OK, we are officially unoffical sisters!. Being adopted with a father of Irish heritage (& a bit o' the Scots, too) & a mother of unknown origins, I'm game if you are!!! Hooray - I've got me an older sister - & she quilts!!!

P.S. I think I'm getting the better end of this deal!

I lost my 2 older sisters so you can be my 2 younger sisters. I am 73 years old and I relish every year. I have been a cancer survivor for 17 years.

We have always had Birthday rules in our house. If your birthday falls on a weekend, you get the whole weekend to have everyone serve you and treat you like royalty. If it falls on a weekday...you get the entire week!!! I love those long ones!

Thanks for the tip Linda..I've never noticed it either...will have to check it out!

Hi sisters, HAPPY BIRTHDAY KATHY, hope you have a great day

Might try a block next week see how it goes and will try out your way of needleturn Lesley.

We have a lovely day here they are promising temps of 20C thats 68F so nice

I'll be interested to see how you get on Elle.

How nice, I always wanted a sister or two, but all I got was a whining, snivelling baby brother, almost 10 years younger me and he was a real pain in the butt. He doesn't whine and snivel any more, but I am still mothering him - his car wouldn't start this morning, and I had to lend him mine.

What would our brothers do without us???

I've no idea what mine would do - he hasn't an ounce of practicallity in him. He would probably have to get married again.

Leslie,
Are you using Irish Linen to do this applique? It looks like an evenweave fabric as opposed to 100% cotton that we use for quilts. Will the technique differ with the different fabrics?

The samples I made (cream background and terracotta applique shapes) are both regular patchwork cotton (though not batiks). I think they look very loosely woven because my camera was only about 1.5 - 2in away from the surface, so that you could get to see as much detail as possible.

Regarding a possible different technique, no, I use the same technique whether it is batik or ordinary cotton. If you think you might want to make your quilt doing it this way, may I suggest you practice on some scraps first? That's partly why I put the pics on here so early, to give you all plenty of time to try it (or to help you decide to go down the machine route, or try a different hand method).