Goodness Grows

Good Evening,

   Another late night post... I just can't seem to do this earlier. I'm always busy around supper time, then I pick up a bit so the kitchen is clean in the morning, etc. You all know the drill. Anyway, I am also going to seem like an advertisement for the Fat Quarter Shop. This is another project that has come out of the monthly Sew Sampler boxes. There is always some fabric, a pattern, thread, other notions, and a block of the month. This year (April to March) the block of the month is a quilt titled Goodness Grows, and the kit is fabric line from Moda called Strawberry Jam. It also includes a set of laser cut applique shapes for the quilt design. How could I resist? So I've been catching up on the blocks, having waited a couple months to decide on the fabric kit vs. pulling from my stash.

     Then, as I got to block 2, I decided to try the Aurifil 80 wt cotton applique thread as they were offering a coordinated box of colors. I love Aurifil thread so these looked intriguing.

I used a fusible, removable stabilizer underneath the block before doing the machine blanket stitch. I didn't quite trust the fusing so I basted the edge of the block to the fusible stabilizer. I pulled it out after the appliques were sewn down. With a small blanket stitch and the color matched 80 wt thread, it hardly shows. The fusible stabilizer then pulled off the backing fabric very easily without leaving any residue.

 I used to do a lot of machine blanket stitch when I owned Little Lamb Quilt Shop. We carried lots of wool for penny rugs. Sort of out of practice now, but I managed all but the corners well. The leaves were a bit difficult!

Block 3 was simple piecing. Blocks 1 and 2 are 15" square, and block 3 is 7.5" x 15".  We don't know what the final quilt will look like. I have recently been enjoying quilts with varying sized blocks, rather than the same size repeated over and over. Guess I've gotten bored with that approach. All set till next month's block pattern arrives!

Hope everyone had an enjoyable July 4th celebration, and maybe got to see some fireworks. Being new in town I did not know about fireworks, and did not really care. I had the best seat in town for Portsmouth's fireworks all those years so anything here would be a disappointment. I could hear a long series of bangs to the south of my house which I believe was coming from Quassy Amusement and Water Park in Middlebury (https://www.quassy.com/). 

I have something different I'll be working on tomorrow so be sure to stop by.

Thanks,

Mary