Hubby and I and 2 other couples are leaving on Sunday for a week in the sunny south. We have had this holiday planned for a while now and we are all very, very excited. Who wouldn’t be? We are going to Barbados! The other 2 wives are busy planning where we will be eating, daily excursions to must-see tourist areas and flight schedules. Not me. I am too busy prepping my applique so I can do some serious stitching! My biggest fear is that when I travel, I will have absolutely nothing to do. True story. So I always take my applique with me wherever I go. I have stitched in Nova Scotia….
…at the cottage….
…The Royal York in Toronto. We actually missed our flight to Nova Scotia so I had lots of time to stitch while we waited for the next flight.
…on the Amoeba in Antigua…..
…and in Florida.
Wherever I go with my stitching, I take my bag with me. I pack this bag before I pack my suitcase. Again…true story! My bag has everything in it that I will need….thread, a package of needles, a few pins, scissosrs, close-up glasses, Thread Heaven and ThimblePads.
So…on to the border. I love fabrics that go from light to dark across the width, like this purple one.
I needed some purple berries to finish off the bouquet in the vase and I thought this might be the perfect fabric. I cut a few dark berries, a few medium ones and a couple light ones.
I just kept adding flowers, buds, leaves and stems, until the right side was complete. Voila!
Finally, I have something to hand-quilt! I spent the weekend marking and basting my Grandmother’s Flower Garden quilt. I decided to quilt a Baptist fan design. So far, so good!
Til next time….
Kerry
Simple Bird Applique 
That is a perfect quilting pattern for that Hexie Quilt. And you have appliqued in a lot of interesting places. Have a great trip, Kerry.
Thanks, Angie. I agonized over which design to quilt my hexies and I am thrilled with Baptist fan.
Love reading your blog and watching you applique.
Can you tell us the name of your bag and where you got it.
Where in florida were you?
Thank You
Hi RoseMary:
The bags are available on my website Simple Bird Studio. We were in St. Augustine and Orland and a few other wonderful places, Had an awesome time!
I take hand appliqué on every trip I take. I can’t imagine traveling without hand work. It also adds so much to my quilt when I remember where I worked on certain blocks. I completely understand you!
Thanks you! It seems there are a lot of us out there that like to stitch while travelling. I also find it quite the conversation piece. When I am stitching, someone always comes up to me to start chatting about quilting. It’s always interesting!
This is so funny. I travel like a 5 year old with my activity bag – appliqué, needlepoint, books, magazines, etc. Heaven forbid that I be bored! Love your posts. You are so talented, inspirational and fast!
Thanks! Better to be busy than bored to tears!
I can so relate to your mission in getting enough sewing to do on holiday, and for doing the sewing packing first!
Your hexie quilt will be so beautiful with the Baptist fan quilting.
Thanks! Marking the Baptist fan was challenging but I am so enjoying quilting it.
OMG that’s really great. I love the photos. Let me know when you get back, I may want to talk to you about the LOS borders. Have a wonderful time.
Yes, I will keep in touch!
Have a wonderful time your work is amazing.
Bunny
Thanks so much!
I am exactly the same about needing to have my hands busy when I travel. Hubby has been known to turn around when we are 30 minutes down the road, or even stop to buy me a new project if I accidentally forget mine at home.
Don’t you love that when you craft on your travels, the memories of your trip are intertwined into your finished project? I feel the same way about stash bought on trips, and I can remember where most all of my yarn and fabric came from.
I love the hexies quilt, and wish I enjoyed hand quilting!
Baptist fan is one of my favorites.
Have a great trip!
That is so true. I remember where I bought each piece of fabric (and,yes…yarn!) when we have been on holidays.
The flow of your applique in the border is mesmerizing….and a great tip about using fabrics that have gradations. I packed way more handwork projects than could be accomplished during our recent 7+week trip to Alaska…but managed to make progress on much of it. This was the 2nd trip up there taking a large applique quilt that is being hand quilted. Lots of memories were added along with the stitches!
So true! When I am back home, all I have to do is look at the projects I worked on while away and I am flooded with happy memories of our travels.
Kerry (and Wendi, too!). I am laughing. I am leaving for Colonial Williamsburg this Saturday for a week. I have not packed a stitch of clothes but my handwork is packed and will cross 8 states with me!. I also seem to buy all my favorite fabric when we are away (have had to buy extra suitcases to get it home).
Love that we share this wonderful passion.
I am so glad there are so many of us! I, too, have bought most of my “special” fabric when we have been on holidays.
I loved your post today. Whenever I travel I always bring my sewing too. This past summer we flew to Brussels and I prepared enough hexies for ten flights around the world. I had to make sure there was enough for the trip. The problem was I kept dropping my pins on the plane and couldn’t find them. Hopefully the stewardess did before the next group boarded!
That is too funny! I am sure I have over packed my quilting (and knitting!) but better to be safe than sorry.
Oh, and have a wonderful trip. Any way to get you down to New York?
Oh Kerry, I had such a smile on my face when I first read your post early this morning. We have pictures, like the ones posted here, of me appliqueing wherever we go! LOL Whether it is a two hour trip or a 2 week trip I always prep enough stuff to keep me busy and make sure I have enough variety. Enjoy Barbados! We visited a wonderful historic sugar planation when we were there – Sunbury Plantation House. It supposedly has the largest collection of antiques in Barbados. I have a picture of one room that had about 10 or 20 antique sewing machines in it! Enjoy the vacation and I hope you get lots of stitching done!
Thanks! I am so glad I am not the only one who packs her quilting first!
Have a wonderful holiday, Kerry! What self respecting quilter wouldn’t think about packing sewing first?! Whenever I go away my first thought is always, what sewing will I take? Love the Baptist
Fan quilting on your hexies – looks fabulous!!
Thanks so much!
Yes! I worry about having something to stitch, too! Our last beach trip of the summer I tried an experiment, packing my Singer Featherweight, an iron, and a mini table top ironing board with the idea of machine piecing some sawtooth stars. My husband made fun of me for packing an IRON but forgetting to pack my BATHING SUIT for a beach trip — and I couldn’t get set up properly for machine piecing anyway. Should have brought applique instead!
Your applique border is absolutely breathtaking, by the way, and your hand quilting project looks exciting, too. I have a question about that. I have done some hand quilting in the past, but it took me a LONG time to complete. So I have only done hand quilting that doesn’t need marking, because I’m afraid that whatever I marked with might not come out of the quilt after a year and a half or however long it took me to get the quilting done. I’d like to mark some fun background patterns for hand quilting on my next quilt, like cross hatching, but I don’t know what would leave a visible enough mark and not smudge with handling, but would definitely come out when the quilt was finished. What did you use to mark your Baptist fan pattern?
That was fun to see…all the stitching and locations 🙂
Talented Lady!