Monday, October 14, 2019
Witchy Stitch Blog Hop
Did you see all of the incredible projects that were shown last week on Carol's blog, Just Let Me Quilt? If you missed anything, a Pinterest page of all of the projects are at this link.....go check them out!
https://pin.it/vljehulfzj4lg6
Thursday, October 10, 2019
Witchy Stitchy Blog Hop
Hi all!! My name is Bethni Lee, and I live in Rougemont, NC. I've been quilting (piecing, mainly) about 4 years. I have 3 daughters, the youngest of which has Down Syndrome. Like many of you, I began quilting as a way to relax, and have some "me" time away from the stressors of parenting. This is my first blog hop, and the first I've shown my work on a large scale. Though it didn't turn out perfectly, and I had issues quilting the thing, it's perfectly imperfect, and I hope you enjoy it.
Much of the materials came from my stash, but they are from recent collections of Halloween prints. I first cut out my 3 pumpkin shaped, and drew on the faces, using the words Trick Or Treat for the mouths. I then used reverse applique to place the orange/yellowish batik behind the pumpkin top, trying to give it the look of a candle burning inside. This was done with fusible stabilizer, layering the batik on bottom, the already cut out pumpkin right side up, then the fusible with the fusible side facing down. I then stitched around the outside of the pumpkins, leaving a small space open to flip them inside out.
After flipping, this is what they looked like
Seeing that the colors blended in quite a bit, I stitched around the cut out faces in black thread to make the words more prominent. That also allows the inside edges to fray when washed, and give that appearance of the stringy insides of pumpkins. I next sewed my 2 background pieces together, and measured the pumpkins out evenly across.
I was looking for border fabric, and though I loved those cats, I thought the border would end up making the project too big. So I had to find another.
And this is it!! At this point I still had the quilting left to go, which has quite honestly been the most frustrating thing of all time. My little Brother machine does not seem to free motion well, and I ended up with horrible tension issues - even after doing numerous practice tops, changing the needle, thread, rethreading, replacing the bobbin, cleaning the machine, and a whole host of things to try to make it work. Unfortunately, I ended up having to do some straight line quilting just due to time issues.
My middle girl, after seeing me so upset, said "Mom, I love it. Just like you say, it doesn't have to be perfect, but the best to your ability. And I think its beautiful!!" Thank God for those moments, huh? After finally deciding to outline the pumpkins and trees, and do a crisp cross in the border, I was on my way quilting with my walking foot. Not what I wanted, but hey…. Gotta do what you gotta do. I then put on a black and white striped binding, and….. My Finished Project!!
Quilting (on the half decent side anyway)
I still need to wet and fluff the pumpkin edges, but that can wait. I think I'll call this "What Do You Say?" after many times using that question while trick or treating with my young kids, prompting them to say "TRICK OR TREAT!". Thank you so much Carol, for allowing me to join in the fun! I had a great time, learned a new applique method, and learned some things about posting on blogs too. Be sure to check out all the other posts from fellow quilters doing the Witchy Stitchy Blog Hop!
Hi all!! My name is Bethni Lee, and I live in Rougemont, NC. I've been quilting (piecing, mainly) about 4 years. I have 3 daughters, the youngest of which has Down Syndrome. Like many of you, I began quilting as a way to relax, and have some "me" time away from the stressors of parenting. This is my first blog hop, and the first I've shown my work on a large scale. Though it didn't turn out perfectly, and I had issues quilting the thing, it's perfectly imperfect, and I hope you enjoy it.
Much of the materials came from my stash, but they are from recent collections of Halloween prints. I first cut out my 3 pumpkin shaped, and drew on the faces, using the words Trick Or Treat for the mouths. I then used reverse applique to place the orange/yellowish batik behind the pumpkin top, trying to give it the look of a candle burning inside. This was done with fusible stabilizer, layering the batik on bottom, the already cut out pumpkin right side up, then the fusible with the fusible side facing down. I then stitched around the outside of the pumpkins, leaving a small space open to flip them inside out.
After flipping, this is what they looked like
Seeing that the colors blended in quite a bit, I stitched around the cut out faces in black thread to make the words more prominent. That also allows the inside edges to fray when washed, and give that appearance of the stringy insides of pumpkins. I next sewed my 2 background pieces together, and measured the pumpkins out evenly across.
I was looking for border fabric, and though I loved those cats, I thought the border would end up making the project too big. So I had to find another.
And this is it!! At this point I still had the quilting left to go, which has quite honestly been the most frustrating thing of all time. My little Brother machine does not seem to free motion well, and I ended up with horrible tension issues - even after doing numerous practice tops, changing the needle, thread, rethreading, replacing the bobbin, cleaning the machine, and a whole host of things to try to make it work. Unfortunately, I ended up having to do some straight line quilting just due to time issues.
My middle girl, after seeing me so upset, said "Mom, I love it. Just like you say, it doesn't have to be perfect, but the best to your ability. And I think its beautiful!!" Thank God for those moments, huh? After finally deciding to outline the pumpkins and trees, and do a crisp cross in the border, I was on my way quilting with my walking foot. Not what I wanted, but hey…. Gotta do what you gotta do. I then put on a black and white striped binding, and….. My Finished Project!!
Quilting (on the half decent side anyway)
I still need to wet and fluff the pumpkin edges, but that can wait. I think I'll call this "What Do You Say?" after many times using that question while trick or treating with my young kids, prompting them to say "TRICK OR TREAT!". Thank you so much Carol, for allowing me to join in the fun! I had a great time, learned a new applique method, and learned some things about posting on blogs too. Be sure to check out all the other posts from fellow quilters doing the Witchy Stitchy Blog Hop!
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