WOW on Thurs 20th Aug

Hi Everyone
Have had 5 days working so sewing time has been limited this last week then yesterday it was time to revalidate my First Aid Certificate for work, day 6  away from my sewing room!!
After the course yesterday I went straight to Country Dawn to buy more fabric for my Zig zag borders as I had used more than I thought in my 12DOC wallhanging. The light blue was there but the dark peacock blue, Oh No, none on the rack!!
Kathy is the most wonderful lady, she checked and yes still available and would order it immediately. Just as I bought my light blue fabric the heavens opened so no walking back to the car just then. Browsing in a fabric shop is always fun so I made my way back to the rack of fusion fabrics that I love and where I had pulled my light blue out - what is that dark blue peeping out from behind the others?
 My Peacock blue bolt had been turned and was hidden behind the other blues at the back of the rack!!!  Kathy was already on the phone when I let her know I had found it
Went home very happy especially when I discovered they were on sale and my extra purchase made up the minimum length and I saved $8.50 on it.
I now have all my fabrics to finish LE.
This morning I am nearly half way with the second border, just a few bottom elements to stitch so I went off on a tangent as I felt I just NEEDED to see how these borders would really look so I attached my first side border this morning.

I promised my DH I wouldn't put pins into the wall of my sewing room so the only way I could see the result was to fold my quilt top in half to hang it
Any last concerns I had about using gold for the swags has gone.

My Border fitted perfectly.

 The pencil line on the top edge is my provisional cutting line for the top border.

Esther recommends you allow extra fabric when cutting your borders and I totally agree.
 I don't trim this outer fabric until after I stitch my next border on.

I remeasure and remark the completed border width with quarter inch seam allowance all along the outer edge. Even if the applique has shrunk my border a fraction my original line should still be within the seam allowance and not show.

The new border I am adding I measure and trim to the quarter inch seam allowance then pin the cut edge to my remarked line and stitch the seam using my walking foot as with applique very close to both edges the walking foot allows a better fabric feed.

 I personally find lining up one cut fabric to a pencil line on the other fabric easier than matching two cut edges perfectly on a long border.

Seam stitched and happy I trim the excess fabric away.

My final need to know was, do the central elements in my final border work with the other borders.

I think they do.

Time now to link to Esther's WOW and head back to stitching my border.

Thanks for dropping by, enjoy your own stitching everyone.

Cheers Jenny

WOW 12th August

Hi Everyone,

Not a lot to blog about this week. My blog has always been a record of my quilting progress to look back at times for fresh inspiration as well as sharing what I do with you all through Esther's WOW so this week I only have had a couple of small glitches to show you.
First, my border has been on my wall ever since I completed it and it was only at the weekend I spotted this. Can you see my mistake?

Yes, my last heart "pendant" is upside down!!!

Can't believe it took me nearly two weeks to spot it, was tempted to leave it as a "deliberate " error and see how many people found it when finished, however I have plenty of this shape so it now faces the right way, no photo necessary.

The second glitch was a little more serious. I love the centre flower at the bottom of my first border.

It's center just seems to glow and I was very happy for this to be on all four borders.

It was made to Esther's pattern and I wanted to keep lots of her elements.

It was when I prepped more of my fussy cuts I discovered - I only have six of these left and they are two each for use in my corner blocks!!!

My fabric came out and NO there are no medallions left with this center, six it is.

Options ran through my mind - even at work - for the next couple of days. The best was to do two borders with this and find a different motif for the other two, leaves me with only five for my corners so I need to find another motif for two blocks to have them balanced. Then I spotted this medallion. 

I used this in the center square for the vase flowers and you can tell from my cut out which motif I chose. I am so pleased with the result my original flower has been replaced and this is now for all four borders.

A waterlily perhaps.

The original pattern is still there as I wanted to keep the gold and aqua but with this lovely flower head rising above it I am very happy and have six of the other motif for my corner blocks.

Problem solved!!!

My top swag border and zigzag border plus first half of the second swag are completed, I am now stitching my double bows for this half to give me some variation so first half will be complete very soon.

Off now to see if Esther has opened her linky and then start stitching.

Enjoy your Wednesday eaveryone and I do love to know if you have called in.

Cheers, Jenny.

WOW 5th August

Hi Everyone,

Not much to show this week as I have been working on my next border and it is the same as the previous one. However I did add an extra leaf to my corner block and now am happy it looks more balanced.

Now three leaves left facing instead of only two.

Could I add more leaves, I'm not sure. What do you think?

Today is an unplanned day off as I covered for my manager at work last Sat and have taken today as an annual leave day rather than work six days in a row. Last days off I stitched my swag border and then fused my zigzag border in place.The zigzag is my only dislike of this whole pattern, everything else I love it!!! It did fuse into place perfectly, better than on my first border but for me it is tedious to stitch. For hand stitchers you must either love it or hate it also - I would love to know which.

Tthese borders which are nearly 68" long and  it seems to take forever to stitch. The outside edge by machine is a simple in and out along the edge but coming back it triples in length to stitch the joins.

At least I was able to stitch a little everyday before work  so this morning I only had half the return stitching to complete, It took me 3/4 hour, not as long as I expected.
Have also been preparing all my fussy cut applique for this border in advance.

Lovely to now have room on my window bench to set them out away from the sewing table.

Am now sharing my sewing table with my DH and his trusty machine

How old is this machine? I have no idea and have never used it but DH says it stitches perfectly.

It has come out because we are going on another car rally in Sept this time pirate themed so DH has been adding to his wardrobe, along with buying items off Trade Me.

I was greated by this vision the other night.

Top and pants are his work, accessories from Trade Me.

DH was a saddler when he first left school so is very comfortable at a sewing machine.

He just unpicks an existing garment and uses that as his pattern and yes the stripes on those pants match pefectly. Also like me he loves shine!!!

He has also bought many items for me to wear for the rally but I am not showing them yet, Lol

In the last week DH has also been thinking of our garden which is a huge work in progress like the renovation of our house. We currently have a rubbish skip parked by the front deck and it is filling steadily with what we don't want from both house and garden. No, a photo of the skip would be just too depressing, these plants have brought joy instead.

 Hellebore's or Winter Roses.

We now have five different colours but these are the only two flowering at present.

The very dark purple one is so stunning!!!

Still on our deck table 10 gorgeous poly's waiting to be planted plus another two Hellebore's.

My days off this week may not be in my sewing room after all - unless it is raining!!!

Hope you have enjoyed your visit this week, Please leave a comment as I love to hear from you.

Enjoy your Wednesday what ever you are doing.

Cheers Jenny