APPLIQUE DIARY: April 2021 Progress

I have a habit of doing all my headers before I actually write. You remember as kids the English teacher would have us do an outline? While developing my own style for this blog, I have discovered that it goes much quicker when I make a list of all the sections I am going to write about.

Looking back to last month’s Applique Diary entry, I ended up finishing everything that was in process except for one. I was shocked to find I had SIX finishes. Whoa! Okay before I get everyone excited, four of those finishes have been in the works since 4th quarter 2020. Still… It feels good to just have six finishes. It has been truly inspiring to do more.

FINISH: A Year in Words – Summer by Shabby Fabrics

I really love this series. It isn’t quick due to the piecing of part of the background, but it is fun. The applique part of these are generally simple and quick. These snowballed pinwheel blocks make adorable beach balls don’t you think?!

FINISH: Blooming Series – Daisies by Shabby Fabrics

This series is my all time favorite series I have worked on in a while. The Daisies ended up being one of the easier series with each flower being just two pieces. I have enjoyed coming up with different straight line designs for the “table” and a meander pattern in the background for each month.

The striped border was supposed to be cut on the bias, but I did not do this. Some day soon maybe I will add bias binding to my skill set.

FINISH: Blooming Series – Stars by Shabby Fabrics

What can I say about this easy stitch out. The stars were quick and easy and the fabrics in the kit were perfect for such a patriotic wall hanging. I ended up doing a diagonal “plaid” design for the table and loopy meander with an occasional star as the background.

FINISH: Blooming Series – Sunflowers by Shabby Fabrics

The August monthly bloom was another easy fuse and stitchout with just two pieces like the daisies. Once again I did a diagonal plaid using the polka dots as my grid for the table and another loopy meander with flowers thrown in occasionally. The binding was supposed to be on bias and it would have looked better if it was, but I chickened out again.

FINISH: A-Door-naments – February Hearts by Shabby Fabrics

Once I actually started stitching out this one, it went quickly with just three colors – white, red, and dark red. This series was supposed to be a door knob hanger, but I made them wall hangings instead.

FINISH: A-Door-naments – March Pot of Gold by Shabby Fabrics

With so many pieces on this one, the flip inside out was tough to do. I had way to many layers for me to get the quarter inch seam right. Unfortunately, we don’t have straight sides for this one.

On the other hand, it was a thrill to finish the last on of this 12 month series.

NEW STARTS

I have three new starts this past four weeks. The first one is Spring. When I was cutting my pieces for the pieced left side, I miscut the “flower” fabrics. I almost had a heart attack as there is no extra fabric. I got on a roll cutting all the pieces 2.25 and these need to be cut 2.5 inches. So, I went and sewed back together my orange, rotated the fabric and then recut. I think because of the mottled fabric, no one will even notice.

I was able to get all the blocks cut for the pieced flower blocks on Flowers. Thank goodness I actually double checked before cutting the pieces this time. I love all the shades of lavendar to magenta in this one.

I can’t believe I am over the halfway mark on this series. I have finished six months (July, August, September, October, November, & January)

OMG! There is 90 pieces to be fused for Blooming Daffodils. Every flower has two large yellow petal pieces, two orange center, with one yellow stamen. Now that I have the background sewn and the pieces punched out, I will need to number all 90 pieces. I generally put them in order and then will build each flower and put back in order.

Next I will lay out the vase and stems then add the already fused flowers to my fusing mat. The assembly diagram has marked on it where the vase is supposed to be on the table/background and I will mark with fusible pen so I can line it up on the sewn background after fusing everything together.

Due to the intricacy of this design, it will take a few hours to build out and fuse onto the background.

STITCHING REQUIRED

Blooming Hearts was fused this week after I finished the last of the other projects. Compared to Blooming Daffodils this was mere 40 pieces and went together fairly quickly. I normally use the blanket stitch when I applique my wall hangings. I don’t like the heaviness of satin stich or the look of the zigzag nor am I comfortable with the straight stitch.

This one will only require four colors to finish up – white, dark red, red, and green. I like to work on multiple projects, so unless I get a bug up my butt, I probably won’t start stitching out until the other three are ready. None of the others have red or dark red so maybe I will go ahead stitch those colors out while I work on finishing the pieced blocks for A Year In Words series.

WRAP UP

This past month was the most progress I have made on my applique projects in a while. It felt really good to finish up so many and start some new fresh ones.

I am looking at starting a new series that are Wool Hexagons if I can’t find my older series I need to finish up. So first, I will got through the last of the boxes in the old sewing room to see if I can find my A Year with Bertie or my Banner Year projects. I never finished either of them and I would love to finish them up too.

I hope you have enjoyed and found something useful in this blog. You have questions about applique, do not hesistate to ask.

Peggy