KatyQuilts

Here is a post from ten years ago with lessons learned. Enjoy!

Finish It Up Friday ~ The Hawaiian Version

Posted on June 17, 2016 by katyquilts

No, I’m not in Hawaii. I am in Arizona! Yay! But Hubby and I did go to Hawaii a few years back with his parents. It was a wonderful trip. I bought some Hawaiian fabric and a book on Hawaiian quilts.  Have I ever mentioned how I feel about appliqué? Um, yeah. I cut out exactly one block and fused it to the background with Heat N Bond.

And it never got any farther than this. Heat N Bond is not a good product for this application. Not for me anyway. I never did stitch around the edges because it gummed up my machine needle.

Anyway, I recently found this ancient UFO and decided it might be a fun piece to practice with on the long arm. I wouldn’t be bothered if I ended up throwing it out. You have to just play now and then.

 So I loaded it up and tried out a border idea I had. So far, so good. Then I stitched along the edges of the appliqué. Not so good. The speed of the needle heats up and causes the glue to get gummy. This means skipped stitches at best. After cleaning the needle several times, I got around it once and called it good. Then I practiced pebbling in the background.

I am not good at this. But knowing it would be better when I wasn’t so close, I soldiered on and bound it by machine. Here it is before washing.

Okay, better than I expected but I wanted to wash and see how the fusing held up. The answer? Not good. Not at all. And it didn’t help that I failed to stitch around those little openings.

Yeah, that was awful.
But I loved the texture of the border and background.

So I figured I would try to salvage the mess. I used my walking foot to stitch around the little openings. Then I ironed the darn thing into submission.

I think it worked! Not a masterpiece by any stretch, but I rather like it now. I think I’ll keep it. The picture above shows the texture well but the one below shows the actual color best.

I learn something from every piece I make.

Looks like great minds think alike! I asked a friend at quilt group yesterday and she agreed. The Bauhaus design won. Thanks for the input.

Apparently, I also have a new helper at the long arm. So much for my pressing job. I guess I need to buy a dog bed for the sewing room.

Back to quilting. I got a couple rows done and on the third row, I messed up the alignment and had to rip. 😭 I got all the ripping done, but I didn’t have the heart to quilt anymore and went to bed.

Some days are like that. Have a good one.

Once I got my alternate blocks cut, I got down to business!

The top is done and loaded.

But I can’t figure out how to quilt this monster. These are the three pantographs I’m considering.

I’m looking for a mid century modern feel. any thoughts?

Have a great day!

My America 250 quilt may not be done by the 4th. That’s okay. It is growing slowly.

I do have all the pieces blocks done for my green diamond quilt. Now I need to cut the plain alternate blocks.

Have a great day!

Mr. Wonderful found this cool puzzle for me.

It is made of wood and the pieces are fun shapes.

This is why I’m playing with fabric more than rocks lately.

I love this.

And I detest frogs and toads, but the sentiment is awesome.

Have a great day!

I’ve had so much fun learning about rocks.

This dish is all petrified wood. I am fascinated by it.

Yep, more crosses.

And I went a bit crazy making pendants.

I’m really not sure what to do with them all, but they are fun to make.

Now that it’s heating up in Arizona, I’m thinking I will be spending more time in the sewing room.

Have a great day

This project has provided some great mindless sewing at a time I’ve needed it.

The next step is to create random blocks like this.

Have a great day!

I think this is my last little quilts post for a while. There are some real faves here.

Have a great day!

Thank you for all the kind comments regarding my mom. You are all so wonderful. Sewing is good therapy right now.

I’m playing around a bit with layouts.

I really love the random mishmash of greens.

I have a gazillion more to sew, so I better get back to it!

Have a great day.