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Here is another in-expert video on how I do stems. Just a couple of notes, you can cut close to the stitching but don't cut through the stitching, watch out for steam and hot bias bars if you are using metal.
I took a picture of the back side of the stem so you can see how close I trim the seam allowance.
I don’t know about any of you but I have had the hardest time finding good movies and television shows that I can watch with my kids. Since they tend to be night owls and we only have one television any TV watched at our house is watched by everyone. A few years back I subscribed to Netflix for the sole purpose of watching the entire collection of All Creatures Great and Small. If you don’t know about this show, it’s based on the books by James Herriot of the same name and is about a country veterinary practice in Yorkshire. This was my absolute FAVORITE show when I was a student and it made me want to move to England and become a vet. The only thing that stopped me was that I’m a total wimp when it comes to hurt animals and blood. Plus the small fact that this series is set in WW2 times and I haven’t found a way to time travel yet.
The great thing about Netflix is that they have really good recommendations. After watching All Creatures we moved on to Monarch of the Glen. This incredibly funny and sweet show is set in the highlands of Scotland and revolves around a family and village of endearing and crazy characters.
The next absolutely terrific show we watched was Ballykissangel. This show is set in an Irish village and revolves around the village pub. It has, yet again, another set of crazy and likeable characters.
Our current favorite is Doc Martin. The premise for this show is almost too funny. Dr. Ellingham is a former London surgeon who develops a phobia of blood. He then re-locates to a small Cornish Village to become the village doctor and treat the local cast of zany characters. What makes this show absolutely hysterical is that Doc Martin has no bedside manner whatsoever. This in addition to him barfing every time he sees blood make this show a real winner.
I guess I’m just a sucker for shows with offbeat characters that are set in England. Anyone know of any others?
Catnana, who wrote
"My favorite...Italian Cream Cake. It is like a quilt because when I make a quilt I put in my favorite colors, textures, and block patterns. An Italian Cream Cake contains all of my favorite flavors and textures. YYYUUUMMMMMYYYY!"
Your e-mail is on the way. Thanks for playing along everyone. After these two give-aways I think I need to do a Quilt Lady Cooking post on my favorite cookie and cake...hmmm...I guess that means I need to do some baking.
Now I know many of you have seen Miss Nora the pattern but here is a picture of Miss Nora, my niece. Isn’t she cute?
In honor of all that sweetness I want to give away a copy of the Miss Nora pattern. Just leave a comment this weekend telling me what you favorite type of cake is. I will pick a winner on Monday using the handy dandy random number generator.
Happy Friday and good luck!
I don’t know about any of you but my husband gets a tad tired of quilts with bright pink in them. Poor guy, Bluebird’s Piece O’Cake hangs right outside his office. So, this Christmas I’m going to make him his very own quilt. One of our family’s favorite things to do use order pizza, get a movie and plop down on the couch for a good ‘ol Movie Night. When the weather turns cold we all dive under the pile of quilts on the sofa for extra warmth. The problem is there are only three quilts in that pile. Here is a picture of Rio camped out in my spot on top of my quilt. I can’t get too mad at him because those eyebrows get me every time. The quilt was something I threw together years ago and it has been well loved. It’s basically a bunch of single Irish Chain blocks set on point. I found the pattern in a book called Hearth and Home Quilts by Joanna Figueroa and Lisa Quan. Anyway, take a look at the fabrics I found for his quilt. Can you believe it? No pink?
All I can say is….I would rather design and make quilts than learn how to edit videos. Or maybe I should say that my editing skills are not where my quilting skills are and may never be.
Anyway for those of you who are still with me here is Appliqué Lesson 3 in video. Here are my disclaimers:
I tried to finish the video before the battery died.
It died anyway, even though I was talking as fast as possible.
So I made a part 2 video to finish.I tried to splice them together but YouTube wouldn’t let me upload.
That weird blob you see in the lower right hand corner from time to time is actually my head…and I had no idea that it had so many gray hairs on it.
My kids fall over holding their sides with laughter whenever they hear me on the computer.
My husband says I sound like the quilting Mr. Rogers..I kinda liked that one.
Here is some information on my iron. I have a really nice Rowenta iron that I bought back in 1994. It had a really handy Teflon coating that made pressing an absolute delight. The problem is…I’ve used it so much that the Teflon is worn off and it doesn’t press so well anymore. I was hesitant about getting another one since these irons can be so expensive. Well, it turns out that I got a really nice new Black and Decker iron at Target for $11. I use this one only for appliqué so I never put water in it for fear of steaming my poor fingers (believe me…it hurts) and I always use it on MEDIUM.
About starch. I mix up my StayFlo starch in the following way. One quarter cup starch. One and a half cups water. This is something you might need to play with to get what works for you. My suggestion is to make a few simple leaves. If the leaf is so stiff you can’t sew through it you need to use more water. If you can’t get the leaf to hold its shape you need more starch.
About those points… if you look on the right side of the blog and click on the Applique Tutorial picture there are some nice pictures of pressing the points.
Next video I hope to not be such a doofus.
As promised here is Florabunda Block 9.The pattern has two formats. The first is a full size pattern (12” square you can download here) that you can save to a USB drive and take to a copy place to have printed. The other is a ¼ size drawing (download here) that should print on a regular printer. You can make 4 copies of this one and tape it together for a full size pattern. This pattern is swirly so you will have to align the leaves that are cut off. I couldn’t figure out a nice way around this…sorry.
For all you who like to share pictures you can join our FLICKR group at
http://www.flickr.com/groups/florabuddies
And here is the alternative color scheme
Mary L who wrote, "My favorite cookie since I was a kid is Russian Teacakes. Most people call them pecan sandies but I learned the first name. Love the look of the new BOM and I'll be anxiously waiting for January!" Mary your e-mail is on the way.
Thank you everyone for playing along. I got so hungry reading everyones favorite cookies that I almost baked some myself. Unfortunately we had a day of record setting heat here so I wasn’t too tempted to turn on my oven.
Here are a few more things about Miss Kelly and then I promise I will shut up about this and get back to Florabunda Block 9.
The center pink flower is made from a set of gradation fabrics that I got from Janet Smith. You can find her by clicking here. I used the red gradation set called RD4. I bought the 9’ x 11” sample pack. Her fabrics are really wonderful, they hold up to all the abuse I put them through and are still lovely to appliqué through.
Also, some people have contacted me because they don’t use Paypal or have problems with Etsy. If this describes you please feel free to contact me and we can work out a way for you to get patterns. Just click on the “e-mail me” link on the left side of the blog (right below the Quilt Designers Blog Ring button) and we can figure something out.
Check back this coming Friday for a give-away of the Miss Nora pattern.
