One Piece at a Time

Design Wall Monday

I have the appliqué border for my new quilt all designed and I have basted the first ¼ of it onto the quilt. I like it so far and I still hope to get this done in the next few weeks. Haven’t got a name for it yet but I have some ideas. It looks like a somewhat Valentine quilt to me, like flowers and chocolate in fabric. Any suggestions?

Head on over to Judy’s Blog to see what everyone else is up to.

Also, today I am writing this blog post from my new home office set up. In the 1 ½ years that I have been writing this blog my computer has had 4 different homes. It started off in my sewing room but then I couldn’t actually sew much since it took up so much space. Then I moved it to my daughter’s desk but she kicked me out. My son has been graciously hosting my computer on his desk for the last 10 months but I finally decided I need a place of my own. It turns out my bedroom is large and there was an unused corner where I was accumulating (read…piling up junk) that I decided would make a perfect home office so I marched off to the store and actually bought myself furniture. Those of you who know me personally know this is very shocking but yes, I actually bought furniture. For those of you who only know me from this blog I will share that when I was first married, my husband and I needed a sofa. We spent an entire weekend sitting on every sofa from here to Denver and back. I vowed I would never shop for furniture again.I pretty much haven't except in cases of dire need... like Thursaday when I NEEDED a desk.

Ambosia Update: The voting ends Wednesday February 2nd...Ground Hog Day to be exact.They will announce the winner on Friday...keeping my fingers crossed and trying to remember to breathe...thanks for all the votes so far.

McCall's Quilting Update

I've heard from the Kathy Hannah, the lovely lady at McCall's that screens all the comments etc, The voting will be over on Wednesday February 2.They are having a Design Star Party on thier website,

McCallsQuilting.com

starting on Friday February 4th and ending on Sunday February 6th.This is where they will announce the winner. Also,if you visit the site during that time you can enter a drawing for a goody box that will be similar to the goodie box the contestants get (only the Design Star winner gets the sewing machine though). I can tell you from personal experience the goodie boxes are AWESOME so make sure you check it out!

I cannot thank you all enough for the encouraging comments and votes over the last several months. It has really been wonderful and even if I don't win I will treasure this, seriously. You guys are THE BEST.

So, keep voting my friends, it's almost over!

Important Picture added

I added the important picture to the tutorial

Ooops

I forgot the most important picture but I can't add it until later because it's on a different computer

sorry

Inner Points…or My Crooked Little Heart

I did this tutorial on inner points using this little heart shape. It didn’t turn out exactly like I wanted but I think it’s charming, in a crooked little way. This same method works for the inner points on the birds as well.

Start with a template.

Trace your shape onto the back of your fabric and cut it out.

Clip you inner point BUT do NOT clip all the way to the drawn line.

Press as you would normally.

I have just discovered THIS product. It's called Jones Tones Sew Secure.

You can apply a very small amount to you fabric to keep from fraying. I found that the fabric did get stiff but I was still able to sew through it with relative ease. The best part is that it didn’t smell bad and give me a headache. I got it here.

Squeeze a small amount out.

Apply to the inner point.

Glue baste down to your background fabric and start sewing. Sew right up to the inner point and stop.

At the inner point take a small stitch into the appliqué fabric ONLY and pull it a little tighter than usual.

Continue until the end.

Ambrosia Update: We are in the last days of voting for challenge 3. If you like the quilt please vote by clicking on the "Vote for Me" button on the upper right side of the blog. Thanks to all of you who have voted and left comments so far. It's been very encouraging.

One Little WORD

A few weeks ago I talked about how I don’t do New Year’s resolutions anymore because, basically, I can’t stand the pressure. Usually by this time in January I have broken all of them so what would be the point anyway. This year I am trying a little something new. I read on Ali Edwards blog about how she picks a word for her year. Something she wants to cultivate in her life. Throughout the year she looks for ways to bring her word more into her life. When I read about this I had a little aha moment where I realized that THIS was something I could do.

Then it happened, my word…it sort of “picked” me. Does that sound weird?

Lately I have been living life at about 90mph…doing a million things all too fast without even noticing what I was doing let alone enjoying it. Everything EXCEPT this blog and my quilts mind you, that I have to do slowly and carefully…or else bad things happen. Anyway, I realized that my kiddos are getting older and going to be out the door soon and…ok I might start crying if I continue..you get the point. I just realized that I wanted to SAVOR it. The more I have thought about it the more I realized that I haven’t been savoring the daily stuff in my life lately either, things like the taste of food, the sun shining on my face, the way my dog looks when he wakes up from a nap, hot showers….

Luckily for me and many others Ali is having a nice little class over at Big Picture Scrapbooking for those of us who want to explore our words a little more. Do you need to be a scrapbooker to do this? Nope. This is just a nice little online class and community of people who are trying to be a bit more intentional about life. If you are interested check it out by clicking here.

Applique Frequently Asked Questions

1. Starch

I like Stayflo starch for this appliqué technique because you can dilute it to suit your preferences, it doesn’t have an odor and they carry it at my local grocery store. If you can’t find this brand maybe there is another concentrated starch you can try. Some people have terrific luck with spray starch. They just spray it into a little cup and use that. I know that Karen Kay Buckley likes Magic Sizing Light Body and she gets beautiful results with this. I like Magic Sizing too but find that the odor gives me a bad headache.

If you mix your own starch I find it is very helpful to have a bottle like this.

I have marked on the side where I need to fill with starch and water.

This is about 1 part starch to 5 parts water. This is the ratio that I find works for me. I think it is helpful to make a few leaves and play with the ratio to see what suits you. Some people like it stiff and some do not.

2. Templates

I’m a real fan of Templar for my templates. When I am doing a big project like Florabunda or My Tweets I make a set of templates for each block. When I am done I store these in a binder with a picture of the block. Check each block carefully because often the same leaf or petal is used throughout and you only need to make one template for these. Templar can be found at your local quilt shop or online. If your local quilt store doesn’t carry it ask if they will order it for you. Karen Kay Buckley has a store with her website and she has it there.

3. Glue

I love this glue and have used it for years. There are some others coming out that I might try but I have always had success with this one.

4. Glue Basting

For larger blocks like Miss Hannah and Miss Kelly I actually pre-glue the whole thing before I start sewing. Heck I even did that for Ambrosia and that is the equivalent of 4 Miss Hannahs.

Nag Alert: please please please vote

5. Sewing order

When sewing a block I usually start with the bottom most layer and work my way up. When I am sewing a layer that is on top of a previously sewn layer I usually only sew it to that previously sewn layer and don’t try to go through all the layers at once.

For My Tweets Block 1 I sewed the stems first, then the bird’s top knot and beak, then the body then the tail then the wings. After this I did the flowers, also working from the bottom up.

Later this week I will talk about inner points…Hope that helps

Design Wall Monday

Here is a glimpse of my design wall today. This is a quilt I had planned to finish in the fall but once I was accepted into the McCall’s challenge it got put on the back burner. I think it has a nice Valentine look to it so I’m trying to finish it before February 14^th.

Head on over to Judy’s blog to see what other people are up to.

As I have been reading your comments and questions regarding appliqué I realize I need to do a Frequently Asked Questions post so look for that later this week. There will also be a tutorial on inner points and another tutorial on my favorite ruler.

Have a great Monday everyone!

Ambrosia update: Still a little over a week of voting left. If you like Ambrosia please vote and leave a comment if you feel like it. Just click on the “Vote for Me” button on the upper right side of the blog.

Many many thanks to all of you who have voted so far and left such lovely comments.

For Sunday

 

I LOVE Cookie Monster

 

Probably because I love cookies

Maybe I should do a video like THIS for the McCall's challenge.