Blue Water Soluble Marking Pens

Ever use these? Ever have trouble getting them to go away?

On the applique for Spring Bouquet, my white chalk pencil isn't showing up on some of the fabrics. So I am using the blue pen on those peices. Here is a tip for if it won't wash out.

Mix up 1/4 tsp baking soda and 1/4 cup hot water. Pour over the marked area and it should disappear forever.

Sneak Peek!

Here is a sneak peek of blocks 3 and 4 of the spring bouquet. As you can see, they are not appliqued down yet, but they are glued in place. Kaci (our youngest daughter) came over a few days ago and picked out fabrics for some of the blocks. I love when I have help in that step. I knew the color families I wanted in each area, but since this is gonna be all stash except for sashing, borders and backing, I was not having fun picking exact fabrics. I really like the fabrics she picked but have changed one here and there. For the most part though she picked all of them. Didn't she do a good job? There are 5 more blocks to prep. I am doing all the prep work now so I will have lots to hand applique while I stay a few days with my Houston friend during the quilt show.

Edit: Since I lost all of the pictures on here I have the unsewn blocks in a later post. For that reason I am not replacing the block pictures here.

2 tips

First tip: I like to use painters tape to mark straight quilting lines. All I have in the house right now is 2" tape that we used to tape off areas for painting. Imagine using it for painting lol. Anyway, I want to quilt the Baltimore Blue with 1" diagonals in the white areas. So I tear a piece the length I want, then tape it down to the cutting mat, cut in half and VIOLA! two strips to use.

Second tip: If you share your sewing room (like I do) with a cat or two, before doing the above step, use a lint roller on the cutting mat lol.

Here are pictures of the first two diamonds I am hand piecing from Quilted Diamonds 2 by Linda Franz. Recognize the fabrics? lol

Spring Bouquet

Spring Bouquet is a pattern I picked up at the Houston show a couple or so years ago. Really wanted to finish the Baltimore Blue top before starting it. Now that the Balitmore Blue is on the frame I can start this applique project. I am trying really really hard to use up stash. I have enough white on white and off whites to use as the 9 backgrounds for the applique. I will pull as much for the flowers etc from stash as I possibly can. when it comes time for sashing, borders, etc I will go shopping as I doubt I have anything in enough quantity that will match. But for now the stash will go down a little.

Here is the first block glued down. All that has been sewn is the red center and the yellowy orange under the red. Everything else is just glued in place. It has nice big pieces so far. Nice change from the Baltimore Blue.

I am also sorta kinda maybe (lol) thinking about doing some diamonds by hand piecing. I bought the book Quilted Diamonds 2 by Linda Franz many moons ago. It has the 2 hour dvd. I have considered working on that to use up some stash too. I will watch the dvd (assuming I can find where I placed it lol) again and decide. Ok, here is the block!

Baltimore Blue Top Finished!

I started this quilt quite a few years ago. It is hand appliqued and I have worked on it, put it aside, worked on it, put it aside, many many times. I just put the final border on and have the backing fabric in the dryer as I type. Hubby and son set up the hand quilt floor frame (had to use the long rails!) and the batting is relaxing in the sewing room. So probably tonight (or more likely tomorrow) I will put the quilt on the frame and hopefully take a few first stitches. I have not totally decided how I will quilt it but I will take my time and make decisions as I go. I have plenty of time, as this is for me. Haven't rushed the applique and have no plans to rush the quilting. The top measures about 67" square. Nice size.  Here are pictures.

Edited: Do to problems with pictures I am not replacing these. There are newer posts with pictures of this quilt.

Final 2 blocks!!

Here are the final 2 blocks! Now to decide on sashing and borders!

Edited: After losing all my pictures (sigh) I will be taking pictures of each block as I quilt and posting them.