Joseph's Coat

This is a Joseph's coat (similar to an orange peel but with six spokes) that was hand stitched by my grandma Hazel Millard in the 1940's-1950's. I am slowly hand quilting it, because it deserves to be hand quilted.

Back-basted applique baskets

Here is my current carry-around project for monthly bee meetings. The basket pattern is from the book When the Cold Wind Blows by Barb Adams and Alma Allen. I'm only making 20 of them for a wall hanging, with nine-patches in-between.

Some people would choose to get these done sooner and work on them at home, but I need handwork prepped and ready to go so I can grab it between work and my evening bees.

This method of appliqué is called back-basted appliqué, a method taught by Jeana Kimball. My friend Debbie S showed me this method after she took Jeana's class. This is now my preferred method of appliqué because it made a lot of sense to me. Prior to this, I never did much appliqué, in spite of taking a number of classes that taught various methods. I was never satisfied with my work because the pieces never stayed put, but would travel as I stitched them down.

In case you never heard of the back-basting method, here is a straightforward tutorial from Gaye Boomers.

     

In progress (top photo), prepped and ready to go (second photo), and back view with stitches over drawn lines (last).

Favorite things

Favorite color: Red.

Next fav color: Dark periwinkle.

Love stripes cut crosswise.

Bold and graphic is good.

Quilting style: A mix between traditional and wonky (channeling Gwen Marston)

Matchy-matchy makes my toes curl (backwards).

Touching 30's fabrics make my blood sugar go up and my teeth hurt (although I appreciate work others have done with that era of fabric).

Printed fabrics have to be light-givers (channeling Mary Lou Weidman)

That should be enough to get us started, class.

Welcome! Sit and stitch.

Welcome to my stitching blog. I plan to show things I’m working on, but I have to warn you that it takes me a while to get things finished. So as I have time, I keep on stitching, keep on stitching, keep on stitching…