Category Archives: Civil War Bride Quilt

I See Table Legs!

Posted in Civil War Bride Quilt, Hand-Applique Techniques, Uncategorized by

Every quilter looks at fabric differently.  Some see color, some see patten and some see possibilities!

When I started thinking about choosing fabrics for the next block of Civil War Bride, I wanted to do something really special for the table legs.  I searched high and low through my stash and this is what I found!  Do you see the table legs?

tb1

First, I measured the width of the stripe I wanted to use.

measure 3

Then I measured the pattern.  Pretty close!

measure 2

So I cut the freezer paper templates out and placed them very carefully on the wrong side of the fabric.

tb5

Since I will be using one of Karen Kay Buckley’s “Perfect Circles” for the round part, I am just cutting straight pieces for the legs.

tb4

Here are the legs.

tb6

Moving right along to the table cloth!  This is how I traced the tablecloth.  First I traced just half of the pattern on the freezer paper.

tb9

I folded it in half and cut along the line.  Call me crazy, but I like when both halves of a pattern are exactly the same!

tb10

Next, I ironed the pattern on the back of the fabric making sure that the pattern was centered.  I wanted the red stripes to be at each end of the table.

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…and here we go!  There is still a piece that goes under the tablecloth, I just have to choose a matching fabric!

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Til next time….

Kerry

Another block…another nest!

Posted in Civil War Bride Quilt, Hand-Applique Techniques, Uncategorized by

Time to start another block of Civil War Bride.  I almost(!) have enough blocks to sew another row together!!  And you know how excited I get when I can stitch another row together.  So here we go…

First I prepped the branches and stitched them in place.  I used a brown fabric with shocking pink little flowers on it just to give the block a bit of oomph!  (Definition of oomph…An extra push. An ingredient or a factor that will make something better or perfect.)

a

Next, came the leaves and the nest.  Do you recognize the nest?  You may have seen it here.

c

So, keep this tip in mind if you are making this quilt.  You can make a couple of nests, audition them both, and use both!  Waste not, want not and all that jazz!

Then, I placed a bird in the branches.

d

I really like to use Ultra-Suede for the feet and the beaks.  First, I cut 2 triangles for the beaks.  You don’t have to include a seam allowance, except for the part that goes under the body.

h

I glued  half of the beak in place then trimmed a tiny bit of the corner off.

j

Then I glued the other half of the beak in place.  I trimmed  a bit of the corner off, also, so that the triangles  would not overlap.  Ultra-Suede is rather thick!  Finally, I put the bird fabric back in place and stitched it in place,  stitching right through Ultra-Suede, and into the background.

k

On to the feet!  I ironed the freezer paper templates onto the Ultra-Suede.  I am not really sure if there is a wrong side or a right side. They both look good to me!

l

So I cut the feet out and  placed them under the body.  At this point, the entire body has not been stitched in place yet. When I stitch the Ultra-Suede in place I try to match the color of the thread as closely as I can.  I take just a tiny “bite” of the Ultra Suede and (very important) I don’t pull the thread too tight.  If I do, then the Ultra-Suede looks dimpled along the sewn edge.

m

Since I wanted this to be a male bird, I added a golden brown wing and tail.  Very manly!

n

I wanted the second bird to be female, so I chose a pretty fabric for her body and a nice red feather and tail.  I added the eggs to the nest and…Voila!

block

Til next time…

Kerry

New legs for a peacock!

Posted in Bouquet For a New Day, Civil War Bride Quilt, Hand-Applique Techniques, Hand-Quilting Tools, Sue Garman Pattern, Uncategorized by

If  you have some time on your hands on Saturday, June 15 at 10 am, come on down to Elite Quilting in Barrie, Ontario where I will be doing a demo of the starch and freezer paper method of hand-applique.  The cost is $10.00.   Colleen will also have all the supplies on hand for you purchase so you can go home and practice this method.  Hope to see you there!

Back to the block!  I must admit, I was a little alarmed how freakishly out of proportion the birds legs looks!  So I gave the peacock some new legs.  I like to use Ultra-Suede for the birds legs and beaks when they are just too darn tiny to applique!

legs

Once the legs were stitched in place, I used a Micron marker on the edge of the Ultra-Suede to hide the stitches and add a bit of definition.

legs 2

Once I felt better about his legs, I added the stems.

stems

Next, some leaves and a bud.

stems leaves and bud

And, finally, the rest of the leaves and the flowers!  Spiffy!

finished block

I finished hand-quilting another block from Sue Garman’s “Bouquets for a New Day”.  (Only 3 more blocks to go!  Yippee!)  The vase was very baggy!

baggy vase

So, just like the vase in the last block, I needed to add some quilting to the vase to make it…un-baggy!  After much debate, I decided to do the same cross-hatching as in the background of the block, except I did the stitching in red thread.  Voila!

cross-hatched vase

Til next time…

Kerry

Inspiration….gotta love it!!

Posted in Civil War Bride Quilt, Grandmothers Choice, Sunday Afternoon Applique Group, Uncategorized by

Last Sunday, my Sunday Afternoon Applique Group met to chat, stitch and eat. The best part about getting together with other appliquers is that we feed off each others creativity and, best of all, we inspire each other.  This month we were super- inspired by Lynne.  Lynne started “Flower Garden” by Kim McLean last September and brought it this month for Show and Tell.  Awesome!

lynne quilt

Since my sewing machine was out (and I had already taken over the dining room table!) I thought it would be a good idea to do a few more blocks of Barbara Brackman’s Grandmother’s Choice.  This block of the week is a great stash-buster!  I am starting to think about which settings I will use to put the blocks together.  So many choices!  Even if you aren’t making the blocks, I recommend reading the stories that accompany each block.  You will realize how far we have come, baby!

This block is called Nonsense.

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This is called Endless Stairs.

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This is called Art Square.

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And, this is called Nameless Star.

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Moving right along, I started to work on the next block of Civil War Bride.  This block has the peacock in it and I wanted it to stand out in a very regal way!  I went searching in my stash and just couldn’t find anything that said “peacock” to me.  I went searching in my friends’ stash and this is what I found!  Oh…the possibilities!

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First I started with the body.

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Then I added the tail section.

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And now comes the fun part!  I love fabrics that beg to be fussy cut!  I thought these medallions would make awesome feather details.

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I used Perfect Circles by Karen Kay Buckley to make the circles.  You can read more about Perfect Circles here.

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So I stitched on a few circles and liked the effect…

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…so I  added some more!

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Next, I added some legs and a place for the peacock to stand!

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Til next time…

Kerry

A Productive Day!

Posted in Bouquet For a New Day, Civil War Bride Quilt, Grandmothers Choice, Hand-Applique Techniques, Sue Garman Pattern, Uncategorized by

It is not very often that I sit at my sewing machine and stitch the day away, but that is what I did yesterday!  I cut out and stitched…get ready….12 blocks from Grandmother’s Choice Block of the Week!  My plan is to make 3 quilts using these 8″ blocks, so I am stitching 3 variations of the same block.  I love to see how different fabric placement can drastically change the look of the block.  Here are the blocks:

This block is called “I Am An Anti”.  Honestly, I did not fussy cut the pink squares on purpose.  It just happened!

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Next on the runway is “Carrie Nation”.

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Followed by “Mr. Roosevelt’s Necktie”.

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And, last but not least, is “Jack’s Delight”.

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Jenny and Bruin like to keep me company when I sew.  They are kind of  famous!  Check out their youtube video here.

bruin

jenny and bruin

This is my latest finished block from “Bouquets For a New Day”. 5 more blocks to go!

bfand 1

The navy blue fabric in the vase is left over from an Irish Chain quilt I made for my Mom.

irish chain

Most of this block from “Civil War Bride” is stitched in place.  I started to think that maybe the table that the vase is sitting on is too dark for the overall look of the block.  So I cut out another table piece and auditioned it.  I do like it better.

cwb 1 (2)

My #1 rule in applique (and life) is this….fix something while it’s in the block stage, rather than finish the whole quilt and kick yourself because you were too busy…or too tired…or too lazy to fix it!  I have been guilty of all 3!

Til next time…

Kerry

Stitching the Night Away

Posted in Bouquet For a New Day, Civil War Bride Quilt, Hand-Applique Techniques, Hand-Quilting Tools, Sue Garman Pattern, Uncategorized by

Most evenings you will find me on the couch, hand-quilting the night away.  Once my needle hits the fabric, all the stress and tension of the day just seems to melt away.  Here is the latest block of Sue Garman’s “Bouquets For A New Day”.  So, now  I have 6 blocks quilted, and 6 more to go…oh… and a border.  (Heavy Sigh)

hand quilting

I have started working on the next block of Civil War Bride.  It can be tricky to figure out what order to place the stems on the background.  If the raw edge of “Stem A” is going to be covered with “Stem B”, then “Stem A” needs to be glued in place first.  (It’s easier than it sounds!!)

First, I put a few dabs of glue along the traced line, rather than putting glue on the actual stems. This will be “Stem A”. You can see that this stem will be covered by another stem.

cwb 3

Next, I carefully placed the stem on the line.  Because the stems are cut on the bias, they are easy to curve along the line.

cwb 4

Then,  I used the line that the next bias strip will be placed on as a guide to trim the stem to the correct length.  I have added a few dabs of glue to hold the next stem in place.

cwb 5

Now, another stem is in place….This is also a “Stem A”.

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And, finally, the longer stem that covers these shorter stems is glued in place.  This is “Stem B”.

cwb 6

So…here are a bunch of “Stem A’s”, waiting to be covered by one long “Stem B”.

glue

large stem

And, finally…all the stems are in place!

all stems in place

I thought this block needed a really special vase!   So I fussy-cut this fabric…

fabric 1

…and ended up with this vase!  Spiffy!

vase 4

Next, I added some buds….

buds

…and leaves and flowers!

buds leaves and flowers

Til next time…

Kerry

Finish a block…start a block!

Posted in Civil War Bride Quilt, Hand-Applique Techniques, Uncategorized by

Darn it!  Does this ever happen to you?  I was stitching merrily along, when I thought my stitches felt a little weird.  Then I noticed my background had folded over on itself and I was stitching through two layers.  I keep my stitch ripper handy for occasions just like this!

stitch 2

So, once the block was finally finished, I did what I do to all my finished blocks….I gave it a bath!  I like to wash everything out of my block…like glue, starch and anything else that shouldn’t be there!  First, I fill the sink with very hot water and a bit of soap.

sink 1

Next, I take a very deep breath…and then I toss my block into the water.

sink 3

I usually let it soak for a couple of hours.  Then I let the water out of the sink and rinse the block under hot water until there are no more suds.

sink 4

Next, I gently squeeze the block so it is not dripping wet, but still fairly wet.  Finally, I spread the block out on a thick towel and pin the four corners.  Then I just let it air dry.  I should mention that I pre-wash all of my fabric in Synthrapol before even beginning the block.

sink 6

sink 7

So…while the block was drying, I started the next block of Civil War Bride.  First I traced the block…

cwb 1

….then I made lots of bias.  (You can never have too much bias!)

cwb 2

Oh!  And speaking of Civil War Bride, I finally made a decision.  I chose Nest #2!  Instead of putting 5 eggs in the nest just like the pattern, I chose to add 3 eggs…an egg to represent each one of my lovely children!

nest 7

Til next time….

Kerry

A Bit of Catch-up….

Posted in Civil War Bride Quilt, Friends of Baltimore, Hand-Applique Techniques, Uncategorized by

This block from Civil War Bride needed a butterfly in the bottom right hand corner before it could be considered “Officially Finished”.

bird block

However, I wanted to find a really interesting fabric for the wings.  A fabric  that would do the butterfly proud!  So I waited patiently.  Then, I came across this chunk of fabric in my stash.  (For those of you who are wondering, I am taking every bit of fabric for this quilt from my stash.)  I love this type of fabric!  The pattern repeat is symmetrical, rather than asymmetrical.  These fabrics are rare, so grab them when you find them!

fussy cut 3

This dark curly part caught my eye.

fussy cut 1

I cut the butterfly wings out of the fabric so that the wings would be mirror images of each other.  I placed the pattern so that the black curly part would be somewhere near the middle of the butterfly.  The beauty of doing this, is that you never really know what you will end up with!

fussy cut 2

And here is the proud butterfly!

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So once I got that off my mind, I continued on with my “Friends of Baltimore” block.  I added some buds, stems and leaves.  If you look closely, you will see that I used 2 different greens for the wreath and the stems.   (Between you and I, that was a bit of an oopsy on my part.  Mum’s the word!)

wreath 1

Then came the  flowers, complete with buds and centers.

wreath 3

Next, came a pretty little bow…

wreath 4

… and, FINALLY, a couple of love birds!

wreath 5

Til next time….

Kerry

Think Happy Spring Thoughts!

Posted in Civil War Bride Quilt, Hand-Applique Techniques, Uncategorized by

I looked out the window this morning and this is what I saw!  Yikes!

snow day

So, I thought  I better get busy and think some Happy Spring Thoughts!  The next block from The Civil War Bride inspired me to think Spring!

First, I started with the branches and a few little leaves.

block 1

Then I added more leaves.

a few leaves 2

…and some more!

more leaves 3

Next, I added the bird’s feet and the underbelly of the bird. (If you let your imagination run wild, it looks like a folk art kind of bird…but just wait…!)  I used Ultra-Suede for these tiny pieces because they are really….tiny!  When using Ultra-Suede, I just cut out the pieces without adding a seam allowance and stitch it in place.  Easy peasy!

feet and underbody 4

Next came the rest of the bird.

bird 4

Then, I auditioned a few nests.  Should I choose Nest #1…….

nest 5

….or Nest # 2?nest 6

Til next time….

Kerry

Row 2 of Civil War Bride Completed!

Posted in Civil War Bride Quilt, Uncategorized by

I was one block away from finishing the  second row of  “The Civil War Bride Quilt”!   All I had to do was finish the bird block.  So I spruced the birds up with some tail feathers that I thought were rather snazzy, added some solid looking feet and gave each bird a colourful comb!

bird block

close-up birds

After I finished stitching each block, I washed it in the sink with hot soapy water to remove all of the starch, glue and even a bit of my own blood!  (Note to self…my new scissors are really sharp!)  When they were dry, I trimmed the blocks to the correct size.  (As a rule, I always cut my blocks 2″-3″ larger than needed.)  Believe it or not, the blocks do shrink up a fair amount once they are stitched.

trimming

Once they were all trimmed to the correct size, I started stitching them together.

3 blocks

5 blocks

And, finally, I stitched 2 rows together!  Spiffy!

2 rows

Since I had my sewing machine out, I took the time to stitch another block of Barbara Brackman’s “Grandmother’s Choice”.  I must confess, I am a not exactly keeping up with the weekly blocks, but I do intend to make a quilt (or two!) with the blocks …and maybe add a few applique blocks.  We will see!

GC blocks

Til next time…

Kerry