Time…please slow down!

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

Saturday? Already?

We all know what a busy and stressful time of year this can be. From what I am hearing, social protocol dictates that I should be baking!! We all also know the best way to get through the busy-ness and the stress is to find a quiet, relaxing activity…like quilting!

The very moment I sit down to quilt, whether its hand-applique, hand-quilting or even stitching a block together on the sewing machine, I can feel the tension and stress melt away. Like this snowman!

I have been slowly working away on the next block of Sue Garman’s “Friends of Baltimore”. I opted to do the flower buds flat, rather that dimensional, as the pattern suggested.

Also, I am still stitching the evenings away with a quilt (and sometimes a cat!) on my lap.

Til next time….

Kerry

28Nov2012

Stitching merrily along!

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

I was all set to start the “Family Album” block in Sue Garman’s “Friends of Baltimore”.

Then I looked at the pattern cover to see exactly how much I had left to do…(heavy sigh)…a lot!!

So I put all my finished block on my design wall to gather some inspiration and I realized that I almost had a complete row finished… except for one block.

So I am working on that block instead in the hopes that I can have a row completed by December 31. That is my goal! If you look closely at the pattern, you will see that the sashing is made up of many, many, many red and white half-square triangles.

First I stitched the bias in place.

I always join my bias stems underneath another piece of fabric. You can use up a lot of short strips this way.

Then I added the bird and some leaves….

…and some more leaves.

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

14Nov2012

Moving right along…..

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

Since I have finished the basket block from Sue Garman’s “Friends of Baltimore”, I thought I would work on the next block of Civil War Bride. Compared to the basket block, I should have this block completed in no time! I started with the bias stems.

I have been hoarding this piece of fabric for a long time now. I just thought on the off chance if I needed a fabric that looked like real strawberries, I would be ready!!

So I added the strawberries!

Then I added all the leaves. I must say, after reading Teresa’s post (see my last post for details!), I have been chopping my fabric into smaller pieces, and I am coming across a few green fabrics that I had forgotten all about. I love using a variety of greens in my blocks!!

I am getting the tops of the strawberries prepped. As you can see, they are tiny with some pretty nifty peaks and valleys! Lots of fun!!

Til next time….

Kerry

11Nov2012

How I spent Saturday morning…and afternoon!

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

Well! Finally the basket is filled with flowers and a bird. All it needs is a butterfly!

I decided it would be much easier to build the butterfly off-block. First I cut the tiny pieces out of freezer paper and prepped them.

I should have used a magnifying glass!

Yikes!!

Next, I glued and stitched the pieces in place.

Then, I stitched the butterfly in place on the background, starting with his lower wings. To make everything lay nice and flat, I always baste any raw edges to the background, before I cover it with the next piece.

Next, I added the top half of his wings and his body.

And…finally!…here is the finished block!

I read an awesome post about Stash Management by Teresa at Quilt Therapy. When you read her blog, prepare to be amazed by her creativity and talent (and her fabric collection!)

For a while now, I have been trying to organize my stash so that I can work more efficiently. I seem to spend a lot of time searching for fabric that I know I have (but just can’t put my fingers on it) and I spend even more time folding and re-folding fabric, but it always ends up looking like this….

….and this. If I wanted to spend my life folding fabric, I would fold the laundry!

So, here is the perfect solution for appliquers. Teresa suggests cutting our fabric into more manageable sizes (4″ x 6″) and storing it in plastic containers intended for photos. Brilliant! Thanks, Teresa!

Til next time…

Kerry

4Nov2012

Filling the Basket

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

Slowly (but surely!) the basket is filling up!

First, a few more flowers and buds…and some bird feet!

Finally! I stitched the bird in place…and I added a few more flowers.

And then more flowers, buds and leaves. I love it when the end is in sight!!

I am constructing some of the flowers off-block. Here is the front of the flower…

…and here is the back. Now it can be stitched onto the background. Because this flower has four layers, I trimmed out one of the layers so that it is not so thick.

I am almost caught up on Barbara Brackman’s Grandmother’s Choice Block of the Week.

This is “Alice’s Flag” from Week 7.

Week 9 is “Brick Pavement”.

Week 10 is “New York”.

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

24Oct2012

Filling the Basket

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

The next block of Sue Garman’s “Friends of Baltimore” has me thinking. There is a bird in the basket surrounded by many flowers and leaves and I really I want the bird to stand out. I want to make the bird blue, so I don’t want him surrounded by blue flowers.

So here is the bird. I made him off-block, ready to place in the basket when the time is right!

And here are some of the leaves, flowers and buds. Oh, and a bow!

Some of the flowers have tiny, tiny pieces! So much fun!

Til next time….

Kerry

16Sep2012

Finally! The Perfect Project!

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

I certainly don’t seem to have a problem collecting batiks, which is not that big of a deal, except that I rarely use batiks! But all that is going to change! These yummy bundles of batiks caught my eye at Quilt Market in Houston about 3 or 4 years ago. How could I leave them behind? I have been waiting very patiently for the “perfect project” to come along.

Well! Not only did the perfect pattern come along, it also had a co-ordinating fat-eights bundle to go along with it! When opportunity like this knocks, you better open the door! The “perfect project” for my batik collection is “Spring Bouquet” by Laundry Basket Quilts. The fabrics are “Over the Rainbow” batiks by Laundry Basket Quilts for Moda.

Don’t they play nicely together! I promised myself I will not start this project until I finish….something!

In the meantime, I have been stitching away on Block #3 of The Civil War Bride Quilt. I could not help myself! I wanted to see what the blocks might look like once they are stitched together. Spiffy!

Oh…and this was fun! The handle on the basket I started last week is made up of 3 long bias strips that are braided together….

…and then glued in place! Spiffy!

Til next time…..

Kerry

11Sep2012

Miles and miles of bias…….

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

I woke up this morning with one thing on my mind: bias strips! I have been avoiding starting the next block of Sue Garman’s “Friends of Baltimore” because the basket is made up of what seems like miles and miles of skinny bias strips. Well! Today seems like a good day to get started!!

I usually make bias stems with my Clover 1/4″ bias maker. But the strips in the basket are skinnier than 1/4″ so I will use my bias bars. I have 3 different sets of bars. I love (and use) them all! For this particular project, I will use Perfect Stems by Karen Kay Buckley.

This is how I make my bias strips. (It is not an exact science!)

First I figure out what size bar to use. These bars are a little on the thick side so I always choose a bar that is skinnier than what the pattern shows.

I cut my strips on the bias. (I know that seems obvious, but I had to say it!) How wide I cut them depends on the size of the bias bar. You should to be able to wrap the fabric around the bar and have enough extra fabric to hold onto. I usually leave an extra 1/2 inch.

I place the bias bar underneath the presser foot. Then I carefully lower the needle and then stitch along the side of the bar. Did you know that you can actually sew through these bars and it does not harm the machine…or the bias bars? The needle is a different story! The tube of fabric should fit snugly around the bar. I always use a contrasting thread in my machine.