Trail Mix Progress and a new project!

Posted in Uncategorized by Simple Bird Applique

I have been making steady progress on my Trail Mix quilt, designed by Laundry Basket Quilts. I must say it is rather addictive cutting and stitching all those tiny little pieces. Sometimes when I start a new quilt, I set up some rules or guidelines for that quilt. The rule for this quilt is that I can only use fabrics I have on hand. It certainly is a nice feeling to use the last bits of some of the fabrics I have had for…well, a really, really long time!!!

Ok, so, you make 4 of these units….

…..and stitch them onto these scrappy blocks.

Here is the first one which fit like a glove!

Here are the second and third units….

I was absolutely delighted when the fourth unit actually fit where it was supposed to without any puckers or pleats! One down, eight more to go. Yikes!

So, keeping that scrappy theme, I have started a new applique project that will also have a scrappy feel. The pattern I am using is “Love is in the Air” by Lori Smith. I enlarged the patterns by 125% to make the blocks bigger than the original size (8 1/2″). I am also going to make a scrappy sashing, but more about that later!

For my background fabrics, I am also going with a scrappy look. I have had this collection of shirtings long enough. It is now time to use them up! I’m going to use a different background for each block. Can’t wait to see what that looks like!!

I started this block like I start all of my applique blocks, I traced the pattern with a blue Clover water soluble marker. Then I made some bias for the stems (using my 1/4″ bias maker) and I started to make some leaves. When I do go fabric shopping, I am always on the look out for green fabrics (especially olive greens) that would make awesome leaves.

Next, I chose the fabrics for my flowers.

Each flower has a “bud” and so I chose this darker purple (on the right) as the bud. I thought there was enough contrast….

…but, as you can see, there really isn’t much contrast. Unfortunately, the bud gets lost.

So, I opted for a darker, more tone-on-tone bud for both of the flowers. So far, so good!

Next came the tail feathers for the bird.

And finally, the rest of the bird! Do you recognize the blue fabric I used for the bird body? It is the same fabric I used in my Mom’s quilt. You can read that post here.

Til next time……

Kerry

17Oct2015

Washing my Baltimore. Yikes!

Posted in Uncategorized by Simple Bird Applique

Last weekend was Thanksgiving in Canada and, like most people we had a super busy long weekend. We had the family over…just 26 of us! I cooked a huge turkey and all the fixins! Hubby bought himself a new camera, so we headed north to Meaford and Thornbury to take some awesome photos and to get some apples. Is it my imagination or are the leaves really spectacular this year?

I also had a few spare hours, so I decided it was time to bite the bullet and toss my Friends of Baltimore into the washing machine. Let me explain why I did this.

I am not sure if you remember this, but when I washed one of the borders, some of the fabrics ran (red and dark blue) which shocked and upset me. I was shocked, because I am very careful about pre-washing all of my fabrics. Since I used all the same fabrics in the blocks as in the borders and this was the first time any of the fabrics had run, I was really puzzled. I was upset because my quilt had very distinct red and blue splotches on the background. I finished the top and had it quilted, knowing that one day I was going to have to deal with those darn splotches. Well…that day had come!

I talked to Colleen from Elite Quilting who knows everything there is to know about bleeding fabric and how to fix it. Imagine the look of sheer horror on my face when she nonchalantly suggested I wash the entire quilt in the washing machine with Synthrapol. It took more than a little coaxing on Colleen’s part to assure me that all of the bleed marks would come out and my quilt would not be ruined.

So I gathered my quilt up, added a whole bottle of Synthrapol, put it in the washing machine using the hottest water possible, crossed my fingers and prayed to the Quilt Gods. I stood there for 40 minutes and watched the quilt go round and round. I called Colleen for some support…twice! This is a picture I took of the quilt spinning around. You can see that Bruin is as concerned as I am!!

I am not sure why I felt compelled to stand there and watch. I stopped the washing machine and opened the door just to check up on it a few times. I was very thankful that all looked good!

Once the washing machine stopped, I gathered the quilt up in a clear bag, and whisked it over to my husband’s shop where we laid it out flat on some tables to air dry. I was so very thrilled to see that all of the marks had completely vanished and, more importantly, my quilt had not fallen apart!! Yes, so much to be thankful for!

I am also working away on a scrappy quilt designed by Edyta Sitar of Laundry Basket Quilts called Trail Mix. It is a great stash-buster. Here are the strip pieced diamonds, which I am now going to go and stitch together!

Tile next time…

Kerry

16Sep2012

Finally! The Perfect Project!

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

I certainly don’t seem to have a problem collecting batiks, which is not that big of a deal, except that I rarely use batiks! But all that is going to change! These yummy bundles of batiks caught my eye at Quilt Market in Houston about 3 or 4 years ago. How could I leave them behind? I have been waiting very patiently for the “perfect project” to come along.

Well! Not only did the perfect pattern come along, it also had a co-ordinating fat-eights bundle to go along with it! When opportunity like this knocks, you better open the door! The “perfect project” for my batik collection is “Spring Bouquet” by Laundry Basket Quilts. The fabrics are “Over the Rainbow” batiks by Laundry Basket Quilts for Moda.

Don’t they play nicely together! I promised myself I will not start this project until I finish….something!

In the meantime, I have been stitching away on Block #3 of The Civil War Bride Quilt. I could not help myself! I wanted to see what the blocks might look like once they are stitched together. Spiffy!