Blog Archives

Anderson's Farm Block 10 - Friendship Oak

11/11/2016

I'd only just finished block 9 of Anderson's Farm (a gorgeous mystery button club by Lynette Anderson Designs) and the next one arrived! Block 10 is called "Welcome Oak" and is made with only 3 fabrics - this pretty blue print, a neutral background for the applique and stitchery, and the wonderful wool for the appliqued tree. This was appliqued onto the background fabric using Lite steam-a-seam 2 (bought online from Barnyarns) and hand embroidered with blanket stitch using Valdani threads...

...the edges of the appliqued arch were folded over using a glue stick and apliquick rods, and appliqued onto the blue print by hand using a fine applique needle and Bottomline thread (this is a 60wt polyester thread and is perfect for hand applique). The hand painted wooden button will be stitched into place one the quilt is completed and quilted. The instructions for this block also included the information for making the borders, which will be pieced together soon. All the fabrics used in this quilt are also designed by Lynette, and are a mixture from her previous collections. The fabric pack including the wool and a set of Valdanin threads came directly from Lynette. There is more info on her online quilt shop Little Quilt Store if you want to sign up this using her newest collection of fabrics.

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Anderson's Farm Block 9 - Welcome

10/11/2016

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A couple of weeks ago the next block of "Anderson's Farm" arrived in the post from Austraia. This is a mystery button club by Lynette Anderson (another fabulous Australian designer!) and each month the pattern arrives with a cute wooden hand painted button, ready to embellish the completed quilt. It was been languishing in my sewing bag and I finally managed to piece the small patchwork block together over the weekend. This block is 4" finished size, so it was much easier to get accurate seams by pressing them open rather than pressing to one side...

...the small applique heart has lots of surface embroidery, and I found this easier to complete the embroidery before it was cut to shape and appliqued into place, although I have fused an applique paper template onto the back of the fabric to act as a stabiliser. The horse was also appliqued using the same method as the heart, and her foal was made with wool, and was fused to the background fabric with steam-a-seam lite, then hand embroidered using blanket stitch and 2 strands of Valdani embroidery thread. The hand painted wooden button was just laid on top of the block for the photograph, as the buttons won't be stitched into place until the quilt top is finished and quilted...

...and here is block 9 after it had been stitched into place and the rows joined together. There is one more block to go, and then the borders will be added. I might even try to machine quilt this one myself once it's finished! This set of patterns, along with the hand painted wooden buttons, the fabric pack and a set of beautiful Valdani embroidery threads were bought online from Lynette's shop Little Quilt Store in Australia as a mystery button club BOM. Lynette is doing this BOM again, and fabric packs are available using a new range of Lynette's fabrics. All the info is over on Lynette's blog if you want to have a peek!

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Journey of a Quilter - Joining The Blocks

6/11/2016

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This project has been absolutely LOVELY to piece together, and has combined my 2 favourite techniques - hand applique and hand embroidery. I couldn't wait for the border fabric to arrive before I pieced the blocks together for a photo shoot as I'm too impatient! This has all been machine pieced with Aurifil 50wt thread, and hand embroidered with a selection of DMC threads that match these fabrics beautifully. The hand applique was all completed using the applique paper and glue stick method and apliquick rods (there are several tutorials on YouTube demonstrating this). As each block was completed, I stitched around it about one eighth of an inch from the edge, to prevent all these small seams from unraveling and to prevent the fabric from fraying too much.

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Journey of a Quilter Block 9

3/11/2016

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The final block has been completed! This is block 9 of "Journey of a Quilter," which was designed by the Australian designer Leanne Beasley. This has been machine pieced with Aurifil 50wt thread, and each stitchery block has been hand embroidered with 2 strands of DMC thread...

...this has been a beautiful project to stitch, and has kept me very busy in the evenings with lots of hand embroidery. These are quite simple stitches - back stitch, running stitch, satin stitch and colonial knots...

...and here is the completed block. Now I need to piece all 9 blocks together and then it will be time to get the borders stitched into place. The set of patterns and the fabric pack were from Cross Patch in Walesshop.cross-patch.co.uk/, and it will be exciting to see what fabrics Julia selects for the borders and binding. The final piece of embroidery will be the gorgeous label that will go on the back once it has been quilted. I really like making hand embroidered labels, as it brings the whole project together.

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Scrappy Planner

2/11/2016

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I'd seen these scrappy planners by Lori Holt on lots of instagram accounts, and when I saw it was in stock at The Homemakery. I couldn't resist to get not only the planner, but all the gorgeous goodies to go with it! Now there will be no excuse for not knowing what projects I've started, and I can keep a record of my progress throughout the year. Now I just need to get Mr F to speed up with building my sewing studio, so I can sit in there and start to fill out my scrappy planner!