What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

 I am giddy with excitement!!

I wonder what method of applique I would use to make any one of the designs in this project file into a real quilt. Possibly fused and hand embroidery, with a little bit of trapunto added to the blocks with the bigger florals, or a miniature version could be machine embroidered.

The straight line quilting would be machine, the designs based on applique designs I would do by hand.

There are a lot of options in techniques, and that is after choosing colours! There is no excuse for making a quilt exactly like a pattern from any source.

Very dainty and feminine!

Very busy, but with a little room for quilting to share the limelight, and not all of them have been used yet. I need to spend a little bit of time concentrating on the quilting designs.

Lovely, but how would I quilt it? I would scatter a few birds, or fairies might be appropriate, flying around with a lot of filler, perhaps cross hatch.

Love the second design, and I would enlarge those quilted wreaths to fill the space between the border and the centre part of the design, then fill in with cross hatch, or perhaps stippling.

Very nice.

Some minor changes, still nice.

I have to admit that pretty much every day I add more designs to whatever project file I open … I keep wondering what it would look like if I change a block, swap some colours, and after just a few minutes I might have added five or more designs to the file.

Very dainty, very pretty and I like it!

More of the same, and this one is my favorite.

The project file has some much simpler applique than may of my designs.

Still possible to create some interesting designs though.

I wonder how many two inch long beads are required for the design above!

Love the first design because of the way the individual borders are welded together by the strings of beads, and I love the second design because each border stands alone.

I was playing with some flower designs when I thought that they looked a bit like a butterfly, so gave them a few tweaks and added a couple of stamens.

Mmm … I have a collection of butterfly applique designs … I wonder how many of them would work if I added a stem and some greenery!

I love every design in this project file, so picking a favorite is usually out of the question.

I have almost decided that the second designs was my favourite of these two, but I may change my mind before you see this post.

I originally called the series of blocks in this project file Tangled Ribbons after I rejected Knotted Ribbons. Still not happy, but love the block designs.

I don’t have a favourite today, but I should make a note for myself to remind me that not all beds are queen size which need a square quilt.

Applique designs using just a simple leaf shape as beads are the simplest form of applique I have found. I first saw String of Beads hand appliqued with seams turned under, but then fusible web came on the market and I found I could cut four layers at a time with scissors so it was quick, then iron them onto fabric and machine stitch. Quick and easy!

I like both of these designs, and have many others which I also like.

I haven’t opened this project file for quite some time, and had forgotten just how effective some applique designs could be if treated as a cut out using the outline of the design only.

The hardest part would be choosing the background fabric, and then the contrast for the shapes.

I love the second design.

I started this project file a few weeks ago, and called it Windblown Wendy, but changed these variations to Spinning Susie, and when I opened it up this morning I realized I had named the two sets after my two sisters, though the people in my mind were both friends. Both names are still in use, but now they are sisters, rather than friends. Will have to use the friends names for blocks totally different to these.

The first one is my favourite of the two quilt designs today.

Winter has arrived with some rain, and so the grass is growing a lot more quickly than I would like!

Soon it will be flowering and dropping seeds for next years weed fest!

At least today is starting with fine weather, so I guess I might get a chance to pull some weeds!

A fun way to use up lots of little scraps.

The applique can be done using fusible webbing and finishing with either hand embroidery or machine zigzag.

Love the second one!

Love the first design. Not sure that I would use the same colouring in a real quilt but it is effective in showing off the design in a digital version.

In addition to the lines shown I would outline all applique pieces, plus fill in background area with stippling.

I like the second one, but wonder why I added that wide border, though it would turn a quilt with 12 inch blocks into a queens size quilt.

These roses have been kept in the dark waiting for their day in the sun, and their name has changed several times, including five minutes ago! A little while ago I started using the blocks in quilt designs and have rejected about a dozen names since then.

The fact is I find it easier to design blocks to use in quilt designs, using Electric Quilt 8, than naming them.

Now these two designs are going public the name is not going to change again!

I have played with this collection of blocks for several years, and the block collection has grown to 200! They were inspired by the berries on stems hanging out of the side of the pot in the block shown below from the Electric Quilt Library. Another version is used in another block in the same library, Horn of Plenty, but that is the one which started this project!

I love both these designs, plus a few more I have been working on using my Fairy Dot block collection Can anybody out there understand why I find it very difficult to ...

Wow!

Love both of these, my favourite is the one above.