Monday, May 1, 2017

May Basket

Happy May Day!  I just adore May Baskets, and had to squeeze some time in today to make a basket block to share with you.

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!"?

1 comment:

  1. Yes you should trade her in before burning down the house. Cute basket.

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