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

17Jan2013

It’s the little things that amuse me!

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

Believe it or not, this is a freezer paper template! Pretty tiny!

And this is the prepped piece. Stop the madness!

Some of the pieces in the block are smaller than the scraps in my garbage container!

Here is where the itty bitty piece goes…

…and this is the rest of the flower!

It is a little slow-going, but it is starting to look like I am accomplishing something!

I have not done much hand-quilting since before the holidays. It is time to get hand-quilting again! Bruin joins me every evening as I sit and stitch the (very chilly) evening away!

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

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

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

11Aug2012

Measure twice…..stitch once!!

Posted in Amy's Quilt, Hand-Quilting Tools, Uncategorized by Simple Bird Applique

I was making some pretty impressive progress on Amy’s quilt. It was easy to sit and stitch while being inspired by the athletes competing in the Olympics. The trouble was, I was a little distracted. Every time I completed another few lines of the background quilting in the outer border, I said to myself….”Something looks a little off.” But, then I would look up at the TV and see that someone had just won a race, or a medal! And then I just kept on stitching!

Well! More than just a few hours (and lines) later, I noticed that I had marked some of the lines 1 1/4″ apart and some 1 3/4″ apart. Always one to look for the silver lining, I used this as an opportunity to test the Frixion marker I had used to mark the lines.

After I un-stitched all the background lines in the border (yikes!), I put some water in my steam iron and gave the lines a blast of steam. (Important note: The iron NEVER touched the quilt top. I held the iron a couple of inches from the quilt top.)

I must say I was bedazzled!! (See below.) The lines instantly disappeared…not a trace of any of the marking were left!

bedazzled:

be·daz·zle (b -d z l). tr.v. be·daz·zled, be·daz·zling, be·daz·zles. 1. To dazzle so completely as to make blind. 2. To please irresistibly; enchant.

Til next time….

Kerry

17May2012

Hand-quilting….sooooo relaxing!!

Posted in Amy's Quilt, Hand-Quilting Tools, Uncategorized by Simple Bird Applique

In between working on my Roseville blocks (and a few other quilts in progress), I am hand-quilting Amy and Bruce’s wedding quilt. They will be getting married on September 1 (of this year!) so I better get stitching!

I find hand-quilting (like all hand work) very relaxing. I tell myself that I will just sit and quilt for a few minutes, but before I know it, a few hours have slipped by! Of course, having the right tools makes a huge difference. Just remember, what works for one quilter may not work for all quilters! So…take the time to try different brands of needles, thread, scissors and batting. Find those tools that work for you.

Here are a few tools that work for me:

John James Size 10 Big Eye Quilting needles. They are smooth and very sharp. And the big eye is a bonus for easy threading!

A hoop to hold the quilt layers tight. I have always used a hoop to support the quilt while I am stitching the three layers together. I have even quilted a king-sized quilt using a hoop. The secret is to have lots of basting!!

Gingher scissors. I treated myself to a pair of Gingher scissors for my last birthday! They curve upward at the end so that I will not snip (another!) hole in a quilt!

Various thimbles. “Various” because every time I sit down to quilt, the thimble I used last time just doesn’t feel right!

Hand-quilting thread. I like Dual Duty Plus because it is a cotton/polyester blend and it glides through the layers really well. I also like YLI hand-quilting thread.

100% wool quilt batt. I am using “Legacy” 100% wool. Quilting through a wool batt is like quilting through butter. It is an absolute dream to work with!

A decent light source. Although there is no substitute for natural sunlight, there may be times when it is not that readily available. I always keep my Ott light handy for times when I need just a bit more light.

Time. No matter how busy I am, I can always find time to quilt!!