I find it hard to believe that it’s Nov and to me this means 2019 is almost over as Nov and Dec seem take on a very excelerated pace and we don’t seem to have enough time to do every thing we want to do before Christmas arrives and the New Year rush’s in the door. But first I want to share how I have finally decided how I’m going to make up my bouquet for HOTYH . I will share it in photos as for most of us it is easy to follow visually.
Remember I can not use glue and starch here in the wet tropics as it goes mould on the fabrics and all so stains the silks, even pins rust here now in a few months during the wet season if left in the fabric, so you can not pin baste here it’s all needle basting?!
I did know I wanted it to be in the red colour tones, so I needed lots of washaway freezer paper circles a round 170 and fabrics.
But I did not have enough silks so I decided to dye some silk fabric. These are all the same fabric top right hand piece is the original colour. Love how the weave of the fabric stands out now I have dyed the fabric. Cheers
Just love this deep red piece I ended up with.
Next I need my pattern which I pinned to a piece of polystyrene so easy to stick pins in to, you need lots of fine sharp pins when working with silks.
I started to make the flower that was right at the back of the arraignment, I decided on tiny circles to solve my problem of not been able to use glue or starch when I saw Shelia’s beautiful Bouquet.
Using pins to keep each tiny piece in place
Made up a few wee circles and ironed from the back only so I wouldn’t flatten the front to much.
Next flower also sitting at the back
Making up a few more wee flowers and having fun doing it.
Slowly it grows
Adding some more colour. These circles are small but not to small to make with ease. I will show how I make the smallest ones easy too if I have time today. It’s after midnight so Wednesday has started for me Down Under.
And now it’s starting to look like a bouquet
More depth is showing now I’m loving making this beautiful bouquet finally after months of procrastination
It needs yellow! And the leaves to give it some ump!!!
Two more flowers to mak e before I decide my final placements it does need some yellow.
Update 10pm, I have enough tiny flowers now to complete one bouquet, now to make 70 more wee circles and a few leaves? !
You I have so loved making this wee bouquet after procrastination over it for months?
So today I will be making more tiny flowers for here that’s 14 more circles for this bouquet and 70 wee circles for the other one?!
Thank you All for keeping me company with messages over the last 3 months of recover, I finally feel like I’ve joined the quilting world again. Still can not use my machine but I’m hand sewing and playing again.
Cheers Glenda
I sure hope you will recover completely soon and get off of the pain medication – hope you eye sight improves too – beautiful applique design
Thank Karen, tablets are becoming less and less specially since its been warm enough to go in t the pool and do my exercises there and when the pain gets bad in to the pool I go, it takes the swelling down in about 10 or 15 mins no need to take pain killers. I can stand for ages now its my hips that hurt first LOL Its lovely to be back playing with fabric again????? Still not driving but I’m in no hurry to go any where LOL Cheers Glenda .
Dear Glenda
You obviously thought a lot about these blooms, not only do you work with silk, you dye the fabric and then you make small tiny circles. Most people who see us do thus think we are nuts, have lost the plot completely, however that is not the case. We know what we want and then go about creating just that. We do not even question if it is not possible, we just do!
LLLOL SO so true Maggie, my dad never got it LLLOL He would say “Why cut up expensive pieces of fabric to make one smaller piece????” I guess to a none quilter it is difficult to understand LOL I do love all the different area’s of quilting from applqiue to dyeing. One just needs time to fit it all in LOL You are also right we do not question it we just do it??? Hugs Glenda
Beautiful work Glenda xxxxx
Thank you Sandra funny how I procrastinated over these bouquets for months and this one went together so smoothly after all????? Just needs time to sit down and quietly make those wee circles. Now to make the other one lOL
Thank you so much Sandra. I just need more hrs in the day and longer weeks and years that for get to stop for a few months LOL then I may be able to find time to machine quilt or learn a little more???? Cheers Glenda
Love those tiny circles, so cute! This is going to be another lovely quilt. So glad you have a pool to use for exercise. Happy Stitching!
Was in the pool 3 times to day Gretchen, temps are warming up, its still only in the mid to high 20’s just perfect for us. Now making even small circles for the tiny flowers but still enjoying making them with the lovely new dyed fabric I made. Have worked out a way to make it easier to make the actual flower so i can attach a completed flower on to the background. Keep warm in your so so cold North??? Hugs Glenda
You are sounding so much more like your chirpy self. So glad you are enjoying creating once again. Your work is looking beautiful – as always!
Hi Alison, thanks for dropping in, lovely to see you, each week I feel so much better, there was a while where I thought I would not get any better then I climbed over the hill and life is good again LOL After a year of hobbling around it is wonderful to be free and upright on my own two legs. Just need to get the new knee to be able to sit for long enough for me to sew seriously, have uncovered my wee Feather weight singer so I can sit down and sew for 5 or 10 mins if I want to do some thing, its a start????? I’m still happy doing some hand sewing though, have my HOTYH Blooms and buds to finish for the border, and now making tiny circles for tiny flowers for my HOTYH bouquets in the centre. So life is very Good. Take-care Glenda
Ooh, your bouquet is looking beautiful, Glenda! I can’t even imagine how you’re able to do something like that with neither pins nor starch! Your custom-dyed silks are stunning, too, and the colors came out just perfect. When using silks for appliqué, do you stabilize them with some kind of iron-on something or other before cutting them out, to prevent fraying and make them easier to work with? I have a medium size hoard of silk remnants that I’d like to use for a special appliqué project someday, but not sure how to “make them behave.”
Hi Rebecca lovely to hear from you. My hoard of silks are in so many different weaves and weights some so fine you can see clearly through, others so tightly woven they use them as raincoat kimonos as they will keep water off you for a while. Silk I call slippery ones where the weave moves when you are trying to cut it for my applique I use a very very light weight iron on interfacing, it is not expensive and stops the moving and makes it a joy to work with the silk. Fine fine fine silks I don’t use in my applique. Fine but tight woven silks with a design in the weave are lovely to use when you are doing small pieces of applique like these tiny flowers I just made, there is so little bulk behind the shape when you have a wee circle 1/4 of an inch across compared to cottons. I’m not using any stabiliser on the fabric for these wee flowers but I’m ironing on tiny circles of washaway freezer paper then pulling the unstabalised part to the back of the circle, this makes less bulk behind that tiny circle, I’ve been working for so long now with silks I more or less know which ones to not try and use for certain things, loose woven silks leave alone unless you want that look but stabilise it. Only way to tell if it’s really silk now days is the burn test. Happy sewing and PM me if you want any help?! Cheers Glenda.