An Applique Round Up

So here I am, piling on the applique again. It's because I need applique in my quilts like I need to breathe. It's not that it doesn't ever get tedious {because it does}, it's just that having simple applique in my quilts somehow makes me love and adore them all the more. 

Vintage Red blocks progress

So when it gets to the tedious stage, it's nice to jump right on over to another applique project. Sometimes I panic and think nothing will ever get done--how could it possibly? But I do have my ways. There's the carrot and stick approach--a classic. Then there are the times I tend to work in groups of four {blocks etc.}--no I will not go anywhere, even to bed, until I finish this last block. And I often set goals to complete all the bias vine, or all the flowers etc. Then I don't get to go to sleep for a week. {Just kidding.}

A border for the scrappy Lone Star quilt

I also make sure my applique bag is always packed and ready to go. That's mandatory for us applique-mad people. Sure, it's spilling over into a large basket I have my quilting paraphernalia sitting in there in the corner of my bedroom, but it's ready. Always. 'Cuz I take it in the car with me so that when my husband gets real talkative with whomever he wants to chat with, I have something to do with my hands. Sitting {or standing} idle just about kills me. Especially at Home Depot. Oh my goodness. Stay out of that store unless you're buying for yourself! And so usually I'd rather sit in the car and bond with my stitching.

Lil' Red Riding Hood still stalled, but ready to go...

And yes, sometimes I drag my applique bag out when we have company visiting in our home. There is something very relaxing about stitching away on something pretty while chatting about life. Such a comfy feeling. Too, there are people that you really don't want to be staring into their eyes for hours on end. Much nicer to be able to look away and thread your needle etc. Then it's not rude or viewed as obfuscation. Why do people think we're lying when we don't look directly into their eyes every single minute? Maybe we just tire of trying not to stare at the rebellious hairs in their eyebrows?

Summers End baskets getting prepped and ready to go

Occasionally an applique idea just appears practically out of nowhere. I have fabric stacked up and sitting on my counter for weeks and them pow! I'm right in the middle of cutting out and then sewing the base blocks for my new project. How I got from A to B is often a mystery.

Trying to remember how to miter the corners of
A Folksy Flower foundation

But more often, there is something I've been wrestling with for months. Agonizing over. Fabric stacked up looking yummy together, a vague idea trying to come together more clearly in my mind but I'm stuck, stuck, stuck. I've scribbled on graph paper and endlessly tried to fine tune. Sometimes it just comes down to being a chicken heart though. Much as it pains me to admit to anything of that nature to my dedicated readers.

Gotta start somewhere.....

Take this project. I have the books to remind me how to miter the corners. Really. Is that all that's holding me back this time? Not starting something I'm practically dreaming about at night all because I can't reconcile making the foundation of my applique quilt the easy way. Oh I do so  loathe sewing mitered corner. Ughh...  But we all know that sometimes you just gotta suck it up for the greater good. Which is what applique is. The Much. Greater. Good.*wink