Basket Quartet

September and October are now history! Wow, that went fast! I was busy doing a number of things. I finished two Halloween/Fall themed punchneedle pieces, but unfortunately not in time for patterns for this year. So, it will have to wait until 2014, but I will have them ready for a big show I will be doing the first of February (Feb. 5-8). I'm going to have a booth at the first ever American Quilter's Society show here in Phoenix. I'm so excited! If you have some time to spare for a nice little quilting related vacation, you might want to think about a trip to Phoenix in February.

I was also fortunate to receive some sample yardage of my new fabric line, Elementary for Studio e Fabrics. The fabric turned out beautifully, the colors are so rich! I designed three different free to use patterns for the line, which are all posted on the website www.studioefabrics.com .

So I began working on Basket Quartet (Light) for an upcoming event I'm doing at Zoe's Trunk, in Chandler, Arizona. It should be fun! As you can see from the flyer, we will be having a hunt for the missing Elementary fat quarters - finders keepers! And Sherlock Holmes will be there leading the hunt!

Here is the quilt, Basket Quartet, that I am currently working on. A lot of applique!

Basket Quartet

As much as I love hand applique, in the interest of time I decided to do this quilt by machine, which is fun do as well. I prepare my applique pieces with starched turned-under edges like so:

I simply pin the pieces in place with tiny applique pins, and then stitch the pieces to the background using a tiny vari-overlock stitch in a color that closely matches my fabric. I use Mettler 60/2 cotton thread, Aurifil Mako 50/2 cotton, or DMC 50/2 cotton machine embroidery thread, whatever matches best! This is the method which I think best mimics the look and feel of hand applique. No glue, no fusing, just pure fabric!

I'll be sure to post a photo of the quilt when it's done. I have one block finished, three to go!

I hope you'll join me next week for the Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks from today's top designers, Volume 8 Blog Tour which starts Monday, November 11. My day for the tour will be November 13 where I will talk about my block and giveaway one copy of the Vol 8 issue. The block I designed for this issue is one of my favorites, I hope you like it too!

Here is quick link to start the blog on November 11 - www.quiltmaker.com/quiltypleasures . Have fun!


Until next time!

Martha