Love Entwined Flowers and Zig Zag

The third instalment of the LE BOM arrived a few days ago.  I was very excited to see what was next even though I am not quite up to date, but I am getting there.

The zig zag border has been the subject of quite a bit of discussion and I wouldn't be surprised if a little private cursing wasn't going on too!  I started off trying the English Paper Piecing method using the fusible wash away stabiliser in place of paper or card but soon decided it was too labour intensive.  There had to be another way!  I scoured the Yahoo Group messages and visited some wonderful blogs where other generous and more experienced ladies had posted their method of attack, step by step thankfully!!  I finally settled on the method of machine stitching light and dark strips together which I then ironed a freezer paper template to so I could cut out a fairly accurate strip, marked, ready for needle turn applique.  I have nearly finished one side but have yet to deal with the corners...ummm.

On a brighter note, I have had a lovely time sewing the pink flowers and am looking forward to starting the next applique.

I also added more tiny circles around the compass, all the French Blue ones.

Not a great photo of the zig zag, sorry.

I have also finally sewn on a border and quilted a quilt I began from a class I took quite a few years ago with Australian quiltmaker, designer and author, Judy Hooworth.  I had a bit of a play with a quilting motif by Judy from Green Fairy Quilts on the border and in the setting squares.  I'm really quite pleased with the result and it was fun to stitch.  With the really busy fabrics there was no point in doing anything too fancy as it wouldn't show up but this design gives a nice texture to the quilt and where you can see it I think it works well.  Judy(Green Fairy) posted a video on how to do this design on You tube, it's worth a look, as is anything this extremely talented lady quilts!  I used King Tut thread top and bottom and a really nasty cotton batting I received as a free gift with a magazine subscription.... no wonder they were giving it away!  It pulled apart with the least tension put on it and it is really thin with a nasty rough hand.  I will gently wash the quilt once I finish stitching the binding  down and put it in the tumble drier which will hopefully shrink it up a little to give it a nice crinkly look.  I have no idea what brand of batting it is, there was no label and I've never come across anything like it for sale, thankfully!

You can see the quilting motif best in the border on the right in the last photo, my version of it anyway ; )

Well, back to Love Entwined and I am still squeezing in some stitching on the Whig Rose blocks.

Happy stitching,

Rowena