finishing up

I've been investigating and have some results!

The freezer paper is still on there.

I am zig zagging the leaves on with a VERY tiny stitch.

VERY close together.

I liked having that freezer paper there because the leaf stayed put!

I tried taking the paper off first.

That worked o.k., but the glue is difficult to deal with,

and the leaf doesn't stay as stable on the quilt.

After zig zagging

I cut little slits in the BACK of the quilt

BEHIND the leaf.

Here's my water bottle.


I sprayed all the leaves with water.
When I saw this demostrated she used wet towels on the applique...
but I'm lazy and this seemed simpler.




I pulled all those leaf shapes out through
that little slit in the back.






Remember my basting stitch on the vine?
I needed to remove it. :)
The vine, of course, is already appliqued on.







WOW! This is pretty bright!
I like the leaves.
Of course, I always like leaves.

This quilt is going to get folded and wait for
a wonderful occassion.
Then I'll quilt it.
When will that be?

progress so far....

Summer Snowballs are coming together!

I sewed all the blocks together and was happy that there very few corners not REALLY together. I'm always trying to improve in THAT department!
Here is my black border.
I used black scraps, 10" wide, in no particular order.
I only tried to keep from putting the same kind of blacks together.
This is a nice background for some SIMPLE applique.

Here I am thinking about colors.


Here I am thinking about WHAT to applique.
I used 2 1/2" bias strips, basted in thirds for the vine.

Here is my super complicated (ha!) pattern.

I traced LOTS of leaves. (about 40)

I cut lots of leaves.

I ironed lots of leaves onto my leftover scraps from snowballs.

Here I am experimenting with a new applique method.

and I'm not sure I'll do it right.

First I'm going to put glue on edges.

I saw it demonstrated and am worried I don't remember the details.

I've done applique before.....

needle turn,

iron-on,

and raw edge.

but not this.

Next, I folded the edges over.

Then....ironed the leaf, front and back.

o.k. friends.

Here it is - in process.

I need to do some investigations...

How do I get the freezer paper off the leaf and when?

I have some ideas, but I haven't tried them yet.

I'll let you know how it goes.

I love doing detective work...

too many Nancy Drew books in my childhood!

batting scraps

Do any of you quilters out there have these?

What are they?.......

All the scraps of batting that multiply as you make more and more quilts.

My mission in life:

Find ways to use these strips that many people probably throw away.
Maybe we ALL keep them? :)

Does anyone else out there USE these....?

This week I found a new way to use up these scraps!

All you perfectionists out there....close your eyes. :)

I made a pillow to match my husband's new quilt.

First I pieced the pillow front. (shown below)

I laid the backing down.

I spread batting strips on top.

I sprayed all three layers with quilt basting spray.

I laid the pillow front down.

I quilted these three layers together.

Viola!

Pillow front complete.

Trim edges.

Add a back to my new pillow shams.....

Does anyone notice the little ridges where the batting meets?

Tomorrow - update on snowballs!

Today - get to work on snowballs!

Summer Snowballs

Here's what I decided to do with all that BEAUTIFUL fabric I bought at the Long Beach Quilt Festival. SIMPLE Snowballs. Don't you like the way the corners all FLOP over for the pic?

I really liked the bright colors in this quilt and finally decided on the scrappy black corners....hopefully the colors will kind of POP when it's done.

I cut squares 6" and added 2" squares to the corners. Wondered if maybe I should have made the squares bigger (?) ...oh well.
I think I'll call this quilt....

NEVER MET A COLOR I DIDN'T LIKE! :)

One of my Favorites!


And just to let you know I'm still working on that
Quilt along with AmandaJean.

more sunflowers

Aren't these pretty? I sure enjoy the summer flowers.

Here's the dress/shirt(?) that my BIG girl brought home for my LITTLE girl. HOW SWEET!

The problem is it's too short for a dress and too long for a shirt.

I have lots of fabric and could probably do something about this!

Here's some nice yellow - sorry about the bad lighting here..

I think all I need to do is gather this long piece....

Sew it on the bottom of the dress....

Add a flower to make it EXTRA cute......

What a cute little girl.....

With a very nice BIG sister!

crazy stuff....

Here is some of the CRAZY stuff I buy because I quilt....Lizard Litter? Freezer paper? painters tape?....some people think I'M crazy!

That lizard litter (crushed walnuts) was a little hard to find. Finally found some at Petsmart, but think it may have been cheaper to get it on-line. oh well.

I really wanted to make another pin cushion.

I now I have enough L.litter to make tons of them!

And thanks goes to Julie, who gave us all a hint as to how to find this stuff!

I had to make a sunflower....

because my Dear husband is growing some of these.....

Pretty Huh?

Crazy Quilt

Here is a crazy quilt I made and sent to the Alliance for the American Quilt Organization. It was lots of fun to do all that doodling with thread, ribbons and beads!

If you want to see some more LOVELY crazy quilts, go to their website!

One fun thing about this little quilt is that almost all the fabric came from a prom dress swap organized by an Orange County Quilt Guild member.

Imagine prom dresses all over the tables....quilters with scissors....and bags to fill!

FUN! FUN! FUN!

Happy Quilting!