One Piece at a Time

Travel Time

It’s official. My quilt “Bluebird’s Piece O’Cake” has traveled more than me this year. I’m not complaining, seriously I’m not. I just found out it was accepted at the Road to California Quilt Show, so it’s off to California. Maybe it can say hi to my relatives for me. I hope you guys don’t think I’m whining, I feel like the luckiest girl in the world.

Quilt Details: The smaller blocks are an assortment of blocks from Piece O'Cake (Love them). The center and the borders are my own design. I did all the applique by hand and Karen Dovala did the quilting. I'm planning on publishing the center as a small quilt pattern soon.

One Down…One to Go

First off let me wish everyone a very HAPPY THANKSGIVING. I hope to post a little photo collage about what I’m thankful for as soon as I gain permission from my teenage children.

Here’s the reason for my lack of blog posts this past week.

This is the center medallion for next years Block of the Month (BOM) called Gathering-Mixed Technique version. I have been very busy starching and pressing and glue basting. Here is the basic layout of the quilt.

My friend Debbie will be making the all pieced version of this quilt and we will have a sample up as soon as she can get herself back from Costa Rica and start sewing again.

This is the center medallion for the other BOM called Florabunda. It still needs stems and a background. My background will be white and my friend Amy will do a twin size version on chocolate brown (seriously, I found a solid fabric named “Hershey”, how cool is that).

I hope everyone has a really great day enjoying friends and family.

Hugs from me.

The Most Amazing Discovery

Warning…post for appliqué nerds.

As you can see in the above picture I make all my appliqué shapes beforehand. One very wonderful time saver has been using Roxanne’s Glue Baste to pre-assemble my appliqué elements and then to glue baste the whole block together before I begin stitching. I have used Roxanne’s Glue Baste for years and I have always had one GIANT complaint.

That thin needle applicator ALWAYS gets clogged, even if I carefully wash it out after each use. The other day I discovered these in my bathroom drawer.

For those of you who do not have children with braces these are the handy dental floss gadgets that your children will never use to floss their braces. Well, let me tell you, they are great for getting your glue baste un-clogged. Just thread them through the applicator. Lucky for me, I have tons, since my kids no longer have braces but I’m pretty sure they are available at most grocery stores.

Helpful Tools and a Resource

 

Since I do most of my appliqué by making all my shapes beforehand using starch and an iron it is really important to have a convenient ironing surface. Seriously, who wants to stand at an ironing board for multiple hours when you can sit listening to your ipod and press fabric into flower petals. I made this ironing board a couple of years ago and it has saved my back. You can make it too, here’s how. At your local home improvement center they usually have sheets of particle board. I think I found a 24”x48” sheet. You can often have them cut it for you so I had mine cut into two 24” squares. These can then be covered with a layer of batting and a layer of fabric. Just cut out pieces about 32” square. I used a spray baste to bind the batting to the board. After that I stretched the fabric firmly around and stapled it on the back. If the staples don’t go in all the way use a hammer to pound them in. When this cover gets messy from too much starch just replace it with another square of batting and fabric.

Also, I have added another site to my Favorite Websites list. Karen Kay Buckley is an amazing quilter and teacher. Her web site is full of inspiration and her shop has a wonderful and very complete selection of tools for appliqué. If you ever have the opportunity to take a class from her, DO IT. She is a really Great teacher and you will learn so much.

Getting Ready

I’m so excited I can hardly sit still. In 2010 I am going to do two blocks of the month on this blog. You will be able to see it all here in step by step detail. I will have the patterns up in my Etsy shop so if you want to participate you can. The first quilt will be very similar to my quilt Bluebird’s Piece O’Cake (seen below) except all the designs will, of course, be my own. It will be 12 small appliqué blocks around a larger medallion with an appliquéd border. There will also be a 12 block twin size sampler version.

I’m calling it Florabunda and here is a glimpse of my fabric selection.

The next quilt will be based on this setting design. It will have two options, one completely pieced and the other a combo of piecing and appliqué.

I’m calling this quilt Gathering and here is my fabric selection.

I’m working on both center medallions and hope to have pictures up soon. My very good quilting buddies Debbie and Amy are going to help as well. Here’s to a year of fun sewing.

Trouble

One of the best ways of preventing behavior like this is to take the puppy on a walk. Personally this is my favorite thing about owning a dog. They are kind of like personal trainers who live in your house and chew up your socks. Since we got Rio I have pretty much walked everyday of the week. At first he would get hot and tired but now it is favorite part of the day. Even now he is giving me “the LOOK” and I know when I say “WALK” he will go completely crazy. The first part of our walk he carries his leash in his mouth and prances down the street. If you say “WALK” too soon he will follow you all over the house whining and barking. Our code for this is “I’m going to take Bozo for a stir fry” because if anyone asks if I took him for a walk he goes crazy AGAIN. Lucky for me I have these kinds of places to take walks.

A Little About My Design Process

Heads up Quilters!!! In 2010 I am planning on doing two (not one but TWO) Block of the Months on this blog. One will be completely appliquéd (well, maybe a little piecing in the sashing) The other will have two options, one completely pieced and one combining piecing and appliqué. Lucky for me my friend Debbie is going to sew the completely pieced one in her special Debbie colors. I’m going the combo quilt.

Speaking of that, I was working on the design for the center medallion the other day and I thought I would show you a little of my process. I knew that I wanted to have a center flower with other flowers radiating out. I have designed many different flowers for quilts so I started with a few of my favorites. After fiddling with the flowers I draw ¼ of the quilt. (This only works if you have a symmetrical design)

Then I go to my local Kinkos and use the large format copier to make 4 copies. Paste those together and Ta Da

First Quilts

I used to love when Quilter’s Newsletter did a column called “First Quilts…Last Quilts”. They had pictures of the first quilts of some pretty famous quilters. I know I am not in THAT category but I’ve recently been documenting my progress as a quilter and took these pictures. It’s fun to look back and see your evolution over time. I still love these quilts because of the journey they represent.

It’s Here

One of the quilters I have admired over the last 20 years is Jinny Beyer. Her quilts are simply amazing and she makes them completely by hand. She is truly one of the Master Quilters of our time. I love all her books and as you can see in this picture I have many of the pages marked.

She has recently released a book which is probably going to be considered “the pieced block Bible”. It’s very much like her previous “Quilter’s Album” but much, much more completely. Here is a look at the inside pages. If you buy this book you are in for a treat because it’s 488 pages of this kind of beauty. I’m inspired!

Vienna

In the summer of 2008 I was fortunate enough to accompany my daughter’s high school orchestra to Europe. The trip was amazing on so many levels. The kids were great and the adults were all fun travel companions.

Our first stop was Vienna. The picture you see here is a skyline shot of Vienna shot from Schoenbrunn Palace where the kids had their first concert. I have some more snippets of Vienna but let me share with you my favorite ever cure for jet lag. In downtown Vienna you will find the world famous Vienna Opera House. Right across the street from that is the equally famous Sacher Hotel, home of Sacher Torte.

This will cure any jet lag you might be experiencing. Be sure to order it with coffee “mitt schlag” which means “with cream”. In Austria, cream in your coffee means a huge dollop of sweet whipped cream. It’s heavenly.