Checking My Bed Of Roses

Having checked out my linen cupboard, I'm now double checking all my stored quilts.This is one of the first quilts I made back when I stated, so it must be about 15 years old now. Boy, does time fly when you're busy quilting. It feels like just yesterday.

This is a pieced and stenciled quilt. I love stenciling and all these roses are stenciled with Jo Sonja paints and textile medium.

This quilt has been enjoyed and stored and enjoyed some more and I'm happy to report that the stenciling looks as fresh as it did the day I first painted it. This is the wonder of modern textile mediums - if you follow the manufacturer's instructions, any stenciling you create will last as long as commercially printed fabrics.

 It's a two sided quilt, with pieced and stenciled blocks on the front and the quilt back is a whole cloth stenciled design I made up just to satisfy my love of all things romance and roses.

 Another thing that captures my eye, apart from the crisp paint colours, is the quilting. 

Bed of Roses was domestic machine quilted on a 1950's Elna sewing machine and I was a total newbie, just playing around. I've been fairly disappointed with sewing machines in recent years and I can honestly tell you with what life experience I have, that they just don't make them like they used to. I don't currently have a sewing machine I love, so I can't offer any recommendations. When this changes, I'll let you know. Heck, I'll shout it from the rooftops. But for now I'll just admire my determination to get this quilting done back in the day with what I had.

When I started out in quilting, I came from an artistic background and mindset, so I simply did things. No one had 'got to me' or told me that it couldn't be done or shouldn't be done a certain way. I was lucky in that I really wasn't influenced by any one or thing or brand. Nowadays when I'm out and among Groups of quilters, I'm often taken aback with the snobbish and somewhat elitist attitude that exists out there with what Quilter's Should Be Doing.

I think you should whatever you can with whatever you've got. If you wait until you have all the nice new, expensive tools you'll never get anything done.

This is the other vacuum foot I have set aside for vacuuming my quilts. It looks tougher than the horsehair one, but the bristles are actually soft. The fibres you see in the fibres here are not scrapped off my quilt top, they're from my table from before I laid the quilt down, it was covered in fluff and threads.

 As I'm looking over my quilts, I'm giving them a quick dust clean just because it's convenient. I did this before I rolled them up for storage the first time and they probably don't need it at this point.

And these are the quilts yet to be checked, I'l; be so relieved when this day is finally over.

Moth Attack!

Urgh! I'm under a moth attack!

I haven't seen any evidence of them, but they must be somewhere sleeping off this great feast

They have very good taste, only bothering to nibble away at my favorite mohair items and completely bypassing those old woolens I probably wouldn't miss.

I'm particularly fond of this zip up item which I wear on my walks in winter as it's so light and warm. And, it was a good addition to my resolution to avoid wearing black. But now it's completely ruined and I can't buy another one in this shade, it can only be repurchased.. in black. I'm so annoyed!

This item below is my favourite ruby red, warm, cosy cardigan for winter.

It only has a little nibble, but they made sure to do it on the front side 

where any darning would just look shabby. 

There's another two of these size bites higher up on the same side. I really don't think it's salvageable. 

but back to my favourite zip up

I really don't want to part with it, even though it looks like I've wrestled it from the jaws of a Mastiff. 

So I was thinking, I could 'patch' it with cute fabrics? But my DH has put his foot down at me walking around with random love-heart appliques stuck around my zip up top. I don't know, I think it could be OK? I'm not even going to  mention it to my DDs as they'll surely just sneak in and dispose of it for me when I'm not watching.

Why doesn't anyone in my family have any sartorial vision?

This week has been all about soaking the cedar balls in cedal oil and auditing every single garment in the house. Tomorrow, I'm going through my entire linen cabinet - which is somewhat significant and will take all 3 woman of this family to conquer. I haven't been one of those people who vacuum seals garments between seasons, but now I will be. There's a mountain of those bags to suck down into airless cubes and store away until needed and it looks like I'm going to be busy doing it all weekend.

Happily they haven't touched any quilts or fabrics.

See you on the other side of my moth crisis.

BOM 2018: Monthly Option Ending

You already know how incredible this BOM year is shaping out to be and we've only just started. If you'd like to take part and pay installments by the month, 

this option closes on January 22nd

  BOM 2018  

$9.90USD per month for 10 months

Access the BOM 2018 for 12 months

WOW: Vacuuming My Quilts

WOW = WIPs On Wednesdays 

I've been taking turns to bring down and vacuum my wall quilts since Monday, it's tiring work! I can't believe how much dust each one has collected in just a year and its taking me a good 45 minutes to an hour to thoroughly but gently brush every inch, front and back. I use a horsehair attachment I set aside only for this use. It's a boring job, but someone's got to do it.  

Next up, I have to check all my rolled and stored quilts for any moth damage as I've recently discovered some damaged jumpers in my wardrobe. I don't keep my stored quilts in my wardrobe, they are in a spare room, but I won't rest easy until I have checked each one over with my own eyes. Phew, it's going to be a busy day.

What's Your WOW?

An InLinkz Link-up

Queen's Garden: My New Free BOM !

Need I say more? Queen's Garden is a fabulously fun and cheerful walk through a fantastical blooming garden.The brighter, the better. This is definitely one for the Kaffee Fassett stash!

Members of my BOM Group, Intro & Part 1 is already waiting in the FILES area for you to download this beauty.

Everyone else, go to the Queen's Garden BOM Group. 

WOW: Prepping my Morning Glory

WOW = WIPs On Wednesdays 

Oh yes, I'm busy too! I'm seeing all the stunning progress pics being shared over in my BOM Group and I'm already in a spin over how fabulous it all looks. It's going to be a year for swooning, that's for sure.

As for me, I'm busy prepping my fusible with Morning Glory shapes. I'll be posting a detailed step by step as soon as I make some progress and will also update my applique techniques for those of you who have been asking.

As I do this, I'm thinking about the best way to draw my pattern onto my dark background. There are a few techniques and I think I'm going to try something completely new. This is actually my first dark background applique quilt so I can't wait to see what happens, and of course I'll be sharing what I learn right here in a blog post.

It's been an incredible start to 2018 and I'm really excited to see what's new in the pic updates each morning. What a way to start January :)

What's Your WOW? 

An InLinkz Link-up

Applique Q & A

It's a new year and with 3 new BOMs now in full swing, it's only natural that I'm being asked about my applique preferences on a daily basis. So many of you want to improve your applique and my email in-box is full of questions and requests for recommendations. I've said it before and I'll say it again. My own recommendation for applique is 'Simply Successful Applique' by Jeanne Sullivan.

If you're a regular reader of my blog, you already know this. I've praised this book many times over the years. In fact, it's the only publication I purchased 3 of - one for myself and one for each of my DDs. Although my daughters are not quilters, I know that if they ever want to take up applique for quilting or any other reason in the years to come, this is the only real guide they will need. Everything you need to know is in here. If this book isn't already in your library, it should be. 

Next on my list of most asked questions is my preference for wash away fusible. I'm always looking for new products, but I haven't found anything better than Floriani Wash Away Fusible Webbing. This product is currently my preference. Unfortunately, I'm finding it difficult to source. This means that I can't direct you to a spot where you can buy it quickly, easily and affordably because I haven't managed to do this for myself. I'm just always on the lookout for it and am currently working from a stash I stockpiled a few years ago. If you have any advice on this, I'll happily receive it.

Do you have any burning questions you'd like me to answer? Go ahead and ask!

In the meantime here are some applique related posts you  might find helpful / useful to browse through:

An InLinkz Link-up