Oh…to be organized! Take 2!

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

Just like my scissors, my last post seemed to disappear into thin air!! Here it is again…

Ask anyone who knows me and they will tell you that I am far from organized. (organized: functioning within a formal structure, as in the coordination and direction of activities). Being organized does not come easy for me. (I would like to think that is a sign of a highly creative mind!)

Take, for instance, my Dilemna-of-the-Week. My beloved Gingher embroidery scissors went missing. They seemed to have vanished into thin air. I checked all the obvious places, but they were gone! I asked my family members if they had seen my scissors. Picture lots of eye rolling. No one had seen my scissors and no one seemed concerned that my stuff was disappearing into thin air!

Then I remembered gathering up a load of fabrics and throwing them into the washer to be pre-washed. I must have gathered up my scissors also, because that is indeed where they were found!

So when I start a block that has many, many pieces in it, like this one, this is what I do to stay organized…

When I cut out my pattern, I keep it in sections, like bunches of leaves or whole flowers. I prep one section at a time.

Next, I place a copy of the pattern on my plywood-styrofoam thingy. It is actually a sub-floor that I bought at Home Depot for $5.85. It is particle board on one side and styrofoam on the other side. It measures 24 inches square.

Once my pieces are prepped…

…I pin them in place.

Now I know exactly where they are! How is that or being organized?

Til next time….

Kerry

5May2013

Getting Ready to Start

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

I am eager to start the next block of Sue Garman’s “Friends of Baltimore”. But, before I can start cutting and stitching, there are a few things that need to be done. First, I pre-washed the fabrics for the block, including the background, in Synthrapol. This stops the colours from running.

So, while the fabrics were soaking, I decided to start making my freezer paper templates. I took a good look at the pattern. I only had one thought: that is a whole lot of templates, and a whole lot of tracing! (Between you and I, tracing is the part I dislike the most!) So this is how I avoid tracing…

This particular pattern is larger than an 8 1/2″ x 11″ sheet of paper, so it has been divided in four parts.

I scan each individual sheet and import the images to my computer.

Next I open up Adobe Illustrator…

…and I scroll down and click on PLACE.

The image then pops up on the screen like magic!

This is the really cool part! I hit REFLECT and the image….well, it reflects! (If you use the needleturn method and trace your patterns on the right side of fabric, you do not need to reflect the pattern.)

You know you have done this properly if the writing on the pattern is backwards! I place a piece of freezer paper in the printer, click on print…

…. and voila!

Now, I am going to make one big pattern out of the 4 sections. I trim the patterns on the dotted lines.

I like my freezer paper templates to be double thickness. So, I iron each section to a big piece of freezer paper and match all the dotted lines…like I am wallpapering…only better!

Now I get to cut out every one of those itty bitty pieces!

Here is a little something I want to share!

I use my light box all the time. I love it…because I don’t have to trace the pattern on the background fabric. Do you see a theme here? Sometimes when there are multiple layers, it is hard to see what is underneath the pieces I have already glued in place. By gluing the leaves in place, I have covered up the flower that will sit on top of the leaves. Confusing! So here is what I do to make life easier.

I use my applique pressing sheet and build the flower on it, rather than on the block. This is also called “off-block construction”.

I put just a dab of glue on each petal, and slowly add each piece, until I have a flower.

I very carefully lift the flower off the applique pressing sheet…

…and place it on the background. Easy Peasy!

Til next time…

Kerry

2May2013

A Productive Day!

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

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!

Next on the runway is “Carrie Nation”.

Followed by “Mr. Roosevelt’s Necktie”.

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

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

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

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

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.

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

23Apr2013

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 Simple Bird Applique

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)

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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

And, finally…all the stems are in place!

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

…and ended up with this vase! Spiffy!

Next, I added some buds….

…and leaves and flowers!

Til next time…

Kerry

17Apr2013

A Good Way to Spend the Evening!

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

It was going to be a very exciting evening! I have completed another four blocks from Sue Garman’s “Friend’s of Baltimore” and they are ready to be stitched together into a row. I already have one row stitched together. You can read about that here. When I cut my background blocks, I always cut them 2″ or 3″ larger than the finished size. So, before I could stitch the blocks together, I had to trim them down to the correct size. Here is what I did to make the job so easy and stress-free…The best part is, I never had to measure anything!

I made a window template with the opening the exact measurement of the unfinished size of the block. The finished size is 15″, so I needed to trim the blocks down to 15 1/2″, therefore I made the opening 15 1/2″. (I hope that makes sense!)

So now I could place the window template on the block and make sure that everything was centred nicely.

Next, I traced around the opening with a marking pen.

Then I trimmed the excess fabric away by cutting on the marked line. Easy peasy!

So, once I trimmed all the blocks to the correct size, I started to stitch the blocks together in a row.

Ta da! An evening well spent!

Til next time…

Kerry

15Apr2013

Finish a block…start a block!

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

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!

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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

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!

Til next time….

Kerry

7Apr2013

A Bit of Catch-up….

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

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

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!

This dark curly part caught my eye.

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!

And here is the proud butterfly!

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!)

Then came the flowers, complete with buds and centers.

Next, came a pretty little bow…

… and, FINALLY, a couple of love birds!

Til next time….

Kerry

3Apr2013

Think Happy Spring Thoughts!

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

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

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.

Then I added more leaves.

…and some more!

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!

Next came the rest of the bird.

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

….or Nest # 2?

Til next time….

Kerry

29Mar2013

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.