Friday, November 16, 2007

I'm a Stitchin' Fool


We've been watching our latest Showtime serial (and I mean serial) via Netflix.....Dexter, the blood spatter specialist who is a forensics technician by day and a serial killer by night. We are enjoying it, in a warped kind of way. Given that, it is fitting that I continue stitching on Happy Hauntings.

The candelabra points were a pain in the behind to do with the freezer paper method--the method in which you iron freezer paper to the back of the applique piece and press the seam allowances under with starch or sizing. I really prefer needle-turn applique so I've decided to use a combination of both methods, depending on the location.

As you can see, I used a fabric marking pen in a color that was very close to the ghost color to mark the edges of the applique piece. Outside marking is favored by Becky Goldsmith and Linda Jenkins of Piece O'Cake Designs and all you have to do is roll the marked edge under as you needle turn. That doesn't work as well for darker patches, so I'm using Pearl Pereira's method used by my pal Becky who took a class from Pearl herself.

Now that I'm getting caught up, I wish the blocks would come faster, but I'll bet I won't feel that way when the skeleton and haunted house arrive.

After a chat with Benjamin today, we decided to make chicken enchiladas when he comes to visit in December. The boy loves to cook and I love to cook with him.



4 comments:

Susan said...

You are quite an eclectic appliquer! LOL! I just stick with needle turn, the way Laurene showed it to me, and I'm happy. Your candle points look good from here!

SuBee said...

What cool patterns! I might haveto go find those....
your needle turn is so nice; perfect candle points - and that candelabra is so neat!

Tonya Ricucci said...

yeah, Dexter is interesting, isn't it. I couldn't decide if I actually liked it or not. Definitely made me queasy. And how big of an idiot is his sister? Your blocks look great.

Donna said...

Isn't it amazing how different techniques work better in different situations. I think that's probably part of the reason applique has never become a favorite -- there were too many quilt police with THE right technique and it was just a pain in too many situations...