I was not entirely sure I was going to like the Aunt Millies with smaller borders on the top and bottom than on the sides, but I took the Piece o Cake Leap o Faith and prepped the borders according to the pattern.....
It works! it's just enough border. I think adding the side border treatment on the top and bottom would have been too much. What have we learned.....trust in the wisdom of the Cake.
So now a little stitching and it's done!!!!!
Hugs and Stitches!
Megan
well, there's only so much piecing I can do without going a little batty (unfortunately it's a short trip to batty for me!), so I took a little break from the million pieces blue quilt to do a little applique.
I finished border #1 on Aunt Millie and prepped #2.....oooo this is getting exciting!!!
the last two borders are not as elaborate as the sides so they should go a little quicker......maybe I'll actually get this done this year!!
Hugs and Stitches!
Megan
This time of year just makes you want to work in the garden, right?? well, I just got a manicure, so I'm sticking with the Aunt Millie's garden for now, thank you very much!
So I prepped the last of my blocks.....I'm only doing 9. very exciting, I actually might finish this quilt this year!
I'm telling you....who would have ever thought brown would make such a good "ground" against all these colors (sorry, couldn't help myself in the pun department)
Hugs and Stitches!
Megan
It's been so nice to work on something sunny since it's been rain, rain and more rain here in NJ. These flowers were super easy to grow! and I'm especially happy that the only fabric purchased for this project was the pink background. I "borrowed" some Kaffe's from some of the ladies, cause, it takes a village.....thanks ladies!!!!
I'm teaching this as a class at Cozy Quilts in August,so join in the fun if you are in the neighborhood.
Hugs and Stitches!
Megan
I was never good at waiting,
waiting for good news, waiting for bad
waiting for trains, waiting for planes
waiting for people, waiting for presents
I'm a watch-checking, toe tapping, two year old!
So I course, I could not wait til I finished the applique blocks to be done to see how this Fanciful Flowers quilts would shape up.
Wowee, kazowee, these alternate blocks certainly add whole new life to the applique blocks don't they?
ok, so now Ill be a grown-up and get back to the task at hand, right after I have Ring-Dings for dinner!
Hugs and Stitches!
Megan
As I was finishing the last little stitches on my yellow block I was wondering what color should my last Aunt Millie block be?
But then I put my finished block up on the wall.... seems like something in the blue/purple family.....what do you think??
Hugs and Stitches!
Megan
Well, I'll tell you what, my garden definitely grows with a little help from my Aunt Millie friends! The gang came over for brunch and sewing on Sunday and it always gets me charged up to get moving on this project.
So thanks to the ladies and Ginny's no-calorie pecan praline french toast, I was able to finish block # 7...
and thanks to the sugar rush, I was able to finish prepping #8
I'm only doing 9 of the blocks....so the end is near! and then you know what's next!
Hugs and Stitches!
Megan
Have you seen Kim's new pattern?
I'm 7-1/2 yards of background fabric away from starting this project. PLEASE, someone talk some sense into me!
I'm thinking a pale green background....what do you think?
And for your Mother's Day Moment of Zen:
DS#1 and I went out for dinner tonite while the rest of the gang was elsewhere. When the bill came, without the smallest of hesitation, he looked at me and said "I got it". Aren't those the three best words? Ok, maybe not the 3 best words, but it made me feel like maybe I didn't do such a bad job with this one, maybe he's grown up to be the kind, thoughtful man I knew he could be.
Or maybe he just think this gets him off the hook for Mothers Day.
Have a wonderful weekend and Mothers Day!
Hugs and Stitches!
Megan
ooooh, look what fell in the box when the MQX people shipped my Lollipop quilt home to me...
Hope you get a nice little surprise today!
Hugs and stitches!
Megan
oh, it's not a bad thing! My Lollypop Quilt is on it's way to MQX in New Hampshire. Yeah! it was accepted into that show too, and Jeanne gets to showcase her work.
And me , I'm heading to Lancaster next weekend with some of the sisters....for some misbehavin'. Ok, maybe it's for the Quilter Heritage Celebration, but we will certainly fit in some laughter and mischief too. So I worked on picking out fabric for my class with Lisa DeBee Schiller this weekend and getting organized around the house.....a losing battle I'm afraid.
I also prepped the next Aunt Millie's block. It took me some time, I had to break through that "should I stop at six?"barrier. But finally, I have and now we are on to the newest block
I very often get questions about how I prep my applique....so here it is:
for this quilt I am using heat resistant mylar template. I cut the templates the finished size of the pieces.
Then I cut the fabric 1/8" larger than the template.
I apply liquid starch to the seam allowance with a q-tip or paint brush and then I use by little clover iron to fold the seam allowance over the template and leave the iron on til the starch dries. This leaves a nice crisp edge that does not come unfolded from handling.
I find if I use my regular iron for the seam allowance I need to turn the heat down a bit, the mylar can get a little wrinkly from the heat of the big iron. I also find that my fancy french manicure does not always agree with the heat, so I sometimes use a bamboo skewer to hold the seam allowance in place when I'm working the piece.
I like this method cause when I lay the block out I can place everything exactly where it's going to go and not worry about fitting later on.
I use Roxanne's glue to glue most of the big pieces down but I don't like to use it on the bias stems.
When I finishing applique-ing a block , I rinse it gently to get the starch and glue out and block it to dry it.
So there you go....thats just me, you do what works best for you....
Hugs and Stitches!
Megan
