Hand Quilting

Several weeks ago, I took a hand quilting class focusing on consistent stitches.  I think this pillow cover turned out pretty well.

The pattern was drawn on muslin using a Pilot Frixion ballpoint pen.  On the pen, it says "remove by friction" and is being advertised as an erasable gel pen.  However, on fabric, ironing the finished piece will remove traces of the ink.  Worked great!

Now, back to work on the turtles......

Turtles

I know I'm supposed to be getting ready for the holidays and I have a kabillion things to do.  But I've gotten sidetracked on a new project (of course!)  

It's another Hawaiian Applique', but it's a little different from what I've done in the past.  It uses two fabrics where the applique' fabric is laid on top of the background and the unneeded parts are cut away as I appliqué' thus exposing the background.  The pattern says it is designed for machine, raw-edge, or hand appliqué.

It's called "Herd of Turtles" and is created by Nancy Lee Chong of Pacific Rim Quilt Company.  At the same time, I got several spools of their Aurefil 50 wt cotton thread that is an absolute dream to appliqué with.  

And this one is my first using batik fabrics which made me a little nervous, but seems to be working out ok.

The rest of my Christmas shopping can wait until tomorrow.