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

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