faux trapunto, Light and Shade and Toad in the Hole.

 I've decided to do faux trapunto behind each of the appliqués. I'm taking an approach used by longarmers, and that is to quilt just outside the appliqué to make it more prominent. Because of this I don't have to use water soluble thread. I'm using Quilter's Dream de luxe (the heaviest weight) polyester for the trapunto. This batting sticks like cotton and is a joy to machine quilt. This weight is almost like white synthetic felt, the two lighter weights, Request and Select have a really good drape, but this one is quite stiff. I'm stitching this batting with Invisifil just up against the applique before cutting away the excess.

I bought the Invisifil at the National Quilt Show this summer. I love this thread, it behaves like the silk but so very much cheaper. Very kindly Wonderfil gave me some of their other threads to try out. I haven't had occasion to play with them yet, but I'm excited with the prospect. I just know if I start playing before I've finished the Heart's Desire quilt, I won't finish it.

For the Light and Shade piece for the International Quilt Challenge this month, I quilted a wide attic window style  border . On the lighter putty shade of the border I used a filler I haven't used since I made my husband a quilt for the millennium. I had forgotten how quickly this background filler quilting goes, it's possibly one of the fastest out there (something to remember).

We had Toad in the Hole with a rich onion gravy for dinner tonight. We haven't had this for years and it was yummy!

My post to the International Challenge 'Light and Shade'.

I'd had an idea about balls bouncing about with their shadows giving them their position within a 3d piece. After tearing up a few pieces of paper, I'm ashamed to say I gave up. What has happened to my tech drawing skills, I thought they were with me forever....

First I applied the shadows on, and then I added the foreground

 It's still not stitched down but I am pleased with the effect of this very simple piece. So tomorrow I might get round to quilting.....

Time to stop

I took a couple of tramadol last night, I was excited at the prospect of being pain free for a few hours and to have a deep sleep. Well, I woke at 5am in pain and was very disappointed but I drifted back to sleep and on my reawakening felt much better. So not a total success but not a total failure either. I feel a little woozy today so not the day to do anything which requires precision.

I did get the last two corner feathers completed and love them even more now.

I added a couple of  them to one corner and traced through the extra leaves and vines. I am totally convinced now that these just are just overkill on top of the appliqué feathers so they shall stay as they are. I'm waiting for some Quilter's Dream Deluxe poly to arrive from the States to use for some faux trapunto. As any of you who have done this will know, it's the cutting away of the excess batting which takes the time. When it arrives I shall stitch it onto the blocks before joining them together as it is so much more comfortable to cut away  when working on smaller pieces than with a whole quilt top.

Slowly but surely

It's coming together,

To do two of those feathers either side of each vase is taking a day of stitching but I'm in love with them! I laid this out just to show you guys but now I am thinking perhaps I don't want to appliqué the more vines and leaves over them which were in Esther's original plan. There's a voice in my head saying 'you don't want to do that because it will save on the work' but there is a stronger voice saying ' it would be gilding the lily'. I really cannot say I am avoiding it to get myself over doing more work on the quilt when I know these each of these feathers with 23 different fabrics in each are more work than the original triangles designed for all eight sides of the vase blocks combined.

It has been a very odd summer here in our part of England. Very very dry from February until June, then grey, cool and damp almost  every day from there on. The Cosmos self seed and I love their cheerful brightness even on the darkest of days, the delphiniums haven't faired so well in the high winds and heavy rains but to be fair on them, this is they're third flowering after cutting them back after each bloom has faded.
It's been a great year for the foilage on the runner beans but not so many beans themselves. Enough for the two of us 2 or 3 times a week...