Spring tease…

Posted in Uncategorized by Simple Bird Applique

I was so tickled with how my wreath turned out I left it on my design wall and just kept staring at it in awe! But, now its time to get on with the show! Green fabric is not something that I am going to run out of anytime soon, so I used a good variety of fabrics for the leaves!

Now…time for the circles…and chocolate. I find prepping and stitching circles a little tedious, so I use chocolate as an incentive. I stitch a few circles…eat some chocolate…stitch a few more circles…eat some more chocolate….

I was all set to glue the circles in place, but I did not want to interrupt nap time! So I waited…and ate some chocolate…waited some more and ate some more chocolate!

Once Bruin finally woke up, I glued all the circles in place. Fancy!

This picture is just a tease! More details to follow!

Til next time…

Kerry

24Mar2013

“Finish me! Finish me!”

Posted in Friends of Baltimore, Hand-Applique Techniques, Sue Garman Pattern, Uncategorized by Simple Bird Applique

This block from Sue Garman’s “Friends of Baltimore” was staring at me from the design wall. It was saying: “Finish me! Finish me!” So I did.

I had not gotten around to adding the section to the front of the book. I was afraid it was going to be a little… fiddly. (Definition of fiddly: requiring close attention to detail : fussy; especially : requiring an annoying amount of close attention). It was!

Here is what I did. I ironed a piece of freezer paper to the back of the fabric that I was going to write “Album” on. I did this so the fabric would not slip around while I was writing on it.

Using my light box, I traced the word “Album” with a permanent marker.

I traced the finished line with a Frixion marker, so that line would eventually disappear.

Bruin likes to pay close attention to the details!

Next, I took the freezer paper template and ironed it to the back of the fabric with the writing on it. I used the line I drew with the Frixion marker to place the freezer paper template in the correct spot.

Once that was all done, I prepped the piece as usual.

Next, I prepped the beige piece…

….and here we go…An Officially Finished Block!

Til next time…

Kerry

20Mar2013

How wrong was I??

Posted in Friends of Baltimore, Hand-Applique Techniques, Sue Garman Pattern, Uncategorized by Simple Bird Applique

Very wrong! I had been wanting to start the next block of Sue Garman’s “Friend’s of Baltimore”. Well! I took one look at the block…and walked away! It looked way too difficult. Boy, was I wrong.

In fact, it was not difficult at all…almost a walk in the park! Here is the freezer paper template. Yikes!

And here is the template ironed on to the wrong side of the fabric. So far, so good!

I thought this is where it might get a bit dicey. So instead of cutting out the entire design, I just cut a small portion and starched the seam allowance in place.

The next thing I knew, I was finished the inner part!

So I worked on the outer section until the whole piece was prepped!

I took a deep breath and removed the freezer paper…

And this tangled mess….

…turned in to this!

I would like to thank the quilt gods for helping make this possible!!

Til next time…

Kerry

15Mar2013

Row 2 of Civil War Bride Completed!

Posted in Civil War Bride Quilt, Uncategorized by Simple Bird Applique

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!

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.

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

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

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!

Til next time…

Kerry

11Mar2013

Not so fast!

Posted in Civil War Bride Quilt, Friends of Baltimore, Hand-Applique Techniques, Sue Garman Pattern, Uncategorized by Simple Bird Applique

I was so excited! My block was finally finished…or was it? I must admit, all along I thought the vase was missing a little something. And it was! So…here is the “unfinished” block…

….and here is the “finished” block!

I thought I would take a break from the flowers, and leaves and vines. The birds on the next block of the Civil War Bride Quilt were calling my name!

First, I started with some stems and beaks, and what I assume is some sort of fruit. (So far I am not impressed!)

Next, I added some branches and leaves. (Still not impressed!)

Okay, now I see it coming together! All the birds need now are some tail feathers and they are ready for take-off!

Til next time…

Kerry

7Mar2013

How Crazy Am I?

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