Cheri Payne is a generous and wonderful quilt designer who has such a fresh and whimsical folk style. She is in the midst of sharing a series of Basket Blocks with her Quilts by Cheri Friendship Group on Facebook. I put together Block 1 today. It's the first time I've used wool for applique. The tiny berries were so small that I cheated and substituted some sweet little buttons. And, I used a piece of lace instead of the scalloped band on the basket top. Oh, I am soooo lazy!
Truly, applique' is not my favorite thing to do, and I don't know why! My Elna does a lovely job of machine applique and it really doesn't take that long. Trace, fuse, cut, fuse, applique. Done!
It wasn't easy today though. The quilt gremlins were at it.
First, I cut the background piece for the top. Then I cut the basket. Next I started to cut the background side pieces - out of the piece I had set aside for the top! What was I thinking? Good thing this is a forgiving style. There was just enough fabric left to piece together something big enough to replace that top section - but it took 3 pieces!
Then, my favorite quilting iron went on the fritz half way through the project. It's the second time it's gone out. The first time, a few years ago, there was a short in the cord near the plug and it kept turning itself off. DH trimmed the cord back, put a new plug on and I was back in business! Today it wouldn't shut off when it reached the set temperature and I scorched the ironing pad, gummed up the plate with spray starch and melted a piece of sweatshirt knit. Yowzer! Maybe time to retire it for good. Should I yell "Mayday!"?
