Yay for some Spring Feels...and part 3 of the sewalong

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Hello friends, 

Even though we are still dealing with some snowbanks and chilly temps here in central Pennsylvania, every once in a while there is a nice sunshiny, warmish day, which promises the impending arrival of Spring. I can just smell it already, can you? I have to admit that I have been eyeing the ground around our Maple trees, where hubby and I planted a large number of bulbs last Fall, hoping to spy those first little pointy green bits, but nothing so far. But I am convinced that our ornamental pear tree and dogwood trees have buds! And in our garage we already have the wood for the new garden beds that hubby will build me, in a sunnier spot in our backyard this time around, just as soon as the ground thaws and we can install them without slipping and sliding in the mud. I am ready for Spring! How about you?

( image via Pixabay)

Of course the great thing about Winter weather is that I have a perfect excuse to hibernate inside and work on quilty stuff, and that is what I have been doing...

Here are some photos of projects I am working/have worked on these last few weeks. ( If you want any more information on any of these projects, use the arrows at the bottom of the post to scroll back through previous posts and you will find them all there).

(Journaling 2022 with embroidery)

                            ( Happy Villages quilts)

( baby quilt~another option from the sewalong)

                               ( Christmas quilt)

                              ( red and white quilt)

               ( Basket quilt blocks from an Edyta Sitar pattern)

( winter quilt using Accuquilt dies)

And then of course there is our February sewalong, which is almost at it's end ( although if you want to join in it is not too late...just check out the previous 2 blog posts here and here for all the information!).

I decided to make just 6 blocks at 8.5 inches big  to make a little table runner. In the original design, Lori Holt appliqued hearts to the centers of all her blocks: 

( image via Lori Holt)

 I didn't want to use hearts on mine because the hearts would be facing upside down when used as a table runner, depending on orientation, so I decided to use Daisies instead. 

 But when I laid out the daisies on each block I didn't like them so decided to scatter them all over the quilt, rather than one per block, more like this:

I think it is very important to play around with various aspects of your quilt, until it gives you a happy feeling! You have several options for your applique ( if you choose to do any that is!). You can use fusible web like I did, or you can use needleturn applique. If you don't care for needleturn, there is another great method, where you sew two ( simple!) shapes together RST, then cut a slit in one, turn the entire shape right side out, and then sew down by hand or machine. I really enjoy that method, but  the daisy shape would not be the easiest shape to do that with, and fusible web is so much faster!

For those of you who are new to quilting and/or fusible web, here is a quick little tutorial: 

Start by tracing your shapes onto the paper side of the fusible ( I like using this brand ( click). 

Next, cut out your shapes very roughly and lay them on the BACK of your chosen fabric. 

Following the manufacturer's instructions, fuse your shapes to your fabric, let cool, and then cut those shapes out exactly on the lines. 

Then fuse your shapes to the front of your blocks, again, following the instructions provided by the manufacturer. You will need to sew your appliques down because they won't stand up very well to washing without that little step. If you are not planning on washing your project, you might be able to get away with no sewing, but I can't guarantee it will never let loose... I will recommend that you add appliques to EACH block before sewing your blocks together ( especially if you are making a BIG quilt) because it will be so much easier to work per block, rather than with the entire quilt! ( on mine that obviously wasn't doable because some of my daisies went on the seams of blocks, but my quilt is small and still easily maneuverable).

After I fused my daisies, I needed to decide how to fasten them down...and again, had to decide what would make ME happy...and that was "sketching" around each petal and the center with black thread to really make those daisies stand out on that very busy background. 

 

Can you see what a HUGE difference it makes when you do that? I am now happily stitching around each daisy with black thread! Some other options are to use a blanket stitch or zig zag, or whatever fancy stitch your machine has. By the way, in case you need to have that daisy shape, it is from a set of templates by Lori Holt called Prim, which you can find by clicking here ( click).

After you add your applique ( or not), sew your blocks together, add a border ( or not), layer, and quilt your work. Because of the many, many seams in these blocks I am going to suggest machine quilting, but again, YOUR quilt, YOUR decision :). 

Next week I am hoping to share my finished quilt, and am hoping to see some of your works in progress as well, either in the FB group, or you can send me an email ( the contact information is in the sidebar~don't see a sidebar? Make sure you are viewing this post in a browser window by clicking on the title).

So to sum up this week's sew along instructions:

Continue sewing your blocks

Add applique

Sew your quilt top together ....

And if you get this far, go ahead and...

Layer and quilt your quilt

Bind

Add a label ;)

And before I sign off, could I ask you to do me a favor?  Leave a comment right here on this post so that I can see if comments are now working. Thanks so much!

Until next time~ happy creating!

Monique