Soupçon finished

Wow, I can't believe it has been over a week since I last posted. I have spent less time blogging lately and more time sewing so at least I have a bit to show for my time away. First up is Soupçon which I finally quilted. I had actually planned to make this one larger but after moving into our new home I decided it would be the perfect thing to hang in the powder room once we got around to painting the walls. Painting was finished yesterday, a lovely teal color, so I got this quilted and bound right away. I had planned some interesting filler quilting but ended up just doing lots of ditch work to highlight the piecing. Simple quick and I like it.

I have also been appliquéing the pomegranate blocks for my Jacobean elegance quilt. These were all prepped about a year ago and I have been rather slow with them. I had saved them as a good transition project during our move and had even cut out the parts for piecing. I took a quick count of my finished blocks this week and was surprised to discover that they were almost done. That was just the incentive I needed to get moving on this UFO. The flying geese are all pieced and the appliqué blocks just need to be trimmed and I can get this assembled.

Since the flying geese were made using the sew and flip method, I used the trimmings to make 1/2 sq triangles which will be used in anther small project. Turns out I prepped one extra pomegranate block so I will use it to make a little pillow or wall hanging.

And finally I finished piecing the maple leaf quilt top. Since fall colors are not my favorite, I was unable to come up with a backing in my stash and trips to 3 different quilt stores were unsuccessful. Finally out of desperation I headed to Joann's and found one on sale that seems to work. Best of all my DIL approves!

 

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Soupçon Part 6

The FPP is finished, yippee! I have even removed all the papers and that means that Soupçon part 6 is finished. Now I just have to decide if this project is finished or if I want to continue adding borders to make it bigger. Karen of Faeries and Fibres did a great job with this Mystery QAL and I certainly learned a lot and am pleased with the results. Thanks Karen!

 

 

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Just piecing

Wow, I can't believe it has been almost a week since I last posted. I have not done any hand sewing this week which is very unusual for me, but that doesn't mean I have not been busy sewing. Instead I have spent time in my sewing room doing some piecing. Hopefully this time away from hand stitching will give my wrist a much need rest. I find that sometimes a pain develops when I have been doing too much appliqué or embroidery and a little break is in order.

So here are the next few blocks that I am making for the McCall's Quilting Make It Your Way Quilt Along. First up are some little stripy squares. I started using random sized strips but soon came to the conclusion that I preferred those with the 1"cut strips. So they don't all look the same but that's OK.

Then those squares were used to make the corners of some star blocks. I think this is just such a fun block.

These 4 will make the center of the quilt and you can see a few more stars that will be used. I look forward to the next part on Friday as with each section I am liking this more.

I have also started work on the last part of Soupçon. I added this black border and like how it grounds things.

The final border is made using foundation paper piecing and I am slogging through this bit. Though I have done FPP before, this technique continues to be my quilting nemesis. I just really hate doing it even though I love the results. And in this one I was questioning those results as I made my way through this mess.

So now I have finished 2 of those borders and am thinking they look OK. So back to the sewing room to finish those last 2, I can see the end in sight! Maybe then I can reward myself with a little hand sewing.

 

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A Soupçon and a doggie update

I have been very busy stitching all the tiny hexagon flowers for Soupçon this week. Lots of cutting and sewing which was really rather time consuming but now that I have arranged them on the border, I am pleased with the results. My hexagons were 1/16 of an inch smaller than 1/2 " due to the scaling setting on my computer so the original placement was not going to fit. Instead I decided to just arrange them evenly around the border and they are now ready to appliqué. I opted to add the borders before appliquéing them on to make sure my placement came out even.

I will be sitting in my chair stitching for the rest of the day so I can keep an eye on my poor little dog who had surgery this morning. A few weeks ago, when we were out of town, she was on the leash sniffing around a grate in the ground and her leg slipped through the grate. It was dark and DH did not notice that she was in any pain, nor did she bark or whimper at the time. But by the next morning she was limping and we took her to the vet when we got home. The first visit was inconclusive and we opted to have her on pain meds for a week to see if she improved. Sadly she did not and this week an X-ray determined that she had a problem in her hip that required a major surgery. Hopefully she will recover fully but the poor wee thing is just sleeping and shivering so I need to stay close. An expensive week so there will be no more fabric shopping for me!!!

 

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A New Month

Wow, it is already March and with a new month comes new mystery blocks and BOMs. First up is the Quilt Doodles mystery block. This month is the tree block shown here with last month's house block. I really enjoy how quick and easy these blocks are, perfect for some simple sewing at the beginning of each month. Since this makes a twin size quilt I am looking forward to a fun winter quilt for one of the grandchildren when it is done.

Before starting this month's Benjamin Biggs block, I want to finish this installment of the Di Ford mystery. I do not really have enough of the large leaves in my fabric do do the corner leaves in broderie perse. Instead I have made a pattern for the leaves and found a green that looks suitable to me. The hexagons are darker than Di's but I am OK with them and may add a bit of embroidery if they seem too dark later. I am still struggling with the stripe border but may have found something that will work.

Last week I visited my sister who winters here in Florida, about 2 hours from where I live. She had asked me to come and do a trunk show and appliqué demo for her quilting friends which was lots of fun. We also went to a few quilt shops in her area. Since DH just started a new job and I had been saving for this trip, I did a little fabric shopping. I actually found a few great finds, including that piece of red and pink shown just below the stripe. I had been looking for that fabric for years and found it for $6.99/yd. I was so happy I bought the end of the bolt! And maybe that stripe will work for my Di Ford mystery. The rest are possible additions to LE or the mystery. Hmm, I see I am in a repro phase!

Finally the latest installment of Soupçon was released on Friday. There are two different borders suggested and I decided to go with the hexagons. But when I printed out some 1/2 inch hexagon template sheets I forgot to turn off the scaling setting on my printer and my hexagons turned out 1/16th of an inch smaller than 1/2 inch. I did not realize til I had cut almost 100 hexagons so my hexagon flowers are a bit small. As a result they will not fit the border as suggested but that just means a little adjustment and hopefully it is a happy accident. Here are my first 6. Only 18 more to make! Guess I better get stitching.

 

 

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Exciting Quilty news

Last week I received a very exciting package in the mail. One that I had been looking forward to for such a long time. It is a wonderful new appliqué book.

But this is not just any book to me. Besides being a terrific "how to" bible for all kinds of appliqué techniques ranging from fusible to needleturn, it is written in a humorous easy to understand way, by my son Kevin Kosbab. I am just so delighted with the finished product! We spent many an hour on the phone discussing this book from its initial concept to completion and I am thrilled to have been a part of it. Since Kevin and I work in much the same manner it certainly reflects my appliqué techniques. Though the projects included in the book have a distinctly modern flair, the techniques themselves are applicable to any style of appliqué. And while I did machine quilt a few of the projects in the book, the rest of the work, including all of the appliqué was done by Kevin himself. Have I mentioned how excited I am and how proud!!

Next week, on Feb 26, I will be included in his blog tour and Kevin will be doing a guest post. I hope you will stop back then and get to know more about the book and my terrific, funny, creative son. Oh, and we'll have a giveaway too!

Finally just for a little eye candy, here is some of what I have been working on. First up, a few more pomegranate blocks have been stitched.

And part 5 of the Soupçon quilt is complete.

 

 

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Soupçon part 3 and more Benjamin Biggs

I spent the weekend doing a little stitching. Once the mess that I showed in the last post was cleaned up, it was hard to getting back to prepping appliqué. Seemed a shame to mess up that room again. Sadly the people that viewed our house are not interested so it will be a mess again in no time! The first thing I stitched was my first Benjamin Biggs block.

I am happy with how it turned out but after stitching someone posted on the FB group that in the first pattern the buds are going the opposite way as in the quilt. Well, if I had more carefully read the instructions I would have seen that as it was clearly mentioned. But I did not as I was so excited to get this block ready for stitching. No problem as I now know I just have to reverse them for the rest of the blocks and I did realize it before I prepped this next one. I decided to add a bit of solid into the quilt as I think the only fabric I will have enough of for the swags is a solid and I think that solids would have been mixed in at the time. I am treating each block totally separately, not trying to match the bud fabrics as I am imagining the original to be an album made by many people using their own fabrics. I found a few more reds and greens in the stash today so I feel confident that I can make this whole top from my stash!

I also finished part 3 of the Soupçon Hexagon mystery. I am having such fun with this mystery. Each part has been able to be completed in a few hours, that is once the difficult task of selecting fabrics is complete. So far I really like how this is looking. Wonder what will be added next?

Well, time to get back into the studio for a little more prep work.

Happy stitching!

 

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Embroidery fun

After a whirlwind trip for the baptism of our new GD I was able to spend yesterday working on part 2 of the Soupçon Hexagon QAL. In this part we were to add embroidery details around the center star. I had visions of creating my own embroidery pattern but fell in love with these leaves and berries that Karen used in her design. She provided a tutorial as well and I am just delighted with how they turned out and it was so fun working with the variegated thread that I already had.

And it seems to be a perfect match to this focus fabric that hope to use as a possible border for this project. It is amazing how this little embroidery adds so much detail. I even added a tiny touch to the center of the circle that I had appliqued onto the center hexagon in Part 1. I am having such fun with this QAL! Many thanks to Karen at Faeries and Fibers for this great project.

 

 

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The Lure of a mystery

I sure don't know what is in the air lately but I have been bitten by the mystery bug again. I was all set to start back on a long term project when I saw Carrie's post at A Passion For Appliqué about a new mystery QAL called the Soupçon Hexagon QAL. This one is all about different techniques and as it is scrap based and small I knew I could use my stash and embark in a bit of fun. It is being run over at the Faeries and Fibers blog and it isn't too late to join in. Parts are released every two weeks with part 2 coming on Friday. You can check out the first part here.

And here is my beginning. I am not sure I love my fussy cutting with this one but I have lots of great fabrics pulled so we will see where it goes. Hints indicate that part 2 might include some embroidery which I am enjoying more and more these days. Hope whatever it is it distracts from those not so perfect points!

And I finished putting my son's quilt top together. I am working on the backing but have stalled because I have somehow lost a piece of fabric. I just know I have a piece leftover from another project that would make a great accent on the back but I have looked in several places and I can't find it. Oh well, it is bound to turn up, as soon as I have completed the backing without it!

 

 

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