A Very Busy Summer!

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

It’s been a very busy summer for us this year. We arrived home from Ottawa late last night where we proudly watched my step-daughter, Alanna, perform on Parliament Hill as part of the Ceremonial Guard. (She is the one in the red jacket and black furry hat!!)

Everyday the band congregates at Drill Hall and marches on to Parliament Hill to perform during the Changing of the Guard Ceremony at 10 am sharp!

Alanna plays alto sax and is living proof that music programs in high school really are extremely important! Here she is with her very proud dad.

As we waited for the band to start marching, I noticed that the Drill Hall has some pretty cute quilty details!

Today, we are off to an all day barbecue and pool party for my niece, Olivia, who is going to school in Italy for 6 months. Oh! To be young again. So, I woke up early this morning so I get get some serious prepping time in.

I am thoroughly enjoying working on the first border of Sue Garman’s “Ladies of the Sea”, a quilt I am making for my son Chad. The pattern for this quilt (and a few others!) are available in my website, Simple Bird Studio.

The pieces are a little larger than Friends of Baltimore, so it doesn’t take that long to feel a real sense of accomplishment. As soon as we get back from the barbecue, I will stitch what I have spent the morning prepping!

First, I started with a few bias strips.

Next, I added some leaves and what I believe to be plums…

Next, I added various leaves, flowers, stars and berries.

Not to mention some delightful Lily of the Valley. Dainty!

So far, so good!

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

10Nov2014

Around the World Quilt Blog Tour

Posted in Uncategorized by Simple Bird Applique

Thanks to Rebecca at Cheeky Cognoscenti for tagging me in the “Around the World Quilt Blog Tour”. I am so flattered!! Before you read any further, make sure you check out Rebecca’s blog and see if her Pineapple Quilt doesn’t give you goosebumps! It gives me wild goosebumps every time I see it!! The idea of the “Around the World Quilt Blog Tour” is to answer 4 question and then tag another quilter to keeps things rolling. So….here goes!

Question 1. What am I working on?

Oh! I am so glad you asked!! As with most quilters, I like to work on more than one quilt at a time. I think this keeps things fresh and exciting. If you have read my blog before now, you probably know that I am obsessed with hand-applique and hand-quilting….and hexies! To be honest, obsessed is putting it mildly! I made my first quilt when I was 15 and I have been quilting in one form or another since then. I have made more than my share of machine-pieced quilts, but it is hand-applique that has captured my heart.

I discovered the world of hexies earlier this year. It is an addictive world! The binding is almost stitched on my Grandmother’s Flower Garden. I used the English Paper Piecing method to make this quilt and I hand quilted it. I decided long ago that if I am going to quilt by hand, I really want the quilting to show up, which is why I chose to use a Baptist Fan pattern.

Here are some more hexies that I have played around with and some that are ready to be stitched. There are definitely more hexie quilts in my future!

Next, is “To Everything There Is A Season“, my own Block-of-the-Month that I had designed by Marilyn at MTDesigns, a talented artist who takes my unorganized, vague ideas and turns them into awesome quilts! The patterns for these blocks are also available on my website. Along with the 12 blocks, there is also a centre medallion, which would also make a lovely stand-alone wallhanging. There will also be borders surrounding the entire quilt. Each time I complete a block, it my “new favourite”!

This is Peggy’s Puzzle (also designed by Marilyn at MT Desisgns) and it is almost finished! Some of you have been making these free blocks that are available on my website Simple Bird Studio. I had this quilt designed with beginners in mind and even made some Youtube videos to go along with each block. This will be my next hand quilting project. Can’t wait to start!

This is my “Friends of Baltimore” which I have been working on longer that I have been blogging. These are the blocks I had completed when I wrote my first blog post.

And this is where I am now!

So many people have contacted me and said that I have inspired them to begin this “once-in-a-lifetime” quilt. That is so nice to hear! Believe it or not, these blocks are not difficult. Time consuming? Oh yes! Lots of pieces in each block? You bet. But they certainly are not difficult if you have experience in whichever method you choose to hand-applique.

This year I completed my Civil War Bride Quilt, which is hanging in our living room. I look at it and wonder when the heck I had all that time to make a quilt like that. I tend to work in smaller chunks of time, as opposed to larger spans of time. All of those smaller chunks of time add up. Like most quilters I know, I go to work, make dinner, do laundry and so on and so on. But I make the time to quilt every single day! I also have been trying to get in 10,000 steps each day. If I could figure out a way to stitch and walk at the same time, I would be all set!

Last year I taught a Beginner Class (we used the Peggy’s Puzzle pattern) and this year I am teaching them the skills to make a Baltimore quilt! Here is the first block. I am using pinks, burgundy’s, reds greens and maybe a touch of blue and gold.

I wondered what the same block would look like if I made it in totally different fabrics. This is what I came up with. I think it is really important for new quilters to see different versions of the same quilt in different colours so that they can find their unique style or look. I love to teach and am always thinking “I would just love to show someone how to do this!”

I am also working on Sue Garman’s “Ladies of the Sea”. I have 3 blocks completed and I am going to start one of the borders next, just so that when the blocks are all done I won’t get overwhelmed with the borders. I saw “Ladies of the Sea” in a magazine a few years back and my jaw dropped to the floor. I knew I had to make it for my son, Chad, and I ordered the patterns right away.

I also just finished hand-quilting “Circle of Tulips” (another free pattern on my website). I made these blocks around 15 years ago when I was teaching myself various hand-applique methods. I kept these blocks around with the thought that one day I would do something with them. So last year I stitched the blocks together and quilted it by hand. I knew exactly how I wanted it to look. I wanted it to look antique and dainty with a scalloped border. Mission accomplished!

This quilt (a pattern in Quiltmania 100) caught my eye and I have been slowly collecting fabrics for it. I am anxious to get started! These are my blues (so far) and the background.

2nd Question: How does my work differ from others? I would love to teach everyone how to hand-applique. I secretly believe that if everyone knew how to hand-applique, the world would be a better place! True story. So not only do I love to show the techniques I use, I also love to show how I work through my blunders, whether it is switching out a fabric that I thought would work, but sadly, did not. You can see that I started out with a red cat and a blue bird…

…and ended up with a black cat and a red bird.

I also don’t mind showing you how I was getting ready to stitch my bias stem, only to realize I glued it in place, wrong side up!

Or washed my block without first making sure that everything was stitched in place. I want everyone to know that hand-applique is very doable, you just need to learn a few skills and practice those skills!

3rd Question: Why do I create? I think that eveyone is capable of creating beautiful works of art, whether it is a quilt or a symphony or a painting or wonderful meal. I feel so fortunate that I have found an outlet to express myself in a way that I love. I am creating a legacy of quilts that I hope my family will cherish for many years. Hopefully, they will realize there was more to my life than the cooking and cleaning and doing the laundry!

4th Question: How do I work? The more quilts on the go, the happier (and more productive!) I am. I think that creativity breeds creativity and a wheel in motion says in motion. I have taken over the spare bedroom so all of my fabric, books, patterns etc. are in the same spot, which is handy. I must confess, the room is in a constant state of chaos, but I like it that way!

I am very aware of how valuable time is and how easily it can be wasted. So I try to make the most of every moment that I can find to sit down and stitch. I only work on quilts that excite me and (more importantly) challenge me. When I first saw the picture of “Friends of Baltimore”, I never thought in a million years I would be able to make the quilt. Seriously…it looks so daunting and overwhelming. That is, until I started to break it down into blocks. And then I started to look at the pieces in each block and say: “Gee….I think I can do that!”

Okay…enough about me!! Let me introduce you to Ruth Quinn at Stitching Impressions. Ruth (a fellow Canadian!) will write her post on Monday November 17. She is a quilter who also loves to hand applique. and has actually completed Lily Rosenberry! Ruth is a talented longarm quilter who spends most of her waking hours machine quilting for others, including Patti Carey from Northcott Fabrics. But as you will see, she is talented in many other ways!

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18Aug2014

Talking to myself and other fun stuff!

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

I made a deal with myself…I couldn’t start the third border of “Friends of Baltimore” until I completed The Elissa block from Sue Garman’s “Ladies of the Sea”.

Oddly enough, I make deals with myself all the time……clean the bathroom and then you can sit and stitch…start dinner and while the pasta is cooking you can sit and stitch….get up a little earlier and you can sit and stitch. You get the picture!

So, here we go! I decided to start with the vines coming out of the bouquet. I should mention that I have traced the design on the background with a Clover water soluble marker.

I was just itching to start the vase…so that is what I did! I used the same blues as I did for the flowers in The Elissa block.

I am not going to be shy…I love the way this vase turned out!!

Next, I added a few more leaves and tiny stems.

And a few purple flowers….

Next, I added some pretty posies!

When I filled the vase with all of the flowers, something started to niggle at me. The light pink rose gets lost in the boquet.

So then, I started a conversation with myself. I guess by now you have figured out that I talk to myself…a lot!! I started to think that in real life, someone may have put a pale pink rose into a vase with brightly coloured flowers and it might look just fine. Someone else might look at the block and think it looks just fine. Maybe I am just being too critical of my work. But the reality is, I know that if it bugs me now, it is going to bug me even more once it is quilted. So I replaced the flower with one that has just a little more oomph!

Dandy!

I have added a few more rows onto my Grandmother’s Flower Garden quilt. Only two more rows to go…yippee! I have already decided (after many converastions with myself!) about how I am going to hand-quilt it. I will keep you posted!

Til next time…

Kerry

17Apr2014

Which Piece Goes Where??

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

One of the most challenging things about applique is determining which order to glue (and stitch) pieces to the background. Some blocks are easier than others to figure out. This block was not one of them! Here is how I tackled the “Xebec” block from Sue Garman’s “Ladies of the Sea”…

Since the seam allowances on the black part of the hull were going to be completely covered by other pieces, there was no need to prep the edges. But I did draw the seam allowance on the front of the piece, just to make sure everything was going to line up.

I also took the time to baste it to the background just inside the seam allowance.

Next, I added the brown top piece. Notice that the left hand edge is not prepped, but all of the other edges are.

This next skinny piece is going to go on top those raw edges, but it is going to go under the top brown piece…..

…but at the same time, this little gold piece gets tucked under the top piece. The edge that is not prepped will go under the top piece and the rest will stick out.

Needless to say, I had my thinking cap on!

So, this is what it looks like so far.

As you can see, this skinny brown piece is actually smaller than the seam allowance, so I had to trim just a tiny bit of the black piece before I could stitch it in place. Dicey business!

Next, it was time to add the main sail. I stitched the bottom and side edge, and then I basted the raw edge that is going to be covered up….

…by this.

Voila!

Til next time…

Kerry

6Apr2014

First Border On!

Posted in Friends of Baltimore, Hand-Applique Techniques, Ladies of the Sea, Sue Garman Pattern, Uncategorized, washing my block by Simple Bird Applique

Last Wednesday evening I finished stitching all I could on the first border of Sue Garman’s “Friends of Baltimore”. I filled the sink with hot soapy water and let the border soak for a while. I use hot water because I think the glue and starch soften quicker in hot water…maybe it does, maybe it doesn’t, but that is just what I do! Next, I like to use Soak in the water, but if I don’t have any Soak on hand, I use dish soap.

I normally let it soak for an hour or two. When I went to take the border out of the water, I was mildly shocked to see that most of the red fabrics had run into the white background. After doing a quick bit of research online, I jumped in the car and went shopping for some Oxy-Clean and some color magnet sheets. Luckily, I found them, came home and threw the border into the washing machine with both products. I am happy (and sooooo relieved) to tell you the border came out of the washing machine without a speck of red dye on it. Thank you, Quilting Gods!

The following day, I laid the border out on a towel and let it dry. Once it was dry, I placed the border onto the pattern and marked the cutting lines with a water soluble marker. I always cut my background pieces larger than the pattern calls for, so they need to trimmed to the correct size.

Next, I stitched the border on.

When I went to press the seam flat, I noticed that some of the navy blue fabric had frayed, and it was sticking out past the seam allowance. I very carefully trimmed off the navy blue bits. I mean….very, very carefully!

So here we are!

I promised myself once I had the first border stitched on, I would start the next block of Ladies of the Sea, another Sue Garman pattern. The ship on this block is called The Xebec Pirate Ship. It looks very interesting with that skull and crossbones! I used a gradient fabric for the bias stems.

If you look closely, you will see the color goes from light to dark green. Fun!

One day (when I have time!) I am going to do some research on cats and quilts. I had not seen Bruin all morning. I placed my quilt on the floor so I could take a picture of it. I went to find my camera and this is what I returned to find. Sheesh!

Til next time…

Kerry

7Jan2014

Washing my finished block

Posted in Bruin, Hand-Applique Techniques, Ladies of the Sea, Sue Garman Pattern, Uncategorized, washing my block by Simple Bird Applique

Once I finished embroidering all the ropes with 2 strands of floss, I was ready to wash my block. I must mention at this point that I prewash all of my fabric in Synthrapol before I even think of putting it in a quilt. That way, the fabrics do not run in this washing process. Why do I wash my blocks? When I trace my pattern onto the background, I use a Clover water soluble marker and a Frixion marker. To prep my applique pieces, I use starch and Roxeann’s Glue. All of that stuff needs to be removed from the block before it can be stitched into a quilt. Oh….and did I mention the cat hair?

It was in a class with Pearl Pereira at the Applique Academy that I learned about washing blocks. By the way, have you seen Pearl’s new Block of the Month on her website? It’s called Forever Blooming and it is free! I have downloaded my patterns and I am raring to get started! I am also super excited to be attending this years TESAA! I will be taking classes with Rita Verroca and Sandra Leichner. Only 42 more sleeps!

So, this is how I wash my block. First, I check to make sure all the pieces are stitched down. You really don’t want this to happen!

Oops! Can you see that I did not stitch all of the bias pieces down? There are bias strips in between the leaves and they are not stitched yet.

They should look like this.

You only need a clean sink, some mild soap and a block.

First, fill the sink with hot water and add a bit of soap.

Now, place the block in the water. If this is the first time you are doing this, you are allowed to hold your breath and close your eyes! I usually let it soak for a couple of hours. No need to check on it, it’s not going anywhere!

Next, drain the water and rinse the block with clear water. Gently press some of the water out. I like to leave the block fairly wet.

I place the block out on a thick towel and smooth it out. From experience, I have found that leaving the block wet means less wrinkles when the block has finished drying. I like to pin the corners of the block to the towel, just to keep it as flat as possible.

Once the block is completely dry, I flip it over on the thick towel and press with a hot iron.

Presto!

Til next time…

Kerry

29Nov2013

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!