La Finestre- a finish!

I'm not sure I have much left to say about this quilt.

I started it back in August last year,

 about ten months ago.

It is the Dotty Mc Potty pattern by Irene Blanck 

at Focus On Quilts.

I made my own trailing vine-type border rather  

than the one in the pattern.

It was obvious that I was running out of low-volume

 background fabric so a dear blogging friend, 

Karen at Sunburnt Quilts came to my rescue.

I found a vintage sheet in my stash for the backing, 

bought for me, I think, by my sister!

Yesterday my husband and I drove to Daylesford to see 

a quilt show (the less said the better!)

Then onto Taradale to do some family history research 

at the cemetery.

The little town and its park were the perfect backdrop 

for my photos.

I machine-quilted some long stitching around the blocks

and sashing, 

before adding lots and lots of hand quilting.

It's probably one of my favourite quilts! 

It was a joy to make!

Quilt #4 for 2024

Lifetime quilt #156

62" by 70"

Happy sewing,

Suz

 

Potty McDotty!

No, I wasn't attracted to this pattern because of its name!

It was more the lovely pots of appliqued flowers!

I saw the original quilt in a quilt shop recently and just 

had to buy the pattern!

It's by Irene Blanck of Focus On Quilts.

I made all the background pieces first and may, or may 

not, stay with this layout.

But it is good to have a plan and a record of it.

The slow sewing is very relaxing!

I often prep the blocks in the daylight hours....

and stitch away in the evenings!

I'm limiting the colour palette to blues, aquas, greens, 

yellows and light oranges

I listened to this wonderful audiobook while stitching 

this block.....

Looking at these now I am wishing I had varied the 

placement of the flowers or leaves in each block,

maybe curving them in the opposite direction.

Maybe I will do that with the next ones!

Happy sewing,

SUZ

 

A Blooming Flimsy!

I got this finished last night....

Well, most of the top was done on Friday,

  

but there were stamen to be added to the bud flowers.

The pattern says to fix them with adhesive backing 

and then zigzagging around the edges.

I knew I would prefer the neatness of appliquéing them!

 

The top finishes at 75" square and now needs another serious pressing after all the manhandling involved in appliqué. 

On another note, today was the day eleven years ago I started blogging at THIS blog- SUZ'S Dandelion Wishes.

I blogged there for about four months, before moving across to this one! It was fun(?) to read those posts again, and kind of embarrassing! I had 7 followers after four months and a new Juki machine!

It's appropriate that I mention it today because Blogger is making a significant change to the way some of my followers receive my posts. If you read my blog via the email option, that will change. I have a friend who is going to help me give you another option, but unfortunately you will have to resubscribe! Stay tuned!

                                    Happy days!

                                        SUZ

Processing....

 My Bessie Creek Road quilt is slowly coming along....

I hand pieced the centre star

        

        and it's playing nicely with its neighbours.

      All twenty of the hexie flowers are complete...

I have now also finished the circle squares...

made my way!

I pieced a four patch block and then ironed a freezer 

paper template to the back,

cut it out with a 1/4" seam 

and painted a thin line of Flatter, a spray type starch, 

around the edge, before pressing.

This Flatter spray smell amazing!

This helps the seam to sit down flat for applique!

It was then time to see how the blocks were looking 

altogether.

This arrangement (above) is the square version, but

 not the actual one, but shows most of the blocks 

                            complete so far.

    

    This is how the layout will look, except the hexie         

                  blocks will be in the outer rounds.

      Four more different designed blocks to do.... 

                        mostly hand piecing!

                    So lots of prep still to come!

                                

                                Happy sewing!

                                    SUZ

               Please excuse the horrid formatting. Blogger doesn't behave like it used to!

Hint, hint...

I have never had a formal applique lesson so

 anything I do is never going to win a blue ribbon!

Chuck Nohara #cn1044 - no applique on this one!

But I have picked up a couple hints that have really 

helped me and thought I'd share them here...

I love "Best Press" but it is pricey here in Australia.

So rather than spraying randomly over small pieces 

of fabric, where most settles on the ironing board...

 spray some into a small dish and 'paint' it on!

Ironing a crease around the freezer paper template 

is much easier this way.

#cn564

I was still having all sorts of trouble turning the 

edges of my shapes,

particularly the inner corners.

So my friend Elizabeth, 

who blogs over at Occasional Piece ,

suggested I check out 

Becky Goldsmith's You Tube videos! 

Wow! What a revelation that was!

See that toothpick up there in the top lefthand 

corner....

that helps turn the edges under like magic!

Where's Wally?  #cn345

There's always something to learn, isn't there?

And that also completes July's Chuck Nohara blocks!

Happy sewing...

SUZ

Using all the techniques...

to complete my Chuck Nohara blocks for June!

But not all in the one block....

hand applique, machine applique, blanket stitch, 

 embroidery, piecing- with an inset seam, 

felt and fusing!

So to celebrate - it's time for a group shot...

And plans for July...

Happy sewing!

SUZ