Applique taskmaster...

Weasley has been holding my feet to the fire, keeping me company and helping me to get some applique prep work done. I've been methodically glue basting smaller units of each block, then stitching those smaller units with YLI silk thread.  By building the applique blocks unit by unit, then stitching the smaller units before glue basting further, I will be able to trim the black background behind the larger applique motifs in preparation for hand quilting...especially if my black background muddies my lighter, brighter fabrics.

Since I am using a black background for this applique quilt, my usual trick of using my light box for applique placement won't work.  I am using the 'overlay' technique instead. 

You know those clear dividers you get when you buy the deeper Art Bin satchel containers.?  They are smooth on one side, ridged on the reverse?  They make great overlays!  Since I have temporarily misplaced my pen that wipes off with water, I am using a dry erase pen (and being very careful not to smudge the ink!).

I trace just the very outside lines of the block design from the paper pattern to the smooth side of the clear divider.

After gluing then stitching the smaller units, I've glue basted everything I can by just working over the paper pattern BEFORE working on background with the overlay.  Using the "dot-dot-not-a-lot" amount of Roxanne's glue baste, I know if my applique gluing bleeds through and the piece sticks to my pattern, my dots are too big, LOL.

My background is a couple of inches larger than the finished size, so I glue the round center medallion in the center of my over sized background square (confident in having enough background to carefully place the other motifs)...

Next I place my traced overlay on top of the applique block.  Using my long tweezers, I move things around until they line up pretty well.  Then I remover the overlay and carefully lift and apply my tiny dots of glue baste one motif at a time, checking alignment with my overlay when necessary.

Now I can simply wipe to remove the dry erase pen from the clear plastic overlay.

I place the clean overlay on the next paper pattern.  The dry erase pen removes easily, but is way too easy to accidentally smudge or remove.  When I use this overlay method, I much prefer the wipe board pens that have to be removed with a damp rag.  I don't have to be so careful with those overlays.

 

I only outline outer edges.

Before using my traced overlay, I glued up the sunflowers and stitched the centers first.  This is especially important on this block with all the light yellow fabrics.  If too much black background shows through, I will trim away even more of the unseen black background.

Here are the flower flip sides.  You can see how I sewed the smaller circle centers to the larger ones, then stitched and trimmed before placing the center units on the petal layers and doing it all over again.

Now I am ready for my overlay,

 

Done...ready to erase and trace the next block...

These are a little out of proportion because the camera is at an angle, but you get the general idea of the four blocks I will be stitching now! 

Oops!  I forgot to say that these are blocks from Lori Smith (From My Heart to Your Hands).  The name of the pattern is "Folk Art Applique."

Preview of coming attractions...

In stitches,
Teresa    :o)