Hopeful Homemaker

I did it again.  I started another applique project.  This time it’s a journal-style quilt.  One heart for every day.  I want to honor a journey – a literal journey that is also a journey of the heart.  It’s beautiful and strong, difficult and impactful.  It amazes me yet doesn’t surprise me.  So there are hearts.  I need lots of little heart blocks for this one, so they’re small.  I think they’re cute!

So far this is all scraps.  I’ve started cutting 3.5″ squares and making the hearts.  Instead of my usual thread basting method, I’m using Cut Rite freezer paper cardstock to turn the edges in advance.  These are going to be stitched with the edges already prepared.  I’ll make it a really colorful quilt, and scrappy.  But there will also be structure.  I will introduce certain colors or fabrics to represent important days, events, or themes.

Unfortunately the idea struck months after the journey began.  (I do this too often, I think!)  Even though it will require extra work, and some of the calendaring will be representative and not exact, I believe it’s worth it.  Plus, who could be unhappy while stitching these little heart blocks?

I’ll work hard now to catch up, and then I can slow down.  I picture myself having a weekly stitching appointment where I applique 7 hearts at a time.  Typically I don’t love the heart symbol.  I have no idea why (My Heart, Today, is an exception, I guess).  But stars, they speak to my heart.  I’m a little surprised that I feel so drawn to this project, and to the hearts in particular.  It’s always fun to have something new catch your interest.  Wish me luck on catching up!  I have almost 300 hearts to make.  Surely I can do it!

Honestly, though.  Do you think I’m crazy?  Would you start something like this 8 months later?  What if the journey is a once in a lifetime thing?  Would it be worth it to catch up?  I’m curious.  These personal story quilts light me up, and I want to know how you feel about projects like this.  Please share!

Jennifer

It’s high summer, when you sleep without blankets and only want to read a book in the shade during long afternoons.  And yet, somehow this quilt also feels like summer to me.  I finished my Hunt Quilt.  That’s one less applique quilt top languishing without quilting, so it feels like a win!  The pattern is by Carolyn Friedlander, and it’s one of those shapes that is incredibly simple.  Two straight sides with tiny little curves on the end.  Simple, but challenging. And dramatic when they’re all stitched!  If you decide to make it, I highly recommend getting the template.

The mini red circle in the quilt is my own doing.  You can read about it here, and maybe you’ll chuckle along with me when I said I was brainstorming quilting ideas.  Why?  Because in the end I just wanted it done.

I chose an edge to edge design called “grape soda”, and sent it to Sew Shabby Quilting.  Custom quilting would certainly look amazing with this pattern, but I also like the whimsical texture this pantograph creates.  It doesn’t detract from the applique.

Mostly, as I said, it’s done!  I haven’t finished many quilts in the last year.  This is a victory!

Now I look at it and see so many beloved fabrics.  Some of these are the very last piece I had saved for years.  Now they’re showcased in these lovely circles.

I selected an old Sandi Henderson floral print from my backing stash for this quilt, and it’s fun to see it off the shelf.  As always, I love the blues.

I bound the quilt in a dark navy.  So far I’ve kept it on the living room couch because I enjoy looking at it so much.

Not only does my Hunt quilt hold lots of precious fabrics; it holds stitches too. And I love the way it harmonizes with the blues in that room.

I spent many hours stitching each blade by hand.  I love holding the fruits of my efforts in a finished quilt.  I’m grateful for this finish.

 

 

It’s summertime!  Time to be outdoors, making memories, and enjoying the blue skies.  And flowers.  It’s always time to enjoy flowers!  I realized that during the summer I largely hand sew, which usually means applique.  As you know, applique and flowers are always a lovely combination.  So don’t be shocked that I’m popping in with another applique project!  As a longtime fan of both Leah Duncan and Carolyn Friedlander, I rushed to purchase the Wildabon pattern years ago when it was released.  I also bought a kit, a rare thing for me.  Then I procrastinated and never made it.  Now, at last, I have a Wildabon beginning!

I struggled with fabric selection at first.  I weighed using the fabrics in the kit, or using Liberty lawn for this project.  For a while I thought I would just make two of them.  Then I realized how many things I want to make, and I don’t think I’ll end up making two of these.  So I added Liberty fabrics to the Carolyn Friedlander lawns.  My version has more small flowers than the original, because I kept adding more Liberty prints!

I started in the corner with the blues, and have been making my way around the small flowers first.  You can see that I’ve stitched some of them down already.

This pattern calls for thread basting.  When I thread baste, I stitch 1/4″ away from the edge of the fabric I’m appliqueing to the background.  You can see my running stitch 1/4″ in from the edge of the orangey red fabrics below.  Then, when I applique, I simply turn the raw edge under 1/8 inch.  This raw edge meets the running stitch and helps me get a good fold to stitch down.  After I stitch the entire piece down, I simply remove the basting stitch.

I thread baste most of the time when I applique.  Something I particularly love about it is that my fabrics won’t shift after I baste them in place.  I can fold, wad, wrinkle, and generally wrangle my base fabric as much as needed.  That applique piece won’t move if it’s thread basted.  Thread basting makes travel easy and worry-free for my project.

This is a wholecloth quilt, approximately 45″ square.  I confess that stitching lawn to this heavy background isn’t easy.  But look at all the pretty prints I added!  It will be fun to continue stitching on my Wildabon beginning throughout the summer.