Spicing Things Up

 Hello Quilty Friends!  It's time to spice up the studio.  I can't take one more day of playing with denim and flannel.  It's like I'm creating my very own gray cloud right here in the studio.  We've had enough of that outside for the last few days.  No sunshine, just gray clouds, muddy landscape and cold winds.

You would think my brightly decorated studio would be enough happy colors to keep me happy.  Nope I need to play with bright fabrics.  That's what feeds my soul during yukky cold winters here in Indiana.  

The UFO drawer is full of sunshine.  This one was right there on top waiting to brighten the day.  The bright happy colors of my Sugar -N- Spice quilt turned Mud-day Monday into Merry Monday.  

This was a kit purchased way back in 2014, from the LQS, Back Door Quilts.  What drew me in and made the sale was those tiny yo-yo's.  Seriously, too cute!  The pattern instructions suggested the yo-yo's be hand sewn to the quilt.  But I wanted to finish this in my lifetime so I decided to try invisible machine applique.  The worse thing that could happen is having to rip out the stitches and do them by hand.

To accomplish the invisible stitch I used Superior Threads Mono Poly.  This is the best of the Monofilament threads.  I've used many different brands over the years and this one is the only one that passed all the tests.  It works above and beyond what it claims. The biggest test was the melting.  Most will either melt in the dryer or when ironed on a higher heat than suggested.  Now let me say all irons and dryers are different, so you will want to do your own tests.  My results were...I can dry them on a normal dryer setting and I can iron them on a cotton setting.  I did not try steam because I never use steam when quilting.

  Before stitching the yo-yo's to the block, I first stitch them together with a tiny zigzag stitch.  So what do you  think?  Can you see the zigzag stitch between these two yo-yo's?

The stitch holes can be seen on the outer edge but I think once this quilt is washed and dried they will disappear.  We will soon find out!  Yep, as soon as this girl is quilted and bound I'll do an update to let you know.  The needle holes have gone away on other quilts I've made so I'm pretty sure they will on the this one as well.

If you are interested in seeing how I sewed them, here's a short YouTube video I made at the time.  You can see better if you click on the words YouTube, that will take you to the video on YT. Or it will go full screen if you click on the square in the bottom right corner.

If you are considering purchasing the pattern and making this quilt you need to know the original quilt was made with only two borders.  A yellow inner border and a wider outer border. The outer border looks like two borders but it's a "cheater" print. 

Here's my THREE borders and they aren't mitered as the original above.  I think the quilt shop made the change to the pattern in the kit.  I might have made the change and have forgotten. 

Oh well, it's time to get back to my sun filled Studio and get busy!

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