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

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.