Stitching the day 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

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

20Nov2012

Hand-quilting the night away!

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

29Oct2012

All I Can Do Is Laugh!!

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

Well I had a great idea! I am ready to start hand-quilting Sue Garman’s “Bouquets For A New Day’. I have always quilted in a hoop, but I thought it might be time to graduate to a floor frame. I did a bit of research on floor frames and decided I wasn’t ready to jump in that deep. So I opted for an Omni-Grid floor frame. I thought it might give me a feel for quilting on a frame without a huge investment. I could not wait to get started!

So I marked my quilt under the watchful eye of Bruin.

I am doing cross-hatching in the background. The lines are 3/4″ apart. That is a lot of quilting!

I assembled the frame and put the quilt in it. I gathered all my stuff (scissor, needles, thread and thimble). I put on a pot of coffee. Life was so good!

I left the room just for a minute to pour myself a cup of cup of coffee….

…..and Bruin found a new cat bed!

I am making slow (but steady) progress on “Friends of Baltimore”.

Til next time….

Kerry

19Oct2012

Block 5 of Civil War Bride Finished!

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

The sun was shining and it was a very productive day! I stitched the last leaf on the 5th block of Civil War Bride Quilt.

And the top row is now complete!

Since my sewing machine was on the dining room table anyway, I stitched Aunt Eliza’s Star from Barbara Brackman’s Grandmother’s Choice. Even if you are not making the blocks, the stories that go with these blocks are very inspiring and moving and worth reading.

I went to go visit my quilt today!

Colleen, from Elite Quilting, is basting “Bouquets For a New Day” together for me on her long arm machine. That will save me from spending a couple of hours on my hands and knees basting it by hand. Life is good!! Lucky for me, Colleen was just finishing up as I arrived, so now the hand-quilting can begin!

Til next time…..

Kerry

11Oct2012

Finally Finished!!

Posted in Bouquet For a New Day, Grandmothers Choice, Sue Garman Pattern, Uncategorized by Simple Bird Applique

As it turns out, the blocks were the easy part! This is one of the most challenging borders I have ever done. I had lots of help!

Once I saw that the sawtooth border did indeed fit, I could relax a little.

Ta da!

Now that it’s finished, I have been rambling around the house feeling a little lost! So I worked on the blocks from Barbara Brackman’s Grandmother’s Choice.

Til next time….

Kerry

7Oct2012

The Luxury of Time

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

I am fortunate to have a large family and every year we take turns hosting major holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas. Not only does this mean cooking a turkey with all the trimmings, it also means making the house presentable! And that means using up precious time that could be spent quilting! Lucky for me, this year was not my turn! So I had lots of time this weekend to finish the last block of Sue Garman’s “Bouquets For a New Day.

I glued the stars and circles on the basket.

Next, I added the ribbons…

…and finally, a bow! All 12 blocks are Officially Finished!

The ribbon ends have very deep inner curves, which can be a little intimidating.

Here are a few tips….

First of all, I make 3 cuts at the base of the curve. The first one is at the centre of the curve and about 1\8″ away from the freezer paper. The 2nd and 3rd cuts are on either side of the first cut. Anytime I clip a curve, my scissors are always perpendicular to the freezer paper.

Using a stiletto and mini-iron, I fold the seam allowance over the freezer paper, just until I get to the first clip.

Then I put the stiletto down, and fold the freezer paper towards myself so I can use the very tip of the iron to get into the curve.

Next, I return the freezer paper to its original position and continue folding the seam allowance over. There will be very little seam allowance around the curve. Don’t panic.

Once the complete shape is prepared, I put a dab of Roxanne’s Glue at the base of the curve just to give it a bit of stability. Once the glue dries, I remove the freezer paper template.

Since I wasn’t cooking a turkey, I took the time to stitch the blocks together and add the 1″ inner border. So far, so good!

Til next time…..

Kerry

4Oct2012

Not Exactly Finished!

Posted in Bouquet For a New Day, Sue Garman Pattern, Uncategorized 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

2Oct2012

Civil War Bride Block 4!

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

The 4th block of The Civil War Bride Quilt is finished! I love the shadows on the bird created by the dark fabric.

I am stitching the blocks together as I complete them to keep me inspired and to keep the momentum going. If you look at the original quilt, you will see that I have actually flipped this block upside down so that the bird is flying upwards, and not toward the ground. Now, on to the 5th block!

Jenny is impressed with the progress I am making on Barbara Brackman’s Grandmother’s Choice. These blocks are an amazing way to use up some of that stash! In my infinite wisdom, I decided to make 3 blocks a week instead of one block. Here are the “Union Square Blocks” from Week 3.

I hand-pieced one Kansas Sunflower Block from Week 4. I think I will try English Paper Piecing the remaining 2 blocks. The points are just a little daunting to attempt on the sewing machine! It is hard to believe that this…

can look like this!

The second last block of Sue Garman’s Bouquets For a New Day is finished!

Just one more block to go! Then I can start to stitch it all together, and then on to the sawtooth inner border. Yikes!

Til next time…..

Kerry

26Sep2012

What Motivates You?

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

Working on a large quilt can sometimes be overwhelming. The key to success in quilting (and in life!) is to stay motivated by setting long-term and short-term goals for ourselves. And, of course, when we reach those goals, we need to reward ourselves…with chocolate!

When I have more that just a few circles to make, I need to stay motivated. I reach for my Perfect Circles by Karen Kay Buckley, I make a cup of coffee, I crank up the music and I have some chocolate handy! How much chocolate I have depends on how many circles I need to make…..lots of circles means lots of chocolate!

Before I know it, the circles are finished and I am ready to move on to the next step of the block.

Wonderful….more circles!

I am prepping the 4th block of The Civil War Bride Quilt. It also has more than a few circles on it! It has some interesting loopy tendrils made from bias strips. Here is a little tip I use for making really curvy bias pieces. I used the same technique for making the handles on this basket. So easy!

First, I make the bias strip using bias bars. Here are a few tips for using bias bars.

Next, I put the paper pattern on a padded surface, like an ironing board. Then I place the bias strip on the pattern and put a few pins where I want to start.

I dampen the bias strip with starch and then use the mini-iron to “mold” the bias strip into place.

Once it is dry, the bias strip will actually hold its shape. You can pick it up and toss it around!

Glue in place and you are ready to stitch!

Til next time……

Kerry

23Sep2012

A Solution for Every Problem!

Posted in Bouquet For a New Day, Grandmothers Choice, Roseville, Sue Garman Pattern, Sunday Afternoon Applique Group, Uncategorized by Simple Bird Applique

My eye doctor is a saint! He understands that I need more than one pair of glasses. In fact, I need three! One for distance, one for medium close and one for extremely close! When I quilt, I spend a lot of time looking for my glasses, only to find them under a pile of fabric. So here is the solution!

Block #2 of Barbara Brackman’s Grandmother’s Choice has set-in seams. So, of course, I have been avoiding it. After seeing yesterday’s block, I decided I better get a move on!!

One of my goals is to hand-quilt Sue Garman’s Bouquets For a New Day this winter. I am making steady progress on the second last (!) block.

My Sunday Afternoon Applique Group met last Sunday after taking a break for the summer. This year we are all playing “catch-up” instead of starting a new project. This is one of my Roseville blocks that I am working on this year. I was sooo excited to find this yummy selection of hand-quilting thread by Amy Butler. I am using it as my inspiration for color.