I think I’ve fallen in love with needle turn applique
….and maybe hand quilting too.
Learning needle turned applique has been on my sewing bucket list for a little while. I did a little at Carolyn Friedlander’s Quilt Market booth a couple years ago and I wanted to do more. But life, as it always does, gets busy.
Then there was a class on creativebug by Carolyn for this stunning needle turned mini quilt.
I pulled out some of my favorite fabrics and some Aurifil thread and set to work.
It took a while, but I really really enjoyed it. One of the reasons I loved it was that I could take it anywhere. So portable. Then when it was done, I wanted to hand quilt it. I loved the contrast of the applique design against the text background. I didn’t want the quilting to take away from the design (and I felt like my applique skills needed a bit of addition support) so I hand quilted it with 50wt Aurifil in coordinating colors.
I used simple diagonal lines in each direction to create a delicate cross hatch. And of course the color of the threads matched the fabric.
Part way through the hand quilting process, which took a while, I seconded guessed all that work without being able to see it well. But now that it’s done, I LOVE it! It is subtle, which is exactly what I wanted, and it adds a beautiful texture to the pillow.
For the pillow I made small piping with the scraps of my center fabric. And then I used some of my favorite fabric for the back….. and added buttons for fun.
Details:
- Applique Fabric: Franklin in Glade by Denyse Schmidt for Free Spirit
- Background: Unknown (It was a gift from a friend and I saved it for something special. Anyone know what it is???)
- Back: Cotton + Steel XOXO Night Owl by Rashida Coleman-Hale
- Thread: Aurifil 50wt in 2588 and 2000
