Bed of Roses – Block 8

Posted in Bed of Roses, Hand-Applique Techniques, Hand-Quilting Techniques, Hexagons, Inklingo, Uncategorized by Simple Bird Applique

My husband, Paul and I arrived home today after being away at “The Farm” for the past week. “The Farm” is lovely piece of rural property belonging to Paul’s brother and sister-in-law situated right in the heart of Craighurst, Ontario. It was an awesome place to ring in the new year!

Of course, I packed every quilt-related thing I could think of….my sewing machine, iron and ironing board, so I could work on Trail Mix. I managed to get 2 complete rows sewn together.

I also brought along my hand quilting supplies (including my hexi quilt top, batting and backing, every quilting needle I own, 3 different thimbles, my small hoop etc.) just in case I had time to baste my layers together. Not only did I find the time, I found the perfect space to baste! I started this quilt about a year ago when I first discovered Inklingo. You can read about that post here. Spoiler Alert: Stitching hexies using the Inklingo method is addictive. Very addictive.

Each day I set myself up in front of the window and quilted for an hour or two. Heaven!

And, (of course!), I brought along Block 8 of Sue Garman’s “Bed of Roses. So, if you have been following along, you already know what I do first. First, I trace the pattern onto the background with a Clover water soluble marker. Block 8 (along with Blocks 1-7) are available on my website Simple Bird Studio.

Next, I made my bias stems using a 1/4″ bias maker. I like to put my stems in a plastic container (this particular container used to hold mushrooms!) and then I spray the starch into the container. That way I am not wasting any starch and the spray is contained to one area.

Once I glue all of the stems onto the background, I stitch them in place before I add any more pieces.

These next little flowers were easy to do. Notice I drew the seam allowance on the pieces before I placed them on the background. I find this such a simple way to make sure that all of the layers line up.

Next, I added a few leaves…..

….and a few more flowers! Now it’s starting to look like something!!!

This next piece has a pretty deep curve in it. Yikes. Just take a deep breath and go for it!

Now for the fun part. Circles. Lots of circles!!

And, to top it all off, a cute little vase!

And here is the completed block. Lovely!

So far, so good!!

Til next time…

Kerry

11Jul2015

Steady Progress!

Posted in Ladies of the Sea, Uncategorized by Simple Bird Applique

I have been making pretty steady progress on the first border of my “Ladies of the Sea”. This quilt is intended for my son, so I am trying to keep the colours “manly”.

I love making bunches of grapes! I used 3 shades of purple. First I started with the dark grapes….

…then the medium grapes (although in the picture they look pretty dark!)…

…and next, the light grapes. Aren’t those little red stars adorable! I haven’t stitched them yet, so those pesky points are still sticking out. I think they look like little sea creatures. You can read about how I handle those pesky points here.

Next, I added a few more leaves and vines. I am not sure if you can tell from the picture, but some of my shapes are stitched in place, and some are not. That is how I work. I like to prep for a while (maybe an hour or so) and then I stitch for a while, usually in the evening in front of the TV.

So when it came time to stitch the maple leaves in the border, I decided to do needleturn. Yes, needleturn! When I made the first block of this quilt, I prepped all the pieces in the usual way, but decided to needleturn the maple leaves. You can see that post here.

Like most quilters, I have a scrap collection that just keeps growing. I decided to go through all my scraps and make as many diamonds as I can. I am using the 45 degree diamond from the Free Shape Collection from Inklingo.

Because I am using all different shapes and sizes of scraps, I am ending up with different amount of diamonds, so in order to stay super-organized, I drew some lines at 45 degree angles to give me a “map” of what my diamonds would look like once stitched together. So now, I can count up exactly how many diamonds of each fabric I need for a complete star. Oh! I almost forgot…I drew the lines to include the seam allowance. And, I used double sided tape to hold the diamonds on the paper, so they don’t fall off.

It is Saturday morning and I am still in my jammies, sipping my coffee and hand stitching my diamonds together. Can life get any better?? I think not!

Love it!

Til next time….

Kerry

20Jun2015

First border of Ladies of the Sea

Posted in Hand-Piecing, Hexagons, Inklingo, Ladies of the Sea, Sue Garman Pattern, Uncategorized by Simple Bird Applique

I don’t think I am that different than anyone else when it comes to finding time to quilt. Lately, we have had our fair share of family barbecues, a couple of baptisms, weekends away and on and on and on!! I am trying my very best to squeeze in a few stolen moments here and there to work on my quilts. Here is what I have been working on….

Ladies of the Sea, a pattern by Sue Garman, caught my eye a while ago and I started working on the blocks last year. I decided to start one of the borders before I continued on with any more blocks, just to switch things up a bit!

I use the starch, stiletto and mini-iron method. This involves flipping the pattern over on to my light box and tracing the shapes. I don’t have the attention span to do all of my tracing at once, so I am constantly flipping my pattern over which is kind of annoying (and not an efficient way to work!). So I thought…Why can’t I just flip my freezer paper over instead of the pattern? So I traced the shapes onto the shiny side of the freezer paper using a Sharpie marker. (A Sharpie is the only thing I found that would leave a permanent mark and not smudge.)

Since I use 2 layers of freezer paper ironed together, I experimented and found if you place the shiny side with the markings on it on top of another sheet of freezer paper (paper side up, not shiny side up) the liquid starch will not make the Sharpie marks bleed all over your fabric! The traced lines are actually “captured” between 2 layers of freezer paper. Sweet!

Anyway, here is what I have accomplished so far. This pattern is available on my website Simple Bird Studio.

Last year, I discovered the joys of hand piecing using Inklingo. This is a hexie quilt I made earlier this year using Inklingo…

…and these are the leftover scraps, which I stitched into some log cabins blocks that will become part of the backing. I cut just cut and stitched, not worrying at all about matching colours or even the width of the strips. Very therapeutic!

I love entire Inklingo process and spent a couple of hours yesterday printing the 45 degree diamonds from the free collection. Lots and lots of them.

I have a quilt in mind and will show more when I have a bit more to show!

Til next time….

Kerry

7May2015

Peggy’s Puzzle

Posted in Uncategorized by Simple Bird Applique

“Peggy’s Puzzle” is an original pattern for a table topper or a wall hanging designed with beginners in mind. Each 15″ block covers the basics of hand-applique……circles, stems, bias strips, layering and points.

The patterns for the 4 blocks and border are free to download on my website Simple Bird Studio. There are also some Youtube videos to go along with each block.

And, here is “Peggy’s Puzzle” finally finished! Rose Bell from Elite Quilting did the stunning machine quilting!!

Okay…it’s not exactly finished. I still have to bind it!

My addiction of handpiecing hexies continues. I am using Inklingo to print my shapes. I just have to fill in the last of the beige section and add the dark brown border. Will it stop there, or will I continue on? Good question!

A week ago I picked up the latest copy of Quiltmania and these house blocks were on the cover. Since I am trying really hard to use up my stash, I thought this quilt would be a good place to start! Too much fun!

Til next time….

Kerry

22Mar2015

Stitching the blocks together!

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

Yesterday, I cleared off the dining room table, set up the ironing board and dusted off my sewing machine. Excitement was in the air….I was ready to start to stitch together “To Everything There Is A Season”! First I stitched a couple of blocks together…

Next, I added those blocks to the top of the wreath.

Then, I added the next two blocks together and added them to the bottom of the wreath. So far, so good!

I stitched another four blocks together…

….and added those blocks to the side. I can’t wait to see the finished quilt…but now, dinner is ready and we need a place to eat.

I am working away on my hexie quilt I started not that long ago. I am using Inklingo to print the hexies and then stitching together by hand with a simple running stitch. So easy and so relaxing! I stitch my hexies for an hour or so every evening, which is usually when I handquilt and that explains why I am making very slow progress on my Friends of Baltimore. But that’s OK. After all, there are only so many hours in the day!

I am linking up to Slow Stitching Sunday and WIPs Be Gone. Check out both sites and see what stitchers are up to!

Til next time….

Kerry

8Mar2015

Slow Stitching Sunday, Indeed!

Posted in Friends of Baltimore, Inklingo, Slow Stitching Sunday, Sue Garman Pattern, Uncategorized by Simple Bird Applique

Yes, indeed, it has been a Slow Stitching Sunday! I am finally recovering from a nasty case of strep throat that left me feeling so drained that all I could do was sleep for the last 3 days, so I didn’t get much stitching done this past week. However, I thought a lot about stitching! I thought about how I wanted to quilt FOB. Sometimes it’s easier to figure out what you don’t want to do, rather than what you want to do. A process of elimination, of sorts. I knew I didn’t want to cross-hatch this quilt. Yes, it would be lovely, for sure, but I cross-hatched the last 2 quilts and I am desperate for a change.

I have decided to do a combination of echo quilting and stippling in the background and just some simple quilting on the applique sections. On some of the blocks, where space permits, I would like to quilt some small motifs, like a feather or a heart. For the quilting on the applique sections, I will match the color of quilting thread to the fabric (red thread on a red rose etc).

I am not sure what I will do when I come to all of those navy blue triangles… I might quilt small circles in them like I did for my Bouquet For A New Day.

Hmmm….I will figure it our when I get there! So here is what I have done so far.

It took me a while to find the perfect needle for this quilt (Clover Gold Eye #10). Again…process of elimination!!

I am still loving my Inklingo experience! Here is my hexie quilt that I started not that long ago using hexies that I printed on fabric and I am hand-stitching. This quilt just seems to grow bit by bit every day. I am not sure how large it will end up. As soon as the beige background runs out, I will be finished!! (I have 4 meters so I am not worried….yet!)

I am linking up to Slow Stitching Sunday and, also, Wips Be Gone. Check them both out and see what everyone is up to!

Til next time….

Kerry

19Feb2015

Onward and Upward!

Posted in "To Everything There is a Season", Hand-Piecing, Hexagons, Inklingo, Uncategorized by Simple Bird Applique

Since finishing my “Friends of Baltimore” last week, I have had a hard time getting back into my sewing room. Well, that’s now exactly true. On Monday, which was Family Day in Ontario, I spent the day organizing my sewing room, going through all my stuff and just looking for some inspiration.

On the one hand, I am thrilled to have such a huge quilt crossed off my bucket list. On the other hand, there is definitely a void in my quilting life. But as my Mother used to say…”there is already to much strife in the world, is that what you are going to complain about?” In other words, “quit complaining”! So, onward and upwards!

I am addicted to stitching my hexies using Inklingo. If you haven’t tried it yet, just take some time and try it out. Inklingo is just good clean fun!!

I just love the crisp corners and I find that hand stitching has the same calming effect as hand-quilting. It is really just a running stitch.

I am trying to finish up some projects before I start anything new (what a concept!). This is the centre medallion of “To Everything There Is A Season”, a BOM I launched last April. You can check out the patterns on my website Simple Bird Studio.

Til next time….

Kerry

6Feb2015

Inklingo 101-Update

Posted in Hand-Piecing, Hexagons, Inklingo, Uncategorized by Simple Bird Applique

In one of my recent posts, I mentioned my newest obsession….Inklingo. Many readers commented or emailed me and said that they would love to try Inklingo, but just cannot get their head around the concept. Some readers said they have already created an account, but even downloading the Free Shape Collection seemed very overwhelming. That made me sad, because I, too, was overwhelmed when I first went on the Inklingo website. I spent 3 days browsing the site, watching the videos, checking out the shapes, and all the different sizes of each shape. Each time I went on the website, I was getting more and more curious. I was very intrigued with the concept, handpiecing verses EPP, not having to use paper templates anymore, even using Inklingo to stitch shapes on the sewing machine. My head was spinning with ideas, but I was more than a little overwhelmed with all of the information. I honestly didn’t know where to begin. I decided that the only way I was going to learn about Inklingo was to just start printing. So I made a pot of tea and spent a couple of hours with my printer, some fabric and some freezer paper (and an open mind) to see if I could figure this Inklingo thing out. I am so glad I did…so glad…so glad! The best part is…all of that information on the website and the videos started to make so much sense after I printed my very first set of shapes. I would love to share my experience with you in the hopes that you will just give it a try. You will be glad you did! If you have any question at all, Linda is the one to ask. Simply email her and she will get right back to you.

First, you will need to set up an account. If you haven’t set up an account yet, check out this link and just follow the easy steps.

Are you ready? I am using the “Free Shape Collection” as my first example. First, order the pattern (even though it is free) and you will immediately receive an email from Linda explaining how to download the pattern to your computer. Once you have downloaded the pattern, you will find it in your “Downloads”. You now own that pattern forever! If you scroll through all of the pages, you will see that there are pages and pages of every shape (diamond, triangle and square) in all of the 20 colours. Bet you are wondering “oh my gosh…where do I start…what should I print?” We aren’t going to print any of those pages, at least, not right now! Those pages are for those of you who are going to become truly addicted (like me!) and want to make hundreds and hundreds of eight-pointed stars, or just want to print some triangles and start stitching them together. You can use any combination of those 3 shapes to make some pretty awesome designs. Here are just a few…

OK, so now we are going to go straight to Page 70, and you will see that Linda has designed a combination (Combo 2) of all the shapes. That is the combo I used to make these stars.

We are going to print the combo, one on a light piece of fabric and one on a dark of fabric. First question….what colour of ink are we going to use? I did a colour sample and you can see that there is not just one “correct” answer. Important note: Testing is important so you know the ink will not bleed or show on the front. Make sure you read this article on testing the inks on your fabrics. http://www.inklingo.com/blog/how-to-test-inkjet-ink-on-fabric/

My Test Sample.

Take the time to print a few of these samples on the fabrics you are using and use them as a reference, just to see how the inks work with different colours of fabric. Once you have tested your fabric, go to the corresponding page and print the combo.

Cut yourself 2 sheets of freezer paper 6 3/4″ x 9 3/4″. Press each one to the right side of 2 different fabrics, preferably a light and a dark. It is much easier to cut around the freezer paper, instead of cutting the fabric the same size as the freezer paper and trying to line them up…trust me!

Place the fabric/freezer paper (freezer paper side up) into the printer and click on the Print icon. Make sure you click on “current page” and “portrait”. This is extremely important!

Ta-da! You are a superstar! Now, do it again with the other piece of fabric/freezer paper. Too easy! If you are wondering how to stitch this eight pointed star together, here is a great video, showing a Kaleidoscope Star, but it is the same idea! P.S…..make sure you watch Part 2.

I have an HP printer and (as far as I know) I cannot print Custom Sizes. That has not stopped me from printing my shapes. Once I became familiar with printing the free pattern, I thought I might as well jump in and buy the 1″ hexagon shape (and the 2″ hexagon and the 2″star point!). Just like the free diamond shape, all of these shapes come with numerous layouts and each layout can be printed with all 20 colours of ink. So there are lots (and lots!) of pages to scroll through. If you click on Page 13….

…you will see different sizes of freezer paper with the number of hexies that you will get out of each sheet. Make a couple of paper copies of this page. You will want to refer to them from time to time. I started off with just printing a 7.25″ x 11″ page just for the fun of it. What did I have to lose? Nothing!!

Then I thought that maybe I did not want 12 hexies from the same fabric and maybe I wanted a scrappier look. Then I started cutting 5.75 x 7.5 pieces of freezer paper and lo and behold…..I ended up with just 6 hexies! Everything was starting to make sense!

One of my many “aha moments” came when I thought…”I wonder if I can print on a 5″ square”. So, I fed a 5″ x 5″ piece of fabric/freezer paper into the printer and this is what came out. I used the same layout as the fabric above.

Then the creative wheels started spinning…I thought…oh wouldn’t it be cool if I could just fit another hexies in there, then I could get 3 hexies instead of 2. I must admit, by this time my mind was racing and I could see why Linda offers so many different layouts. When I first saw this layout (Page 75) and saw that it is intended to be cut with scissors and not a rotary cutter, I was really stumped…

…I wondered who in their right mind would want to cut all those hexies apart with scissors. But if you had 5″ piece of fabric and wanted to get as many hexies out of it that you could, cutting them apart with scissors is an excellent idea!

Now I am on a roll!!

That is when I started to realize that the more I played around with Inklingo, the more I was learning and the more excited I was getting. Here is another very useful bit of information. You may be wondering what the difference between “Portrait” and “Landscape” is, so I did sample of each. Both are the same layout and I cut both pieces of fabric/freezer paper 8 1/4″ x 12″. Can you see the difference? The one on the right is printed “Landscape” and gives us 15 hexies and no waste at all. The one of the left is printed “Portrait” and only gives us only 12 hexies with lots of wasted fabric. See? It is really all very useful information!

Hopefully, I have convinced you to give Inklingo a try. It is actually very simple to use, once you spend a bit of time just printing for the fun of it! This is what I am currently working on using the 1″ hexies. I am hand-piecing them, which is done with a simple running stitch, very much the same as the handquilting stitch. This video sums it all up!

And here is the back!

Once I started printing and stitching, I couldn’t stop!

Til next time….

Kerry

29Jan2015

“A Dog’s Breakfast”

Posted in Hand-Piecing, Hexagons, Inklingo, Uncategorized, washing my block by Simple Bird Applique

My favourite teacher in high school had an interesting saying. If something was gross or disgusting to him, he used to say “It looks like a dog’s breakfast.” I have been thinking of him a lot lately, because when I look at the back of my hand-piecing, I think “it looks like a dog’s breakfast…how am I going to iron that flat??” So, here are a few simple pressing tips that everyone who hand-pieces needs to know.

First, go put the kettle on and make a pot of tea. Everything is easier to do when you are drinking tea. Speaking of tea, my friend Kathy (an awesome and way-out-there quilter) gave me this tea pot for Christmas, along with an assortment of tea.

My daughter gave me a Downton Abbey mug and Marilyn (a talented artist who designed my BOM “To Everything There Is a Season”) gave me a Downton Abbey tea towel, so I am all set!

Now that I think about it, Marilyn gave me a Downton Abbey teapot last year for Christmas. Hmmm…. I see a pattern here!

Ok, so here we go. We want the seam allowances to swirl in the same direction (either clockwise or counter-clockwise), to reduce bulk. Here are just 3 hexies and I have swirled the seam allowances. First, I just picked one of the seam allowances and pressed it to the right. (It’s under the iron.)

Next, I take my left hand and position my fingers on the connecting seam allowances, folding them in the same direction as the first one. Notice that all 3 seams are going counter-clockwise. That is about as complicated as it is going to get. Seriously! So, just remember this, we are only swirling 3 connecting seam allowances at a time. Do you notice what shape appears in the very centre when swirled correctly? It is a quilt block called “Building Blocks”. Magical! I am using Inklingo to make my hexies. It’s as easy as stitching on the line!

In this next example, I have stitched these hexies together and am now ready to start pressing. “Looks like a dog’s breakfast.”

I am going to do exactly what I did when I only had 3 hexies…press the first seam to the right…the one under the tip of the iron.

Next, I position my left hand and guide the seam allowances in the same direction as the first one…

Voila!

So now I can see that the orange seam allowance is heading in a clockwise direction, so the connecting seam allowance have to follow in the same direction. Notice my index finger and my thumb are holding the seam allowances in place. Then I just pick up the iron and press.

Here is the finished block from the back….

…and the front. Fancy!

I finished stitching the corner block of Friends of Baltimore and dipped it in the sink to wash all of the ink and glue out. Now, I am finishing the next corner block. Cannot wait to finish this quilt!

Once it is dry, I will trim it to the proper size.

Til next time….

Kerry

31Dec2014

Happy New Year!!

Posted in Uncategorized by Simple Bird Applique

It’s been an awesome year! I finished 4 quilts this year…..

I was hoping to have the last border of Friends of Baltimore finished, but I am still working on it!

in 2014, I became obsessive about hexies and see them everywhere! Last night at Home Depot, this caught my eye!

And this!

Speaking of hexies, I am all set for New Years Day. I’ll be stitching the day away! I have discovered the wonderful world of Inlingo! If you haven’t heard of it, take some time and check out the website . Download the free pattern, make some stars and then start dreaming of what else you can hand-piece. It’s magical!!