What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

Lots and lots of little applique beads!

Not quite so many little applique beads, but more quilting.

My love affair with String of Beads began at the first quilt exhibition I attended soon after I fell in love with patchwork and applique and has no sign of fading away.

I have probably got enough beads left over from previous projects to make another one … but the colours would be a horrible mish mash of colours. It is always more fun to collect fabrics for a project!

Simple, applique and quilting … love it!

Forgot to add quilting to the border! Sorry!

Interesting tangle of beads!

An even more interesting tangle … love it!

Challenge for today … how many applique beads are there in these two quilts?

Despite it being a fairly big number, these are much simpler to make than most other applique designs. All the beads are the same… 2 inches long, .75 inch wide, cut from fabric with fusible web on the wrong side … arrange on the 12.5 inch background square, iron, stitch by hand or machine.

I love the second design!

I like it.

Much more interesting!

As it is I would make this as a tablecloth for a large square table with room for two places on each side. No quilting involved.

However, if I was making it as a quilt there is lots of room for some wonderful quilting! I noticed as I was starting up Electric Quilt this morning that the hint was about using applique motifs as quilting motifs … now, that is a hint I should take note of!

The second design has some wide open spaces which need some quilting too.

I like the subdued colours in this project file.

Love the second design. I think it would look good in bright, or pretty, or even dramatic colour schemes, not just the subdued shown here.

I like it.

If only I could keep my strings of beads, chains holding pendants in my jewelry box in such attractive tangles!

I love it …though I have to admit that I love pretty much every String of Beads design I have found anywhere, right from the first time I saw a blurry black and white picture of the basic block.

I guess you know I love the second one too.

Love it!

Like the second one too, despite the booboo of the border.

I love just about every String of Beads design I have ever seen, but the one above is one of the best ones.

However the one above is also a contender for entry into the favorites list., but this morning the first one is the winner.

Interesting, though not really fan like.

I love the second one, though once again the fans are not obvious in the design,, but I am going to play with the centre bloc design to see if I can make them look more like fans.

One simple shape … one multi coloured fabric plus a border fabric.

All those simple shapes could be cut from small scraps.

Of all the shapes I have used to design quilts, this simple shape would have to be the most versatile.

This project file was started so I could play with beaded applique borders, in particular, getting around corners.

String of beads, no matter how I tangle them up, are my favourite traditional style applique quilts to play with virtually, as well as in real life.

The applique was originally turned applique, either needle turn or folded and tacked before stitching, but now I can fuse the beads onto the background, and stitch by hand or machine. The quickest is to use a narrow zigzag by machine, and I like buttonhole stitch by hand.

They would also be easy machine quilting ...

Interesting. I like it, but would have to find just the right quilting to use in the centre.

My first thought is Double Wedding String of Bead outlines … with something in the centre.

That centre is what I was thinking of quilting in the first design!

Simply repeat blocks … not often I share a design with just one block, but I love the simplicity of this design.

The second design for today is more like my usual offerings, but I prefer the first one.

Nice.

This project file features beads of many colours, shapes and sizes, unlike the traditional String of Beads design.

Love the second one … a very interesting arrangement.

Love the first design for today.

The second one is interesting … and I rather like it!

Love String of Beads.

The original design was popular in the 1930s, when there was no fusible webbing and was all done by hand. Now the beads can be cut from fabric which has fusible webbing attached, ironed onto the background and easily machine stitched.

The designs would also make a great quilting motifs for both hand and machine quilters.

Speaking of hand quilting, what sort of needles do you use?

Jinny Beyer tells us what she uses.

I love the second design.