The Sun is Shining!

Posted in Circle of Tulips, Friends of Baltimore, Hand-Quilting Tools, Ladies of the Sea, Sue Garman Pattern, Uncategorized by Simple Bird Applique

The sun is shining, so I ran to get my camera so I could finally take a picture of “Circle of Tulips”. I find the handquilting shows up really nicely in the bright sun! The only time I hand-quilt is in the evening. I like to sit down around 9 o’clock with a pot of tea and stitch the night away and contemplate life in general! You can download the pattern for “Circle of Tulips” on my website. It’s free! You can also check out the new video for the second installment of “Peggy’s Puzzle”.

Finally finished stitching the fruit bowl from Sue Garman’s “Friends of Baltimore”. This could possibly be one of my favourite blocks! One more block left!!

I used Ultra-Suede for the little frilly green things on the strawberries and blueberries. Ultra-Suede is a life-saver for these tiny, tiny pieces. I also love the little bit of texture that it gives.

I was going to wait til I completely finished the fruit bowl before I started Ladies of the Sea, but I couldn’t help myself. Curiosity got the better of me. I just wanted to see what the colours would look like against the background. Dandy!

Til next time…

Kerry

21Nov2013

Filling the Fruit Bowl

Posted in Friends of Baltimore, Hand-Applique Techniques, Jenny and Bruin, Sue Garman Pattern, Uncategorized by Simple Bird Applique

Piece by piece, I am filling the bowl with yummy fruit! First I added a pear, some grapes, an apple and what I believe is to be a tomato. Next I added some peaches (or apricots…your choice!) I absolutely love the fabric that the peaches are made from. It is one of those fabrics that go from light to dark across the width. These fabrics are perfect for shading flowers (or fruit!). Grab them when you see them!

I was a little worried that there was not enough contrast between the peaches and the pear, so I took the block to the window to see it in natural sunlight. I think its just fine. Bruin is still a little unsure.

Next, I added another leaf, a pear, another tomato, some stems and a few more grapes. Peachy!

Til next time…

Kerry

18Nov2013

OK…where was I?

Posted in Civil War Bride Quilt, Friends of Baltimore, Hand-Applique Techniques, Ladies of the Sea, Sue Garman Pattern, Uncategorized by Simple Bird Applique

Now that I have finished Civil War Bride, I have some spare time on my hands. What will I do? Will I work on finishing some neglected UFO’s or start something totally brand new? Well…since I like to work on a number of projects at once, the answer is…both! I am going to work on finishing up Sue Garman’s “Friends of Baltimore” and I am going to start Sue Garman’s “Ladies of the Sea” tomorrow. I have been wanting to start this quilt for a while now. I showed the pattern to my son a couple of years ago and told him I would like to make it for him. He said “Sweet”. A couple of months ago, he actually asked me if I had started it yet. I said I hadn’t. Last week he asked me again if I had started it and I told him I was getting ready organizing my fabrics and I would start it soon. He said “Sweet. Make sure you make it long enough to cover me”.
(He is 6′ 5″.) I was torn between mortified and ecstatic. Mortified because he wants to use the quilt. Ecstatic because he wants to use the quilt!

I try to keep all of my unfinished projects organized in clear containers. That way, when I am ready to pick up where I left off, I know exactly where everything is. How is that for organized? This is “Friends of Baltimore”. I have just 2 blocks left, then I can start the borders. (Have you seen the borders? Yikes!)

So, the fern block is finished, but still needed a bath. You can read more about “Washing My Blocks” here.

While that block was soaking, I started the next block, the fruit bowl. First, I traced the pattern on to my background with a Clover water soluble marker. I used my light box to do all of my tracing.

I started with the base of the bowl. All I can think about is how nice it would be to go whale watching right about now!

Next, I added some circles.

Now I was ready to add some leaves. I have been thinking about leaves lately. Probably because we have been raking them up before the snow falls. Leaves come in more colours than just shades of green.

I have been keeping my eyes open for some really different leaf fabrics to add to my stash of applique fabrics. Check these out! I especially like the second one from the left and decided to use that one in this block.

Here it is….

Til next time…

Kerry

11Sep2013

All that fuss!

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

Of course I was procrastinating! Three of the four ferns were prepped and stitched in place. I even distracted myself long enough to make some berries. I knew what I had to do….make another fern!

For those of you who wondered, I do remove the freezer paper before it is stitched in place!

So once the last fern was done, everything quickly fell into place! Some pretty red flowers…

…and a really spiffy vase!

Next. more berries. Lots of berries!

And, finally….. another completed block! Makes me wonder what all the fuss was about!!

Til next time….

Kerry

4Sep2013

Dishes Fit For A Quilter!

Posted in Bouquet For a New Day, Friends of Baltimore, Hand-Applique Techniques, Uncategorized by Simple Bird Applique

For a while now I have been shopping for a new set of dishes. I only had one thing in mind…I wanted a white set of dishes. So whenever I would go shopping, I would always keep my eyes open for a white set of dishes. Well! There are a lot of white dishes out there! Nothing really caught my eye….until last week. Look what I found! Spiffy!

So, as my family pointed out, not only do we have quilts all around the house, and quilting fabric all over the house, and quilting stuff in almost every room, now we are eating off of quilting dishes!! Life is good!

I just turned the last corner on Sue Garman’s “Bouquets For a New Day”. Just one last border to go and I will be finished!

Not sure where Bruin is going to sleep, but he will have to find a new spot!

This block from “Friends of Baltimore” is no more time-consuming that any of the other blocks in the quilt…I am just dragging this one out a little longer that usual!

Til next time…

Kerry

28Aug2013

It’s a Deal!

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

My goal last week was to stitch the last block of Civil War Bride and take a wee break before starting the borders. I hadn’t worked on “Friend’s of Baltimore” in a while and I was suffering from “separation anxiety”. So, I started to work on the next block of “Friend’s of Baltimore”, which I must admit, had me very intimidated! The ferns have super-intense inner curves and I have been dreading doing them ever since I started this quilt. True story!

A running dialogue started in my head and it went something like this…”Yikes! Look at those ferns. There isn’t just one, there are four! How in the world am I ever going to do those ferns. I’ll just leave this block and start another one. Maybe I’ll just substitute some easier leaves. Oh sure! Take the easy way out! OK…here is what I will do. I will make just one of the ferns! And, after doing just one, if I still think they are way too difficult, I will just do some easier leaves. But here is the deal. I have to make one fern before I can start any other part of the block. Okay…..deal!”

And that is what I did. I trimmed a small section of the seam allowance and prepped it.

Then I trimmed a bit more. And prepped a bit more.

I am not saying it happened in the blink of an eye, but before I knew it, I finished one (!) fern!

I stitched it in place and then I added a few leaves and some stems.

I added a lovely flower…and another fern!

Til next time…

Kerry

12Jun2013

Parallel and Perpendicular

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

I was raring to go! I finished another 4 blocks of Sue Garman’s “Friends of Baltimore”, which meant I was ready to stitch together another row! But first I had to add the embroidery to the schooner.

Before the embroidery…

…and after the embroidery!

Once all the ropes were stitched in place, I started to “square up” my blocks. When I say “square up” I mean any straight lines are running parallel and perpendicular to the edges of the block. Here are a few (hopefully!) helpful hints…

First of all, if you have ever wallpapered, you know that before you start, you have to use a plumb line to make sure you begin with a straight line. The same holds true for squaring-up a block. First you have to find a straight line somewhere in the block. It sounds easy, but there are no straight lines on this block!

So…using the schooner block as an example…here are my thoughts!

Luckily, there are some pretty obvious straight lines in this block. The masts! So, I want the masts to be parallel to the edge of the block.

Next, I placed my window template on the block. You can read more about that here.

So, I measured the distance from the bottom of the mast to the template.

Then I measured the distance from the top of the mast to the template. Both of those measurements need to be the same!

Then, I took my 6″ ruler and made sure that there was an equal distance from the applique to the template on both sides..

…and top and bottom.

When I was sure the block was square and centered..(and I mean really sure!) I marked along the inside of the template with a marking pen and then I cut on the line with my rotary cutter and ruler. Easy peasy!

So, once the blocks were trimmed, I started to sew the row together.

And, finally, 3 rows sewn together!

Til next time…

Kerry

26May2013

Itching to finish!

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

I was just itching to get this next block of Sue Garman’s “Friends of Baltimore” finished! But it just seemed to go on and on. I started working on the red ribbons. As you can see, this section of the ribbon was really skinny! Here is how I tackled it. Even though the freezer paper template was barely an 1/8″ wide, I still cut my 1/4″ seam allowance all the way around.

Once I prepped the first side, I trimmed the seam allowance so that I could just see the edge of the template.

Next, I prepped the other side and trimmed it down also…

…and stitched it in place.

Then I prepped and stitched the second ribbon in place and added a pretty bow.

I thought I was done (and was high-five-ing myself!) and realized, no, I still had the bluebird to stitch. So, here is the finished block…all tidied up after it’s bubble bath!

I took a close look and saw that, once again, I forgot to stitch a tiny piece. Drat!

Now, on to the exciting part! The reason I wanted to finish this block so much, is that I now have enough blocks to sew another row together…I know!!! So I dusted the cobwebs off my sewing machine, and started to make some half-square triangles. You can read a little more about the method I use here.

It’s one thing to sit and sew a bunch of half-square triangles together. It is another thing entirely to stitch them together in a row and arrive at the measurement it is supposed to be. Here is a little tip I use to make life easier.

First, I sew my half-square triangles (HSTs) together in pairs. Then I press the seam open.

Then I stitch the pairs together to make sets of 4. And I press the seam open. And then, I measure the piece. These HSTs finish at 1″, therefore, 4 HSTs sewn together should measure 4 1/2″.

Then I stitch the sets of 4 together to make sets of 8. I press the seam open and measure the piece. It should measure 8 1/2″. This section needed a nip and tuck!

Now, I take my sets of 8 and stitch them together to make 16 HSTs. And, hopefully, it measures 16 1/2″.

So, now I can start to sew the row together! Bruin always likes to be in on the action!

First, I sewed on the bottom sashing, and then the side sashing on both blocks.

And…two blocks sewn together!

I would like to continue, but look at the time!

Keep stitching…

Kerry

5May2013

Getting Ready to Start

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

I am eager to start the next block of Sue Garman’s “Friends of Baltimore”. But, before I can start cutting and stitching, there are a few things that need to be done. First, I pre-washed the fabrics for the block, including the background, in Synthrapol. This stops the colours from running.

So, while the fabrics were soaking, I decided to start making my freezer paper templates. I took a good look at the pattern. I only had one thought: that is a whole lot of templates, and a whole lot of tracing! (Between you and I, tracing is the part I dislike the most!) So this is how I avoid tracing…

This particular pattern is larger than an 8 1/2″ x 11″ sheet of paper, so it has been divided in four parts.

I scan each individual sheet and import the images to my computer.

Next I open up Adobe Illustrator…

…and I scroll down and click on PLACE.

The image then pops up on the screen like magic!

This is the really cool part! I hit REFLECT and the image….well, it reflects! (If you use the needleturn method and trace your patterns on the right side of fabric, you do not need to reflect the pattern.)

You know you have done this properly if the writing on the pattern is backwards! I place a piece of freezer paper in the printer, click on print…

…. and voila!

Now, I am going to make one big pattern out of the 4 sections. I trim the patterns on the dotted lines.

I like my freezer paper templates to be double thickness. So, I iron each section to a big piece of freezer paper and match all the dotted lines…like I am wallpapering…only better!

Now I get to cut out every one of those itty bitty pieces!

Here is a little something I want to share!

I use my light box all the time. I love it…because I don’t have to trace the pattern on the background fabric. Do you see a theme here? Sometimes when there are multiple layers, it is hard to see what is underneath the pieces I have already glued in place. By gluing the leaves in place, I have covered up the flower that will sit on top of the leaves. Confusing! So here is what I do to make life easier.

I use my applique pressing sheet and build the flower on it, rather than on the block. This is also called “off-block construction”.

I put just a dab of glue on each petal, and slowly add each piece, until I have a flower.

I very carefully lift the flower off the applique pressing sheet…

…and place it on the background. Easy Peasy!

Til next time…

Kerry

17Apr2013

A Good Way to Spend the Evening!

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

It was going to be a very exciting evening! I have completed another four blocks from Sue Garman’s “Friend’s of Baltimore” and they are ready to be stitched together into a row. I already have one row stitched together. You can read about that here. When I cut my background blocks, I always cut them 2″ or 3″ larger than the finished size. So, before I could stitch the blocks together, I had to trim them down to the correct size. Here is what I did to make the job so easy and stress-free…The best part is, I never had to measure anything!

I made a window template with the opening the exact measurement of the unfinished size of the block. The finished size is 15″, so I needed to trim the blocks down to 15 1/2″, therefore I made the opening 15 1/2″. (I hope that makes sense!)