8 posts tagged “appliques”

Country By Design homespun place mats

Wow!  Everyone in the neighborhood has been busy!  Sorry I haven't gotten around to making comments to everyone. 

I finished this set of four special order place mats yesterday.  I tried posting last night but I was having issues with my computer.  This close-up shows the patchwork appliques and the rag quilted "border".  I made another pot holder last night, but don't have pictures of it yet.  It rained most of the day yesterday, so it really limited my picture taking.  I would like to experiment with taking pictures in the rain, but it was windy and cold. 

Today we went down to our son's house to hold babies.  All three of the kids have a virus of some sort, and were happiest when someone was holding them.  Hard for one person to do!

Set of four homespun place mats

I put three appliqued patchwork hearts on this set because there are three people in the family who ordered them.  I did the quilted of the strips by machine this time.  I wanted to have them finished by Sunday. 

I need to do a lot of paper work in the morning.  I'm getting my hair cut tomorrow afternoon.  Have some other errands I need to take care of, too. 

I took one photograph that I can use in this week's Photo Quest.  I have an idea for another one, if the weather will cooperate.  I would like to walk down to the lake about dark.  I want to see if I can get a picture of the moon reflected in the water.  Need to check and see what time the moon rises this time of year.  I know it isn't very big right now.  A full moon would be cool. 

I did do some more work on my camp menus yesterday.  I have all the menus done, unless I make some changes.  Now I have to figure out how much food to order.  That is the hard part!

I must get to work on the other little dress.  My daughter will be here by this time next week.  I need about 10 more hours in every day!

Rag quilted pot holders with stars

I'm not sure what possessed me to make potholders yesterday, but here are the two I like best.  I made three, and they are all listed on Etsy.  The other side of each of them has an appliqued heart.  The each have two layers of batting and two layers of denim in addition to the appliques, so they are quite thick.  I clipped the edges of each side before I stitched them together. 

I made another note card with the retro buttons yesterday, too.  It's also listed on Etsy.  

We had a shower of rain this morning.  I carried some of my plants out to the porch while it was raining.  Hope we don't get any more freezing weather!  It is beautiful now.  I need to go out and get some fresh air, then I'm going to start on another baby lovie.  I got some more Moda fabric from Cajunelle.  I'm excited to see what I can come up with! 

Shoo-Fly Block Table Runner

Several days ago, I posted this picture and ask for help in finishing it.  In the mean time, I finished the Butterfly Garden table runner.  Then I did some more work on this one. 

Revised Shoo-fly Block Table Runner

Here's what I came out with, based partly on your suggestions.  I added appliques to each of the top and bottom border strips, and butterflies to each of the end strips. I'm not sure if it was the right thing to do, but it's done.  What do you think?

I'm working on another baby lovie now.  This one will be all flannel squares set on point.  It's pink and white, so it is definately for a little girl.  I should have it finished tomorrow. 

I spent a good part of today bumming around.  I had an appointment with my eye doctor this morning.  I need a new set on contacts, and I had to pick out new glasses, because my granddaughters managed to lose my old pair.  I only use them it I don't have my contacts in, or I'm trying to remove a splinter, or I'm sewing on navy blue or black fabric. 

Went to Dairy Queen for lunch and tried their new grilled turkey sandwich.  Very good!  Still add to make stops at the bank, the drug store, the insurance office, the tax office, the Dollar Store, and the grocery store.  That should take care of my running to town for awhile!  Talked to my daughter tonight.  I'll be heading back to the city on Friday.   

Butterfly Garden from Country By Design

Here's a picture of my latest creation.  I got the idea from a picture in my latest quilting magazine.  I was a picture of a wall hanging, but I thought the idea would work as a table runner.  The picture had butterflies.  I added the appliqued flowers, too.  Their butterflies were just flat appliques.  I made mine so they are only attached at the body.  The flower are tied on.  I'm still trying to upload all the pictures onto Etsy.  My computer is so slow that I lose my connection before even one picture can load. 

Butterfly applique

Here is a close-up of one of the butterflies. 

Flower applique

It is cut from a large flower print.  I sat in Mass this morning trying to figure out how to make this.  I don't like to use patterns.  The wings are a variation of the flower petals.  Each one of cut freehand from a 2 inch square of fabric.  I stitched them onto a piece of fabric with a piece of batting on top that was a little bit bigger than the finished butterfly.  I left a space between the two sets of wings so I could add the body.  I built it up with the zig-zag stitch of my sewing machine, so that when I attached it to the table runner, I only had to go over it a couple of times. 

Here is a close-up of one of the flower appliques.  You can see how it is tied on with pearl cotton.  Each petal is individually cut out and rag quilt stitched on the backing and batting, then cut out.  I cut three petals from a 2" x 4" piece of fabric.  I'm so used to working with 4 inch squares, that every thing I do is based on that basic unit.  I'm adding appliques to the border of the shoo-fly squares table runner.  I am cutting them out of two inch squares.  I hope it will make the borders more interesting.  I should be able to finish it tomorrow. 

I have been able to stay home and do a lot more quilting than usual.  My daughter just works evenings this week, so I'm not sure if I will be going back to the city on Tuesday or not.  We are supposed to be getting a lot of rain in the next 24 to 48 hours.  We don't have to worry about flooding at our house.  We live up out of the valley.  Some of our fields will sometimes be under water because we do live near the mouth of a creek that empties into a river that flows into the Mississippi. 

Sorry the formatting is messed up on this.  I should have put all the pictures on the same side of the page. 

Got to do lots of quilting today.  Started working on a flannel baby blanket.  Could have finished it, but I ran out of white flannel.  Does anyone have a good source for solid pastel colored flannel?  So much of it is muddy and not pretty at all.  So, after left overs for supper, I started on another denim table runner.  This one will have flower appliques.  It is mostly denim and pink.  I usually mix up a lot of different colors in my denim runners, so this one will be different.  Getting my hair cut in the morning (Yeh!), but I hope to be able to finish it sometime tomorrow.  I sorted through a pound of navy beans and put them on to soak, so dinner won't take long. Happy quilting!

Busy day today, but I feel like I accomplished quite a bit.  I cut out and started working on a spring wall hanging.  It has an appliqued center square surrounded by rag quilted squares.  I like the way it is coming together. 

I stopped this afternoon to make cookies.  I know.  I can't remember the last time I made cookies.  I tried to double a recipe that I had made once or twice before.  I had a hard time getting enough liquid worked in for them to stick together.  They taste a lot like the Girl Scout peanut butter oatmeal cookies. 

Then our son called and said they were coming out.  I hadn't seen them for a month or so, so it was nice that they were coming.  I had planned to make Not Stuffed Peppers for dinner, but by the time I finished with the cookies, it was getting late, so I went with Plan B.  Everything turned out good, and we enjoyed playing with the kids (they have three), until it got to be bedtime, then everyone suddenly got crabby. 

I came up to the computer and was able to copy a document off a web site into a Works document, edit the document to get it formatted right again, and even make a separate spreadsheet and edit it into the document.  It may not sound like much to you computer experts, but I have never done anything like that before.  Everything I know about the computer I picked up on my own, mostly by trial and error. 

Bedtime now.  Especially since we will lose an hour of sleep tonight.  Later!

Busy day today, but I feel like I accomplished quite a bit.  I cut out and started working on a spring wall hanging.  It has an appliqued center square surrounded by rag quilted squares.  I like the way it is coming together. 

I stopped this afternoon to make cookies.  I know.  I can't remember the last time I made cookies.  I tried to double a recipe that I had made once or twice before.  I had a hard time getting enough liquid worked in for them to stick together.  They taste a lot like the Girl Scout peanut butter oatmeal cookies. 

Then our son called and said they were coming out.  I hadn't seen them for a month or so, so it was nice that they were coming.  I had planned to make Not Stuffed Peppers for dinner, but by the time I finished with the cookies, it was getting late, so I went with Plan B.  Everything turned out good, and we enjoyed playing with the kids (they have three), until it got to be bedtime, then everyone suddenly got crabby. 

I came up to the computer and was able to copy a document off a web site into a Works document, edit the document to get it formatted right again, and even make a separate spreadsheet and edit it into the document.  It may not sound like much to you computer experts, but I have never done anything like that before.  Everything I know about the computer I picked up on my own, mostly by trial and error. 

Bedtime now.  Especially since we will lose an hour of sleep tonight.  Later!

Greetings from Country By Design.  I do live in the country, but I'm not going to talk about farming, not much anyway.  I like to talk about sewing and quilting, especially rag quilting.  Here are two of my latest projects.

Img_3985

The pot holders are rag quilted with denim squares and appliqued hearts.  The table runner uses the same idea.  For the pot holders, four 8 inch denim, batting, fabric squares are quilted by stitching  diagonally as well as vertically and horizontally thru all three layers. 

Img_3983

               The hearts are stitched to one set of squares before they are stitched on the edges to the other denim, batting, fabric sandwich.     

The table runner uses the same technique, except the hearts are stitched thru all three layers, the denim, batting, and backing.  The table runner squares are sown together using a 5/8 inch seam.  All edges are stitched 5/8 inch in from the edge.  Then all that is left to do is clip the seams and edges and run thru a cycle in the washer and dryer to fray the seams and edges.