Hand Applique….I feel like I’ve finally won!

I’ve always loved the look of hand applique on quilts but I’ve always been afraid to try it.  It looked hard and I just didn’t know where to start, so when I saw this Aunt Grace’s Garden Party BOM, I thought this is my chance to learn how. According to the information about it, they would walk you through the steps of applique, so anyone could do it. Well, I should have known it was too good to be true! Basically they would just say….’prep for applique’ and then you were on your own. At first I was a bit frustrated, but then I decided that ‘I can do this!’….and I read and watched YouTube videos of people doing different kinds of applique. A gal at one of the quilt shops I go to also gave me some hands on teaching for about 10 minutes and that helped more than any thing. Thanks so much Norma!

I’ve figured out that straw (milliners) needles and silk thread work wonders. I’ve tried fine thread and regular needles, but have had wonderful results using the straw needles and the silk thread. So here are some pictures of my latest tries of hand applique. The picture below is of the two panels that I will need to sew together to make the large center strip of my quilt. I have half of it done and now to the other half. It might be a little difficult to get them both looking the same.

These baskets gave me fits this weekend. I had one done and then realized I hadn’t squared up the half square triangles and my basket was too big,  so I tore it all apart and squared them up and then sewed it back together and now it looks great and is the right size! That is very important when quilting! So another few hours of hand stitching and this center strip will be done!

Happy quilting! Kris