Getting ready for the Oma's Blues Applique BOM

I seem to be getting ready for so many projects and I will be glad when I can get started on a few.

If you have not seen Esther's Blog yet you really should check it out. Esther Aliu is a textile artist and quilt designer. She established a private Yahoo group to link quilters world wide and regularly releases free patterns for the group. Membership is by application to Esther by email and comes through quite quickly. How do you all find Yahoo groups? I admit to being slightly ambivalent. I find the set-up a bit clunky but once you are in there are forums, advice, patterns and so much more. The BOM runs from January-November 2015.
The newly released pattern is called Oma's Blues which is a reference to her German grandmother's plates. I think blue and white quilts are quite beautiful and the design for this one is stunning.
There will be a central medallion plate with bird, flowers and foliage, surrounded by borders with other motifs.

I took a Chinese plate that we have to our LQS and came back with just the three fabrics you see above with the plate. The light blue and the darker fabric are just right but the fabric with hexagons will be kept in reserve. Not sure it has the right feel. I may have to make a detour on the way to London to get some more. I have very few blue fabrics in my stash and none with these kinds of tones.......

......a few days later and after our visit to London....

Mike and I spent last weekend staying with friends. On the way there a little detour was in order to a fab shop called Creative Quilting in Hampton Court Village. This shop had everything I needed, fabrics, notions and a whole lot more including the most helpful staff.
I bought a selection of fabrics with mid and light tones. These have now been washed and pressed. The photo below shows the color catchers from these fabrics at the top and from blue batiks at the bottom.

I ordered Mettler 60/2 threads online for the appliqué. I thought these would be the range of colours to blend with the blue fabrics. The background is Kona Solid White, a good white white, if you know what I mean.  

I'll be trying a couple of new products for my turned edge appliqué. The wash away sheets can be used in the photocopier to copy the pattern then to stabilize the pieces. It will also be used for the foundation piecing of the pieced triangle (see above around the central medallion of the Oma's Blues). Those teeny, tiny triangles have to be pieced in a circle!

The central medallion pattern pieces have now been printed and traced and next week I should have prepared the background square and have some actual progress to show.

A few tools I ordered online to help with the appliqué. I'll be reviewing them when they have been used.

close-up of the tips

Just a small finish to show you this week. I knitted a Perennial hat, pattern by Alana Dakos, from the Sweet Georgia yarn I used for the Oak Trail hat. All the details are on my Ravelry project page

I'm linking up to Freshly Finished Friday (link in the right side bar). Click through on the little blue frog to see the links to posts.

Have a super weekend. It is my granddaughter Isobel's 2nd birthday today and we are hosting a tea party here on Saturday for grandparents, Aunts, Uncles and cousins. Should be fun!

Catherine

July applique block

Next week is going to be a bit manic with a party, a holiday and preparation for my parent's visit. I've spent two days sewing and have managed to cut all my fabric for the Summer Breeze quilt. I blogged about this here. An amazing amount of fabric for the queen size quilt has been reduced to various sized squares and rectangles and piecing has begun.

The pieces are all packed away for a couple of weeks and this afternoon I managed to finish the July block for the English Country Garden appliqué BOM. I had been waiting for some Heat n'Bond Featherlite as the flowers were much more intricate for this block and I did not feel I could manage needle turn appliqué. The background for the block was flying geese. I machine appliquéd the leaves, hand appliquéd the flower stem and crazy stippled the flowers. I thought that even a simple machine edging would make the individual florets look too heavy so just caught down most of the flowers with an uneven stipple. I'm pleased with how it turned out even if it is not as the experts would do it.

These are the four blocks I have completed.

The backgrounds all look slightly different in tone because of the lighting conditions when they were taken. I think it will be really pretty when I've finished and will probably have it in the conservatory during the winter to remind me of gorgeous spring and summer flowers. If you fancy having a go (and it's not too difficult) take a look at Kerry's blog. It has been really nice to have a small project like this which has a choice of techniques.

I also ordered a few fat quarters of Tanya Whelan's Barefoot Roses fabric and some perle thread from Cottonpatch. I think it may come in useful for making a rose block. I'm sure Kerry will include one (at least, I hope she does!)

Finally, I had a lovely card from Hugo and Vivi in the post today. I think Hugo may have added the bit on the left.

Tomorrow I intend to do some planning, a bit of ironing and shop for a few tops for Mike and a new dress for myself. Then I'll recover in the garden.

What great weather we are having. Enjoy the summer while it lasts. I'll be back in about 2 weeks.

Catherine

I'm linking up to SewCuteTuesday at Blossom Heart Quilts. There's so much great stuff there so take a look.




Also linking up to Building Blocks Tuesday at Quilter in the Closet



Linking up later in the month with PennyDog Patchwork

A Swarm in June is worth a silver spoon

It must be summer. We've had at least seven days of sun here in South Wales which is getting on for a record here. Today has been a scorcher.
The best news of the day so far is that we have bees again. Mike went to look at his hives this morning because he had seen a couple of dozen bees going into his empty hive over the last couple of days. He came back this morning to say he had seen a swarm in the hedge about 30 yards from the hives. Mike has never collected a swarm himself so rang our friend and neighbour Andy for advice. Both men went to have another look and no collection necessary. The bees had found their own way into the hive. A celebration beer for the men and rosé for Carole and I.

‘A swarm in May is worth a load of hay; a swarm in June is worth a silver spoon; but a swarm in July is not worth a fly’ 

 It was decided that our bottom field was ready to cut for hay so that began this morning. So we will have both a load of hay and hopefully some honey later in the year.

I needed a new challenge on the quilting front and decided to confront my demons. My first attempts at appliqué had been very poor and I needed to give it another go. 
Kerry at PennyDog Patchwork is running the English Country Garden BOM. The patterns are free for the first month of the BOM then available at her Craftsy shop for just less than £1 each. A bargain!
The BOM started a couple of months ago so I had to work on the first three blocks this weekend. The background fabrics are Lynette Anderson Bread and Butter and a fabric from my stash (unknown origin). The fabrics for the flowers are all from my stash so far but I may need to buy some red for a poppy or rose later.

I love the naive simplicity of the English bluebell design. The Sarah Raven book was a present from Mike last year. Possibly one of the best wild flower books I have seen.

Kerry's instructions include a number of ways to appliqué either by machine or hand. I traced the design pieces onto freezer paper, ironed this to fabric then cut the shapes with an approximate ¼"seam allowance. I clipped the curves and used Sewline fabric glue sparingly on the seam to form the shapes. These were placed and pinned on the 12½" block and I used a Mettler silk-finish 50 wt. thread to match the background (col. 725).

The only problem I have had so far has been turning seam allowance on the points without showing any excess fabric from the front. Any tips anyone? I'm just a bit concerned as July's pattern is a hyacinth and I presume the shapes will be like the bluebells but smaller.

The June block is an Iris and I have made a start with the log cabin background and cut the petal shapes for the Iris itself. I might do some sewing this evening once the house cools down.

I have been doing very little knitting or crochet due to the hot weather but I have almost finished a bag I am making from Lucy's pattern at Attic24. It is made with a chunky yarn - Bergère Magic+ in Brebis, Lichen, Colvert, Corail, Petrol and Criquet.  Just the handle to make now and then I will have a bag for my projects.

showing the bottom of the bag

The bag is fairly large so next time I will be following Lucy's pattern for her Jolly Chunky Bag which is smaller and neater. I will be using Lucy's collection of yarn colours in Stylecraft Chunky acrylic from Wool Warehouse which are in her typical bright palette. Have a look at the selection here This should work out a bit cheaper too than the Bergère yarn.

I'm linking up with Catherine at Knotted Cotton for the Slow Bloggers linky and with Janine at Rainbow Hare Quilts for Wool on Sundays. All those of you who sometimes feel pressured to blog need to look at the Slow Bloggers manifesto! Janine has been making the most amazing jointed cloth doll family and there are always lovely project links.

I'll also be joining in the Sew Darn Crafty Linky party when it starts later today

and also joining for the first time

Have a wonderful week and keep your fingers crossed that it remains sunny to dry our hay.

Catherine

***** UPDATE*****
I was too late to join the Slow Bloggers Linky but please check it out as it is being hosted by Martha at Weekend Doings. Talk about SLOW!
The manifesto for the Slow Bloggers though is on Knotted Cotton. Take a peek.