What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

A very neat and tidy tangle in the design above!

The second design lacks tangles, but I like it as it is, though I can see a couple of changes I would like to make … if they work they will appear some time in the future.

There are not many days when I do not add more designs to the project file I have open … I don’t think I will ever run out of virtual quilt designs to share!

Interesting design with room for quilting to shine in the border.

The design above is a lovely all over design, but is more tangled than the designs shared yesterday!

A very interesting tangle of beads!

Less beads, but I like the second of these two best.

These designs are much easier to do since fusible web was introduced to the quilting world as before then the shapes had to be cur out, edges turned under, the shapes arranged on the background, then stitched by hand.

I love playing with Strings of Beads, and in the real world they are easy to add to quilts, table runners, placemats, cushions etc. Fusible web and machine stitching has made the beading simple and quick.

I love the second design!

I rarely complete a design without a contrast frame … even if it is only a contrast binding … but with this design I would use the background fabric for the binding. The big question is … how to quilt it?

Too much quilt stitching would detract from the fabric beads. I would outline every bead about an eighth of an inch ...

Interesting!

Love the border … makes it look finished.

Cut out lots of one simple shape, arrange as desired!

Note that it makes it much easier to hold them in place if you add fusible webbing before you cut them out.

I love both of these designs, and note that I have used just one multi coloured fabric in the designs.to make them look scrappy in he virtual world..

One day I played with String of Beads border designs, including getting those borders around corners. The first design shows five identical borders, each with a different corner block.

The second design shows different borders and different corner blocks.

The project file has 20 different borders, with 140 different corners, and some of the corners fit a couple or more different borders.

Luverly!

Even more luverly.

Very dainty.

Love the second design with all the seam lines between blocks covered with beads, though I would be tempted to make this a a whole cloth quilt with no seam lines until the border.

I wonder how many two inch long beads are required for the design above!

Love the first design because of the way the individual borders are welded together by the strings of beads, and I love the second design because each border stands alone.

A fun way to use up lots of little scraps.

The applique can be done using fusible webbing and finishing with either hand embroidery or machine zigzag.

Love the second one!

Wow! Puzzle time!

If I was quilting these designs I would be adding some quilted lines of beads to link up the applique blocks.

Need to add some quilting motifs to this file … could be an interesting project for a wet day!

I like the second design!, though not as much room for quilting.

Very neat and tidy.

I love stringing beads together to make jewelry, but it is more fun string them together to drape around trees, and sometimes I string them on fine wire so they will hold their shape if I twist them into hearts or circles or stars.

Christmas lights!

Perhaps the beads should be white and gold on a dark background … that sounds good to me, good enough to see what it looks like! Still time to get it done before Christmas.

Interesting!

I wonder, how many beads are there?

Still interesting, and not as many beads.

These designs are much easier than they look thanks to fusible webbing, and can be stitched by hand or machine.

Beads again, and I am back home again after a week with 30 like minded friends, old and new, sometimes stitching, sometimes talking, and often laughing.

The shape of the beads in these designs is my favourite applique shape … simple in itself, but can be used to create an unlimited selection of designs on projects from a pot holder to a king size quilt.

This project file was started so Icould try to find some interesting ways to turn straight Strings of Beads around corners, and grew to include not so simple strings.

The collection of corners kept growing to connect a wide variety of strings.

The shapes of the beads would be hard work at each end of every bead if you chose to do needle turn applique by hand, but I didn’t even try making String of Beads quilts until fusible webbing hit the market, and I have done them by machine and by hand.

Nice one!

The colour of the border/binding makes it look like it has just been added to a very old and faded quilt!

I do like the old part of the quilt though!

Simple, applique and quilting … love it!

Forgot to add quilting to the border! Sorry!