Hawaiian applique

My Hawaiian applique table topper is finally finished and gracing my dining room table. And I love the way it turned out in spite of how long it took me to finish.

This UFO is old, old, old - with the needle-turn applique started about 10 years ago. But unfortunately I got bored with the hand applique work (I am so slow) and set it aside.  

Then about a year ago I pulled it out and finished up the needle-turn applique center. But then what?  

At Sew Vintage one month Cindy taught us how to do a scalloped binding and that was the incentive I needed to add the border so I could do the scallops.  Now months later, the hand quilting is done, the scalloped binding is done and I'm thrilled. 

Hawaiian appliqué progress

Last week I sandwiched my Hawaiian applique wall hanging with batting and backing. Now I'm working on the hand quilting. I've started with a quilting line 1/4" from the applique, then another 1" outside of that. My plan is to continue the "echo" quilting all the way out to the edges of the white.

The red outer border will be scalloped - I hope.  It will be my first attempt at a scalloped edge and binding. We'll see how long it takes me to get that far however. My eyes don't like needle and thread work by lamplight. Even my OTT light doesn't seem to make enough difference, so I will work on it when I have natural light coming in my windows. And having a "day job" cuts into that daylight sewing time.

Road trip project

I wanted something to work one during an upcoming road trip and didn't want to take anything that was large or bulky.  Then I remembered this applique project that I started on a trip a couple of years ago, and then set aside - and forgot about it.  Why do I do that?

Anyway, since this is only about 24" square and needs only 1 color thread, it is the perfect item to tuck into my bag. And hopefully I'll actually make some progress on it this time.

More applique

It is really fun when a spur of the moment idea comes together just like I pictured it.  I've finished the blanket stitching around all of the stems and leaves. This morning I ironed on the flowers. The background (UFO blocks) is looking even better now with the splash of color.