My Bootiful Booquet is coming along nicely. There are some little details that still need to be added such as the pumpkin's face and some faces on the leafy green ghosts. The top and bottom borders here are not appliqued or sewn to the main body of the quilt yet.
I decided to do a dogtooth inner border. This is a technique that I found in Gwen Marston's latest books and I loved it the minute I saw it. This is the first time I've tried it. Basically you cut a strip of the dogtooth fabric, fold it several times until you have a repeat length you like, trim the top to a triangle shape (through all the layers), baste it to the outer border, then applique the cut edges down. I love the way it's not perfect. That's its absolute charm actually and the reason I love doing these totally made up designs. In fact, if you are ever in a bit of a rut, get a bit of fabric and just start sewing things to it. It's definitely wonderful therapy!
The other day I did some clean up in my studio. I found one of these appliqued hearts and had the idea that I should make more of them, so I did! The first one came from the class I took during Quilt Week in early July. It was the sample we got from the teacher so we could practice our applique. I love the fabric and the red background and I thought this is a great way to showcase some of my favorite fabrics. Also, hearts are kind of the gold standard when it comes to learning to do hand applique. They have straight edges, curves, an inside corner and a point- all the things you need to learn how to do. Make a whole appliqued heart quilt and you'll be an applique expert.
Here's something Chloe whipped out since yesterday. She saw some stuffed Halloween cats in a catalog that came yesterday and got to work making her own. She decided hers would be for Fall and she even put some stuffing in the heart- how cute!
