Another block finished!

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

So I finished stitching the remaining tail feathers in place on my Civil War Bride block.

Then I gave the bird’s feet and beak a bit of thought. The pieces were just too tiny and detailed to use cotton fabric to applique. I have a good selection of Ultra-Suede and found a color that I would imagine a bird’s feet and beak to be.

I cut the feet and beak pieces out of freezer paper and ironed it directly onto the Ultra-Suede. I carefully cut the pieces out and stitched them in place. I decided the pieces could use a bit more definition so I very carefully drew around the very edge of the Ultra-Suede with a brown Micron permanent marker.

The right foot has marker on it and the left one doesn’t. Can you see the difference?

And here is the finished block!

Til next time…

Kerry

16Dec2012

Sunday afternoon stitching…

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

My Christmas baking is finally done!

So that means I have more time for important stuff…like stitching!

My Sunday Afternoon Applique Group met today. We all agreed we should have been shopping/baking/wrapping, but it was sure nice to sit and stitch (and relax!) for a couple of hours with a great group of ladies! I decided to work on the tail feathers of my Civil War Bride block. Long, skinny pieces can be tricky to stitch. Here are a few tips:

Remember, there is no need to fold the seam allowance over if it is going to be covered with another piece. Leave it “raw”.

Begin stitching here…

…and end here.

When I am finished stitching the piece in place, I baste along the raw edge, just inside the seam allowance.

So when I put the next feather in place, the piece I am covering lays nice and flat.

I still have a few feathers to stitch!

I have chosen the fabric for the half-square triangle sashing for my Friends of Baltimore quilt. The fabric is not royal blue or navy blue…just somewhere in between! I am going to start to sew the half-square triangles together, and maybe start to stitch the finished blocks together! So exciting!

Til next time….

Kerry

13Dec2012

Spare time??

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

This time of year, spare time is a rare commodity. But I still managed to find the time to finish this block from Sue Garman’s “Friends of Baltimore”.

And here is a close up.

My Sunday Afternoon Group meets the third Sunday of every month so that means we meet this Sunday….already! Every year we begin a new project so I offered to design next year’s quilt. Here is a preview of the first block. They haven’t seen it yet, so mum’s the word!

I am taking the plunge and using my collection of batiks. (I’ve never really used batiks but somehow I ended up with an amazing batik collection!!) So far, I love them! The colours are so vibrant and saturated. The best part is the fabric does not fray. I am now an OFB… Official Fan of Batiks!

I pre-washed every last one of them…

…and Bruin found yet another (!) cat bed!

I have started the next block of The Civil War Bride. First, I stitched some branches and some leaves..

I used every inch of the branch fabric!

The tail feathers have me very intrigued! They seem to fit together like a puzzle. I love puzzles!

And here are the tail feathers just waiting to be stitched!

Til next time…

Kerry

8Dec2012

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

29Nov2012

No room to sew!

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

I am very lucky to have a room that I can dedicate to my quilting hobby/passion/obsession. I store all my stuff in the room…fabric, patterns, books, batting, notions, and 2 ironing boards! (I don’t actually use both ironing boards, I just keep fabric on them!) I do not have any room to have my sewing machine set up or a decent place to cut out fabric. (To be fair, it has been brought to my attention that if I tidied the room up, I would have more space. But that is another story!)

So when its time to do some cutting and sewing, I move to the dining room table. And, of course, I have lots of company!

These are the blocks from Grandmother’s Choice BOW. I am a teeny bit behind with these blocks, but I will catch up!

I have finished hand-quilting another block of Sue Garman’s “Bouquet For a New Day”.

Christmas is fast approaching and it is time to bring out the Christmas quilts. This is my daughter’s Christmas quilt. It is called “I Believe” by Pat Sloan.

Instead of appliqueing my initials, I stitched the word MOM…..

…just to remind her that MOM upside down, is WOW!!

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

24Nov2012

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

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!