JANUARY'S GARDEN PARTY DOWN UNDER FINISH

 This past week I finished my January instructions on my Garden Party Down Under BOM 2022 with The Quilt Show.  Waiting for February to continue the journey.  I paper pieces the dog ears and they fit on the center perfectly.   

This left me with nothing going on in the sewing room to work on, at least nothing I wanted to.  So I spied a fun little idea on the internet and decided to give it a try in-between other projects.

I am using polka dot fabrics as much as possible in this.  So have done a good deal of crawling through my fabric stash.  Finding a good stack of charm blocks at the bottom of a drawer has proved valuable with this project.  The piece on the bottom will actually end up being a tea pot.  I have to get a good deal more stems into it before adding the spout and handle and fusing it down.  

This is the pieced border that goes around the center.  Six inch finished blocks.

And this is the second borders.  I am short of the 20 I need.  I have exhausted my stash for prints, so looks like a shopping trip is in order.  These are cut 6 by 9 inches.  I am thinking about appliquéing scalloped pieces on top of them between them and the first border.  Still not sure yet on that issue.  I am winging this from a picture, so not sure where it is going until I get there.  

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CAMDEN STATION BLOCKS 1,2,3 & PILLOWCASES AGAIN

Between working on my BOM 2022 Garden Party Down Under, I have been able to squeeze in and finish Block #3 of Camden Station.

I am held up on the Garden Party appliqués waiting for some circle templates to arrive.  Tracing small circles off the patterns is a bit of a chore.  I ordered Karen Buckley's small and large circles, and leaves templates.  Both the leaves and large circles came but the small circles, the ones I really needed were delayed.  In desperation I finally cancelled the Amazon order and purchased them through The Quilt Show.  They finally arrived yesterday, so I can get back to finishing up my appliqués.    

To fill in the waiting time I cut out some pillowcase pieces.  In March my quilt guild meets on a Saturday for National Quilt Day and we all sew pillowcases for a local children's hospital.  We donate 125 every year to them. 

I cut three for girls and three for boys.  It has been a year since I put these together and the pattern while not complicated is different so I figured I had better read the direction and get one together properly before packing the rest up to take to that event.  

I'm all ready to go.  I got the first one done, have it all figured out again.  They are a bit tricky as all the raw seams are enclosed, so a little bit of a puzzle putting them together to remember after a year's laps.  

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BOM 2022 MONTH ONE PROGRESS

 I was able to start my Garden Party Down Under Block of the Month 2022.  It became available on the 1st of January from The Quilt Show.  I got busy right away.  I have lots of circle centers to go into the red flowers and red/orange berries/circles on the vine on the lower left.  I am waiting for Karen Kay Buckley's Perfect Circles templates to arrive.   

I backed the background fabric with Pellon 911FF, a light weight stabilizer that is fused on.  I am machine appliqueing with a blanket stitch and fusing the appliqués on with Steam a Steam 2.  Originally I thought to hand appliqué the bias vines down, but reconsidered that.  I am fusing them down with Lite Steam-A-Seam Double Stick 1/4 inch wide Fusible Tape.  It comes on a roll and is easily applied.  It is fantastic to work with and they are on there to stay.

Over the first week of this month our kitchen update finally was finished.  Six weeks of washing dishes in the garage sink was getting pretty old.  Absolutely worth the chaos and mess for sure.  Love the new sink!

Zoey had a house guest for 10 days over New Years.  The little white fluff bug is Sir Trotts my granddaughter's dog.  They had a wonderful time chasing each other all over the house.  Sharing my husband's lap during the evenings was another favorite pastime.  When granddaughter returned from her trip he went home.  Zoey spent the better part of this past week mopping around the house; she misses him.       

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TWO BLOCKS DONE ON CAMDEN STATION & WISTERIA LANE

I must admit that I thought I had really taken on something I was not truly prepared to mange when I started this project.  These blocks finish at 6 inches, so the pieces are TINY.  I have been very surprised at how easily I have managed them.   

Now thread has been an issue for me.  I am a thread hoarder, I have lots of thread.  Everything from 12wt, 28wt, cotton, poly, and rayon in various weights as well.  I decided to use rayon 40wt thread on this project.  

Despite all this I did end up taking two trips to JoAnn's for additional colors.  But plowing through this mass of thread became a real chore so once I finished the first block I knew I had to do some organization matching thread color to each fabrics in the kit provided with the project. 

So I spent an hour or so taking each fabric pieces, selected matching thread that worked with them and bagged them up.  I think I have a plan going forward now.  So two done and ten more to go.  

I have been working on this Wisteria Lane project for years.  I finished fusing on the appliqués at last.  Now I have to figure out what sort of batting to put behind it.  I do have a stablilizer applied to it so I only need something light weight.  Then all this blooms, leave and stems need to be quilted on.  Now that is going to take some time.  

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CONFESSIONS OF A FABRIC ADDICT

  

CAMDEN STATION BLOCK ONE & A NEW TOY

 I began this past week working on my Camden Station appliqué kit.  Frankly the size of these blocks and the amount of appliqué required had me thinking I should seek Psychiatric help.  It turns out it is not as difficult as I thought it would be.

The blocks will finish at 6 inches.  So lots of stuff in a small space.  I am happy with this first block, except for the thread color on the bottom part of the blue flower.  The thread is too light for that color, I should have used a medium grey instead.  I did consider taking the stitching out and redoing it, but thus far I am leaving it in and hoping to get over it.  I also decided not to blanket stitch the bias stems, I tried one and took out the stitches it just did not look good.  I have just glued them down with Roxanne Glue Baste.  This finished wall hanging will be 18 by 24 and the stems are short, it will never be washed so I think that will work well.

I have been working with an 8 by 12 light box.  I am finding that it just is not large enough or bright enough to show pattern placements through some fabrics.  When I was working on my Flower Garden quilt it was a major issue.  While Camden Station blocks are small, I realized that the 2022 BOM has a good deal of appliqué and it was going to be an issue.  So, I ordered this new toy for myself.

I love this new light box.  Plus the plastic overlay is really helpful keeping things all lined up and there is even a circular overlay too.  The LED lighting is really strong, so shows through the fabric backgrounds that I have stabilized with Pellon 911FF a non woven fusible stabilizer. 

Yes, the kitchen was still a mess.  No signs of the countertops arriving as promised.  But husband did decided that the Christmas season without Pizzelles dipped in dark chocolate was not acceptable.

OK, after helping husband do the Pizzelles I just didn't get over that light thread on the dark blue part of the flower.  Yes, I pulled it out and appliquéd it over again with a grey thread. I feel much better.     

DESIGN WALL MONDAY

MID WEEK MAKERS

CONFESSIONS OF A FABRIC ADDICT