Hello my lovelies. I hope you’ve all had a great start to the work week. The sun has been shining brightly on me the last couple of days.

I spent lots of time in my sewing room over the weekend. I kicked off my weekend by squaring off a few blocks for one section of my Moving Forward quilt project and joining them together …..

 Once I had joined all those blocks together I was itching to get some more joined together but I was missing one block ….

This little pear was overlooked. It needed to be fine hand appliquéd to the background. So, I gathered up the supplies I need to do the job. I’m going to open myself to criticism here by telling you that I use very fine 100weight Invisifil thread from Wonderfil to do my fine hand appliqué work. It’s polyester thread and I have been testing it over the last five years and have had nothing but success with it. For a long time, quite often I didn’t want to tell anyone what supplies I used to do what I do for fear that I would attract criticism. However, I am old enough now to stand up and say what I’m doing without fear of repercussions. I was always afraid of the quilting police. I now realise that the quilting police has better things to worry about than the thread I use for appliqué. I’ll go on to say that years ago when I first started doing fine hand appliqué work I only used 100weight silk thread. The choice is yours.

Here’s a few bits I use while I’m stitching my patches in place …..

My best advice for good results when stitching my patches in place is make small stitches and because I use very fine thread the stitches just disappear, melt away. You take a small bite from the background fabric and a smallest bite from the patch. I try to match my thread but sometimes a neutral work just as well. As long as you’re enjoying what you do you can’t go wrong. And remember the more you do the better you get.

Once my little pear was stitched I was able to join all the blocks for the last section of my Moving Forward quilt project. Now I really am moving forward.

This current project needs some borders now. I have found some lovely bright and busy fabric for the outer border and I will try to hunt out some quiet fabric for the inner border from my stash. I’m really excited about finishing another project that I started during my previous life.

So, as you can see it’s been a pretty productive weekend for this super happy stitcher. Finishing UFO quilt tops always gives me a sense of accomplishment. I’m looking forward to longarm quilting my latest finishes. Are you working on finishing up UFOs? If so, how’s it coming along? I find it so difficult to go back to something after it’s been sitting around for a while!

So, I guess that’s my report for today. I am happy and feeling fulfilled. Life is a gift and so we have to make the most of each day. I hope you have super cosy evening doing something you truly enjoy doing. Until next time,

Let’s all keep on stitching.

Lucie x