The Sopwell Ladies

I suddenly realised today that I have never shown my completed flimsy of The Sopwell Ladies Basket Society Quilt.
I started this quilt last year as a BOM sample for The Country Yard. I did finish the top earlier this year but I must have been busy then and forgot to share.
I really enjoyed making this quilt. There's quite a lot of work in each 'block' but there's a nice variety and it stays pretty interesting :-)

(Not the best photos sorry as I had to get it into the shop and I think that may have been why I didn't share at the time, I was going to get some better pics.)

I did all the applique by machine, using fusible applique paper and turning the edges over with glue, and then using invisible thread to zig-zag it to the background. I do prefer hand turned under applique but this was certainly a lot quicker and a good technique to use on a project from time to time so you actually get it finished :-)
The border fabric was a fun one to use and helped with the choice of scrappy-type fabrics used within the quilt.

In other news, I've completed one of the sweet stitcheries Michelle Ridgeway kindly offered on her blog —

Stitched using 'Honeysuckle' Cottage Garden Thread

He didn't take very long to stitch, which is just as well as I am gathering a wee pile of ''Lockdown projects' I'd like to sew up to commemorate what we're all experiencing at the moment!

I've decided I really must be getting fitter with all these walks I'm doing. A big walk used to be to the top of the first hill across the road... now that's a 'quick walk' when I'm considering where to walk. (As in "Where shall I go?" "Oh what about a quick walk up the hill over the road"). So that's where I headed today, and then I decided to carry on past the beehives, and up to a wee knoll I've been eyeing up for a bit - but putting off as it was too much of a walk.

Past the beehives and up the next bit of hill

Down that bit of hill and then heading for the knoll on the right

Up the top of the knoll and looking back to where I'd come

And looking the other way to our runoff which is further along this track.
(The pasture areas you see above, where we graze non-milking animals.)

I mentioned the other day the fire that ripped through this area a few year ago. A lot of this area was burnt and has slowly been recovering. In the Private Reserve alongside some of the track the 'team' spent a lot of time and energy doing a springtime planting of some natives they had raised from seed from the area.

(As well as the bush being on our land, it's also on the neighbour's, the Reserve, Conservation land and, over the road back on the main farm, Maori land. It's all interconnected and sometimes it's hard to know where the boundaries are).

Anyway, I'd been wondering how the new plants were doing with the extended drought we're in but I was pleased to notice today that quite a few of the plants are doing well. The Manuka scrub that has come up provides good shelter for the small plants.

The autumn weather is making my walks quite pleasant. Today was a good day for some strange looking shadows—

Oh to have such long legs!

Another peaceful unhurried day keeping to my bubble :-)

Take care and stay well,

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,

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,

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,

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,