Voo-doo dolls and other interesting tid-bits…

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

Now that I have the majority of the pieces prepped and pinned to a piece of styrofoam sub-floor, I am ready to start building my block on the background. As you can see I used a lot of pins to hold my pieces in place.

Each time I stuck a pin into the styrofoam, I thought about voo-doo dolls.

(Sometimes its really hard to stay focused!) According to wikipedia, the most popular stereotype of using a voo-doo doll involves sticking pins into it. But did you know that there are different emotions and feelings attached to the color of pins that can be used? I did a bit more research and found out that yellow pins means money and blue pins mean love! Check out the color of my pins!

OK…where was I?

I made another copy of the pattern and taped it to the light box. Then, I placed a background square on the pattern and put a few (yellow!) pins in it. Next, I took a water-soluble marker and traced the seam lines on the background.

This block has lots of pieces so I won’t be gluing all the pieces in place before I start to stitch. I like to glue a few pieces in place, stitch them, and then glue a few more pieces in place. So, I will be unpinning the background square from the pattern, stitching, and then I will be placing it on the pattern again. I use the traced seam lines as a guide to make sure everything is lined up properly.

It can be a little confusing trying to figure out which pieces go where. First I start with the stems.

Then I add a few pieces. I usually start at the outer edge and work inwards.

So far…so good!

Til next time…

Kerry

9May2013

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

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

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

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

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.

First I made the tiny outer blue circle.

Then, the teeny, tiny yellow inner circle.

Here is the flower, before the centre is added.

And here is the finished flower!

This is what I have accomplished so far!

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

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

Til next time…
Kerry

27Feb2013

So darn excited!

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

I am really excited to be working on the next block of Sue Garman’s “Friends of Baltimore”. When I finish this block, I will be able to stitch together another row, which I can then add to my first completed row! I am going to start hyper-ventilating real soon!

First I started with the vase. The dark brown piece at the top was the first one to be stitched in place, and then the pieces below it followed.

Next, the remaining dark brown pieces were stitched in place. The long edges will be covered by the light brown sections, so the edges do not need to be turned under.

And, finally, the last section is added. The top edge looks odd, but will be covered with flowers and leaves.

Next, the handles were added and some stems and leaves. Please allow me to gush about these leaves! I fussy-cut each leaf with the lighter green “veins” running lengthwise. I am pleased as punch!

Now that the berries are in place, I can start to fill the vase with many, many flowers!

I can’t think of a better way to spend the cold winter evening than hand-quilting Sue Garman’s “Bouquets For A New Day”. Here is another completed block!