This, That & The Other -

Did you know that needles left in seriously old applique borders can rust themselves in place?

Like -  "Crimany, I can't get this needle to budge!" rust themselves stuck where you left them last?

Now you do.  

At least in the more humid climates of the south.

And why is it that 2008 doesn't sound like it was that long ago?  14 years is long enough for ANYTHING to rust in place.  Including people.  LOL!

Rusted needle where I left it.

It took PLIERS!

Now. my applique skills have never been that well honed.

I've tried every method out there.  My favorite on easy shapes is to cut my pieces from freezer paper, iron the shiny side of the freezer paper to the back side of the fabric, and thread baste around the shapes so that what-you-see-is-what-you-get.

As with my English Paper Piecing, I do not like glue on my fabric.  I do not like gluing fabric to paper.  So I consider myself to be a thread baster. No sticky fingers required.

For this border, I have appliqued the leaves and flowers using back basting, where the pattern is drawn to the back of the fabric, the larger than actual shapes are placed on the border, the shapes are basted on the drawn lines from the back side with hand quilting thread (Makes bigger holes) and then the shapes are trimmed and needle turned from the front, removing just a few basting stitches at a time.

I'm not great at it, but I like it.  The fabric edge just wants to automatically turn where the previous thread holes have been.  It's like folding a piece of paper before you tear it on the fold.

Not very pointy points/

I actually love the basted freezer paper method more because it gives me a firm edge to stitch down.  Things hold their shape.  This is a bit fussy, but I got a better result than if I just blindly needle turned by eye.

Things missing in the top photo - the dots that go in the center of the star shaped flowers. 

I used sticky dots (Like for pricing garage sale items!) and they were left behind at the QPO, so I'll pick them up today so I can finish the star flowers.

Then there is some fill-in applique to decide on to occupy some random border spaces that just look like something NEEDS to go there, and then this top will be ready for machine basting and hand quilting.  Yay.

Answers to questions I know someone will ask - 

My go-to needle for non-quilting hand stitching:  Clover #10 Applique Sharps.

Thread:  Bottom line.  It blends into everything like silk. It's kind of a sand color, matching my background.

Saturday morning's view

We didn't get nearly as much as the rest of the East Coast got in this Bomb Cyclone event.  We are too far west for once!

A little over an inch, maybe - and yesterday temps rose to 40 so we are back down to dirt.  The van is back on the top of the drive. Thank heavens!

My weekend was spent with much of this -

More Fish School block cutting.

Strip bin and organizing pan!

I finished sorting through the rest of the baggies of scraps I received from the daughter of a quilt who had passed away, and just like my Churn Dash project, I'm using those scraps to cut Fish School units in attempt to "Use them now!" instead of storing them away for later.

I can easily fit 30 block sets on here.

30 sets per baggie.

This makes it easy for me to keep count, and it is portable enough that I can leave one baggie for stitching here at the cabin, and take one baggie to the QPO for my stitching there.

My birthday flowers, one week later!

While the other flowers in the vase are looking pretty sad, I held on to these to give the lilies time to open up.

They did - in yesterday's sunshine!  I knew they could, if given just a bit of time and encouragement.

There is a life lesson in there - We can blossom too, with some time, practice and encouragement!

I'll enjoy these for a couple of days longer, even if the vase is looking more sparse every time I pull some stragglers well past their prime out of the bouquet every day.

One week in, and 60 feels fine!

Except for the weird dream last night where I had to explain to the doctor how I could be 60, 15 years past menopause, and pregnant.  LOL!  (That was not a dream, it was a nightmare!)

This is also done up to borders!

I don't know if there will be time to audition border fabrics today - I have a day out with Martha planned.

We've spent so much time IN through the holidays and January, that it seems a good idea to celebrate Ground Hog Day a couple days early just because.  We NEED TO BE OUT!

So there will be some antique mall wandering and lunch at a favorite place much enjoyed today.

What do you have on tap for your Monday?

Only a few days remaining!

TODAY 1/31/22 is the LAST DAY!

The introductory price for Cherry Crunch is marked 25% off in the digital pattern section of the Quiltville Store.  No coupon needed!  Price reduction good through 1/31/22.

I have placed some OTHER Winter themed patterns ALSO at 25% off with no coupon required!

Warm Hands, Warm Heart & Winter Blues are both 25% off through 1/31/22. TODAY is the LAST DAY!

Forever Mine PDF pattern includes the runner too!

On sale at 25% off through 2/13/22

Quiltville Quote of the Day -

Yes, I know there is a typo in Roosevelt, but I can't fix it at this point. I'm asking for some grace please, after all this post is about mistakes -

We tend to forget that mistakes are a part of being human.

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We need to appreciate our mistakes for what they are, precious life lessons that can sometimes only be learned the hard way.

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Each day is a new day to choose another way!

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#stumblingblockstosteppingstones⁣

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Vintage Goose in the Pond quilt from my collection, circa 1920.

Have a lovely LAST DAY of January, 2022!