Thorngrove Manor quilt progress

I am very excited to share that all the machine appliqué on the Thorngrove Manor quilt is complete! I've been working most days for the past month sometimes putting in 10-12 hours a day which means there have been a couple of nights when my light has gone out way past 2am! But it has been worth it and there is nothing like a deadline to get things done! These are the designs for Border 2. I've used a teflon appliqué mat to help with the process. Once the fusible paper is peeled off the back of the appliqué pieces they are placed on the mat directly over the pattern. This way the pieces can be ironed onto the mat, allowed to cool and then peeled off ready to press onto the background. This method makes placement much easier and is a great way to hold all the bits together in the correct place…….

 Then it is time to press the sections onto the border with the assistance of a tape measure, pins and sometimes a chalk marker……..

 A few days ago I was preparing the final 28 flower motifs for Border 3 ………..

 I had quite a production line so this time I used baking paper from the kitchen cupboard. I was surprised it took two hours just to assemble the flowers but I was glad they were all attached making it easy to press onto the final borders……...

 Tweezers are an essential item to assist with the tricky little pieces…….

So here they all are….a platter of freshly picked William Morris flowers waiting to be planted!….. 

 And Ta Da…..here it is all appliquéd and pieced together! It is a large quilt (106 inches square before the quilting), and is already quite heavy ……….. 

 I have dreaded basting this quilt as it is so large so a very dear friend has come to the rescue! Jude is a long arm quilter and has done quilting for me before and this time she has offered to machine baste it for me on her long arm machine…….I am so blessed to have her as a friend. Tomorrow she picks it up and then in 3 days it will return home to me to complete the quilting. It is pictured here on a double bed - much smaller than the King's Chamber bed so stay tuned for more news after the quilting!