Life Is Good!

Posted in Circle of Tulips, Civil War Bride Quilt, Hand-Applique Techniques, Hand-Quilting Techniques, Uncategorized by Simple Bird Applique

My Hubby and I are going on a little holiday. We are leaving for Florida on Thursday, and, of course, I am busy packing! But, I am even busier prepping the final borders of my Civil War Bride quilt. I like to take my stitching with me wherever I go. Heaven forbid I be on vacation with nothing to do!

So here is the bottom border.

Next I started on the top (and final!) border. First I glued all the bias stems in place.

Then I glued all the leaves in place. My bias strips were not long enough to do the whole vine, so I overlapped them and placed a leaf on top to hide the join.

Next I added the flowers, flower centers and a couple of love birds.

I wasn’t really happy with the leaves that covered the joins of the bias strips. I thought it looked like I was trying to cover something up…..hmmm….I was trying to cover something up! So I decided to add a couple of butterflies instead! Now I am ready for a vacation!

Believe it or not, I think I might just be getting the hang of hand-quilting on a frame. I no longer want to pick the frame up and heave it across the room! Life is good!

Til next time….

Kerry

14Oct2013

Happy Thanksgiving!

Posted in Circle of Tulips, Civil War Bride Quilt, Hand-Quilting Techniques, Uncategorized by Simple Bird Applique

I am determined to learn how to hand-quilt in a frame. I have watched many you-tube videos, emailed many questions to a couple of quilters who I know quilt in a frame and read a few books. Now, it’s time to do it! I spent Saturday morning putting my Q-snap frame together and put my Circle of Tulips quilt in it. I spent 2 or 3 hours just doing some cross-hatching. Even that feels really different than cross-hatching in a hoop. Next I tried figuring how to quilt away from myself. My first instinct is to pick up the frame and move it, but I don’t think that will work. I planned to spend today doing a bit more practicing, but I see it is nap time!

So,,,instead I starting prepping and stitching the bottom border of Civil War Bride. I chose not to include the owls. I tried different colours and different fabrics, but they just did not look like owls. So I just enlarged the love-birds in the top border and placed them on the branches. And, of course, I added a butterfly.

Then changed my mind and added a gold butterfly. Of all the fabrics I chose to fussy-cut my butterflies, I think this one is my favorite!

Til next time…

Kerry

11Oct2013

Again with the moping!

Posted in Circle of Tulips, Civil War Bride Quilt, Hand-Quilting Techniques, Hand-Quilting Tools, Uncategorized by Simple Bird Applique

I am getting ready to start the final borders of my Civil War Bride Quilt and it hit me…I am almost finished! That is very exciting, but, again, a little sad. But I remind myself that I have so many more quilts on my “To-Do List”. The more quilts I have in the works, the happier I am! So the borders are all marked and ready to go. I put everything out on the floor just to make sure that I wouldn’t have any unfortunate surprises when the time came to stitch the borders on. Everything is going to line up!

Our local shops had a “Shop-Hop” a couple of weeks ago and my “quilting partner-in-crime” and I went. So exciting to see 6 completely different quilt shops! Of course, I found something in each shop that I just could not live without! Even though I already had backing at home for “Circle of Tulips”, I found not one, but two backings that I thought I might like better. After auditioning all three, I chose the one I already had!

I love everything I bought, but I found this very intriguing. I have had so much fun playing.

Here it is a nutshell…Triangulations by Brenda Henning is a CD. You insert it into your computer,and the next thing you know, you are a Triangle Expert! First of all, I love when I don’t have to think! Just choose the finished size of the triangle you want to make. I chose to make some 2 1/2″ triangles. So I printed a few sheets just to try it out. Put two fabrics together, pin one of the patterns on, stitch on the dotted line…

…and cut on the solid line.

Trim off the dog-ears…..

Remove the paper, press……..then, bippity, boppity, boo….you have half-square triangles that require no squaring up!

I see some pieced quilts in the very near future!!

And finally, I am enjoying having something to hand-quilt again!

Til next time….

Kerry

8Oct2013

Second Border on Civil War Bride

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

I finished stitching the second border of Civil War Bride this morning. After I washed it, I trimmed it, just like the last border.

Here are some close-up pictures.

And here is the whole border!

Til next time….

Kerry

7Oct2013

Finally! Something in my hoop!

Posted in Circle of Tulips, Hand-Quilting Techniques, Uncategorized by Simple Bird Applique

I casually mentioned to my husband that I would be on my hands and knees later that evening and he was free to join me! He could even take photos! Finally….I had his attention. He asked me what I had in mind. I told him I needed help basting my quilt together, of course!

First, we pinned the backing to the carpet. I use large safety pins and pin directly into the under padding. In a couple of weeks, we will be replacing the carpets with hardwood floor. Not sure where I will be basting my quilts, but I will figure that out when the time comes! I make sure the backing is smooth and fairly taut and free of cat hair!

Next, I lay the batting on the backing and smooth any wrinkles there may be. I am using wool batting for this quilt. If you haven’t tried wool batting yet, what are you waiting for? It needles like a dream!

Then, I put the quilt top on the batting and, starting at the very center, I smooth it out nice and flat. The top is already marked! I spent the last couple of evenings marking the quilt top with feathered wreaths and 3/4″ cross-hatching. I didn’t mark the outer borders because I am not sure what I want to do, yet. I have time to think about it!

Now comes the fun part. I start at the centre and baste the three layers together. The trick is not to stitch into the carpet, and to actually stitch all the layers! I use an embroidery needle with a large eye and cotton thread. I baste in a grid, with my basting stitches going both horizontal and vertical.

I like to keep my lines of basting about 4″-5″ apart.

The best part…..something to stitch!

Til next time…

Kerry

3Oct2013

Birds and Butterflies

Posted in Bouquet For a New Day, Hand-Applique Techniques, Uncategorized by Simple Bird Applique

I was very excited to begin the second side border of the Civil War Bride Quilt! When I start a border or a block, I never really have a clear picture in my mind of how it is going to look when it is finished. So I just start prepping pieces in colours that I think will work and audition them. Sometimes they work, and sometimes they don’t!

I love the bird….I love the butterflies. I just don’t love the way they look together. It just looks a little blah. I may change them, but I’ll wait until I add a few more pieces. Sometimes things have a way of growing on me once I add more pieces. I have a sneaking suspicion that because I used black and gray for the bird, the butterflies should be a bit more colorful.