Sunday, November 15, 2015

A Handwork Round Up

I was trying to throw together a quick post and then I got sidetracked of course. Trying to catch up on the blog reading will do that to you! It's hard to believe I'm starting the stitching for the borders of the Big Star quilt. Just as I suspected, working on this quilt has reminded me of how much I truly do love it. So much effort and anxiety in putting these big stars together--I'd love it just for my courage in attempting it!
Hand quilting Big Stars
It's been a fairly relaxed weekend after the previous week of some troubles and trials. Things that make you want to hold your kids very close and cherish the family time. Guess I'm ready for some mellow, fairly calm looking fabrics. After today, I will have officially stuck with Quilty 365 for 21 days!
Another two days worth of circles....
There's been a lot of different applique in the stack around here and so I just had to get this border work cleared out of the way. Hopefully later this week I can find time to put it together with the other one and see what my Scrappy Lone Star will look like with borders!
Getting through the letter applique
And Folksy Flowers got a bit of attention as well. I'm trying to do the prep work for the flowers that will be appliqued into the center. Just a bit of free hand cutting with paper and then I have a template to draw onto the fabric. I spent almost an hour trying to find my inspiration photo (the little spark that lit me up for this project) and it's nowhere to be found. I remember seeing a piece of embroidery or something on an odd, random blog a very long time ago. I have it in mind that it was from Denmark? but who really knows and obviously I've been interpreting this as my brain dictates because I've never seen the pic since. Perhaps it was in one of my antique quilting books instead?
Prep work for the Folksy Flower
An interesting thing, the seeds of our quilting ideas. I'm always grateful for inspiration and the things that propel us into a new idea {and ta-da! eventually a new quilt}. I love the process, the what-if's, and of course the hand to heart connection of slow quilting. As I've said before, it calms me. It grounds me and makes me a better person. Time to link up once again to Kathy's Slow Sunday Stitching!

21 comments:

  1. You are such a speedy quilter :0) I love the look of those little flowers on top of the big one.

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  2. I really love your Big Stars. The colors and the piecing are perfectly beautiful.
    I'm really looking forward to seeing what you do with your other projects, too!

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  3. Lovely projects and those Folksy Flowers are such fund!

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  4. How did you get to the borders so quickly? No wonder you are so productive. Can't wait to see how Big Star and Folksy Flowers come on now.

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  5. I'm loving where you're going with Folksy Flower. Wherever that original inspiration photo came from, you obviously don't need the photo any longer, this quilt is becoming You now. You'll no doubt find the picture after it's finished!

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  6. Did my ninth Quilty 365 circle this morning (I started on Sunday the 8th) and I too am thrilled and surprised that I have stuck to it this long! I love the Folksy Flower and your story about the inspirational picture. I usually find that my finished product bears little resemblance to my original inspiration. Can't wait to see your finished. And you should be proud of your Big Star quilt. It is a difficult pattern to accomplish well and you certainly have! I't beautiful!

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  7. what fun projects I love your folky flower!!

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  8. all of your projects are so nice to look at!! I am sticking with my circles!

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  9. I know exactly what you mean about getting distracted and side tracked. Happens here all the time! Love the progress on all your projects and I so enjoy following along with them. Thanks for sharing so much goodness.

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  10. I like your border and sashing for Big Stars. The dark, narrow stripe is perfect foil for the brighter blocks. And triangles in the borders - right angle triangles at that. Super.
    I'm plugging away at circles. We're out of town so I grabbed some fabrics as I went out the door. Smaller choices but interesting.

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  11. Your applique is looking really good there, Audrey! That's a tricky font.

    Of course you love your Big Stars again -- impossible not to! But, it's kind of fun to rediscover an old flimsy when you take it out again for quilting. I'm looking forward to the same experience this winter!

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  12. Do you know what font is on the "Love"? I would like to use that font for one of my current quilts. That circle idea is still marinating, and I think I would like to make my circles more interesting from time to time - I was thinking of a swirl and layers of raw edge circles, or beading and embroidery. This post and the previous post provides other beautfful ideas of ways to embellish the circles.

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  13. Don't they say it takes 21 days to make a new habit? Looks like you're there with your circles!

    I'm eager to see what you do with borders for Scrappy Lone Star.

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  14. Your passion continues to shine.

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  15. I love your Big Star quilt too! I can't believe you are almost done with the quilting already. I like where you are going with your folksy flower. I think you have started a quilting movement with your Quilty 365 circles! I am seeing them everywhere.

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  16. Ooh, lots of lovely projects. I too looove the big folksy flower :-)

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  17. I love your Folksy Flower! Also, I'm proud of myself for keeping at Quilty365, thanks for the inspiration!

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  18. me gustan todos estos proyectos´
    desando ver como termina las flores Folksy
    saludos

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  19. Wow Audrey, just wow! Fantastic stitching as ever - and your folksy flower is looking really fun. It can be so frustrating when you can't find your inspiration and then you head off down a fruitless rabbit hole for hours on end looking for it! Have you tried 'Pocket', it's just a little app that you can download and with one quick click you can bookmark the page in seconds - and it saves an image, so it's really easy to spot what you're looking for. https://getpocket.com

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  20. It's funny what can prompt inspiration. You're sooo productive!!

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