I think I mentioned that after finishing one hundred blocks for the Splendid sampler, I didn’t want to crowd them all into one quilt top.
There are many traditional quilting techniques that I want to try. One of them is Hawaiian Applique. I decided to combine the two.
Hawaiian Applique uses the method of cutting out a snowflake from paper that is an eighth of the pattern. Once transferred to fabric and unfolded one gets a traditional snowflake, except the images tend to be tropical plants instead. Traditionally these were made on a white background with a solid color for the flower. Batik material is wonderful for this, the weave is much tighter than your average quilting cotton, there is no right or wrong side of the fabric and it is beautiful.
There will be a class in July! Except I will be out of town, so I’m reading the instructions that come with my patterns and of course, going to You Tube. One tool that was highly recommended is the button hole cutter. When cutting the shape, one is cutting through eight layers of fabric, for those tight inner cuts, this little tool is amazing. Scissors and rotary cutters are also involved, but I have found this to be the tool. Slow but accurate.
No skimping on the preparation, after cutting and laying out, everything is basted down with thread, pins aren’t enough. I got creative here and used two fabrics on one pattern.
Instead of traditional square blocks, my center is a rectangle, so on each end, I cut a block in half.
Practice makes better, not that anyone else will notice, but I’m seeing the stitches and the points aren’t great. I’m using Aurifil 80 weight thread, it is almost invisible, it also breaks a lot, even when coated with Thread Magic. It often gets those knots, that sometimes can be removed and sometimes not. So I cut my thread shorter, I try to untangle it during the sewing and I put up with breaks in the thread.
Planning out the layout. I have to confess that I really haven’t done any math yet to see how this will fit together.
The rest of the blocks are traditional squares. Hibiscus, you can see the upper left corner is already appliqued down.
Once the quilt is finished no one will ever see the back, so I’m showing it here.
There are plenty of patterns available, finding a pattern someone else did is fun. This is the block I’m working on currently, there are slits in this block that she didn’t incorporate.
You can’t see them here since I haven’t started the actual applique. Cutting the slits was done with that wonderful button hole cutter.
There it is! There are two per flower. I can see that my stitching is improving as are my points. For me this kind of handwork is so meditative, I am loving the process.
The center layout is done! I don’t know how many blocks of Hawaiian applique I will make, or what the final layout will be. All I know is I am enjoying the process.
Leah