Throwback Thursday Redbird Christmas Pillow 2013

Greetings all and happy week after Thanksgiving!!

We have much to be Thankful for in our family -- aunts, uncles, brothers, sisters, children and grandchildren included.
As our parents watch over us from heaven, we continue to nourish the relationships we have with one another on earth.
I hope you enjoyed your Thanksgiving too!!

Today I want to highlight an old favorite tutorial - one that comes together quickly using 2.5" fabric strips and a bit of wool.

Remember the free tutorial for the
*** Redbird Christmas ***
envelope pillow?
It's the perfect accent for your holiday decor!

Redbird Christmas was based on a free design and tutorial that I shared on the Moda Bake Shop, the Family Tree Quilted Envelope pillow.
Family Tree was my first tutorial for the Bake Shop and jump started my designing career.
I'm very thankful to the the Moda Bake Shop for taking a chance on me and allowing me to share what I love through their awesome program.

You can peruse all of my free patterns and tutorials by clicking here.

The Redbird Christmas pillow design is holiday oriented but generic enough to display after Christmas.
It includes a cotton background with a tree and bird wool applique focal point and a log cabin style block to finish out the pillow front.
I added a little extra batting behind the bird and the tree to make them pop!

It was quilted free motion and top stitched on my domestic machine using Aurifil 50Wt Mako Cotton thread.
***
I LOVE Aurifil thread for quilting!!

When I created the Family Tree and Redbird Christmas pillows I had yet to try Aurifil 12Wt cotton thread so I used another brand of embroidery floss for the wool applique.
If I were to make them again today, I would be sure to dig into my Auri-Stash and use Aurifil 12Wt thread.  
The Aurifil 12Wt works perfectly for wool applique and for beautiful top stitching!

Instead of using 2.5" strips for the back of the pillow, the Redbird Christmas pillow has a two piece envelope back.   The envelope works perfect to switch pillow covers from one season to the next.

If you're interested in making Redbird Christmas you can see the original Moda Bake Shop Recipe by clicking here.   

The tutorial is available as a PDF download at the end of the Bake Shop post.

If you're interested, you can read the Family Tree excitement and announcement on my blog by clicking here.

To convert the Family Tree tutorial into the Redbird Christmas pillow, just download the Redbird Christmas tree and bird template by clicking here and follow the original tutorial for the Family Tree pillow.

You can read the original blog announcement for Redbird Christmas (Dec 2013) by clicking here.

I hope you enjoy this featured Throwback Thursday Tutorial -- Stay tuned for some fun upcoming announcements!

I leave you with a Keuka Lake Sunset from Sept, 2015

Any day is a good day at the lake.

Many thanks for stopping by and do let me know if you have any questions or if you enjoyed this Throwback Thursday Tutorial!  

Blessings,

Karen

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Meet and Greet - National Quilting Weekend - Aurifil Giveaway!

Hello friends and welcome to
Meet and Greet Stitchers Around the World blog hop!   Many thanks to Mdm Samm @ Sew We Stitch for hosting this lovely event.  To see a complete list of participants, drool over some beautiful stitching, and checkout the blogging giveaways, click the button below.  

This first day of Spring AND start of the 2015 National Quilting Weekend I'm excited to share a #slowstitching post AND a fantastic giveaway including Aurifil thread and my latest Wooly Wren pattern.

If you're a current follower, you know that I LOVE to use Aurifil 50Wt Cotton thread for dense machine quilting -- but today I'll share projects that work perfectly with 6 strand AuriFloss and Aurifil 12Wt and 28Wt Mercerized cotton threads. 

I just LOVE to hand stitch with Aurifil floss and thread.  

Image Courtesy Aurifil.com

For those of you that are new to my blog, Welcome!   I'm Karen Miller, chief cook, bottle washer,  blogger, designer, editor, pattern maker, and welcome committee for Karen's Quilts, Crows and Cardinals blog and Redbird Quit Co.

I've sewn for most of my life but became obsessed with quilting about 8 years ago when my sister Janet invited me to join her in a $1 block of the month at a Local Quilt Shop. So thankful to have my sister as my mentor, cheerleader and support system while I learned the art of quilting.

Although I enjoyed learning to piece, I really started having fun when I took my first applique class from the very talented Sharon Stroud in Upstate NY.  Oh My - I fell in love with needle turn applique!!

This is my first applique project, "Dancing Flowers", a Sharon Stroud design that includes needle-turn applique, reverse applique, ruched flowers, berries, bias stems - just all sorts of applique fun!  What a great learning adventure with a wonderfully skilled and patient teacher.

Once I realized how much I loved applique, I branched out and took two different Wool Applique classes from the very talented Debbie Wick.

This is my version of "Folk Art Melody" - design by Lori Smith - a wool on wool wall quilt.

It was fun to customize this block to incorporate a Redbird.   Love this!

 

When you're hand stitching wool applique, 1 strand of Aurifil 12 Wt Cotton thread works perfectly to for the blanket or overhand stitch.  The mercerized cotton has a pretty sheen to it and stitches without knotting or twisting.    It's really FUN!!

My 2nd Wool applique class and quilt was "Flower Baskets" by Wooden Spool Designs.  Here is one of the sweet blocks of this pretty wall hanging -- there were 6 blocks in all.

You can see more Folk Art Melody and Flower Baskets by clicking here.

 

One more wool applique class, this time from the designer herself, Kim Diehl.   This is my revised version of Kim's "Penny Garland" pattern.  We revised the center from a 9 patch to a circular design - I love the way it came out.

Kim came to Material Rewards in Upstate NY and a few of us traveled to attend her trunk show (swoon) and Penny Garland class... You can find the Penny Garland pattern published in Kim's latest book "Simple Appeal". Of all the wool applique projects I've completed, this one is my favorite -- well, at least so far ;)

I love the texture of wool applique with dense quilting around it. I used wool batting on this piece and, once quilted, makes the wool applique just POP.   You can read more about Penny Garland Revised by clicking here.

Penny Garland is another great project where you can use 2 or 3 strands of Aurifloss, 2 strands of Aurifil 28Wt Cotton or 1 strand of Aurifil 12 Wt Cotton.  I've done some comparison of Aurifil 12Wt cotton with other 12Wt embroidery thread and found the Aurifil to stitch with less twists and knots.  I also just LOVE the sheen that the Aurifil cotton has -- it looks beautiful on my wool applique.

In 2012 I started Karen's Quilts, Crows and Cardinals blog and in 2014 Redbird Quilt Co where I released my first wool applique pattern, Spring Basket:

Spring Basket is an 11" x 13" half-moon WOOL on Cotton Mini-Quilt.  It is so much fun to work-up because you don't need to turn-under wool that is felted or fulled - just cut and sew!!    It uses very simple embroidery stitches and, with the addition of a little wren, looks just so sweet on an entrance or end table.  I really enjoyed using both AuriFloss and Aurifil 28 Wt Cotton on this piece.  Sew much fun!

Spring Basket can be stitched on a dark background with Big Stitch quilting (above). or you can use a background that is lighter and brighter and with dense machine quilting... Here's a sample:

You guessed it... Aurifil Mako Cotton 50 Wt thread for dense machine quilting.  Minimal buildup, breaks, and lint - love that thread!! 

You can see other completed Spring Basket quilts on this Pinterest board.   

You can find Spring Basket for sale in PDF form at my Craftsy Store -- or locally, in printed form, at Quilters Corner in Ithaca, NY.

Stay tuned for another Wool Applique design by Redbird Quilt Co -- Wooly Wren -- on Craftsy soon!

I really enjoy the process of designing and hand stitching wool on cotton quilts.   I also LOVE sharing detailed tutorials with the quilting community (See my Free Moda Bake Shop Recipes by clicking here -- and be sure to check out the "My Tutorials" tab my blog header). 

My latest Moda Bake Shop recipe "Chevron with a Twist" shows you how to make a Faux Ruched flower with just a few gathering and tack stitches.... you can see that recipe here:

Finally -- I not only love to hand stitch, but I consider myself a BIG advocate of teaching others to Free Motion Quilt on their domestic machines. 

Be sure to Read my last blog post -- where I demonstrate how to use The QP Curved Templates to stitch curved crosshatching on your domestic machine! 

Note:  On that blog post, there is an Active Giveaway for a complete set of QP Curved Templates, courtesy Linda Hrcka of the Quilted Pineapple.  

Click -->  The QP Curve Template Giveaway Open through midnight 3/28/15.

Whew!!  Now that was a bunch of information - hopefully some of it was helpful and/or inspirational to you. 

Since it is International Quilting Weekend we need to celebrate!!

The wonderfully generous Aurifil thread company donated a beautiful 12 spool thread collection for one lucky winner.   This collection of Bari J Splendor 1920 12 Weight threads are perfect for cross stitch, embroidery or any wool applique project!!    These 12 large spools will be a wonderful addition to someone's stitching stash.   Just look at those colors, aren't they beautiful ??

To read more about the very talented Bari J Ackerman click here.

 

To go along with this lovely set of threads, the same winner will receive a PDF version of my soon to be released pattern "Wooly Wren".  The BariJ threads will work perfectly with this spring wall hanging.

 

 The Giveaway:

This giveaway will remain open until midnight on the last day of 

National Quilting Month

March 31st, 2015

For one entry:

I would love for you to follow me on at least one of my social media outlets:

Facebook 

Instagram 

Twitter

Pinterest

Blog:  Karen's Quilts, Crows and Cardinals

Patterns: Redbird Quilt Co Craftsy Store

Leave a comment below letting me know which one you follow - if you follow more than one - let me know that in the same comment.  (Don't forget your email address).

For a 2nd chance to win - lets show our Giveaway Sponsor some thanks!

Jump over to the Aurifil Facebook page or Twitter account and share the love - tell them Redbird Quilt Co sent you -- If you don't have one of those accounts, consider following Aurifil's blog here.

Be sure to leave me a comment and let me know what you did to gain that 2nd chance (Don't forget your email)

If you haven't already, be sure to get in on the QP Curve Templates Giveaway - click => here

That's it -- Again I want to thank Mdm Samm for the awesome blog hop and I do hope everyone has  fun getting to know all the talented stitchers that participated - click button below for the list!

Have a great stitching weekend all -- and many thanks for stopping by

Hugs,

Karen

Welcome Autumn - Finishes - A Giveaway!

Here in the Northern Hemisphere it's officially Fall! 

Quoting the Farmers Almanac:  "The autumnal equinox brings the fall season to the Northern Hemisphere on September 22 at 10:29 P.M. EDT. 

The word equinox comes from the Latin words for "equal night."   The fall and spring equinoxes are the only days of the year in which the Sun crosses the celestial equator.

From here on out, the temperatures begin to drop and the days start to get shorter than the nights."

I know what that means to me -- more sewing!  Does it mean the same to you?

Soon the backyard trees will be showing these beautiful colors...  I can't wait!

With some fall lectures and trunk shows at a few local guilds I've been busy getting some finishing touches on a few old quilts.

Here is my "Milkbone" quilt before it was bound....  It was quilted "McTavish" style using #Aurifil Mako Cotton 50Wt thread -- gosh that thread works wonderfully for dense machine quilting!  No breaks, little lint and the backtracks are almost invisible!! 

 

And here are a couple of "after" shots...

and

 

It sure makes a beautiful table mat.   You can read more about "Milkbone" by clicking here and here.

The other piece I finished is a WAY OLD work in Progress -- Family Estate.  Family Estate is a pattern in the Laundry Basket Quilts book "Friendship Strips and Scraps".  

 

This little quilt was appliqued and pieced months before I quilted it on my domestic machine.  I used Aurifil Mako Cotton 50 Wt Thread for the needle turn applique, the piecing, AND the quilting.  I love the way it turned out!

To finish it up, I needed to complete the window curtains, the door panels and the door knob.  I used wonderful #Aurifil Mako Cotton 12Wt thread to hand stitch the curtain ruffle (french knots) and the same weight Aurifil thread to machine stitch the panels around the door!   12Wt, 28Wt, 50Wt thread -- the Aurifil never lets me down! 

You can read more about my Family Estate quilt by clicking here.  Many thanks to my friend Debbie Wick for the awesome door knob button.  Isn't it sweet ?

One more thing to celebrate and then we'll get to the giveaway. 

It's been almost a year since my first recipe was published on the Moda Bake Shop -- Can you believe it ?  In October, 2013 I created my first design and tutorial for the "Family Tree Quilted Envelope Pillow".   You'll find the free tutorial and PDF download by clicking here.

It was one of the most fun and enlightening steps I've ever taken in my Quilting career.  Design, applique, piece, quilt, write the tutorial, and publish on the Moda Bake Shop.  It was truly an honor!

So what better way to celebrate this accomplishment than a giveaway of the Family Tree scraps that have been sitting around the sewing room for nearly a year!

One lucky reader will win this pile of scraps, mostly strips, of Family Tree by Deb Strain for Moda.  If you're interested in making the pillow - perfect -- these scraps will go a long way to get you there.  They would also be beautiful for a simple strip runner for Fall (which is why I kept 'em).  Whatever the case, it would be fantastic to see someone putting them to good use!

If an international winner is chosen, instead of shipping you scraps I'll email you a PDF copy of my Spring Basket pattern.

To enter the giveaway leave me a comment letting me know if you are a follower (old or new).

If you follow me on other social media outlets -- let me know that in a comment too!

Did you know I recently started using Instagram ?  You can find me there at RedbirdQuiltCo.   I think I only have two followers... my granddaughter and my niece... lol.  If you start following me on Instagram leave me a comment and let me know.

Get another entry if you share this giveaway with your friends (Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, Blogger, Twitter).   Comment and let me know.

My giveaway will end this Sunday, September 28th at 9pm EST. 

One other thing... there is an awesome Quilt Giveaway going on until midnight Tuesday at my friend Angie's blog.  Click here before Tuesday at midnight to enter!

Have a fantastic week all - finishing up some more tutorials and fun projects -- will share soon!
Hugs,
Karen

Fall Is Coming, Are YOU Ready To Sew? Join Me At Quilters Corner, Ithaca, NY

Does life fly by at the speed of light for you?

It does for me!!  I've been running in circles trying to keep up with life lately -- some good things and some very sad things -- but this evening I sat down and outlined all of the things that are going on in the near future and thought: "How did I get here?" and "Why haven't I told anyone?"

Well,  now I'm sharing with you my excitement about being an instructor at Quilters Corner in Ithaca, NY, for my 2nd semester. 

In the fall semester I'm going to be teaching three fun Projects and hosting one Open Studio (where you can get help on any of my projects).  

The first class is "Redbird and Berries", created for the Moda Bake Shop.  I know I've talked about this Mini Quilt 1000 times before, but I'm really excited to be teaching it locally and had to share the image "one more time".  

Since this recipe was posted on the Moda Bake Shop, (Jan 24th, 2014), there have been nearly 30,000 views on their blog.  WOW -- that just blows my mind!  Will someone pinch me?

I wish I could tell you how many times the PDF has been downloaded from the Bake Shop, but I don't know.

What I do know is that since the tutorial in PDF format has been available in my Craftsy Pattern Store (April, 2014), it has been downloaded almost 3,000 times!   On average about 18 downloads per day!

For some that may seem like nothing -- but for this country girl on a dirt road to paradise -- it's really awesome!!

So....  the point of the story is:

If you live within driving distance to Quilters Corner in Ithaca, NY -- I would LOVE to have you join me for the Redbird and Berries class on Wednesday, September 10th and September 24th from 6pm to 9pm each night.

We will be covering some basic needle turn applique (for the Redbird -- unless you want to do him in WOOL - I can share a quick lesson in that too) and we'll also cover bias stems, perfect circle berries, and quilting options for your beautiful new wall hanging. 

Quilters Corners is a full service quilt shop that offers more than 75 classes per semester!  That is a fantastic lineup of classes.  You can peruse the list on their website, or by viewing their latest Newsletter here.

You can see the latest Redbird Quilt Co. Facebook post about the Class here.

You can jump over to Quilters Corner Website and enroll here.

Before you enroll, think about doing so with a friend.  If you enroll with a friend, you'll save 20% on Class Fees -- that is a great deal.

I'll share more upcoming class info in another post, but if you can't wait for that post you can see all of my Fall Semester classes at Quilters Corner by clicking here.

Have a blessed day everyone and thanks so much for your continued support!

Hugs,
Karen

2014 Quilts, Vines & Finger Lakes Wines Show

Greetings quilting family -- last week I promised to share images from our local quilt show "Quilts, Vines & Finger Lakes Wines" hosted by O'Susannah's Quilts and Gifts in Watkins Glen NY.

There were so many beautiful quilts that I couldn't possibly photograph all of them -- but I did gather a few of the most awesome applique and/or free motion quilted entries at the show.  I've included a few of my favorite entries below and all of the images can be seen by clicking here. 

First up: "Roses in the Vineyard" by Lynn Ink - Lynn hand stitched appx 700 grapes on this 16" mini and she also hand quilted it.  What wonderful talent. See more images here. 

"Roses in the Vineyard" by Lynn Ink

Next, "Belva's Fat Quarters Appliqued" was done by a friend and local guild member, Joan Thorpe - - and was inspired by two Kim Diehl patterns.   Joan created, stitched, and machine quilted (on her domestic) this little number -- you can see more images of it here.

"Belva's Fat Quarters Appliqued" by Joan Thorpe

The variety of quilts in the show was amazing -- some traditional, some modern, many applique and antique -- here is another one I just love...

This beauty was cross stitched and quilted by Vivian Pritts and entered into the show by her daughter-in-law Allison.   I seem to be drawn to cross stitched quilts -- you can see more images by clicking here.

In some cases the overhead lighting at the Community Center didn't get along well with my IPAD and I missed getting images of some fabulous quilts -- kudos to all the entrants in the show!!

I did take about 45 pictures of quilts at the show -- you can see all of them in this Post by Redbird Quilt Co.  on Facebook.  You don't need a Facebook account to view it, and please feel free to share  with your quilting friends -- you never know when inspiration will hit! 

If you would like to see my entries in the Quilt Show, and some lovely quilts from the 2013 show -- visit this post.

Finally, I've been trying to follow a suggestion by Mark Lipinski and the Slow Stitching Movement to keep Inspiration flowing, so, after I left the QUILT SHOW on Sunday, I broke out of my habitual route home and took a new path.  Check out the beautiful scenery I found on this route just North of Watkins Glen, NY.  

 

If you're interested, read more of Mark's suggestions to break out of your inspiration slump here.

Let me know if you enjoy posts like this.. I always enjoy looking at quilts -- do you?

Stay tuned for my entry in the "Around the World Blog Hop" on Monday, and some other fun announcements next week.

Have a blessed day all!
Hugs,
Karen

McTavish Review Winner!

Many thanks to all that participated in the Book Review and Giveaway of Karen McTavish's "Mastering the Art of McTavishing - 2nd Edition - Expanded and Revised" book !

Your feedback and excitement about learning to "McTavish" was amazingly uplifting and encouraging.

Machine quilting is one of my favorite things to do -- and this stitch is so very forgiving -- even if you "think" you can't do it I would love for you to give it a try.

The best tip I would share would be to use a thread that matches your background color, and that is  very fine, so that your backtracking and mistakes are nearly invisible.

Next, use the same color thread in the top and bobbin so that slight variations in tension do not show.

I always turn to Aurifil Mako Cotton 50wt thread for my top and bobbin.  Quilts like a dream!

Use a panel as a practice piece -- if you like it when you're done -- turn it into a wall hanging or Envelope Pillow (as shown below -- see the tutorial here). 

Dense McTavishing makes applique pop -- so it's an awesome background filler on applique quilts.  You can see before and after shots of Winter Apple (by Blackbird Designs) here.

And the movement that McTavishing provides in a quilt cannot be topped.  I love the way it worked out on my Redbird and Berries Mini Quilt -- a free recipe you can download from the Moda Bake Shop (click here).

So don't be shy about giving McTavishing a try -- it's versatile, forgiving, fun and just beautiful!

Now -- on to the winner of the book....   Rafflecopter chose the winner randomly and came up with

 

Marly !!  Congratulations Marly - I've sent you an email and will ship your book and DVDs out as soon as I hear from you.

** Many thanks to Karen McTavish and On-Word Bound Books for providing a copy of Karen's new book to review and giveaway **

You can order your copy of the book at On-Word Bound Books by clicking here.

Thanks again all for participating -- stay tuned for another upcoming giveaway and more fun!

Have a wonderful week.

Karen