FLYING FINGERS on a TBT

It has been a while since I had a “Throw-Back-Thursday” post, but I have wanted to show this one for a while.

And of course, there is a story behind it!

My friend Audrey and I both played piano, and for many years we organized worship for our church services. We loved doing it and enjoyed finding new music for our congregation.

At Easter and just before Christmas, we would hold one special service featuring congregational singing, solos, duets, and other musical offerings.

For this service, Audrey and I would both play keyboards and organize Guitars, Drums, Trumpets, and anything else we could come up with.

BUT, the offeratory was always just she and I playing a duet.

One particular Christmas, we were practicing at my house, and my daughter Jenny came in and said: “Ya’lls fingers are FLYING”!!

So… “Flying Fingers” was born…

Audrey had just organized a room in her house to be her “music room,” and she definitely needed this wall hanging!!

The keyboard was taken from a panel, and the staff and notes were machine-applique.

I just heard that Audrey and Mike are leaving the area soon and moving to be with one of their sons. As we texted back and forth, she assured me that “Flying Fingers” is going with her!!

It is fun to look back and remember quilts that we made and think about the people we made them for!!

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Applique Flower Prep

I am slowly getting ready to start applying flowers to my background!!

I decided to start at the top and work my way down, so the first flower would be this FUN one…

I absolutely LOVE the long skinny petals.

I started by tracing the pieces on the Apliquick Fusible Fabric…..

I cut them out and ironed them to various orange fabrics….

I found it so easy to prepare the pieces using the Apliquick tools…..

…and it was SO satisfying to see the FIRST flower pinned on the background…..

This project is going to be SO much fun!!!

One of the things I have been concerned about is finding more Apliquick brand fusibles that work so well with the system. I can’t find anywhere to purchase it except on their website… in SPAIN!!

So, it was time to start looking for something else that would work!!

In my applique box, I found a packet of fusible from Alex Anderson…..

….so I cut out a few petals and gave it a try. It seemed to work okay!

I decided to try another variety from C&T….

It looks EXACTLY like the Alex Anderson paper, and it works well, too!

So, now I have plenty of “paper” to use and it was time to prep another flower….

Hooray…the first two flowers are ready to go!!

I still need to make more stems and a lot of leaves but we will eventually get to that!!

I am TRULY having fun with this project!!

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Who knew I would enjoy hand-appliqué SO much!

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UFO from Nancy

Each Wednesday, I am talking about UFO’s in my studio, whether mine or inherited from others.

Today, we are looking at an inheritance from Nancy.

Nancy was a superwoman in my guild. She was highly active in our charity bee and had personally made hundreds of quilts for children in our local battered women’s shelter.

For Christmas one year, she gave me this sweet angel ornament, and it has become my “quilting angel” in the studio…

Nancy is always looking out for me!!

Sadly, she passed away in 2015.

As her friend was cleaning out her stash, she found this very cute applique quilt….

…along with the instructions saved from some magazine….

I love that she veered from the autumn colors and went for bright and bold owls!

As I have looked at this piece, I realize it just needs a border and some quilting… maybe 3 or 4 hours’ work.

SO…..I plan to finish it up and donate it to our charity group. They will either find someone to give it to or sell it to raise money for batting and thread.

Ya’ll hold me to this…. I will have it finished by the end of January!!

Watch for a future post showing the FINISHED quilt!!

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Applique Background

I have been thinking about the background for my floral appliqué and finally decided to try painting one.

After covering my husband’s work bench…..

…. I had a look at my green paints…..

…and decided to start with a Moss Green….

I added a fair amount of water to the lumpy paint and started brushing it onto the fabric with a foam brush…

You can see the spot that I started in because it is WAY too dark, but I will deliberately cover it up with a clump of flowers!!

After covering the bottom of the background, I added a darker green to the leftover Moss green, and added more brushstrokes….

I truly like the “streaks” of color!!

After cleaning the plastic, I turned the fabric around and started thinking about the sky portion. I started out with a blue, added water, then some white paint, and more white paint, until I found a color I was happy with…

For the sky, I didn’t want to paint streaks, so I decided to use a sea sponge instead…

At this point, I am liking the mottled sky!!

I decided to deepen the blue a bit, but unfortunately didn’t incorporate the paint well, so I ended up with dark blue dots…

You can see them a bit in this photo.

I then decided to go with solid white and create some “clouds” to hide some of the dots. After I held it up…..

… I realized it needed darker areas at the bottom, so I added some brown to the small amount of Moss Green left over and added additional brush strokes.

This was how it looked the next morning after it had dried, toning the colors down a bit….

To finish it off, I ironed it well, then washed it, hoping to restore the fabric’s soft hand..

It is still a little stiffer than regular fabric, and I will have to see if I can sew easily thru it.

I’ll let you know!!

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A Christmas Eve Memory!

This post is about a quilt that I made in 1992 for my daughter, Jenny. She was never into Dolls, but she LOVED her Teddy Bears, so I decided to make her this quilt for Christmas.

I found wonderful patterns, many given to me by quilting friends. And, they all reminded me of Jenny’s pursuits.

Then there was one pattern called “Lonesome Bear” and I felt that he couldn’t be on the front with all of the other bears, so I decided to piece the back and include poor little lonesome bear. The idea behind the back was that he walked all around the edge of the quilt and then curled up in the window and fell asleep….

This quilt has been much loved over the years and has survived two disasters… the first being a black pen breaking on top of it (note the black spots), and the second being a can of pink hair spray leaking onto the front. Jenny was horrified when these things happened, but I think that they give the quilt more character!!!

As with many of us, I had planned too much for the holiday season and was running out of time to finish it.

The reason I remember this quilt at Christmas was because of a poem that I wrote to read when I showed the quilt at my guild Christmas Party…..

Twas the night before Christmas and all thru the house, not a creature was stirring….except for Mama Mouse.
The stockings were appliqued, quilted and hung with care, in anticipation of the goodies that would soon be there.
The presents were wrapped before Turkey day and now lie under the tree in much disarray.
The children were nestled all snug in their beds, while visions of “Baby Crimp and Curl” and “Super Mario” danced in their heads.
Many hours ago, Dad had gone to bed, while Mom went searching for needle and thread.
And now she sat sewing binding on the sides of a quilt made for Jenny who was then only five.
The idea was born in September with much love and care and……”Yes Dot, your right. It must have a bear”
Or two or three or maybe eight plus five or whatever it takes to bring the quilt to life.
That special brown print was bought from Melissa’s store and Dot and Dale sent bear patterns galore.
The patterns were enlarged to make the size just right and that polar bear block wouldn’t go together without a fight.
The Ballerina must have a Tu-Tu of net. Now the blocks are together, the top is finished and yet….
It still needs a border to set it off right. What about Bear’s Paws…..so I sew with all of my might.
The back of quilt must be special too. It needs a lonesome bear and more Bear’s Paws…at least a few.
But now it’s Christmas Eve and time is a slippin. Oh not another mistake…I dont have time for more rippin.
At last now it’s finished, the final stitch has been taken. Once it is all wrapped up, then the kids I can waken.
And so I exclaimed as I wrapped the present tight. “Merry Christmas my Jenny and may it keep you warm many nights.

I hope that you have finished all of your Christmas projects and that you can dream tonight of the many new quilts to come!!!!!