The Rose WOW 23rd sept

Hi Everyone,
Am writing this throughout the week so that I can take photo's of each stage as my way of doing this applique is almost quilt as you go, at least for the main applique.
Today is Friday and pouring with rain so a perfect day for sewing, yesterday though was a beautiful spring day so it was time to get out in the garden and do some much needed work but I had time first thing to vein stitch my leaves.

Vein stitching done I can now fuse my top to the vilene batting which I have cut slightly larger than the finished hanging.

Although fused I don't want it to move while I stitch the applique so decided to add the peeper border now. For those who haven't heard this term before this is a one inch strip pressed in half and stitched with raw edges to background raw edge with a 1/8th seam. the folded edge will remain free from the background when the next border is attached with a 1/4 inch seam - so it just peeps out at you Lol.

I was going to use a brighter red but switched at the last minute to the deep burgundy red of my darker turn backs, The right choice I think as the bright red may have fought for attention while this fabric lets the rose stay the focus.

The only problem I had is this red fabric just wants to fray and after stitching I had to spend ages trimming away all the loose threads from the raw edges. With only an 1/8th inch seam I can't risk more fraying while I stitch my applique so have decided to zigzag the raw edge to seal these threads.
I could stitch the next border on now but that is another problem!!!

My DH doesn't like the thorn border on the pattern. No - it is not "doesn't" but the much stronger I DO NOT LIKE the thorn border. Have to admit I have prepared the thorns and when I laid them on my light border fabric they were a little over powering.

This is the six inch border and I am now thinking of them as shark fins not thorns so maybe DH is right. His suggestion is, the rose is stunning so make it like a painting or a photo with a surround and a frame. Takes my thoughts back to Esther's stunning "Forget me Not" Floral BOM blocks.

Anyway, I go back to work tomorrow for six days hut can stitch my applique at every opportunity. This is where it becomes almost quilt as you go, my batting is in place so as I edge stitch my leaves will lift (fingers crossed ) as will my rose with two layers behind it. I only need to edge stitch my rose and then decide which petals should be most prominent and stitch an extra line at the base of those to increase the lift.
It's Wednesday and I am now half way through stitching my leaves, it's been slow work because of the mumerous points on them.
Time to link with Esther's WOW. Enjoy your week everyone,
Cheers Jenny

The Rose WOW 16th Sept

Hi Everyone, I have well and truly been side tracked from LE this week as bringing home Adrienne Walker's pattern for "The Rose" sent me off on a tangent, another wall hanging I just have to make. How often does this happen to you?
I had enough left over fabric from my Poppies wallhanging to make the rose and assemble it  onto baking paper. As this will probably also hang in the lounge a continuity of colour makes sense.

A little bland at this stage but it's all there.

Next step, fuse my rose to a lightweight stabiliser and do the internal applique stitching.

This is a technique I learnt several years ago through a course with Mary Transom and Adrienne Walker uses a similar tchnique in some of her patterns

Petal definition now taking place but I have had to double stitch much of this.

Initially I matched my threads to the fabric - NOTHING happened!!!

My dark turnbacks and deeper petals looked good but there was just a blur in the mid tones.

Restitching with darker thread all my petals stood out but my light turnbacks still disappeared. 

They are two different fabrics but are just too close in colour.
I didn't want to start again so my favourite metallic gold thread made all the difference to my light turnback petals and my rose is starting to bloom.

Now to decide what other stitching I need before appliquing to my yet unknown background fabric

Finally decided to only stitch the middle leaves.

Hopefully this will help add depth when it is finished.

Next to trim away the stabiliser and add padding.

I used my rose as the pattern and outlined around it onto H640 fusible vilene then

cut out my rose a quarter inch inside my line.

 Still a little extra trimming to do before fusing to my rose.

I had been thinking about my background fabrics since I started knowing I had extra of my LE background fabric that I love but wasn't sure if it would work for the light panels.

Searching Country Dawn's extensive website I found some dark fabrics similar to the pattern fabric but  they were totally different to how they looked on the computer screen.
A wonderful assistant (can't remember her name)  said  "give me a minute I think what you want is out the back" Came back with the perfect fabric, not the slightest bit like I was thinking of'that time,
they were holding it aside for a kit they are releasing shortly but a meter was quickly mine.

Does this happen to you as well? You just know it when you see it!!!

So "The Rose" has now reached this stage.

The background fabric is actually a very very dark brown not black.

The rose is stitched only around the outer edges, I will do further stitching once the batting is added and at this stage the stem and leaves are only fused into place..

The same assistant also found the perfect leaf fabric for me from their range of landscape fabrics and although my DH quite rightly says any knowledgeable rose grower would say " Please treat your rose for leaf blight" he also agrees the light and dark contrast is perfect for this wall hanging.

 It came from fussy cutting this fabric.

The fact it has a leafy texture throughout and so many shades of green to pick from make it a WOW fabric. Now to do the vein stitching on my leaves before I fuse the top to another layer of Vilene H640 which is my batting choice for wallhangings. 

Hope you are enjoying your Wedbesday everyone.

Cheers Jenny

Time Off

Hi Everyone, It has been a week of time off from quilting as DH and I departed on Friday morning for a weekend of pirate themed car rallying.
Starting point was Orewa 1 1/2hr's south of us and just north of Auckland.

A beautiful part of the Hibiscus Coast Highway, 

Part of the Town Center at 7am on a Sat morning, no one around apart from us, looking for breakfast!!!

Our Pirate themed car outside McDonalds,
Their pancakes and Maple syrup were a great start to the day

 At the start the pirate crews began to gather, this pirate bringing his parrot in all her feathers.

The guy not in costume is Mikey, one of the organisers

My DH found a couple of kindred soul's

This Ladies Team blew the wind out of our sails!!!!
After the start our first mission was get down and dirty at this toilet block.
These are now all challenge photo's - to prove you did the mission.
Most of us took it easy on the get dirty part.

 I rubbed noses.

Steve decided to kiss!!!

Steve by this stage had had enough of his wig as it was giving him a headache so went back to his very normal pirate hat for an epic beach battle!!!
 Unfortunately we were in the top teams at that stage so not many other pirates to fight with.
The next mission, to take over a larger vessel.

We found this fishing boat in Whangarei Harbour during the the lunch stop

Welcomed aboard - it was ours!!!

After lunch there was lots more touring as we headed from Whangarei to Pahia for our night stop but only one more picture mission, a castle forthold we had to conquer half way there.

My DH conquering it all. I could not do what he did!!!

Mt attempt at conquering - top of the kiddie's slide

There were a few comments from the guys, that was a very quick decent - I nearly landed on my A--- off the bottom but it was great fun and how many years since I have done that, no idea Lol

Day one ended with the organisers having prepaid for everyone's car ferry crossing from Russel to Pahia in the Bay of Islands for our night stop over.

One of the lovely garden's seen from our second floor unit.

Day two, a 9am start just outside Waitangi. It looked like being a beautiful day but ended up being a real mixture of sun, cloud and torrential rain showers, typical northland at this time of year.

A gorgeous early flowering Pohutakawa at the start.

Looking back toward Pahia from our start point.

Locals gathering Pippis along the beach.

First mission to acquire a cannon in Kaikohe.
The instruction said think outside the box so as we couldn't find a cannon this plough seemed to work for us. rain clouds forming as well.

Mission two, build a monument to the Obelisk you can just see in the background using whatever is at hand. again no one there when we arrived so all we could find were empty beer cans. With heavy rain before and after this photo we weren't too worried about our monuments lack of size but I wish we had taken a photo of the T Bridge where this is the carpark but have since found one on the interenet.

It really is a T bridge as you can turn off in the center to drive down to the carpark.
Unfortunately after this we missed an instruction and covered an extra 40 km's  befor arriving in Dargaville where their was only one crew to help take over our next photo mission.

As you can tell I like being the pirate behind the camera,Lol

We were meant to find out the cost of a beer at this boat club.
Unfortunately it was Sunday and it was closed but I love the art work.

Our final mission back in Orewa was cancelled due to the doubtful  weather - it was walking the plank and ending up in the water at the surfclub - so warm and dry we all ended up inside,
 Outside looking in was this gorgeous seagull.

Do you notice anything different about him?
Not sure what accident he/she has had but NO feet, perfect balance and does not look like lacking food!!!

Have found out we came 10th= overall, we got a few written answer missions wrong but for our first completed rally we are thrilled with the result and our car ran like clockwork this time.

Monday we travelled back to Whangarei stopping first at the Honey Pot Bee Center for breakfast. No photo as the bee's were still only just waking up. This place is amazing as inside the honey shop they have working hives backed against glass and you can watch the working life of bee's. 

Next stop The Apple Basket - this is starting to sound like a nature trip - but no The Apple Basket is a quilting shop in Kaiwaka so this stop was for me.

I have travelled past it many times to and from Auckland but there has never been the time to stop, Today there was time, not as much fabric as I expected but some fabulous quilts on display and some beautiful patterns, I could have bought several but only indulged in two.

This is part of a xmas series, I couldn't decide which one I wanted most but think I have a home for this one. And then this one I just had to have.

I have made two of Adrienne Walker's patterns previously, Wild  Lillies and Poppies.

I just love her applique style and  know exactly where this wall hanging.will go. 

Steve said to me yesterday, thought you would be working on your LE Border today,

SORRY I got side tracked - AGAIN!!!!

45 applique pieces just for the rose.

These are left over fabric's from my Poppies Wall hanging fabric's

Put together on baking paper I will now fuse this to a lightweight interface while I do the stitching.

Hope you enjoyed our car rally, enjoy your Wednesday everyone.

Cheers Jenny

LE Corner Blocks

Hi Everyone,

No post last week as nothing new to show as I was still working on my second border, I still am as I got sidetracked thinking about my second corner block and just wanted to get my fussy cuts for the vase flowers chosen.

Esther designed a much airier arrangement for this block.

Think my bottom leaves could have been bigger but I like the way they curl.

Together my two corners look like this.

I love how they look together 

Am now thinking maybe I will add Esther's butterfly to my second block as my fussy cuts were just to big to include it in block one.

This is all I have for this week, tomorrow we head off on our pirate themed car rally for the weekend. It's much closer to home this time. For those that know NZ it's from Orewa to Paihia and back to Orewa. With us living in Whangarei which is almost the half way point NO 4 hour trips should we have car problems. Lol

May have some interesting photo's for next week.

Enjoy your stitching or what ever you are doing today.

Cheers Jenny