Sopwell continued —

I had another morning to work on The Sopwell Ladies Basket Society and got the rest of block 5 finished! I didn't have much to do; just the stitching on this block, and a few more circles.

One small part of Block Five!

I had a few questions after my last post about using the Karen Kay Buckley Perfect Circles, and my process for the applique (what I call invisible turned under machine applique) so I took a few photos while I was working to share.

After gathering the fabric around the template, paint or spray some
 diluted starch on (how you do it depends on what brand you have)
 and press with a medium heat iron.

Once the fabric is dry, remove the template and re-press to keep the
shape. You can see it keeps its perfect shape well with a bit of starch!

Baste or glue the circle to the background fabric.
(You can see here I didn't quite get it dead centre but the square is larger and
gets trimmed down.)

I have a clear invisible thread in the top and my normal sewing thread in the
bobbin. Set the zig-zag to width and length 1.1.
(It's narrow enough that I can keep my quilter's foot on.) 

I pull all the threads to the back to knot them together, then trim.

Here is the completed block 5.

There's one more block and then it will be done. I've done parts of it but I probably won't get back to it until after Christmas.
Day 11 of my 31 day blog writing challenge done!!

'til next time,

happy stitches,

A day with the Sopwell ladies

(...and Jamie and Claire).

(Watching the Outlander series while I sew.. I've just started Season Four.)

I knew I had a day to myself today so decided to get busy on my BOM project, The Sopwell Ladies Basket Society. Because it has so many fabrics I like to pull it out when I know I have the time and space to spread out.

I have been doing bits and pieces of it lately, and today it was time for some turned under machine applique.  And lots of small circles.

I usually make my circles by gathering fabric over template plastic. It works well apart from it being difficult to get the circles exactly round as I cant cut the templates smoothly enough. Time to pull out my newly acquired Perfect Circles by Karen Kay Buckley. I was excited to see if they really were as good as they say.

I didn't realise that there were four of each size which makes it handy when you have lots of circles to make. They slip onto a supplied ring - easier to sort through them rather than diving into the bag all the time.

I loved using the Perfect Circles - they are really accurate and mine are Nearly Perfect!

I prefer to baste my applique shapes down. I've tried pinning - they moved too much, and I've tried glueing but I find that messy. (I never seem to get those tiny, neat dots of glue I see others do!)

Basting is a bit untidy perhaps but it suits me. But once I've done my invisible zig-zag, it doesn't take long to pull them out.

By the end of the afternoon, I had this part of the block sewn —

It was great to make some progress. I'm enjoying how this is coming together

'til next time,

Happy stitches,

Sopwell and Sisters

I've been sneaking in a bit of sewing time on The Sopwell Ladies Basket Society Quilt (yes, it is a real mouthful!!). I'm making the sample/display quilt for The Country Yard and I must admit to having got a wee bit behind on it.

The first four 'blocks' completed.
Two more left.

Each 'block' is a lot of work - fun and simple units but there are a few of them!

As I said last time, I am 'invisible machine appliqueing' these blocks with invisible thread and a tiny zig-zag. If I did the applique by hand the shop would never get the sample...I have other hand applique projects vying for attention in the evenings!

I'm making great progress on my International Sisters blocks too - I've having a blast sewing these and a good sewing session quickly adds to the pile.

I had a good day on Sunday!

I'm happy to do a bit of joining to make my scraps work. The sister at the top
has a lovely decorative feature on her dress, and the sister who works for
Zespri (as mine does) has a (nearly) invisible join in her kiwifruit dress.

This chocolate lover salvaged these scraps from a quilt I made for ED in 2010.
(I cant believe there's not a photo of it anywhere on my blog!!)

A coffee lover sister

Another Australian Sue fabric at the top, and a knitting sister at the
bottom

The top fabric is actually indigo blue - a Japanese Sister perhaps.

The yellow-orange sister above needs a special mention for her dress. Santa brought me the fabric years ago when I was quite young.There was a square of this, and another fabric as well. So started my hording stash building days - I felt so special having my very own fabric that I didn't want to use it for anything....I'd just pull it out and gaze at it and stroke it and put it away again!! Finally I've used it.

I took this photo while out feeding calves the other day. It was a beautiful spring day, in fact the last few days have been gorgeous. After continual rain throughout August, it's nice for things to dry out a bit.

'til next time,

happy stitches,

Text It! Blog hop (and giveaways)

I am delighted to be taking part in the blog hop promoting Sherri Noel's new book, Text It!
The Counting Sheep baby quilt was an obvious choice of project for me..... my niece is due with her second baby this month so here I am with the gift all ready to go!!

Counting Sheep was a great quilt to make - simple and effective applique, with the addition of some fun text, and a bit of straight forward piecing around the edge. A good "quilt in a week" project - ask me how I know :-)

All of the projects in this book have some element of text in them, there are a variety of fonts to choose from and - yaay - they are already reversed.

I had an idea that I could put the new baby's name on the quilt as well, maybe instead of the 1 Sheep wording, but as he's not born yet, that stayed an idea and didn't become reality!

One little change I made to this quilt was to add an inner ear. I'd been struggling with how to add an element of my Dad (Pop to the grandkids) into the quilt. Other family baby quilts have had a Winnie-the Pooh focus which is a nod to Pop and his poetry recitals and bed time reading. Rummaging through my scraps I found some of the fabrics I used to make him a quilt when he was ill. Hazelnuts in Dad's orchard and sheep go hand in hand so incorporating this wee bit of fabric made so much sense for one of his great-grandies.

What else? I machine appliqued the shapes on (in the method described *here* ) —

Used wool felt for the lettering —

 which gave me the idea to trapunto the circles. I realised later that it might make the quilt difficult for baby to lie on but it may also give a little dimension for fun play!

The puzzle quilting was something I'd been wanting to try on a kiddie's quilt for a while.

What is a bloghop without a fun little giveaway or two, and a whole lot of blogs to visit?

I have a copy of Sherri's new book to give away. Most of the book draws in this blog hop are open to US residents only. HOWEVER this is a giveaway with a difference - my draw for the book is open to NEW ZEALAND and AUSTRALIAN residents only!! To be eligible, please comment below. You will need to state that you live in New Zealand or Australia.

A SECOND giveaway - this is open to anyone living anywhere in the world. Two spools of Aurifil thread will come your way if you are the winner of this draw.  Again, commenting below will get you into the draw.

Please, for both giveaways, I need to be able to contact you. In my last giveaway draw nearly half of those commenting had no way for me to email them. If you've never heard back after posting a comment on a blog, maybe you are one of these people too? Please include your email address in your comment if you are unsure of your 'status'.

Below is the line up of everyone taking part in this blog hop. Feel free to go back to the start as the projects are still all up and the giveaways are still open.
Mine will be open until the end of the blog hop.

BEE HAPPY

PAMELA JANE MORGAN –MYSWEETLITTLESTITCHES                      

SHARON LILABELLE LANE – LILABELLELANECREATIONS

INFINITY Quilt

LAURA PILAND – SLICEOFPIQUILTS

LEANNE PARSONS – DEVOTEDQUILTER

KATIE MUTER STARCHER – KATIEMAEQUILTS

PILLOW TALK

KATE COLLERAN – SEAMSLIKEADREAM

CHERYL DAINES BROWN – QUILTERCHIC

DORIE HRUSKA – FOREVER-QUILTING

FREEDOM Quilt

JEN SHAFFER – PATTERNSBYJEN

TARA MILLER – QUILTDISTRICT

LYNN KANE – PUPPYGIRLDESIGNS

LOVING YOU Wall Hanging

ELLEN AULT –HANDMADE3D

SHERRI NOEL – REBECCAMAEDESIGNS

COUNTING SHEEP Baby Quilt

DEANNE EISENMAN – SNUGGLESQUILTS

RAEWYN BARGE – STITCHINGFARMGIRL

SUSAN PELLAND – SUEPELLANDDESIGNS

HOME PILLOW

JOANNE HARRIS – QUILTSBYJOANNE

PATTY DUDEK – ELMSTREETQUILTS

ANDY KNOWLTON – ABRIGHTCORNER

SANDRA STARLEY – UTAHQUILTAPPRAISER

CINDY PIETERS – STITCHINATHOME

LIFE IS SHORT Wall hanging

BECCA FENSTERMAKER – PRETTYPINEY

KATIE BOCK – SEWINGWITHKATIE

ALLA BLANCA – RAINBOWSBUNNIESCUPCAKES

HUSTLE PILLOW

TERRI BANDEN BOSCH – MEANDERINGSALONGLIZARDCREEK

WILLOW OLSON – BEARPAWDESIGNBLOG

ERIN SAMPSON – AURIBUZZ

SEWING MACHINE MAT

LAUREN WRIGHT – MOLLYANDMAMA

SANDRA HEALY – SANDRAHEALYDESIGNS

CHERYL KRISEL LYNCH –CHERYLLYNCHQUILTS

If you are really keen on this new book and cant wait for the draws to be held, here are some links to get your own copy —

A signed copy is available at: https://iquiltmodern.bigcartel.com/product/text-it-quilts-and-pillows-with-something-to-say  

Or you can visit here:

Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/Text-Quilts-Pillows-Something-Say/dp/1604689838

Martingale:
https://www.shopmartingale.com/text-it.html

Good luck for the draws, don't forget to include your email address :-)

Happy stitches,

More applique - another project

It feels like I am wallowing in applique at the moment; not only am I making inroads into Foxley's Village but I am applique-ing elsewhere as well.
The Sopwell Ladies Basket Society Quilt is another project I am making. It's a block of the month for The Country Yard, and I must admit that I am having quite a bit of fun with it!
I showed a sneak peek a wee while ago —

And now I can show the whole of the first block —

Don't you think it suits me - as scrappy as anything?!! As you can see there's quite a lot to 'one block' and that's why I've only got this far :-) 

I've decided to applique this project by machine. The (nearly) invisible turned under machine applique method.

I use fusible applique paper to turn the edges of the pieces under and then, using a fine thread and a narrow zig-zag, attach them to the background. It's definitely a lot quicker than needleturn which the pattern suggests but you do have to accept that up close you see the stitching. (Depending of course how well your thread colour matches. I'm quite happy to fuss and change threads as needed - I keep the bobbin the same and make sure the tension is such that the top thread is ever so slightly pulled to the back. No freckles on top)

My selection of fine threads - I'll use whatever as long as the colour is right
and it's a fine weight.

Of course I could have done raw edge buttonhole using fusible webbing but I do like the look of turned under applique. 

(I've previously talked about his method *here* but have altered the stitch size so both length and width are 1.1).

Zig-zagging my 'machine needle-turn'

You can't really see the stitching unless you're really close.

This photo shows the border fabric which influenced the fabric choice.
A little different and very fun.

I'm using the same technique for another fun quilt I am making. And for a few days, I can only show a teaser shot of it. It's part of the Text-It bloghop...my day is coming up soon - so come back early next week to see what I've been up to. There will be giveaways so that's an extra excuse to visit :-)

If you'd like to see what's been happening on the bloghop already, just click on the photo below —

I nearly forgot to do a tally up of the blocks I made during February. (I've joined in with the Prairie Moon 350-blocks project.) I'm going to have to get better at keeping track as the months fly by so quickly and all my sewing blurs into one!
Six (equivalent) for The Sopwell Ladies (fair enough do you think?) and five for my row-by-row...whoops now that's another wee project I haven't shared!! So 11 blocks... not as grand as last month but progress nevertheless.
Using up our stash row-by-row ..the first row was to include Delectable Mountains blocks and here are mine —

This is the only photo I have of it just now, and you can't really see the challenge fabric that we will get each month, but it gives you a bit of an idea! I'll be able to show you more when we do the next row.
Weekend busy-ness calls so I'll end now.
As always, thank you for visiting, I do appreciate it.

'til next time,

Happy stitches,