Sister's quilt - part Three

This is a continuation of the posts about the making of the blue and lights quilt for my sister, Colleen Wilson.

I continued to make paisley blocks with some embroidery or embellishment.  The size and shape of the paisley's were slightly modified for each set of 6, and I decided to put a darker fabric as the center for each of the set of 6 blocks.  Here it is on the design wall so far:

Some of the blocks have couched rick rack on them.  Before I added the rick-rack, I backed those pieces with a tear away backing.  After the rick-rack was added, I then glued the pieces to the dissolving applique foundation.

Here is a close up picture of how I handled turning the edges with both the backing and the fabric.  I used washable school glue in this step (the purple) , and I really put a lot on those spots.  If you look towards the upper tip, you can see that the glue is applied much thinner because there is only the fabric to turn in that area. 

One thing that I learned from another quilter a long time ago was how to handle the tips of applique.  After I glued and turned back all the edges, I snipped off the excess fabric from behind the tip and wet it down pretty well with Fray Check.  After it dried, the tip holds it's shape and the pieces of fiber won't split apart when they're pierced with the needle.

I learned a lot from other quilters along the way and continue to learn from them now.  I hope you have friends around that share your love of quilting too.

Sister's quilt - Part Two

This is a continuation of the blog I wrote about the design and idea for a blue and light quilt for my sister, Colleen Wilson.

I dove right in and cut all the background pieces as 13" squares.  Over-sizing the background allowed me to applique the paisley pieces or do trapunto quilting and then trim the squares to the hexagon shapes.  I like to do the trimming after I do the applique, just to make sure the blocks haven't shrunk during all of the stitching (which always happens for me).  For this hexagon quilt especially, I want to preserve the edges that are on the bias until just before I sew them together.

I've appliqued 6 navy blue paisley pieces onto the background, using my machine applique method with the dissolving foundation.  I pulled out all my embroidery supplies, which had been pining away for attention, and got to work.  I've usd blues and tans and whites, plus some embellishment supplies.  I even snuck in a little bit of purple, and plan to sneak in a tiny bit of lime green.  It wouldn't be a quilt from me if it didn't have a little of my personality showing through.

Here are they are:

I hope you are like where this quilt is heading. I know that I do.  Just not that sure I'm totally on board with making a queen-sized quilt after all my fun small ones.   Nevertheless, it feels really good to make something that someone special in your life wants.  And a fellow quilter and sister is just the best combination.

I hope you have friends and relatives that like your quilts too!

Blue and Light - Sister's Delight - The Design

I realized with an almost horrific reaction that I haven't made a quilt for my sister Colleen.  When she sent the quilts back to me for my solo show, it hit me like a ton of bricks.  Like my mother before me, I've been making quilts to give away as gifts, and haven't considered the equanimity of giving quilts to my relatives who also make quilts.  Shame on me!

So, I called her up as soon as I unpacked the box of borrowed quilts and apologized for never making one for her.  I asked if she wanted one, and if she did, what would she like.  She immediately knew!  She took a picture of a comforter she has on her queen-sized bed that is in shades of blue and light cream and tans.  It has paisley motifs all over it, so she said something that goes with that in the same color scheme would be great.  I'm thrilled that the serendipity of this request matches exactly the theme of my quilt guild's show theme for 2019.  Do you pay attention to serendipitous events in your life?  Makes the hair stand up on your arms and at the back of your neck.  I love it when it happens.

Here is her picture and some of my sketches for ideas:

She liked the one with the hexie background and paisley applique.  I liked it the best too, because it's more modern.