Applique Completion!

Happy Sunday Greetings to everyone! Here we are winding down the celebrations of America's Independence Day and I thought it would be nice to share a little patriotic project I finished up on Friday.

Several weeks ago I learned of a new (to me) method of applique called the back-basting method. At about the same time I came across this little quilt pattern in my sewing room. Seemed like a good way to test out the method with a little project that would be quick to finish. The actual pattern showed that the appliqued pieces were to be handled differently (buttonhole stitched), but changing the method would still result in a pretty little patriotic accessory for my home. So I went for it.

In a nutshell, the method involves tracing the design onto the back of the fabric, then basting  the two layers of fabric on the outline of the shape. In my picture above, the faint letter "a" is basted with off-white thread. The letter "c" is finished - those red stitches are the applique stitches holding the red fabric to the background fabric. The next picture shows the front.

Applique is a quilting technique that I have long held a reluctance to master. I have tried it a few times, but each try was quite dissatisfying, so I would abandon it. I am forcing myself to face this, finally, as the big 10-year quilt project, Lake Effect, involves a significant amount of applique. This back-basting experiment has been my baby-step into at last tackling the applique portion of Lake Effect.

Friday morning the Frankfort Girls were here for sewing. My project looked like this - still the flag to do (it forms the "r" in America). Don't inspect too closely - especially those odd-shaped stars. They are quite a mess, and since this project falls into the "primitive" category, I will just leave them as is - "primitive"covers so many imperfections!!

 Friday night, I layered the parts, spray-basted, quilted and attached the binding. Ta-day! All done. Not in time for the 4th, as I had hoped, but close enough.

I learned a good deal through this little experimental process. If I do decide to go with this method on Lake Effect, I will get along just fine, as those designs are not nearly as small as the ones in this project. I must make a decision soon, as I am nearly ready to begin attaching the applique sections to the EPP sections.

The link above is just one of many Lake Effect posts I've written over the last couple of years. This particular post just happens to show a good picture of one of the appliqued panels as well as a picture of the quilt from the pattern front.

I am linking up with Kathy' Quilts and her weekly feature Slow Sunday Stitching. Hop on over to check it out!

Post script: I have to add this as it should have been included from the get-go - I credit my quilting friend Becky of the Frankfort Girls and an Instagram friend, @jeanakimball - they introduced me to back-basting, and Jeana even has recently had a lovely series of step-by-step tutorials on IG that were tremendously helpful. 

Quilters helping quilters - such a great benefit of this community of makers!

Have a great Sunday!
Happy Quilting, Friends!