Wednesday, August 17, 2016

WIPs - Quilted Purse / Pastel Dye Sticks and The Splendid Sampler

Hello Dear Friends,

If you have visited me before you will probably realise by now that I love to stitch when I am traveling, and, for me, every train journey is the perfect excuse for stitching!

For my latest train journey I prep'd my fabric, and wadding, backed with muslin and searched out a wavy lined stencil I'd made some years ago. I've recently bought some long pins with beads on their ends and found it was possible, with these long pins, to keep the stencils in place on my fabric while I stitched.

This WIP is a tiny purse, from a tutorial by Svetlana, who said "don't use polyester wadding", but I  love the puffy finish polyester wadding gives!

Back home again, I selected some monochrome heart patterned fabric I'd found when I last visited my local quilt shop, which, of course, I couldn't help but buy for my lining, and then I couldn't resist colouring in the hearts with my Pastel Dye Crayons. (In case anyone is wondering, the selvedge said "Hearty 2 You + Me 15.02 by www.Stof.dk). My scrap was approximately 1/4 yard .... so you may well see this one again! This pretty fabric was in a "Scrap Pack", so, haha, I had to buy the whole pack .... consisting of another 4 different scraps! No I won't show you the rest now ... I'll save that for another day!

Purse
Lining cut ready for boxing the corners.

Another of my WIPs is the Splendid Sampler block .... "Sewing Machine" by Pat Sloan. 

I know I'm rather late mentioning it (oops, sorry Lara), but I was very lucky to win a signed copy of Lara Buccella's book - "Crafted Appliqué .... New Possibilities" by commenting on her blog hop .....

Lara's book


 and here is the first block I've made using her appliqué method... Sewing in progress.

The Splendid Sampler - Sewing Machine
Is it just me, or do you  find it hard to take pictures of small blocks too?


And what Summer post would be complete without at least a couple of  photos from the garden!

Hollyhocks
These lovlies must be at least 8' high

Hollyhock
Our neighbours have been admiring our Hollyhocks and asking for seeds

And today I am linking to Esther's WOW WIP blog party. Do pop over and see what wonderful creations others are stitching!

As always, thank you for visiting me.

I hope you find time for stitching this week!

Have a great week!


Barbara xx




7 comments:

Queeniepatch said...

We have hollyhocks in japan but I have never seen any as tall as yours here. They are really impressive.
The bag will be a 'cuddly' one with that fluffy wadding.
Yes, taking photos of smaller details is challenging
With raw edge appliqué there are many possibilities and I am sure we will see a lot of charming designs inspired by that book.

Carol- Beads and Birds said...

I diligently tried to win a copy of that book! I hope you will share more about your thoughts on the technique. Gosh I love that heart fabric!!

Magpie's Mumblings said...

Your heart fabric puts me a little in mind of zentangles. Bet you might end up wishing you had more of it!! Love the little sewing machine block - look forward to seeing what else you make from the book.

KimM said...

Wonderful post - you're brave to do applique. I haven't tried it yet....it's on my bucket list ;0)
xxx

Brigitte said...

A great post, Barbara. I can't wait to see the tiny purse finished.

Kate @ Smiles From Kate said...

Perfect quilting for your little purse, love the lining fabric. I have Lara's book but haven't used it yet, I'd love to hear of your experience, congrats on your win.
Smiles
Kate

Sheryl said...

Great win Barbara, what a wonderful book, I love applique but haven´t done much lately. Pretty fabric with hearts.