Monday, March 30, 2015

MCH Month 3 Finished

Probably for the first time ever, I have finished a block in the same month that it was released! This is Month 3 of Lynette Anderson's 2015 BOM, My Country House. Of course it helps that it was the easiest month so far, and I simplified it further:


Instead of piecing the heart, I just fussy cut it whole from the same red fabric that I used for the house door in Month 1.

I've had the stems sewn down for over two weeks, but then I waffled quite a bit about how to sew down the hexie flowers. Click the photo to see it larger:


I pieced the flowers with 100 wt silk thread, which is completely invisible. But it felt wrong to use the same invisible thread to applique them down. So I had three options:

  1. Sew down the flowers invisibly with the 100 wt silk.
  2. Use cotton thread for the applique, same as the stems and heart. But, should I then change colours for the coral and orange hexagons?
  3. Use perle cotton and a running stitch for the applique, same as I did for Jacks and Cats. But what colour should that be? Yellow, orange, coral, or even black?

I do not believe that an invisible applique stitch is the only right way to applique. Rather, I think it depends on the type of project and how it will be used. In this case there will be a lot of wool applique, which I like to whip stitch down with a single thread of embroidery floss. And I appliqued the stems with cotton and a regular, visible applique stitch, so they would relate to the leaves.

Finally I chose to use pink perle cotton and a running stitch to applique the flowers. I had some size 8 perle cotton in my stash, so I used that, but ideally I think a narrower size 12 would be better. I think the pink blends well with the coral and orange, and it will look nice as a big stitch quilted detail on the heart, once I get that far.

I also waffled about whether to stitch the vein on the leaves, because that is a big commitment for the 48 leaves still to do in Month 2. But, since I went with the perle cotton on the flowers, I decided it would be a nice touch for the leaves. Fortunately, I had the perfect colour in my stash! It is also size 8, DMC 580 perle cotton, and back stitch. And it didn't take long at all.


At 3/4 scale, I was just able to squeeze the 40.5" block into one width of fabric. I still need to finish the trees on Month 1, and then I'm going to move ahead to all the pieced blocks. There's a postage stamp border between Month 1 and Month 2, and I have the idea that it will be more efficient to make the stamps from the leftovers of the pieced blocks. I'm not sure it really is efficient, but I will try!

9 comments:

  1. I use 100 weight silk thread for applique almost exclusively if I don't want the stitches to show. In this case, your choice worked very nicely. Lovely work, as per usual. Makes me want to get out an applique project and work on it (there are several waiting), but I am pushing through to get my hexie quilt top done first.

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  2. Your stitching is lovely! Great work on these sweet blocks!

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  3. Decisions, decisions! Well done you - it looks great so they were clearly good decisions. I like your notion of using the same thread for quilting the heart.

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    1. Thanks, Jillian! It's getting to be the decisions that take the most time. :)

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  4. Your hexagon flower looks great in the block. I like mixing stitching techniques and threads as well. It keeps the piece interesting to work on, as well as interesting for the viewer. I am enjoying following your progress, (as usual).

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    1. Thank you! The challenge is to have variety, but still get everything to relate to each other. But I'm happy with how it's going. :)

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  5. Your heart, leaves and hexies all look great and so nicely done!

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  6. Beautiful! and I love the way you have done it too. Always nice to change things to suit ourselves isnt it.

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  7. What a darling block, and I love the fussy cutting for the heart. I've done some needle turn appliqué, and I'm over it. Nowadays if I do an appliqué block I will machine stitch it with a small buttonhole stitch, matching the fabric. Lots of starts and stops, but it does have a nice old fashioned look to it.

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I'm told Blogger has been bouncing some comments, so if it happens to you I'm sorry! But the settings look right so I can't explain it. In any case, thanks for reading!

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