Simple Bird Applique

Making a quilt…..one stitch at a time.

May 22

Echo Quilting

by Simple Bird Applique

Every night around 9 pm, I stop whatever I am doing and take my usual place on the couch and hand-quilt for an hour or two.  It isn’t a lot of time, but it sure adds up and I am making some  steady progress on Sue Garman’s “Bouquets for a New Day”.

The block I am working on needed a bit of extra-special quilting.  The  cross-hatching in the background causes anything that isn’t quilted to puff out and look baggy…like the vase.

baggy

I am using beige quilting thread for the background.  When I am quilting on top of a shape, I like to match the color of the thread to the color of the fabric.  If I can’t find the color I am looking for in  Dual-Duty quilt thread or YLI quilt thread, I use Mettler 40 weight, which is a machine quilting or hand-quilting weight thread.  Mettler 40 weight does not have a coating on it like true hand-quilting thread.  So, to make the thread glide through the fabric easier and to protect it from knotting and shredding, I use Thread Heaven.

thread and thread heaven

First I quilted around each point of the star, and then surrounded it with Echo Quilting.

echo quilting

And here is the finished block!

quilted block

Til next time…

Kerry

Bouquet For a New Day Hand-Quilting Tools Sue Garman Pattern Uncategorized

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Mar 7

How Crazy Am I?

by Simple Bird Applique

As I work away on Sue Garman’s “Friends of Baltimore”, I keep asking myself…”How crazy am I?”  These teeny, weensy pieces are a little…..tiny!   This is the actual freezer paper pattern.

freezer paper 1

First I made the tiny outer blue circle.

blue outer circle

Then, the teeny, tiny yellow inner circle.

finished yellow circle

Here is the flower, before the centre is added.

flower before

And here is the finished flower!

flower after

This is what I have accomplished so far!

vase 3

I have been working very steadily on Sue Garman’s “Bouquets For A New Day”.  Here is another finished block…

block

…and here is what I have completed so far!  It is starting to have an “almost finished” look to it!

blocks

Til next time…
Kerry

Bouquet For a New Day Friends of Baltimore Hand-Applique Techniques Hand-Quilting Tools Sue Garman Pattern Uncategorized

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Jan 17

It’s the little things that amuse me!

by Simple Bird Applique

Believe it or not, this is a freezer paper template!  Pretty tiny!

tiny piece 2 (2)

And this is the prepped piece.  Stop the madness!

tiny piece 2 (1)

Some of the pieces in the block are smaller than the scraps in my garbage container!

distracted

Here is where the itty bitty piece goes…

tiny piece 3

…and this is the rest of the flower!

tiny piece 4

It is a little slow-going, but it is starting to look like I am accomplishing something!

getting there

I have not done much hand-quilting since before the holidays.  It is time to get hand-quilting again!  Bruin joins me every evening as I sit and stitch the (very chilly) evening away!

bruin on couch

Til next time….

Kerry

Bouquet For a New Day Friends of Baltimore Hand-Applique Techniques Hand-Quilting Tools Sue Garman Pattern Uncategorized

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Jan 10

Stitching on the doodads!

by Simple Bird Applique

Once the blue vase was stitched in place, it was time to add the gold doodads.  ( doodad: something unspecified whose name is either forgotten or unknown).  But first I had to choose the gold fabric.  I loved the pattern on this one, but it was just too light.

too light

And this one was too dark.  I guess I would classify this as dark brown/gold.

too dark

This one suited my fancy!!

just right

So I stitched on some doodads.

blue vase

And then some circles.  2

The handles were sort of tricky…

6

Spiffy!

7

Next came the vines and leaves….

8

And a few berries!9

It is time to start hand-quilting again.  I took a break through the holidays and Bruin was delighted!

bruin on my quilt

Til next time…

Kerry

Bouquet For a New Day Friends of Baltimore Sue Garman Pattern Uncategorized

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Nov 24

Stitching the day away!

by Simple Bird Applique

The weatherman was right.  We have snow!  I love a good snowfall.  Especially if I am indoors…quilting!

All that was left to do on the Civil War Bride block was to embroider a few stems.

So now the block is complete!

All of the blocks are on my design wall to keep the inspiration flowing!  It is sort of the opposite of “out of sight, out of mind”.   (Always in sight, always on my mind!)

The fabrics are chosen and my freezer paper copies are ready for the next block of Civil War Bride quilt.  The tail on this bird is made up of 18 (yikes!) feathers!

I can’t think of a better way to spend a snowy day than curling up on the couch, stitching the day away!   This block has lots of starts and stops, so it’s a bit time consuming.

Til next time..

Kerry

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Nov 20

Hand-quilting the night away!

by Simple Bird Applique

What is it about hand-quilting that is so darn relaxing? I am making pretty steady progress on Sue Garman’s “Bouquets For A New Day”. When I sit down to quilt, I am always surprised at how quickly time (and stress!) seem to slip away.

And here is a close-up. I am using a Frixion pen to mark the cross-hatching. There was a bit of a discussion in my Sunday Afternoon Applique Group regarding these pens. I am always careful to test the marker on a scrap of fabric before marking the quilt top.

When my block is finished, I like to give it a warm bath to remove all residue left from the glue, starch and marking pens. Even though I pre-wash all (and I do mean all!) of my fabric in Synthrapol, my heart still skips a beat when I do this!

I am getting ready to start the next block of Sue Garman’s “Friend’s of Baltimore”. My least favorite part of appliquing is the tracing. So here is how I avoid tracing…

First, I scan the patterns and then “reflect” them. Then I print the patterns directly on to freezer paper. When a pattern has lots of layers and pieces, I usually print two or three copies. Here is the original pattern.

And here are the freezer paper copies. If you look closely, you will see that they are printed “backwards”.

The fabric for this block is already pre-washed and has the usual amount of cat hair on it!!

Til next time…

Kerry

Bouquet For a New Day Friends of Baltimore Hand-Applique Techniques Hand-Quilting Tools Sue Garman Pattern Sunday Afternoon Applique Group Uncategorized

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Oct 4

Not Exactly Finished!

by Simple Bird Applique

Once I finish stitching my blocks, I always give them a soak in the sink with hot water and soap.  I use marking pens, glue and starch on my blocks when I am working on them so I like to clean them up a bit.  You can read more about that here.

So while the block was soaking, I started working on the last (!) block of Sue Garman’s “Bouquets For a New Day”.  It is by far the simplest of all 12 blocks, so I should have it done in no time!  The pieces are nice and big and there aren’t too many of them!

This is the fabric I am using for the backing.  Bruin and I are getting it ready.

I bought the backing fabric 8 years ago and I always knew I would find a use for it!  I am looking forward to hand-quilting “Boquets For a New Day”, now that the skin on the tips of my fingers has grown back  and I have regained some feeling!   Colleen, at Elite Quilting, is going to machine baste the three layers together for me on her longarm machine, which has me very excited!  That means I don’t have to spend hours on my hands and knees basting the layers together.  Life is good!

Oops!  I guess I wasn’t exactly finished!  I wish I could tell you that this is the first time this has happened, but, sadly, that is not the case.  When I soak the block, I assume that I have stitched every piece in place.  It is not until I lay it out on a towel to dry that I see that I missed a spot!

Til next time.

Kerry

Bouquet For a New Day Sue Garman Pattern Uncategorized

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May 17

Hand-quilting….sooooo relaxing!!

by Simple Bird Applique

In between working on my Roseville blocks (and a few other quilts in progress), I am hand-quilting  Amy and Bruce’s wedding quilt.  They will be getting married on September 1 (of this year!) so I better get stitching!

I find hand-quilting (like all hand work) very relaxing.  I tell myself that I will just sit and quilt  for a few minutes, but before I know it, a few hours have slipped by!  Of course, having the right tools makes a huge difference.  Just remember, what works for one quilter may not work for all quilters!  So…take the time to try different brands of needles, thread, scissors and batting. Find those tools that work for you.

Here are a few tools that work for me:

John James Size 10 Big Eye Quilting needles.  They are smooth and very sharp.  And the big eye is a bonus for easy threading!

A hoop to hold the quilt layers tight.  I have always used a  hoop to support the quilt while I am stitching the three layers together.  I have even quilted a king-sized quilt using a hoop.  The secret is to have lots of basting!!

Gingher scissors.  I treated myself to a pair of Gingher scissors for my last birthday!  They curve upward at the end so that I will not snip (another!) hole in a quilt!

Various thimbles.  “Various” because every time I sit down to quilt, the thimble I used last time  just doesn’t feel right!

Hand-quilting thread.  I like Dual Duty Plus because it is a cotton/polyester blend and it glides through the layers really well.  I also like YLI hand-quilting thread.

100% wool quilt batt.  I am using “Legacy” 100% wool.  Quilting through a wool batt is like quilting through butter.  It is an absolute dream to work with!

A decent light source.  Although there is no substitute for natural sunlight, there may be times when it is not that readily available.  I always keep my Ott light handy for times when I need just a bit more light.

Time.  No matter how busy I am, I can always find time to quilt!!

HAND-QUILTING TOOLS

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