Paper Pattern for “To Everything There Is A Season” now available!

Posted in "To Everything There is a Season", Uncategorized by Simple Bird Applique

As promised, the paper patterns for “To Everything There Is A Season” are back on the website! I tweaked the patterns a little, and now every pattern piece is labelled for easy colour selection. The pattern is available on my website. Here I am (proud as punch) after my quilt received an award of Excellence in Applique at Quilt Canada in June. You can order the complete set, but each pattern is also available as an individual pattern.

This is not a difficult quilt to make (I wouldn’t lie to you!). If I could give you one tip, this would be it…when you prep your pieces, lay the freezer paper template on top of the prepped piece (shiny side up) and trace the remaining seam allowances. Here is a blog post showing this technique. You will thank yourself when it is time to put the pieces altogether because they will actually fit! Also, I found these roses easier to construct “off block”. I use a piece of freezer paper (shiny side up) which I have taped onto the pattern. Then I build the roses on top of the freezer paper.

Ta Da! Both easy and stress-free!

Easy Peasy!

When I chose my fabrics for this quilt, I went with the thought that “More is Better”. That is, when the pattern called for light pink, I used many light pinks, not just one. As long as there was contrast between the fabrics, I was good with that. Also, I used many, many different shades of green. Feel free to switch up the colours (like I did on the Hummingbird block). The flowers are “supposed” to be pink, but I had a piece of purple fabric in my stash that was calling my name. Remember, it is your quilt and do what makes you happy.

Speaking of fabric stashes, I started a quilt in the hopes of using some of my scraps. Some of these scraps are 10 years. Time to let go! I stitched a couple of blocks, just for the fun of it. I liked what I saw and so I continued cutting and sewing. Notice there is no applique…yet!

Have you had a chance to look at the Catalogue of Classes for The Academy of Applique? Registration opens Labour Day Weekend. The majority of classes fill on that weekend. These are the class samples that I will be teaching. I can’t say enough about The Academy. The food. The venue. The classes. The best part is being surrounded by people that “get” your passion for hand-applique, because they have the same passion. It is so inspiring to see what everyone is stitching. I hope to see you there!

Til next time…..

Kerry

15Aug2017

Another Binding…I am on a roll!

Posted in Academy of Applique 2018, Uncategorized by Simple Bird Applique

Last winter I had a blast making this scrappy quilt designed by Edyta Sitar of Laundry Basket Quilts. It was a Craftsy class which I purchased and I highly recommend it….making this quilt put quite a dent in my scrap pile. Here is a blog post showing a few progress photos.

I also used this opportunity to stitch the backing out of a pile of unfinished projects.

The quilt was machine quilted by Colleen Dadd of Elite Quilting some time ago and so the quilt has been sitting on a chair waiting patiently for a binding, along with a few other quilt and wallhangings. Since I am on a mission to finish these lonely quilts, I spent the weekend stitching on the binding, hand stitching the binding down (while binge watching Mr. Selfridge…thank you Netflix).

So I started to think about a label and since this quilt is for my daughter Kelly’s 30th birthday (which was last November) I thought I would play around on my new sewing machine. I purchased a Janome Skyline 5 last January and I haven’t really done much with it until recently. It comes with many different decorative stitches and it also comes with an alphabet. With Instruction Manual in hand, I sat down and started to play.

I cut the sections apart and used the same fabric from the left over binding to put spacers in between the lettering.

The label turned out much bigger than I planned…who am I kidding? I didn’t have a plan! The point is, Kelly loved it and I had a ball making this quilt from start to finish!

So…have you had a chance to look at the Catalogue of Classes for the upcoming Academy of Applique in 2018? I am teaching 2 classes and I cannot wait. I am very excited to be part of such an awesome event. I hope to see you there:) This is what I will be teaching….

Til next time….

Kerry

9Aug2017

What a Difference a Binding Makes!

Posted in Uncategorized by Simple Bird Applique

At the top of my quilting “To-Do List” is to bind every one of my quilts or wallhangings that isn’t bound. I must confess that putting the binding on is my least favourite activity. I’m not sure why, but I suspect it has something to do with knowing that my time with the quilt (or wallhanging) has come to and end. Makes me sad. Like not wanting to finish a good book. But, the stack of unbound quilts is growing so I decided “It’s Time”.

I started off with my 2 class samples from last year’s Academy of Applique. I like to stitch the bindings on with my machine and finish them by hand. As usual, once I finished one, I wondered what all the fuss was about and quickly started to get another one ready to bind! My samples now look…well…finished. Not to brag, but both wallhangings also sport a hanging sleeve. And labels are in the works! Kits for these 2 wallhangings are available on my website Simple Bird Studio.The exquisite machine quilting is done by Rose Bell of Fancy Feathers.

Speaking of The Academy of Applique, the catalogue of classes was released this past weekend and is now on the website. If I wasn’t teaching, I’d be taking classes! So much to learn. If you have never been to The Academy, please give it some thought. There is something so awesome about an Academy devoted to Applique. Don’t worry though, you will have time to eat (and maybe sleep). Here are the samples for the 2 classes I will be teaching in 2018. The first one is called Giddy for Gerberas.

The second sample is called Bird of Paradise. As you can see, neither of the samples are quilted yet. Or has a binding. But that is next on my To-Do List!