Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Applique Week

Epic fail on my Block 27 for the Just Takes 2 quilt!

Not bad from far away but here is closeup!
Ooooo.


Ouch!


I never thought I was so bad at applique until I tried to do this one!
Red and white solids is just the most unforgiving combination ever.

So I took it as an opportunity to learn how to do this better.

I watched a bazillion videos on YouTube and settled on this series by Erin Russek as how I might progress on my second try at this block.

This is the first video in her series on how to do applique:



It was quite painstaking to set up but once all the pieces were prepped, it was pretty easy to put together.
The sewing was made much improved also by using a thinner needle (milliner's size 9 or 10) and thinner thread also (size 100 cotton).

The results are quite passable, I think!



So here they all are!


A layout was given for this first quarter of the quilt, but I didn't quite like it, so I am still playing with my own ideas.  :  )  Likely I will wait till they are all made and put it together then.
They look good on the wall anyway!

And here, the first try found a friend (Yay! Nothing gone to waste!)





Next, I want to try this method demonstrated by Gay over at Sentimental Stitches:



She really makes it look soooo eeeeasy!  I gotta try it again!
I am thinking to resurrect the orange and grey so I can do Block 27 again with this technique!

Pray for me!

Cheers,

Sarah


2 comments:

One Minnesota Quilter said...

I watched the first of the series you posted - will have to go and watch the rest when I have time.

Thanks for the links - I must work to improve my applique also.

The red/white blocks look very appealing but I don't think I would enjoy doing the Just Takes 2 project. Glad I can watch you and others! :) You are doing a very nice job!

Judy

Janet O. said...

I am applique challenged so I stick to piecing! Your second effort really made a dramatic difference! Congrats--and good luck on the new method. : )