Getting over a hand quilting hump :)

Welcome Ya’ll! It is RAINING here on Florida’s east coast as I write this post… we don’t typically get much rain in the winter… so it is sooo soothing and refreshing to have a nice rain!!!

I know many who read this may be dealing with bone chilling cold… or if you are below the equator… summertime heat waves and fires… I pray for each of you and hope you will return that favor by leaving a comment today and praying for me as well!

When I shared with you on Wednesday I had just hit the halfway point in my Fall Wall Hanging… but it was slow moving because this block was coming up…

I am linking this post to Kathy’s Slow Stitching Sunday linky HERE…. hope you will come see what everyone is stitching today 🙂

So when I got to this block … I still had no firm plan for the center… behind that cool embroidery is thick stabilizer that I couldn’t remove as the stitching is so busy… I trimmed what I could before adding it to the quilt 😉 But I wondered how it would stitch up!

Well I worked through the smaller blocks until I reached this bigger block and took a deep breath and thought about it….

AFTER stitching around the pumpkin itself and the entire embroidery design it became clear I needed a good solid base for this floating pumpkin to hold it down… Crosshatching worked perfectly!!!

To mark this block I used this pencil by CLOVER…

It says it is water soluble… but i had never used it to make sure.. I tested a small area before marking my whole block and it did wipe off quite easily once wet… so away I went!

Before I knew it the pumpkin block was all finished and it was time to decide on the color of the leaf border I had already decided on for the grey border on 2 sides of this block…

With the help of friends.. and real life experience… I decided on the black variegated to grey Valdani 12 wt thread…

I stopped for a pic at the halfway point to make sure it would show up properly when photoed… I LOVE this thread!

And here is the block I completed yesterday 🙂

I got so excited I started working feverishly on the blocks surrounding this one but really wanted to view this block without the remaining white marks… so I thought I would show you HOW I DO IT!

First get a spray bottle you can fill with water.. plain tap water works fine.. and spritz your entire block while it is laying flat to absorb that water into the batting a bit..

I let this sit about 5 minutes or so then got a nubby rag and started wiping the marks away….

Once it dried… even though when wet I could see them … the marks were all gone… I expect when I wash it with soap and water in the washer when finished all residual remains of this pencil I am using will be gone 🙂 Yipeee!!!!

Also this week I have participated in a BOM.. it is properly called #WDBOM2016! You can find details on Wendy’s blog HERE… Wehago Designs Block of the Month 2016 is what the hashtag is short for though 🙂

I sooo enjoyed making this BOM .. it was fun walking down memory lane from the quilts I have made to choose these fabrics…. these fabrics were leftovers from Kimber’s Memory Quilt… the bright fun blue is vintage fabric and didn’t make her quilt… but I had pulled and had hoped to use it there so I used it here instead 🙂 Yay!

I also found out there was a need for 12″ finished 9 patch blocks for fire victims from brush fires in Australia… one lady name Shari is collecting these blocks and will make quilts from them … I sent these 4…

I didn’t crop this shot because I wanted to show off a bit of the vintage bunting Wendy made me and now hangs over my design wall… and you can see a fun disappearing 4 patch block I made up too! (Next to my 9 patch in the bottom half of the pic!)

Well .. I want to make good slow stitching progress today… only 9 little blocks to stitch before the center is complete on this wall hanging!!! Yay 🙂 Join us over at Kathy’s.. follow the link above ! 🙂

Until my next post please remember to handle your life with care as…