One Piece at a Time

Oh Dear...another Swoon

I have to admit, I have a very weak spot in my heart for a certain color scheme. Whenever I see it I go a little weak in the knees and my heart skips a beat or two. If that color scheme shows up in a fabric line I am pretty much a lost cause until I own a little bit of each fabric...even if I have no idea what the heck I am going to make with it.

Well, that happened tome last week when I saw Kate Spain’s new fabric line Honey, Honey...it was bad my friends, as in BAD. After losing a little sleep I decided to give in a buy just a little bit of each fabric that I loved.

I also bought the Moda coordinating solids....

Any ideas what I should do with it? I’m desperately searching for some justification here.

Christmas Cardinals

As promised, here are the directions for these cute little cardinals.

First, I traced all my pattern pieces on template plastic and cut them out. If you are new to this blog, just check out the Applique Lessons section for tips on this method of applique.

Next, cut out your bird body (for opposite facing bird, just turn template over)

Here I am using the starch and press method to turn under ONLY the black part that goes on the bird body.

Now, use a little applique glue to apply it to the bird body.




Stitch in place.

Here I have made the little beak and have glued it to the black part.

And apliqued it in place. After this step you might need to carefully trim and excess black fabric away.

Next, place the body template on the back side of the pattern. I used the black stitching line to align.

And starch and press the seam allowance.

Here it is from the front.

From here you can just make a wing and glue it in place, no need to stitch it until it’s on you block. Here is my new little bird all ready to be appliqued to the block!

Related articles

Jingle Applique Block 1

Announcing Jingle Block of the Month

Little Tiny Stems

First off, I want to thank everyone for the wonderful response to Applique Block 1. I pretty much love those little cardinals and I am glad you guys do too. There will be more of those in the coming months, along with an assortment of flowers etc etc etc.

Since these blocks are a bit more intricate than the Mimi’s blocks from last year, and since they are only 9” I thought it was time to start embroidering the stems so I could have room for all the other pretty stuff. Here’s how I did it:
You can see from the pattern that the center is marked with diagonal lines. Fold your fabric square in half twice diagonally and place over the patterns, aligning the folds with the lines.

I marked my lines very lightly with a permanent marker (Pigma Micron sepia .05) These lines won’t rub off and get covered nicely by embroidery thread.

To embroider I use this really great hoop that Sandra Leichner sells in her shop. (Click here to buy it)

Since I haven’t mastered the art of sewing and taking pictures at the same time I am just going to have to describe what I did. I used a chain stitch with 2 strands of embroidery floss. Here it is all done.

For you newbie embroidery folks out there, I found this absolutely terrific website for embroidery:

Mary Corbet's Needle n' Thread

Here is a link to her page on the chain stitch

Chain Stitch

Tomorrow I will have a tutorial on how I pre-assembled those little birds. They are not as hard as they look.

PRIZE ALERT: The prize for Applique Block 1 is your very own cute little embroidery hoop! Just post a picture of you block in the Jingle Belle's FLICKR group and I will pick a winner when the next applique block goes up!

TYPO...a little embarassed

I just fixed the slightly embarassing typo in the design wall post... so sorry

Design Wall Monday

I am completely blown away by the responce to Applique Block 1. Thanks everyone. Here is a shot of my design wall today. You can get a little sneak peak of Pieced Block 1 plus some other projects I am working on.

Check back this week for Applique Block 1 tutorials and Pieced Block 1, coming Friday.

Head on over to Judy's Blog for more design wall inspiration.

Jingle Belle's FLICKR Group

I can tell everyone is getting excited about tomorrow's block but I just wanted to get this out first.

I have started a new FLICKR group for this project and you can find the link to it on the left side of the blog. This year, to add to all the fun, I am going to be having prizes for people who post. Here's how it works;

Post your finished blocks to the FLICKR group

Every time someone puts a block in there they will automatically be offered in the drawing.

By the time I have the next block up, the drawing will close and I will pick a winner out of a hat.

Example: This week you are getting Applique Block 1, have your's posted by the time I post Applique Block 2 to be entered...make sense?

Same for pieced blocks, next week I will post Pieced Block 1, post your picture before I post Pieced Block 2 to qualify for the drawing.

I will give lots of warning about when the next block is going up so don't worry.

Next week I will have tutorials up on how I made the first block plus a picture of the prize.

For now, head on over and join the FLICKR group and introduce yourself.

Check out my friend Tracee's progress...

So, you guys have met Tracee, my friend from work who is trying to make 36 quilts for special people in her life...THIS YEAR. We all reminded her that she would have to make 3 per month but she is really determined and guess what? She has already finished 2 and is quilting her third!

Here is the quilt she made for her neighbor....( read the story of Dorothy getting her quilt here)

And here is the quilt she made for her niece....

And here is a picture of Tracee in action on our Handi-Quilter at work (yes we have this perk too, don't hate me).

You can follow along with Tracee at

www.dailydog.typepad.com

Be sure to check out this link to free patterns from McCall's! Tracee will be adding to this as she goes.

A Funny Little Story

I’m continuing on with my little story project and I wanted to share this one with you guys.

Several years ago a friend and I decided to have a girls night with our then teenage daughters. Neither of us are very organized so the only movie we could find that we thought would work was Meet the Fockers (probably the most carefully pronounced movie name of all time). We couldn’t find it near where we lived so we had to drive to the first big theater we could find, which is a 24-plex. Well, knowing myself pretty well I told my friends that I needed a pit stop before I sat through a movie so I would meet them in the theater. Off we went, them to the movie me to the ladies. When I came out I looked up and saw the Meet the Fockers sign and quietly went into the theater. I couldn’t find them anywhere so I quietly sat down and started watching. It didn’t take me too long to figure out that it was the end of the movie. I was really puzzled because I couldn’t imagine there being more than ONE theater showing THAT movie, but I left anyway. Once I walked out I looked up and saw ANOTHER sign for Meet the Fockers so I went in that theater. Well, I couldn’t find my group in there either so I quietly sat down and started watching. This time the movie was about half way through and I got really confused. Right about this time my phone buzzed and my friend was on the line asking “Where are you?”. I told her I was in the theater and asked why the movie was half over. She told me that she was just watching the previews and that I was in the WRONG theater. I could hardly believe they were showing THAT movie in THREE theaters. Finally I had her tell me the NUMBER of the theater so I could find the right one, which I eventually did. We had a big laugh about that after we got over the embarrassment of taking our kids to see what should have been an R rated movie (seriously the kids spent the whole movie under their sweatshirts because they couldn’t watch). And to this day, none of my family or friends let me in multiplexes unattended.

 

Now I am off to make some little cardinals and get ready for the first blocks of Jingle!!!!!

Another reason I love my job

One of the first things I noticed when I moved here way back in 1990 was that people are kinda crazy about the Broncos. Luckily for us we were already crazy for the Broncos so it was a good fit.

Well, the people at work are also a little Bronco crazy, here is what our office looked like when you went in this week.

Here is me and Zuzu, our McCall's mascot dog, dressed in Bronco gear.

I even put a Bronco bow in my frizzy gray hair on Friday

...because we had a Bronco Party, including lunch (Thank you very much !). There was a great picture of it which for some reason or another I couldn't download.If you see it at the top it means I finally had sucess.

Anyway, all that spirit didn't pay off and most of Denver is in a state of mourning...maybe next year lads.

This week

Not too much to report here this week since I spent the weekend packing my kids off to college.

E-MAIL subscription...I added a place for people to subscribe to my posts via e-mail. I have no idea if I did it right but you can sign up on the right side of the blog. If this doesn't work please let me know.