FrankenWhiggish Rosebuds + Random Happenings of Everyday Life

No, my Seven Sisters pattern and templates have not yet arrived from Australia, but I've been making progress on my languishing 10-year-old FrankenWhiggish Rose project while impatiently waiting for that package to arrive.  

Glue-Basting Prepped Rosebuds Prior to Stitching

In looking back through my earlier posts I realized that I never showed the step in between prepping the rosebuds and actually stitching them to the block, hence the photo above.  These rosebuds are too little to be pin-basted to my blocks and the Patchback stabilizer product I'm using makes them a little bit stiff, so I'm glue-basting them in place with tiny drops of Roxanne's Glue Baste-It (this post contains affiliate links).  I've had this particular bottle of glue for a LONG time; it lasts forever because you use so little of it on each appliqué shape.  Not sure whether you can see this clearly in the photo, but I'm putting my tiny drops of glue in the center of my turned seam allowance rather than right on the edge.  The glue spreads when I press the rosebud in place on the block and I don't really want it right on the edge where I have to push my needle through as I'm stitching.  Here's an update on where I am with this project as of today:

11 Rosebuds Glue-Basted to Blocks, Ready for Stitching

24 Rosebuds Need to be Prepped & Glue-Basted to Blocks

97 Stuffed Berries Need to be Made & Glue-Basted to Blocks

Speaking of the stitching part, I got a bit of a rude awakening when I resumed this project after a 6-month hiatus and discovered that my Magical Sewing Glasses (prescription reading glasses that I had my eye doctor order based on the distance I hold my work from my eyes when hand stitching) are no longer capable of banishing the blur!  So apparently my close vision has deteriorated significantly.  AAAARRRGH!  I went to my local Warby Parker store, hoping that I could select and come home with a cute new pair of stronger glasses for hand stitching.  I picked out these frames and ordered them in the 2.75 strength magnification, but instead of taking them home the same day I have to wait for them to be shipped to me in 7-10 days.  Probably should have just gone to the drug store instead.

Warby Parker Brady Frames, Desperately Needed for Blurry Hand Stitching!

I started stitching down my rosebuds with my old glasses even though I can't really see what I'm doing.  Hopefully my muscle memory is picking up the slack from my aging eyeballs!

Actual Rosebud Progress for FrankenWhiggish Rose

Good morning, stitchy friends!  I am delighted to report actual PROGRESS on my FrankenWhiggish Rose appliqué project today!  Finishing the rosebuds is my One Monthly Goal for August.

Me Stitching an Actual Rosebud Onto an Actual Quilt Block

(In case anyone's about to ask, yes, that is a serger 3-thread overlock stitch on the edge of my quilt block in the photo above.  I oversized the block backgrounds (so I can trim them all to exactly the same size once the hand appliqué stitching is completed) and overcast the raw edges of my blocks before beginning, knowing that this project would be a long time in the making and that raw block edges would be prone to fraying as the blocks were scrunched up and manipulated in my hands during my stitching process.  The overlock stitching will be trimmed away prior to joining the blocks into a quilt top).

Four Little Rosebuds Where there Used to Be None

Each block gets eight rosebuds around that center circle but I only glue baste four at a time for stitching, to lessen the chance of my thread getting caught on an adjacent unstitched rosebud and ripping it off the block.