life and trying to avoid spending time on the computer fighting with downloading photos, etc.   It has been a nice respite.   However, I do lurk behind the shadows and visit all of your blogs often.

I hope before too long there will be some stitching and other quilt items to show.   But my progress is SLOW.

For now…..Amities, Averyclaire

Border Progress

22 Apr 2014 12 Comments

by averyclaire in Applique, Cross-Stitch, Design, Easter, Ornaments, Quilt Borders, Work in Progress Tags: , ,

Happy Easter Week to everyone!    Here are my Easter finishes. They were all fun and easy to make.

Easter 2014

Yes…the border is coming along. I am going to post some time lapse photos so you can see the progress. I have the center sections and the left sides complete. Here is the progress to date beginning with the photo I took initially:

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Border 2a

Border 2

Center sections of borders complete.

Border 3

Left side sections of borders complete.

Border 4

It sure has been a long tedious process…but I feel it will be done soon. The right sides remain. Although, I do have all the pieces traced and ironed onto fusible…just waiting to cut out…so that will go quickly. After I fuse the right side appliques down, I can do the four corners…not difficult after all the work I have already done. Then the appliques must be sewn in place.

Alas, with these borders taking up all my time, I have done no other handiwork. :((

Hope everyone out there is enjoying the lovely spring days we are having! And for those of you living far far away, I imagine you will begin having your cool crisp autumn days to enjoy!

Amities, Averyclaire

Designing A Border

25 Mar 2014 15 Comments

by averyclaire in Applique, Design, Quilt Borders, Work in Progress Tags: , , ,

I have had a king size triple irish chain quilt top made for a LONG time. I never finished it because I wanted to design a border for it.  Well I am tackling another UFO and am designing the border.  Here is my method and progress to date.

First, I taped a LOT of freezer paper together making a strip 95 inches long which matches the four sides of my quilt top.  The border is 9 inches wide.   I drew a design on one half of my freezer paper. Then I traced it in reverse on the other half. I now have one entire border to work with. Some of the flowers I used from the William Morris Applique book and some I drew. I drew all of the vines myself.  It was drawn with a mechanical lead pencil allowing for LOTS of mistakes.   Here are some photos.

Center of Border

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[Nothing like a million little pieces, huh?] This design will be the corner block, matching up to the long side borders.

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My DH cut me a piece of plexiglass to fit into the opening where I normally have my sewing machine.  [He is such a nice guy!]  I put a small florescent light under it to use as a light table.

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Using “Steam-A-Seam-Lite” I traced my designs onto fusible web.  [LOTS of tracing going on for four borders!]

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Now my fusible web pieces are ironed onto the wrong side of my fabric ready to cut out. [Whew…cutting out takes forever!]

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I have a design wall in my sewing room made of thick insulation which is covered with white flannel and screwed to the wall.    My four cream colored  borders have been pinned to the wall behind where I am working.  (They are not pink!…must have been the sunshine!)  I divided the border into fourths and marked each border with a water soluble pen.  Working from the center out I am placing my pieces onto the border.  I can actually use my Clover mini iron to affix my pieces right on the wall before taking it to the ironing board.  When I have finished the center sections of each border, I will re-pin and do the remaining sections of each border.   After fusing the borders, I plan to sew my appliques down with a small blanket stitch before sewing the borders onto the quilt.

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I don’t have any of the leaves or small fabric circles done yet…but I am making good progress with my UFO.  When it is completed, it will be hand quilted.

It is a BIG project….[perhaps I am nuts?!]   But the end is in sight for my LONG AWAITED quilt.

Amities, Averyclaire