Wordless Wednesday

 

Progress

Here we are again, another Slow Stitching Sunday. I have started to quilt the blocks that surround the center medallion block that I finished earlier this week.
I have two completed and today I will be working on the oakleaf and acorn block. I made this block because it reminds me of the wonderful oak trees that we enjoy in our yard here in Arkansas.

I thought I would include pics of the other two blocks that are completed.   I feel I am making more progress now working on these smaller blocks, but they are still a lot of work. I am quilting these very traditionally.

All of the applique pieces are outlined with quilting stitches.  The background is a grid done on the bias that runs thru the sashing and border.  I will also add quilting to some of the larger applique blocks if the pieces are larger, for example the flower and vase in the photo to the right.  I hope you find time to put in some stitches today!

Friday finish!

Two more blocks finished! I am going for a goal of twenty-five.  At this rate it will take awhile!  

I am looking forward to the day I have enough to assemble the top.  Until then I can dream about how I want to set them.

Hump day!

 

Yes, it is definitely Hump day! I finished the quilting on the thirty-six inch center medallion on my Red and  Green!  I find quilting the center of a quilt a bit of a challenge, maybe it is my short arms. There are twelve blocks that surround this center block and each one will take some time to do.  But progress is progress and I love celebrating small achievements that lead to bigger ones!

Still Slow Stitching!

I hope to finish the center medallion on my red and green quilt today. I don't have much more to do as you can see from the photo, but it always seems to take longer than I hope.  I do find if I focus on the stitches and let my mind wander, that I always seem to accomplish more than I hope. My favorite thing to do is listen to music or podcasts while I stitch. I also quilt in front of the television, but my husband will attest to the fact that I am paying more attention to my quilting.

My favorite time to quilt is early in the morning, after a cup of coffee. What is your favorite time to stitch?  As always I also find time to join Kathy and Slow Stitching Sunday.  So inspirational to take the time to see what others are slow stitching.

Back to Hand Quilting

I love this time of year, so many wonderful colors in nature to enjoy. The weather starts to cool, which has allowed me to pull out my Red and Green Traditional quilt and start the process of hand quilting it. I pondered this week on how to tackle this project. I have read some quilt blogs where the quilter quilts around all the applique first and then comes back to fill in with background quilting. Often with applique quilts a grid is used as a background. It is about design, often in pieced quilts that have straight seams a soft rounded quilting design is chosen, but with the rounded shapes of applique the opposite is true and straight line grids are used.  I have decided to treat this quilt the same as my other attempts at quilting and that is to finish all of the quilting as it presents itself in the hoop. Starting in the center of the quilt and working around moving the hoop around the finished areas until I reach the outer border.  I hope to finish the second pineapple today in the large center block. The following picture shows all the stitching I did on the first one. There are four pineapples in the large center block so I have over hundred circles to quilt around.  So I will definitely will be taking some breaks and enjoy stopping over at Kathy's blog and seeing what others are slow stitching today!

Wordless Wednesday

Temptation or Fate?

Do you ever feel that you are tempted or that fate has  taken over? Well, that is what has happened to me today.  I started off checking the Hand Quilting forum I belong to, and there was a discussion about Christmas projects. There was also a discussion about how making a list is a way to get things done, and sometimes throwing in a small project helps you feel like you are accomplishing things. Then as usual I head over to Kathy's blog to see what going on with Slow Stitching Sundays. Kathy included a link to a wonderful table topper that is just adorable. Every Christmas for the past few years, I have told myself to get busy and make a table topper to put under a ceramic Christmas tree that is very special to me and my husband. So, today is the day, I decided to put everything else aside and stitched together the background and cut out the pumpkin seeds to applique onto the background. Six more green pumpkin seeds to mark and then I can sit down this evening and needle turn applique them into place.  Since I haven't spent much time on the machine this summer, I think I will machine quilt this one!

Wordless Wednesday