August for Appliqué?

 When I went to Florida last month, I took along an appliqué project that was long-neglected.

I started making the blocks for Blackbird Designs' Gathered Harvest quilt in January of 2018.  The project was a BOM from my local quilt shop, Quilted Owl (sadly, now closed).

Most of the blocks were machine appliquéd with invisible thread, but I stitched this one by hand (no sewing machine at my mom's house).

BTW, the project can be found in the book Fresh Picked in case you're looking for a Blackbird Designs project to make in honor of Barb Adams.

With this block complete, I only need to make four Grapevine Wreath blocks.

Grapevine Wreath by Barb Adams

Shouldn't take too long to make four of these blocks, right? 

You'll notice each block has 20 appliquéd circles.  In contemplating the best method for making all those circles, I considered Karen Kaye Buckley's Perfect Circles and the Applipops tool.  I finally decided the best method for me would be to order some 1 inch circle templates from Paper Pieces and prep all the circles at once.

I also ordered an acrylic circle template which includes a 1/4 inch seam allowance (Paper Pieces).  I used it last night to trace and prep a few circles, but found the 1/4 inch seam allowance to be a little generous for the circle size.  I may be better off just using one of the card stock circle templates to trace the circle shape and cut my own (less generous) seam allowance.

Taking a glance at the calendar, I see we're already half-way through August.  If August is for appliqué, I need to get busy!

Cassandra's Tale

 Apologies if you came here looking for a June mini quilt.  I attempted two different mini quilts this month and flamed out on both of them.  I think maybe the UFOs in my sewing room were making too much noise!

Instead, I can report I have finished assembling the flimsy for Cassandra's Circle - Barbara Brackman's appliqué BOM from 2020.

The BOM started in January with Washington's Plume as a center medallion block.

I managed to keep up with the monthly blocks using a combination of hand appliqué and invisible stitch machine appliqué.

Here are the completed blocks, trimmed and ready for assembly.  The blocks measure 18 inches, so the quilt was already pretty good-sized.

The quilt pattern came with instructions for an appliquéd border treatment.  I swear I purchased enough fabric to make the borders, but when it came time for cutting the fabric I realized I didn't have enough.

Decisions, decisions.  Do I hunt down more background fabric and proceed with the borders or add plain borders and call it a day?  Que background noise from the host of UFOs in the room...

Answer is:  add simple sashing and borders.  

Press carefully and start thinking about how to quilt.  

Now measuring 84 inches by 84 inches, it's going to have lots of quilty memories when it's finally complete!

Cassandra's Circle BOM: Block One

I couldn't resist playing along with Barbara Brackman's 2020 Civil War BOM:  Cassandra's Circle.  

The Civil War history focus for this BOM is the diary of South Carolinian Mary Boykin Chestnut.  

The BOM project itself will be a much larger quilt, including a large center medallion, and an appliquéd border.

I decided to stay with reproduction style fabrics for this year's BOM.  Several years ago, I inadvertently purchased two identical fat quarter collections from Penny Rose Fabrics:  Civil War Times.  I decided to put them to use on this project - I should have plenty of fabric!

The January block, called Washington's Plume, is also the center medallion.  After prepping all the pieces with the freezer paper/starch method, I used invisible stitch machine appliqué to attach the pieces.  As much as I have learned to enjoy hand appliqué, I wanted to get the block finished by the end of the month!

The February block, Mulberry Wreath, was published last week.  I have been contemplating how I can represent the leaves on the wreath using just my fat quarter fabrics, i. e. not adding any green fabric.  Luckily, I just learned a new-to-me appliqué tip from @Red_Alfreda (Mary Jenkins) on Instagram.  

Photocopied fabric

Her tip was to photocopy fabric to help plan how to cut shapes for broderie perse appliqué.  I figured the technique would work for auditioning appliqué shapes, too.

Now I can contemplate which fabric layout I like better before I even cut into my fabric!

Hospital Sketches BOM: Shift Change

I finished up the last Hospital Sketches appliqué block - Star of the East - earlier this month. 

I used machine appliqué on the last block,  even though I re-discovered the joy of hand appliqué on this project.  Sometimes you just need to get things finished, and machine appliqué definitely speeds the process along.

Now that the blocks are finished, I'm a little stuck.  I need some yardage for sashing and/or borders, but I don't have anything suitable in my stash.  The two quilt stores closest to me don't really carry much selection of reproduction or repro-friendly fabrics, so I may be hunting for awhile.

In the meantime, I'll be contemplating Barbara Brackman's newest Civil War-themed appliqué project, Cassandra's Circle.  The latest BOM will have patterns for a much larger quilt - 97 inches - if one completes all the blocks and borders.  I'm not sure I want to undertake a project that large, so I'm not sure if I'll make all the blocks or pick and choose.  Either way, I know I'll enjoy the history lessons presented with each block!

Checking In With a Few Finishes

Wow!  Where did the second half of May and the first week of June get to?  

I have been working on quilting projects, but feeling very haphazard in my use of time.  Sometimes it's hard to stay focused when your sewing time only comes in short spurts.   Summer distractions like gardening and family time seem to keep me away from my fabric therapy!

Since my last blog post, I managed to complete another block in the Gathered Harvest BOM I'm doing via my local quilt shop.  This one is called "Fresh Pineapple".  I'm prepping the appliqué shapes with freezer paper and starch, then using invisible thread to machine appliqué the shapes in place - using a narrow zig-zag stitch.  

Since this block had LOTS of leaves, I tried a new-to-me technique:  I made leaf templates using card stock, then used a running stitch in the seam allowance and gathered the allowance around the template.  Then used starch and a hot iron to press the seam allowance to the back of the leaf shape (i.e. the same idea as the "perfect circle" technique).  It worked like a charm! 

Another finish:  a Rainbow Scrap Challenge project made from pinwheel blocks.  I saw a quilt in this style in a decorating magazine, and since I love nine-patch blocks, I was smitten. 

I searched Barbara Brackman's Encyclopedia of Pieced Quilt Patterns and the Quilt Index - finally discovering the name of the pattern as Flutter Wheel.  I drafted my own pattern and made pinwheel blocks every month in 2017 as part of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.  The original quilt doesn't have an outside border, but since the pinwheels tend to stretch, I decided a solid fabric border would help prevent wobbly edges to the quilt.

Close up of the pattern:  nine patch of pinwheel blocks with pinwheel sashing squares and plain sashing.

Non-quilting, but cooking related

Dear Husband and I are cookbook collectors.  Not only do we enjoy preparing new recipes, we both tend to read cookbooks like novels.  We've purchased many cookbooks for ourselves, and been gifted many more for holidays and anniversaries.  Needless to say, we have quite a cookbook collection.  Some are frequently used favorites and others are more for reference.

A few weeks ago, Dear Husband decided we needed to put the collection to a more frequent use.  He issued a family challenge:  Sunday night dinners must include a recipe from one of the cookbooks in our collection.  Since our oldest Dear Son is currently living at home, that meant 3 rotating Sundays of different cookbook recipes.

Today was my first Sunday dinner as part of the challenge.  I chose a cookbook from way back "in the day".  Long before the Food Network or HGTV, those of us who were interested in food watched PBS for cooking inspiration.  I remember watching The Frugal Gourmet on PBS - I was a SAHM with small children and always interested in new ways of preparing meals.  My inspiration for tonight was a Frugal Gourmet - Jeff Smith - book titled "Our Immigrant Ancestors".  My immigrant ancestors mostly come from the British Isles, but I chose a recipe from somewhere completely different - Thai Beef Salad.  Which, I'm happy to report, was a big success, and will probably enter the rotation as a frequent summertime meal!

A Little More Yellow with More Machine Appliqué

The Rainbow Scrap Challenge colors for April were yellow and gold.  I pulled out some scraps earlier in the month for on-going RSC projects and I wrapped up the month with some reproduction fabric scrappy appliqué.

The basket pattern is from Blackbird Designs - When the Cold Wind Blows.  I've been using the design to practice machine appliqué techniques.  

Inspired by a recent post by Barb (Fun with Barb), I decided to try using 100 weight polyester thread for machine appliqué.  Barb had tried the thread for machine quilting, but I reasoned it might be good for machine appliqué as well.

Barb used Invisifil thread, a product from Wonderfil.  The thread is advertised as "ultra-fine but surprisingly strong".  I ordered some small spools of Invisifil in neutral colors to try on my basket blocks.

For stitching, I used a universal 65/9 needle and 50 wt Aurifil cotton thread in my bobbin.  After I adjusted the tension a tiny bit, my machine was very happy with the new thread.  In this example, the neutral thread worked well with the fabrics and seems to disappear, although the stitching line is fairly easy to see.  What I like about the 100 weight thread is the matte finish.

I ordered my Invisifil thread from Red Rocks Thread, and while I was perusing the website I decided to see if there were any other 100 wt thread options.  I wound up ordering a spool of Superior MicroQuilter 100 wt thread.  The MicroQuilter thread is advertised as being very strong, but still good for invisible stitching. 

The MicroQuilter thread performed just as easily in my machine; I used the same needle and bobbin thread.  The stitching is more obvious in this example, but using a different color of thread might improve the "invisibility".   Again, the matte finish is a plus.  Both of these threads come in a multitude of colors, so getting a close match is possible. 

For comparison, I went back and photographed the stitching on an early basket.  This block was stitched with invisible nylon monofilament thread (YLI brand, but others are available).  The nylon thread is good for recreating the look of hand appliqué, but the thread does have a glossy look.  

OK, now that I've bored you with all my thread experiments, go over to the weekly Rainbow Scrap link-up for some scrappy inspiration!

Machine Appliqué: Trying New Techniques

Back in January, I wrote about trying different machine appliqué techniques this year.  My plan was to use machine appliqué to complete a BOM being offered by my LQS, Quilted Owl.  Since that blog entry, I have been playing with different methods of preparing templates and the fabric appliqué shapes.

I started my experimentation by following a tutorial by Julie Baird, from her website Generations Quilt Patterns.  Her method involves using water soluble stabilizer to create templates for the appliqué shapes.  Julie's instructions are great and I can't do them justice in just a sentence or two, so if you're interested, go check out her technique.  

I had the pattern Julie used for her tutorial - Trick or Treat Baskets from When the Cold Wind Blows, and I went ahead and used that pattern for some practice pieces.  I didn't have any of the water soluble stabilizers recommended in the tutorial, so I tried what I had on hand.  The Pellon stabilizer worked fine for the template preparation technique, but after washing, the appliqué shapes remained very stiff and inflexible.  I'll try this technique again after I've got one of Julie's recommended stabilizers on hand.

Next, I used my "tried and true" method of appliqué prep: freezer paper templates and starch.   After prepping the baskets, I used a tiny bit of fabric glue to hold the pieces in place and commenced to sew.  

I used YLI Invisible Nylon Monofilament thread for the appliqué.  I already had the thread on hand, and it performed beautifully in my sewing machine.  I set my machine for zigzag stitching and adjusted the stitch length to 1 and the stitch width to 1.  It's a very narrow stitch and it mimics hand appliqué very closely.  I used Aurifil 50 weight thread in the bobbin.  I didn't need to adjust my tension, but your mileage may vary.  I tried taking a close-up of the actual stitching, but my camera is lousy for that. 

I heard about another prep method - this one used by quilt designer Kim Diehl.  In her book, Simple Appliqué, she describes several techniques, but the one I tried involved using freezer paper in a different manner.  The freezer paper is glued to the wrong side of the fabric for the appliqué shape, then the sticky side of the freezer paper is used to adhere the seam allowance AND adhere the appliqué shape to the background fabric.  

The appliqué shape is then machine-stitched to the background, using the same narrow zig-zag stitch and invisible thread.  When the stitching is complete, the background fabric is cut open or cut away, and the freezer paper removed (the above picture shows the back of the appliqué after removing the freezer paper).

I didn't dislike this technique, but I found it difficult to remove the freezer paper.  Even though the appliqué stitch was narrow, it still caught the edges of the paper, and it took careful manipulation to remove the paper.  I can see where it might come in handy for large or simple shapes, but it was akward for the baskets.

Now that I've started making the appliqué basket blocks, I can't seem to stop!  I have no plans to make the original quilt from When the Cold Wind Blows - it requires almost 300 blocks - but I will probably keep making these just for fun!

And...with that said, I've finally finished all the freezer paper and starch prep for my first Gathered Harvest block.  I need to make a few more bits of bias tape for the stems, but otherwise, everything is ready to be glued in place and machine appliquéd.  It will be an interesting week for Fabric Therapy!

2018: The Year of Machine Applique?

One of my life-long quilting goals has been to become accomplished at the art of appliqué.  In my early years as a quilter, I did plenty of fused appliqué outlined with machine satin stitch, but the fusibles of 20+ years ago made for stiff and not very snuggly quilts.  I also learned the basics of hand appliqué, but never practiced much.  

Over the past 2 or 3 years, I've challenged myself to learn hand appliqué all over again.  I'm starting to feel somewhat competent at it, but there's still lots of room for improvement.  Besides perfecting the appliqué stitch, there are different techniques to learn for appliqué shape preparation, not to mention learning new ways to coordinate color and fabric styles.

Then there's the time requirement for all that hand-stitching.  I do enjoy the stitching process, but setting aside time for it is always a struggle.  With that in mind, I wondered if machine appliqué would be a way to create traditional-look appliqué in a more timely fashion.

Along came a BOM (Gathered Harvest) at my local quilt store, the Quilted Owl.  I knew a quilt from Blackbird Designs would be a good project to attempt machine appliqué due to the relatively simple appliqué shapes.  

The first block kit became available earlier this month.  I'm using freezer paper and starch to create my appliqué shapes.  So far, I'm just prepping the pieces - there are LOTS of leaves and berries still to prep!  For stitching, I'll be using invisible thread and a very small zig-zag stitch.  I've done a few practice pieces, and the look of the stitching is very much like hand appliqué!

At the same time, I'll be working on a quilt that's been in the UFO pile for far too long!

I started assembling these 3-D or Origami Bow-Tie blocks back in 2012, but they got set aside for some reason or other.  The blocks are from an exchange that happened in 2005, so they've waited long enough!

Fast-forward to yesterday, when I finally started to attach the appliqué shapes to the border!  I had prepped all the shapes in 2012, so now I just need to get everything in place and stitched.  The border is from the cover of Quick Quilts from the Heart by Liz Porter and Marianne Fons.

The shapes have been applied using SoftFuse, which is softer and more flexible than the fusibles from days gone by.  Instead of using the invisible thread technique, these shapes will be stitched using Aurifil 50 weight thread and a machine blanket stitch.  It will take some time to stitch everything, but it's still faster than hand appliqué!