A Journey Begins!

Roxane of Scrap, Quilt and Stitch has done it again! Another great block to add to our De Deauville to Cape Cod quilt was sent to us last week. This is Block no 10...

As you can see, we had to sew the two backgrounds together before adding the flags. Simple but very nice!

One more block then the borders... I can't wait!

Meanwhile, I visited my sister and husband last weekend in Northern NB. We prepped fiddleheads her husband had picked for us to freeze... a big job but we will enjoy these in the dead of next winter. While there, I always take a stroll through his beautiful gardens whatever season and take lots of photos. To my surprise, he had these floats hanging from his trees... I just had to take photos... Lucky guy to have found these at a garage sale!

Before leaving on the weekend jaunt, I finished block no 3 Une Annee Dans Les Etoiles from Sylvie at Un Atelier A La Montagne . How cute is this block? I spilled the beans on this quilt too... this is for my niece Danielle whose mother, our oldest sister Viki, died 1 year ago in January. I am using clothing from Viki's closet to decorate these stars. Viki will always be the brightest star in the sky and I hope this will bring Danielle and her family joy at having this souvenir. My father's tie was used to make the bird house in block no 1; he had many, many bird houses around the ancestral home; the buttons are from Viki's dress shirts. 

Peppermint Place is back on the drawing board... or in this case the cutting table. I was not happy with the instructions for the borders. I tested my 1/4in seams throughout to make sure they were accurate but then the instructions tell you to trim to a certain size. Once that's done, you sew on the top and bottom borders but since you trimmed the blocks, the squares on point don't match up well nor do the bottom and top triangles look good because part of the tips have been cut off... 

 

My solution is to pick out the top and bottom borders and resew the strips so that the triangles aren't missing parts. It will make the borders narrower but I'll worry about that later. The center of the quilt is all sewn together and it looks great. This is one project that I will be thrilled to see done. It's been a joy to work on until the borders!

For the longest time, I've been in love with Dear Jane! Every year, I've contemplated beginning my own but the plans never worked out because of life's interruptions.

I've admired gorgeous and expertly crafted DJ quilts, at quilt shows and in museum exhibits etc. The following Dear Janes were hung at the Colorado State Capitol in Denver June 2009. We were in town for meetings and while my husband attended lectures, I wandered to the Capitol building to visit the quilt show. 

They were hung back to back and for the longest time I thought they were one quilt with 2 complete DJs front and back! But as you can see in the 2nd photo that is not the case! However they are still beautiful and have captured my heart once again.

So what's a poor girl pining for a Dear Jane of her own to do? One who is near completion of 2 BOMs? One who needs an evening project...

Of course I have to start one... my initial investment has arrived! I ordered the book, software and rulers. What I need to sort out is what fabrics to choose. I have a beautiful white tone on tone for the sashings and corner stones and I love the brightness of the two quilts above. I must go through my fabrics to see what will be suitable. I hope the software will be a great addition to the project; you don't need it but I hear it's quite helpful. 

My journey with Jane begins...

Toodles,

Lorette

Holiday Stitching Progress

It was a quiet Easter holiday weekend here at the farm. We spent Sunday morning at a brunch with family then came home and walked the shore. Beautiful and sunny but cool day without wind! Always a great day when the winds don't knock you down.

I finished block no 2 of  Une Annee Dans Les Etoiles. I'm loving this embroidery. Check out Un Atelier de la Montagne to view the slide show of everyone's work.

Once the star was done, it was time to return to Yoko Saito's Quilt Mystere block no 6, the last block in the quilt but only my fourth. If you remember, I skipped 4 & 5 to work on 6 just to be different!

It took me three days to add the church with the house behind it and the lower level houses. Before leaving Los Angeles, I had the top two houses done. There's an error here... the steps leading to the middle level should be going towards the right; I didn't notice until the strip had been sewn to the top level and I left it there until I could decide what to do. I debated long and hard about reversing them but decided to leave it as it is and move on. There are 3 embroidered dogs left to add but I'll wait until all the pieces are applique'ed. I may just add them in the space created by the steps going the wrong way.

I also debated whether to embroider the leaves on the bottom tree or applique them. There are 3 trees with embroidered leaves: top left behind the church and the two at opposing corners. A fourth would have been too many and this one really needed the applique'ed leaves. These leaves are even smaller than on Block no 1.

They are small:

The process for my applique preparation is simple : liquid starch and my stencil burner tip. Since these are so small, I used three layers of freezer paper and added an extra line of permanent marker in order to see the marks for cutting.

Start by painting the liquid starch around the applique: here you can see the top leaf is wet.

The tips are the first to be folded over: this is the stencil burner tip and it's HOT! I use an applique pressing sheet which is great as it keeps my ironing board free of starch and glue. Be aware it too gets HOT which is a bonus as it helps dry the starch.

With both ends done, it's time to turn the edges. This is where the stencil burner tip comes in handy: by running its edge along the seam allowance of the piece, it automatically turns the edges along the freezer paper even on these small pieces. In the following sequence, you will see how the leaf is prepared. 

One good pressing over the whole leaf

Turn the leaf over and press from the right side.

Voila!

That's 4 leaves per dime! Didn't I say they were small?

Our beach is devoid of ice cakes... 

The crows have the right idea... time to stop...

Have a great week! I am linking to The Needle And Thread Network and Let's Bee Social. Have a look at other Works In Progress (WIPs).

Toodles,

Lorette

Gazing... at the stars...

I have been a follower of Un Atelier a la Montagne (France) for a long time although not registered as a follower until last month! Sylvie has a huge fan base and her BOMs are always popular. This year's BOM is even more so. Check it out... it's called Une Annee Dans Les Etoiles translated means A Year In The Stars.

It was such a popular design even with the first block that she had a hard time keeping up with the requests. I think she was pleased and shocked at the response. I'll be interested to see how everyone interprets these. They are quite cute and a fun project for me to stitch in the evenings; this is another one that I yearn to get the next block quickly. Best of all it's FREE to subscribers of her newsletter!

Here is block no 1: This will be a special quilt for an extra-special someone so I can only show you the blocks without divulging any information.

Block no 2 arrived in our mailbox yesterday and I got it ready for embroidery today. 

I've been too busy during the day to get some handwork ready for the evenings and it's been really hard for me to sit still. I have all the applique pieces ready for block no 6 in Yoko Saito's Quilt Mystere 2012 but haven't had the time to spend at the mini iron to turn the edges. Perhaps this afternoon will lend itself well for this activity. The sun is shining bright, there's very little wind but it's cool. Our new porch is the perfect place to sit with a glass of some refreshment while working on applique.

This past week I've also drawn a pattern for another bag, sewn a prototype and then made the finished one which I will share with you after I deliver this commissioned work. It's a pretty one. I have one more bag to make for a gift before I start producing some for sale. I'm eagerly awaiting arrival of supplies I ordered. So much color is involved and I can hardly wait! Seems all I do while working at projects is wait for the next big delivery!

What are you waiting for?? Easter is in a few days... That means there'll be licorice in my snack bowl again!!! BLACK of course!! Happy dancing!! and of course HAPPY EASTER!

Toodles,

Lorette