Diamond Lil's Tipsy Tea Party - Part 3

The cup and saucer blocks are placed onto the background, secured with a straight pin.  Each block is free-motion machine quilted to the backing from the front.  First - around the cups and saucers, and then around the squares.  It's coming together!  Let the buttons begin!

Sew the colorful buttons on my hand with #8 Perle Cotton, just back from the edge.  I only use buttons with holes in them, not the ones with the shanks.  There is one silver-toned snap in the mix of the buttons.  I added some accents with aqua perle cotton - the "scatter" stitch on the pink background.  You can click on the photo to see it larger.

More hand sewing...a great task to do while watching television.  Metal washers were hand-sewn into the center of each cup, and I could have used a button, but I liked the metal accent better!

This is what the back looks like, and it's going to get covered up with the actual backing, so you can be as messy as you want with the hand stitching.  Just be sure to use knots at the start and the finish of each strand of hand sewing.

Now for the actual backing, another piece of blended wool felt that is cut larger than the top piece.  A friend of mine made me this needle point pin cushion as a gift when I graduated from Newport Harbor High 1971  "James" is my nick name.  It's my favorite pin cushion.

Using a closed toe free motion foot, carefully sew the backing on around the edges, zig zag all the way!  You can lift up the sides of the buttons to get the free motion foot underneath them, so there are no gaps in sewing.

Sew down the inner squares from the front - to secure onto the backing - either with the zig zag or straight stitch.

I just felt that the piece needed something more, so I free motion machine quilted, using the straight stitch, circles in some of the pink flowers of the background.