LE: Turning Hearts

These are the hearts tucked in around the vases. I've been thinking and re-thinking the colours for months. Originally I would have gone with blue - and this was when I was thinking of a light and dark blue zig zag border throughout the quilt. But since going scrappy, I was really stuck. I considered pink of course, but all my pinks seemed too pink and clashed with the scrappy style of the rest of the fabrics I'm using. Then I found these fabrics in my stash, and they are the perfect balance of pink and a few other tones that keep them in harmony with my other fabrics without taking my quilt into a pink direction. Although I do love pink, there's a real danger of overtaking the mid tone colours with a few bright hues which would dominate and unbalance the overall 'look'. I'm really happy with these blender hearts now.

I purchased lots of fabrics when I started LE, but am surpised to find the best blenders in my own stash!

and I fussy cut through the fabric the get the colours and hues I thought would work best

I'm using wash away fusible for my applique pieces - it really speeds things up and I love the end results too

LE: Stitching Down the Zig Zag Border

Finally, my zig zag border goes down. Last month I spent 3 days pinning down each zag zag against the pattern precisely in alternating shades of light and dark. In that post I showed you how I was hand stitching the seams between the light and dark units together (left).

Some of you reading this blog (but not making or reading the pattern) wondered what I was using on the applique pieces - I'm using Floriani stitch n wash fusible. You don't remove this product, you just keep on working. When washed, it simply goes away. I have used it in many projects previously and I like the results it gives.

Today, I'm taking this half assembled zig zag border, accurately placing it on my background fabric and hand stitching it into position.

Yes, I'll be hand stitching all my applique, all the way. This is a decision I made when I stated LE, it is an heirloom quilt and its one of those 'once in a lifetime' quilts and I'm going for 1790 authenticity with hand stitching and intense attention to details. This is a quilt of flourishes, fussiness and time.

Preparation, repetition, addiction: a true labour of love

If you're making this quilt yourself, remember to add your own LE based blog posts over in the Love Entwined Archive at the top of this blog. We love seeing how every quilter makes LE their own - me included!

WOW: LE Embroidery Stems Completed

WOW = WIPs On Wednesday

My own Love Entwined is really taking shape now. I've spent months in preparation, doing bits here and there, which I now have ready to finally get the center underway. I'm really excited to be at this stage, after all the hard work of this beginning, there's a lot of fun ahead. During the months when I was sitting down doing all the tiny prep work, turning hundreds of pieces over and over, what really inspired me was seeing what everyone else was doing. Most quilters making LE are miles ahead of me and seeing their progress kept me motivated. 

Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to add images in the Yahoo BOM Group or on Pinterest. I know uploading images takes time - time most of us just don't have much of nowadays. I'm deeply appreciative of how keen so many of you are to share your journey with all of us. We all need an inspiring boost every now and then. It just reminds me how wonderful it is to make a quilt within a community, and in this case, an online community. What a great place to be. THANK YOU!

What's Your WOW ?

An InLinkz Link-up

WOW: LE Vase Details

WOW = WIPs On Wednesday

I've been spending all my spare time embroidering. My hands are numb! I'm really looking forward to returning to some applique. The vases in these pictures are just pinned in place to help me guide the embroidery, I won't actually stitch them down until my zig zag border is down. It's just a progress shot, but I really love it. Now I just have two more vases worth of stems to stitch down and I'm hoping to get this done today.

If you're making LE, remember to add a linky to your own blog posts over in the Love Entwined Archives.

What's Your WOW ?

An InLinkz Link-up