One Piece at a Time

the WINNER is'''

Melody, who writes a really cute blog at

http://thehouseonthesideofthehill.blogspot.com

 

Thank you everyone!

Design Wall Monday…Ooops it’s Tuesday

We had a cool and wet holiday weekend for the most part…my FAVORITE kind of weather. So I had the chance to finish up Miss Leanne. Now I am trying to figure out how to package this pattern for selling. It has 12 pieced blocks so maybe I will sell the pattern in the usual style and have an e-mail with the piecing directions. If it gets picked up by the distributers I’m going to have to do the full print thing but that can wait for now I think.

Check back later for the Magazine winner.

Later this week….another dimensional flower…

Thank You

As I sit around this Memorial Day I want to say a heartfelt THANK YOU to all the men and women who have served in the armed services. For those of you still serving and for your families I am praying for an end to hostilities and that you all may be safely returned to your families.

These are a couple pictures of my Uncles, both died in WW2 so I didn’t know them but I am grateful for them every day.

Design wall will be back in action tomorrow!

OK, I’m in a SWOON…and a Give-away

Last week my quilting buddy and fellow McCall’s finalist, Mary Kay, alerted me to the fact that this here little blog was named one of the 55 Best Quilting blogs in Quilter’s Home magazine.

Eeeep!

Of course I dropped everything and ran to the store to get a copy of that magazine. Well, it turns out that it wasn’t on newsstands yet so I have patiently (truthfully patience was not part of this) gone to EVERY book store in my area looking for a copy. I’m sure the security personnel at Border’s and Barnes and Noble now have special alerts for THAT LADY who is stalking the sewing and crafts section. But my patience (some might call it obsessive-ness) has paid off and I am now in possession of not one but TWO copies of the magazine. One for me and one to give to you! To enter just leave a comment suggesting some fun summer reading since it is officially SUMMER VACATION here and I feel the need to lollygag in the bag yard with a large iced tea and a good book!

In between lollygagging I will continue to make-up dimensional flowers and other quilty things for my wonderful blog readers. Speaking of which here is a small download on the dimensional poppy.

Download Dimensional Poppy

Dimensional Poppies Part 2

Here’s how I finished up this fun little poppy block.

It’s very helpful to have all the leaves appliquéd down before you attach the dimensional flowers. To do these leaves I lightly traced the stems onto the background. Next I glue basted the leaves in place.

The stems came next. After the stems you can glue baste the top leaf on (I forgot to take a picture of that )

Applique everything down.

To make the bud I made an additional petal.

I folded it and pinned it in place.

Sew down using your machine.

For the bud base I made an oval template and did it perfect circle/oval style complete with batting.

Place the bad base over the bud and appliqué down.

Attach the poppy using a button and you are done!

I will have some drawings for you all tomorrow along with a super fun give-away!

Dimensional Flowers: Poppies

Last month when I was working on my basket tutorials I had the lightning bolt idea. These baskets are very dimensional…so…why not develop some dimensional flowers to put in them?

I shock myself sometimes, really. This was a ton of fun and I am completely open to suggestions for other flowers. Right now I have a list of about 9 but am looking for more.

So, without further ado, here is my first dimensional flowers…the poppy (which are springing up like mad around here)

I started with a rough drawing…I will have a nicer one for you to download on Friday.

I made a template of the petal but kept the bottom part wide so I could gather it.

Here I have two colors of hand dyed fabric placed together. If you are using printed fabric make sure you put them right sides together.

I trace my petal.

And cut it out of both pieces of fabric…keep them together with a pin.

Now you can sew around the edge using a matching thread.

After sewing trim the seam allowance to about 1/8”.

Turn inside out…here I have used a point turner.

Using a matching thread, sew along the open end of the petal and gather.

Tied a knot and then use the same thread to gather another petal.

Keep doing this until you have five petals. Then sew the ends together.

For the center I used a small piece (5” x 1.5”) of silk dupioni  that I unraveled a bit.

Fold this in half and sew along the folded edge to gather.

Once you have gathered it sew the ends together to make a loop.

Now you can sew this to the inside of your poppy.

Check back tomorrow and Friday for the rest of the tutorial…and a download.

Got Your Sunscreen?

As the days get longer and warmer around here I start my annual quest to find the perfect sunscreen. You see, I’m a skin cancer survivor and Colorado isn’t exactly kind to us fair skinned individuals who need to be careful out in the sun. Neither is growing up in California for that matter. You can see from this picture that my over-exposure to the sun started at an early age.

Unfortunately, in 2003 I was diagnosed with Melanoma. I’ve been extremely lucky so far and have had no recurrences.  I’ve been wanting to write about this for a while but I just haven’t really found the right way to share. Last week, blog reader Frances, sent me a link to this video.It captures perfectly what I have wanted to say about this.

Watch it…PLEASE.

 

I was going to show you gory pictures of my leg after surgery but I thought I would just leave you with my note to my sixteen year old self.

Dear Sixteen year old me,

Here’s a little advice that you probably won’t listen too.

That guy you have the CRUSH from HELL on…he’s never going to feel the same way about you. But, that’s OK because you are going to meet and marry the best guy ever...and have two great kids.

Don’t lie out in the sun, you are never going to get a tan…NEVER. And it’s not worth the huge chuck of skin they are going to remove from your leg when you are 42. And it’s not worth the worry you are going to feel when you think about not being there for your kids.

Also, don’t stop drawing…you are going to really like that someday!

Love,

Your 50 year old self

p.s.Wear a hat and sunscreen!

The WINNER is

Coffee administered...check.

The WINNER is Claudia, who wrote

"I use YLI silk 100 wt. for hand applique. Thank you."

Claudia, your e-mail is on the way!

It seems I have to go find some of these threads to try!

Design Wall Monday

Happy Monday Everyone!

 I’m happy to report that my tummy is much much better!

Here is a shot of my design wall this fine Monday morning.

This is my new pattern called Miss Leanne.

Here is a shot of my very dear friend, the original Miss Leanne.

She’s hiding behind a quilt I made for her which started with a Piece O’Cake block. I decided to redo the whole thing over with a block of my own. I know the fabric is quite different for me; it’s the Buttercup line from Fig Tree Quilts and Moda. I fell in love with this fabric back in February when it was -20 below here. Doesn’t give you a nice warm feeling inside?

Head on over to Judy's blog and see what else is up.

I will be back later with the thread winner…I’m still administering coffee.

Be sure to check back later this week forthe first in a new set of tutorials's I'm planning...here's a hint...dimensional flowers!

 

A Quick Tip on Thread and a Give-away!

Happy Friday Friends!

Sorry I’ve been MIA this week. I don’t know what I ate or if it is just stress or hormones but it’s felt like I’ve had a family of hamsters running around in my tummy all week. The only thing that makes them stop is lying flat on my back. Hmmm…maybe my body is trying to tell me something.

Anyway, I have a small tip about picking thread to share with you. Since I am always striving to have my appliqué stitches be as invisible as possible I look for the closest matching color in the thinnest thread I can find. My current favorites are Aurifil 50wt mako cotton and Metler 60 wt fine embroidery cotton. Sometimes I come across two threads that both seem like they will work fine. If this happens I find that it’s a good idea to pick the lighter one since it will blend into the fabric better.

Here is a shot of the flower with the darker thread. It's a little hard to see in the picture but I can see those stitches more than I would like to.

Here it is a little closer.

Now, here it is with the lighter thread…it’s almost invisible!

I’ve had good luck with this most of the time, but, like everything you need to check it for yourself.

AND speaking of thread, I have one of these to give-away today.

Just leave a comment telling us what your favorite thread is. I will announce the winner on Monday.