Previously finished projects

I forgot to share a monumental accomplishment! I finished the first block of the Baltimore Halloween applique quilt that I started almost 2.5 years ago! All that needs to be done is embroidered legs on the spider and feet on the owl. Ta da!!!

In the time that it took me to finish one block, an amazing hand appliquer friend of mine from my quilt guild finished and hand quilted the Ladies of the Sea quilt and has also finished the applique portion and is currently quilting the Baltimore Halloween too. She told me that I started with the hardest project, especially since it's my first ever hand applique. She also gave me some great pointers about using Ultra Suede to do the bitty parts like the beak and eyes and such.

Ladies of the Sea:

The Pirate Ship block:

Baltimore Halloween:

She pointed out how much bigger the pieces are in the Ladies of the Sea. They were indeed larger than the pieces in the Halloween quilt, but I think she was just being nice. I mean, those floral borders alone are insane! (Those aren't her quilts, just pictures of the pattern quilts).
I also finished my Limeade quilt made with silk dupioni. I hung it with 3M's picture hanging velcro strips, which totally rock. It's in a little nook/hallway going from my family room and bathroom. It's a weird angle with not much light which makes it hard to get a decent photo. The fabric glows and really brightens up that nook.

I don't know if you can see it or not, but if you look closely to the left side you can see that I used left overs from the blocks to make a scrappy binding. I had put aside one of the silks to use as a single fabric binding, but just couldn't use it all up on one quilt, so I saved it to use in the second quilt I'm going to make with what's left from the fat quarters I bought. I see something wavy in the remaining silk's future.

Here's a close up. I used a gorgeous turquoise metallic thread. The block in the upper right corner is really a peacock colored teal and a red/blue colored silk. The contrast is much greater in person.



New medium

I have been quilting with silk dupioni this week, and have been pleasantly surprised at how easy it is to work with. You need to use a fusible interfacing on it to prevent massive unraveling. I used an ultra thin Pellon fusible and ironed it to the entire fat quarter. I started out using a pressing cloth on the silk, but it ends up with this kind of silk, you don't really need it, the silk can be ironed directly. I did used a pressing cloth on the interfacing though, because I've melted through interfacing in the past.

I used a basic pattern so the material is able to shine through. It's basically two  matching 4-patches, and then to sets of bricks for the sides. It's fun how the outer portion of the two 4-patches disappear once you add the rails to the sides. Since I wanted my blocks to be 6" finished, I used 2" unfinished strips to make the patches.

I'm using two colors of metallic thread to quilt it, turquoise and green. I was going to quilt it in swirls, but I finished about three swirls Friday night and decided I didn't like it, so I ripped them out. Rockin' Friday night, huh?

I eventually decided on alternating wavy lines. I'm rather pleased with them. They take longer, but what's a quilt without quilting, right?

I love most of the blocks, but this one is my favorite. It reminds me of a peacock. Is it wrong to love one quilt block more than the others?