Anael

Wow Chay, gorgeous blocks and only 99 to go!

jacquie

ohhhhhh, i'm really wishing i had ordered white kona now!
why did i order cream???

chay, your blocks are loooooooovely!!! keep up the good work!!

Cre8tvlwyr

Can't put in smilies .... lost what I typed 3 times ah well lets see if this works - I love your blocks Chay and makes me more confused about what to do..... Civ War...Kaffe...Civ War... Kaffe... ahhhhhhhhh maybe tear daisy petals off flower to decide?? perhaps should do a Hannah in Kaffe and DJ in Civ War??? decisions..........

memereof8

I have a bin full of Civil War and Reproductions, so you know what my blocks will look like. Background will be different ecru colors in different patterns (also have a bin of this color). Really want to complete DJ for our bedroom. Having hubby paint the room a green to match the quilt.

dakotamaid

Cream can be used for anything, if your pocket book can do it, go with the snow white if you are doing brights.

Chay

It's a hard decision!! My compromise is to make a Sylvia's Bridal Sampler quilt in 30's fabrics, my other love - AFTER I finish the DJ, unless I'm so burned out on small pieced blocks that my eyes are rolling back in my head.

An interesting lesson I learned from this quilt is that my hand sewing got a lot better as I went along. I did all the machine pieced blocks first and left any that had hand applique till the end. There are a LOT of melons in this quilt and my first ones were terrible but as I did more my hand work got better. I like applique on top, not reverse applique, so that's how I did my applique pieces.

Good luck making your decision!

sandpat

I found that back basting was a good way to handle the small applique pieces on this quilt.

Chay

Sandpat, can you tell me more about your back basting technique?

Cre8tvlwyr

I don't know how Sandpat does this, but there is a good tutorial at this site:
http://sentimentalstitches.net/instr...-hand-applique

I personally skip a lot of this I mark my background with washable blue marker or thin white lead pencil [Fons& Porter] depending on the shade of fabric. I mark the piece to be appliqued the same way [using ott light under the piece and plexiglass - or I put a battery operated tap light in project box for cheap lightbox]. I match the marks and either pin it down.... or when I get real lazy I simply pinch it down with my left thumb/forefinger while I place some stitches with my other hand. Be careful this only works with small pieces, unless you are real careful!! Then I pinch a little ahead on my applique piece on the marked line and needleturn. I will post pics a few weeks from now.

jamnltd

I have been thinking about joining for days. I have so much on my plate, but I keep hearing Dear Jane calling me. So I am all in. I have been looking for something special to submit to our county fair and DJ is perfect. I am new to the Quilting Board so I will need your help navigating.