Bed of Roses – Block 5

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

My goodness! I must say the 1st of the month seems to sneak up on me! I am just putting the finishing stitches on the fifth block of Sue Garman’s “Bed of Roses”, a BOM I started back in April. I love this quilt because the blocks are actually easy (oh yes they are!) but the blocks don’t look easy. I hope that makes sense!

Ok, so first I traced the block onto the background with a Clover water soluble marker. Notice, I don’t trace what is inside the shapes, for example, the big flower. The reason I don’t do this is because once the prepped piece has been glued in place, it covers up all the inside markings and then you can’t see them.

Next, I added all the bias strips. I use a Clover 1/4″ bias maker to do all of my stems. I glued them in place and then I stitched them before I added any more pieces.

Next, I prepped the three pink flowers in the usual way. I iron my freezer paper templates to the wrong side of the fabric and press the seam allowance over the templates with liquid starch and a mini-iron. (Note to self…maybe its time to replace the fabric on my pressing board with something less grungy.)

Once the piece is prepped, I take the freezer paper template out…

…and then I place the template shiny side up on the prepped piece and mark any remaining seam allowances. It makes lining up multiple pieces soooo easy. Trust me!

Next, I prepped the big flower that sits right in the middle of the block.

Notice the marked seam allowances? Now I know exactly where the next pieces go. Easy Peasy!

I prepped a bunch of the yellow doo-dads and glued them in place. I even marked the seam allowances on them!

Now I placed the green pieces in place. See what I mean about being an easy block?

So, now I added the tiny leaves and four smaller posies.

Now it’s time to add some circles….

Lots and lots of circles!

And, to top it all off, a sparkly little vase. I am giddy with excitement!

Here are all 5 blocks so far. All these blocks are available on my website Simple Bird Studio.

Last weekend was the quilt show at the Simcoe County Museum. Ruth, from Stitiching Impressions, kindly displayed my “Friends of Baltimore” quilt at her booth.

My friend Kathy and I go to the show every year. Not only do we love to see the awesome quilts, we love to have a piece of Sugar Pie! Of course, we did a bit of shopping at the Merchant Mall. New fabric and pie….does it get any better?

What else am I working on? Oddly enough, I am enjoying sitting at my sewing machine working on a scrappy quilt called Trail Mix, designed by Edyta Sitar of Laundry Basket Quilts. So much fun!

Til next time….

Kerry

15Sep2015

Bed of Roses Block 4 – Part 2 and Some More Baltimore Pics!

Posted in Bed of Roses by Simple Bird Applique

This past weekend I finally put the binding and hanging sleeve on my “Friends of Baltimore”. I am reluctant to actually finish this quilt. Not sure why. I think it marks the end of a journey that I just don’t want to end, but I have loved sharing the journey on my blog!

First, I made sure the corners were square.

Then I trimmed the batting and backing. I always find this step most nerve-wracking. It just seems so much could go wrong at this point!

I carefully machine stitched the binding to the quilt, making sure that the seam was exactly where it was supposed to be so that the triangles on the sawtooth border were perfect triangles and had all 3 points!

So far, so good!

Next, I made a pot of tea (or two) and hand-stitched the binding in place. Thank goodness for audible books! And as usual, I had lots of company!

Here are a few more blocks showing the amazing machine quilting that Ruth Quinn from Stitching Impressions did. If you check out her blog, you will see that Ruth describes in detail how she came up with the designs for each of the blocks. Very informative! Ruth is displaying my quilt in her booth at the Simcoe County Rug and Craft Fair this coming weekend. Hope to see you there! It is always a great show, with not only quilts, but hooked rugs, spinning and the most amazing sugar pie you have ever tasted.

If you are stitching Bed of Roses along with me, you will receive Block 4 this week. This package will include the first border, so here are a few helpful hints.

Cut 15 assorted pink rectangles according to the directions. Stitch these rectangles together, but only stitch half way up the seam (about 2 “). Press these seams open.

Place the bottom edge of this strip along the edge of the border and stitch in place.

Next, make a template of the curve provided in the pattern. I used plastic template material. Trace the curve on each of the rectangles. I am not going to lie, when I first read the directions, I was a little leary of this process, but it is pretty slick. I’m impressed!!

So is Bruin. Very Impressed.

Before I forget, the white border is cut extra long, so don’t be concerned that the pink strip is shorter than the border.

Okay, so now just trim 1/4″ away from the and start to stitch!

Slick. Indeed!!

Til next time…

Kerry

28Aug2015

You have to see this!

Posted in Uncategorized by Simple Bird Applique

How do you find the words to describe this kind of talent and workmanship? You tell me! Last night I picked up my “Friends of Baltimore” from Ruth at Stitching Impressions. As I mentioned in my last post, I decided to take out all my hand-quilting stitches and have Ruth machine quilt it. This could very well be one of the best decision I have ever made! Take a look at what Ruth did. I am only going to show you a few blocks at a time, just so you do not get overwhelmed. Ruth wrote a blog post describing her different techniques and terminology. You can check it out here.

If you are thinking about making this quilt I recommend you jump in with both feet. Have fun and enjoy the journey. I did! The pattern is available on my website Simple Bird Studio.