Chit Chat

Thank you all for stopping by and leaving a comment on yesterday's post. We have quite a few entries in the drawing for the Schnibbles X-Rated pattern, and there are still a couple days to go, so if you didn't enter yet, make sure you leave a comment on that post.

Work was lo-o-o-o-o-ong and somewhat stressful today; I was glad I got a good night's sleep last night. After working overtime, I came home to read all your comments, and they sure brightened my mood considerably! I was particularly touched by Nancy, who gave me an "I Love Your Blog" award! Thank you bunches, Nancy!

Nancy mentioned my "recycling," and my friend Eileen asked me today why I hadn't been thrifting lately, so I thought I'd mention the subject here. As it turns out, the Goodwill near my office (which I visited last week) seems to have cleaned out their store and doesn't seem to have much on their shelves. Last week I came away empty-handed--which is pretty odd for me! I've been planning to stop at one of the Goodwill stores near my house on the way home from work, but it was awfully hot last week (Goodwill isn't real big on air conditioning!) and work's been so busy this week, I just haven't had the time or inclination to stop and search for treasures. I'm sure I'll get back to thrifting soon, and when I do, I'll let you know what I find.

I also haven't had much time to get back to working on the borders of the X-Rated quilt top this week. I have, though, kept working on the border blocks for the Halloween quilt, and the photos sprinkled through today's post are the blocks I've completed recently. Much of the embellishment that really "makes" this quilt comes in the quilting and after the quilting, so at this point, the blocks look a little plain.

The applique on this quilt is going pretty quickly, though, because of the simplicity of the design. Each block consists of just a couple appliqued pieces.

A few of you have asked how I'm appliqueing these. My preferred method of applique is to use freezer paper templates ironed onto the back of the fabric. I then baste the fabric under (and around the freezer paper), press the piece flat with an iron, and pin it to the background. After that, I hand stitch the applique, remove the basting, and cut out the background fabric from the back of the appliqued piece. After removing the freezer paper through the back, I press the block and trim it to size--I start off with a background piece cut about 1/2" wider and longer than required in the instructions.

(Above is a purse--this is a perfect example of one of the blocks that will be embellished later by the addition of a handle!)

So, yes, I do hand applique and I find this method goes faster for me than needleturn, although I know that many of you who have done needleturn for a long time are probably quicker than I am since there's less prep time involved. Still, when I draw my own patterns, I can draw them directly onto the freezer paper and I like that flexibility.

Since I also have some applique to add to the borders of the X-Rated quilt, I suspect I'll be hanging around the Sweat Shop with thread and needle in hand quite a lot in the next few weeks. It's just too bad the Olympics can't be extended a week or two!

Happy quilting and happy Thursday--the weekend will soon be here!