What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

The leaf shape of the beads has to be one of the most versatile shapes available for us to use on applique blocks. There must be many millions of possible designs … I should count how many I have drawn up but I am pretty sure I could expand the number by lots if I stop designing quilts with what I already have.

The second design uses the same layout as the first, just the blocks have changes.

As it is I would make this as a tablecloth for a large square table with room for two places on each side. No quilting involved.

However, if I was making it as a quilt there is lots of room for some wonderful quilting! I noticed as I was starting up Electric Quilt this morning that the hint was about using applique motifs as quilting motifs … now, that is a hint I should take note of!

The second design has some wide open spaces which need some quilting too.

Interesting, though not really fan like.

I love the second one, though once again the fans are not obvious in the design,, but I am going to play with the centre bloc design to see if I can make them look more like fans.

This project file was started so I could play with beaded applique borders, in particular, getting around corners.

String of beads, no matter how I tangle them up, are my favourite traditional style applique quilts to play with virtually, as well as in real life.

The applique was originally turned applique, either needle turn or folded and tacked before stitching, but now I can fuse the beads onto the background, and stitch by hand or machine. The quickest is to use a narrow zigzag by machine, and I like buttonhole stitch by hand.

They would also be easy machine quilting ...

I like it! Pretty and scrappy, or pretty scrappy.

In the second one I know what I was trying to do by adding the contrast fan fabric, but I know I chose the wrong fabric.

Love just about every String of Beads quilt design I have seen, including the one above. And the one below!

Love the design above … lots of tiny pieces can be fused onto the background, and machine or hand stitched to secure them.

One of the trees I have let out of storage so far I refer to as The Family Jewels. It is decorated by single earrings, broken chains, worn out watches … and strings of beads.

The linked blog is the original smaller, purchased tree … that tree has been replaced with a taller hand made tree, and the collection of family jewels has grown to fill it!

Very pretty.

Love the centre of the second design.