WIP Thanksgiving week - What are you taking your time with?

Kristen over at So Happy has started a nice weekly linky for handwork, and I'd like to use it as a motivator on my projects, so I'm joining in on her Take Your Time Tuesday link-up in addition to my normal WIP attention. It's perfect for this week since almost all the work I've got done has been limited to show time with Scott after dinner.

I used to really shy away from hand applique, but its clean, polished lines seduced me into entering that world this year, and the time I work on that is when we're enjoying a moment together in the evenings on the sofa.

I keep my applique station in a tote - the pieces that are ready for stitching, a baggie with the silk threads I use right now and an upholstery thread, the container of dainty applique needles, my "applique glasses" that have zones for close-work and for TV viewing, and some good, sharp scissors. 

The tote's easy to grab if I know I'm likely to be waiting anywhere, like the kitty ophthalmologist in a town 5 hours away. . .  

There is one big applique block that lives in my tote, but when I started working on a Dear Jane, I found that an awful lot of those Baby Janes find their way to the tote as well. 

The large block is the centerpiece for my Ruffled Roses BOM. I am in love with the back-basting method and know that I will use it for almost all my applique. There are times when the ol' freezer paper method works better, but that's happening few and far between. 

For this particular block, I decided to keep all the vining motifs in one piece and laid a whole green fabric over the background to baste down instead of fiddling with narrow bias strips for that step. 

I'm not worried about all the cut-away portions being wasted because a lot of the many leaves that get added come from the same green. I'll also use this green in my next applique quilt, so it's all good in the end.


Here's the quilt this central block is for:

Once I finish that block, I'll load my tote with the My Tweets applique BOM, which I've been itching ALL YEAR to start.  :)

And Baby Janes float their way through - this one is partially stitched, waiting for me to applique the next round of back-basted pieces. (The really funny thing is that the fabric that came in this month's pack for this block is the same as the fabric I'm using up above!)  

This one was finished up last night during a CSI episode.





A big Thank You to Lee for hosting WIP Wednesdays, and Esther for WOW.  :D

BOMs Away Monday - 21 Nov 2011

Welcome to my Link-Up for BOMs Away Mondays! 

(We'd love to see the BOM you're working on lately.)

Well, it's been a really rough run for us this week. The only BOM work I got done happened because I'd already made all the inside 9-patches for the alternate blocks for this project. I did get them all assembled into their block form, with a few extra 9-patch minis for use on the back or something.

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What interval project have you got going? Weeklies are welcome along with regular projects that you've broken into monthly units, and -of course- true BOMs.  Share your eye candy and show off your progress since the last time you linked up! There are some wonderful monthly and weekly projects going on out there. You guys amaze me.  :D

BOMs Away Monday - 14 Nov 2011 (and an HST tip)

I'm feeling happy!  AQS awarded me the Blog of the Week. Never thought my humble little place would tickle their fancy.  :)

Welcome to my Link-Up for BOMs Away Mondays! 

(We'd love to see the BOM you're working on lately.)

Whew! Got two monthlies totally caught up. :D


Baby Janes: 

And the Flying Needles guild BOMs:

November

September

August

Notice all those tiny HSTs in the September block?  No way was I going to make those any other way but by using free print-out sheets that make the task so much faster and accurate.  (Just make sure your printer is printing at 100%, and not "fit to page" or whatever your software calls that mode.)

Pin paper to right-sides-together fabrics, sew on dotted lines.

Cut on solid lines. Sit down in front of a nice show and pull the papers off.  :)  

You get perfect HSTs every time.  :D

P.S.  Be sure to check out the unique GIVEAWAY that BOMs Away Regular, Marlene of Kissed Quilts is having until Sunday midnight (the 13th) Pacific time. She's designed several quilts for challenges the last few months. You just might enjoy being her follower, too. My favorite is her "1892 Rondure":

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What interval project have you got going? Weeklies are welcome along with regular projects that you've broken into monthly units, and -of course- true BOMs.  Share your eye candy and show off your progress since the last time you linked up! There are some wonderful monthly and weekly projects going on out there. You guys amaze me.  :D