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

6Aug2016

Cool Stitchings!

Posted in Bed of Roses BOM, Bed of Roses QAL, Uncategorized by Simple Bird Applique

I have been excitedly stitching my “Bed of Roses” together in the basement where it is nice and cool.

I am loving this quilt more with every row I add. Speaking of adding rows, the pink cornerstones add a lovely touch, don’t you think. They finish at just 1/2″ square. Dainty!

In my usual fashion, I stopped working on Bed of Roses for a day or two to start a new quilt. I guess as I see the end in sight for one quilt, I have the need to start something new. I honestly think it is fear of having absolutely nothing to do! The new quilt is called “Love At First Sight” and it is from Edyta Sitar’s book Handfuls of Scraps. I am making it out of my “real scraps” not layer cakes or jelly rolls. No no! The fabrics I am using are scraps left over from finished projects. So it takes a bit longer to do the cutting, but I am actually using up some leftover bits of fabric that have been kicking around for years! I am sure you know the feeling. Notice that I am keeping the blocks from Bed of Roses in my sight line just so I remember there really is a quilt to finish!

In an earlier post, I showed you how to do the scallops on the borders of Bed of Roses according to the directions in the pattern. It really is a slick way to do those scallops. You can see that post here.

But I was laying awake one night and came up with an alternate method to do the borders. There is always more than one way to skin a cat. Speaking of cats….have you ever tried to sew with a cat on your lap? It is not easy.

Anyway, here is an alternate way to do the borders.

First, cut a plastic template of the scallop provided in the pattern. Then cut yourself some freezer paper templates. I cut 6. When you trace the template on the freezer paper, make sure you butt them up against each other. Now, take a pencil and draw a line through both freezer paper templates at the exact point where they touch. You can cut the templates out now.

Ok, now you can take the plastic template and trace 15 scallops on the border fabric with a water soluble marker. I drew the 1/4″ seam allowance along the edge because there is no seam allowance included in the template. There is an odd number of scallops, so I found the centre point of the border and drew the first one in the middle, and then 7 scallops on each side of that one.

So now I started to prep the scallops. Here is the key…On 8 of the scallops, you will prep the entire piece (except the bottom seam allowance). So far, so good!

On the remaining 7 scallops, put a clip about 1/8″ below the pencil line you drew.

Next you can prep the top section of the template. I think this just might work!

Once all the pieces were prepped, I took the plastic template and placed it on the top of the fabric and drew the remaing seam allowances. You will be glad you did this!

Now comes the moment of truth! So glue the partially prepped pieces on the background on every other scallop, referring to the pattern for colour placement.

Now you can glue the totally prepped piece in place. Easy Peasy!

Til next time….

Kerry

12Jun2016

A Good Day to Stitch!

Posted in Uncategorized by Simple Bird Applique

There is nothing I love doing more than quilting. And by “quilting” I mean anything that has to do with making a quilt. Obviously, my first choice is always to applique the day away, but today I am sitting at my sewing machine, sewing the borders for “Trail Mix”, a scrappy quilt I started a while back. “Trail Mix” is a quilt designed by Edyta Sitar. It is available on Craftsy and is one of the best classes I have taken. So much useful information!

So, you may remember, I have stitched all of the blocks together. It was a lot of stitching (and I do mean a lot), so I think I may have needed a bit of a break from it….I am sure you know the feeling!

I am now ready to start the borders…so I spent most of yesterday sewing strips together and cutting the strips into triangles using an acrylic template. Next, I stitched those triangles together in pairs. So far so good!

Next I took all of those half square triangles I made…

…and stitched them together. I must confess I have become very addicted to half square triangles. Very addicted.

So, next I took those sections and stitched them to the triangles made from strips. Sweet! Of course, I was simply thrilled that (almost!) every piece fit the way it was supposed to. Thank You, Quilt Gods!!

So now, I can start to put all the pieces together. So excited!!

As if that isn’t exciting enough, Quilt Canada is just around the corner! I am so happy to tell you my Friends of Baltimore designed by Sue Garman and machine quilted by Ruth Quinn of Stitching Impressions was juried into the show. Here is the label, which I was frantically stitching on the morning the quilt was to be dropped off, but that is another story.

For those of you who have been wondering…Yes I will be doing another Block of the Month! The patterns are picked, the fabrics are chosen and I am raring to go!! I will have all the details in my next post!

Til next time….

Kerry