Work in Progress - Winter Apple Needle Turn Appliqué

By Blackbird Designs...  Was started more than two years ago and I'm thrilled to report that I'm nearly done with the 4th quadrant of this awesome Lap quilt!

I just LOVE the fabrics and the pattern of this piece.  I was lucky to have attended an appliqué class taught by a good friend, Debbie Wick.  You can see Debbie's finished Winter Apple here.

Isn't Debbie's piece beautiful?  She had her piece quilted by an amazing long arm quilter locally.  I only hope that mine will finish as beautifully as hers. On this piece I plan to outline stitch all of the appliqué and then have a hand at a little More McTavishing!  Woohoo I'm so excited.

Below is pomegranate #2 on the final quadrant just waiting to be stitched.

Here is quadrant #1 which was finished a LONG time ago and is therefore very wrinkled.

Here is quadrant #2... And there is another one just like it completed as well.

I'm thinking this weekend I'll stitch, stitch, stitch and get this flimsy done!

I am using Mettler #60 fine embroidery thread and some Auriful #50 as well.

I am also using Clover Gold Eye Appliqué Needles (No. 12) 

I mark my darker fabrics with soap stone and use Sew Line or Primsacolor Verithin pencils... Both are awesome!

Thanks for stopping by today! 

Karen

Oh Mr. Postman!

I couldn't be more excited about winning this LARGE box of "Family Tree" scraps from Deb Strain's (for Moda) recent Blog Giveaway at debstrain.blogspot.com.

Imagine my excitement when I opened the box and walaaaa!

"These are a few of my favorite things!" 

Red birds!

Paisley...

and more birds!  

I just couldn't contain myself.  Within minutes I had the fabric out of the box and sorted on the floor!

DH just shaking his head at me {wink}...

I even took a few minutes to sketch down a pillow design using the scraps - complete with quilting ideas!

Now I just need a few minutes of machine time to create!  Woohoo I can't wait!

No sewing today though ... It's off to work I go...  I normally work from home but I'm trekking to campus for some important meetings today...  (This is what pays the mortgage ;)

Thanks Deb Strain for the fantastic giveaway!

Have a great day all!

Hugs,

Karen

No Stitch Regulator - More FMQ for a Friday Finish

Y'all are probably getting tired of my Growth Chart posts - but my sister needed one more chart quilted and its great practice for me so thanks (heart) for your patience!

This chart is for Caylee Felt - my youngest nephews, youngest daughter... 

Caylee is a sweet 'lil peanut.  

I decided to do all over loops with some swirl designs in the lighter spaces... 

I did a bit more quilting on the birds this time.  I love how the yellow bird came out!

The red bird had a little less quilting:

A close up of the red bird

And just a little finishing touch on the inner border... 

I quilted "Caylee"with a heart on either side all the way around the border... It was fun!

I used my Janome Horizon for all of the quilting with Aurifil thread.  

My sister Janet had the whole piece basted with cotton batting and backing when she dropped it off to me.  

No stitch regulator on this machine... So lots of fits and starts... 

Do you FMQ with a machine that is stitch regulated?

Do you have a preference or find that it makes a big difference?  

Anxious to learn more.

Thanks for stopping by today and have a wonderful weekend!

Hugs,

Karen

Ps. Janet is finishing up the binding this morning - I'll add a completed picture soon...

Wool Appliqué - Making Progress

Making progress on my wool applique "Penny Garland" table topper - a Kim Diehl pattern with modifications!

"Really?" 

My friends and sisters would say?  

"You modified it? -- No way!"

teehee...

Here is a picture of the original Kim Diehl quilt as it hung in our classroom:

I decided to NOT use the fusible applique method that Kim taught... I try to avoid glue and fuse if I can... You work a little harder at getting your pieces to stay in place but because this is a primitive topper...who minds if things are skewed a bit?

I also switched up the center penny design -- instead of a 9 patch I decided on "pennies in the round"... I really love the way it came out.

Here are some close up shots:

The wool applique shapes were traced to freezer paper, ironed on the wool, cut out by hand and stitched on with Pearl Cotton and an overhand stitch.

The vine was made with a Clover Bias Tape Maker and appliqued on with a Metler applique thread.

The berry above is one of my favorite wools in the bunch -- given to me by my friend Debbie... isn't that blue and burgundy awesome ?

These two (above and below) are also my favorites !!  Love those reds...

A neat thing about going to a wool applique class with your friends AND an Instructor that LOVE wool is you share small pieces of wool amongst the group -- it is really fun and your piece is very unique when completed!!

Only a few more berries and leaves to stitch and I'll be ready to trim, layer, baste and quilt.   Kim quilted hers with her big stitch method - but I think I'll practice my Free Motion Quilting on this one -- can't keep me away from that !

Thanks for stopping by everyone!

Linking up to my favorite blogs - check them out on my sidebar and stop by and see some WONDERFUL projects !!

Have a wonderful day!
Karen

Quilted Envelope Pillows and Tutorial

I had so much fun quilting these panels and making pillows for my sister Janet and her DH for their 10 year anniversary!  I bought the fabric months and months ago and wasn't sure what to do with it.  The fabric is "Nest" by Valori Wells for Free spirit.  When Janet saw it she immediately said "Oh, those would make beautiful pillows for our living room!"  What a great idea!

The panel started out like this:  In the picture (below) I am testing thread color.  I have a bunch of #Aurifil and some Precencia thread and was able to find colors that worked perfectly!

I used a Hobbs Poly Batting and a cheap cotton backing (it won't show in finished product).
First I quilted around the birds, flowers, branches, and sprays of green. 

Then I stopped and contemplated... Should I keep quilting or should I stop? 

My main concern was that the yellow and blue negative space was very poofy and I was fearful that it would get snagged and/or dirty over time.

So I solicited a few opinions of which only one gave me the answer I was hoping for.  

I emailed Wendy Sheppard author of Ivory Spring Blog and Annie's Learn to Machine Quilt class and she suggested McTavishing the negative space.

Oh boy!

I've never done that!  Thankfully Wendy has a wonderful "Thread Talk" on the topic. If you're at all interested in McTavishing on your home machine you should check out all of Wendy's Thread Talk posts!

I read and re-read the Thread Talk, pulled out one of the panels that was a short cut, and practiced (after I practiced on paper and gained some confidence that I could do this).  

McTavishing is very forgiving and

*** 

I love, love, love the way the #Aurifil Mako Cotton 50Wt thread allows me to quilt densely, with lots of backtracking, and NO thread buildup!!   Aurifil is my "go to" thread and it worked perfectly for the McTavishing <3  ***

Once I completed one of the panels I couldn't wait to see what it would look like as a pillow. 

I cut two pieces of backing the same size as the panel...

I folded, pressed and top stitched one end of each of the backing pieces.   Use a LARGE 1+ inch fold twice - and be sure to top stitch near the top and bottom of the fold.

I then layered the 2 backing pieces with the front (quilted) panel with right sides together.

You can see (above) that both backing pieces are right side down to the quilted top.  The size of backing piece I cut will make a large envelope backing so there is no seeing the inside of my quilted top piece.

Once you have layered and pinned the two backing pieces and the quilted top, then stitch the layers together with a normal 1/4 inch seam allowance.  No need to leave any opening, the envelope back will allow you to turn the piece right side out !!

After stitching and before turning right side out, be sure to trim the corner fabric away without cutting through the stitching.

Now, turn right side out and push out those corners !!  

Stuff with a pre-made pillow form and you are done !!   I love these pillows and wish they matched my decor.... ; )

I want to give special thanks to Wendy Sheppard (of Ivory Spring Blog) for encouraging me to quilt the negative space with a McTavishing approach and for providing the tutorials (Thread Talk) to help it happen. Thank you Wendy!

Hope you've all enjoyed this really lengthy post -- thanks for stopping by today !

To see more images of the quilted envelope pillows visit this post written in Oct, 2014 for the Bloggers Quilt Festival.

Hugs,
Karen

PS Linking up to all my favorite blogs... Quilt Story Fabric Tuesday, Freemotion by the River, Esther's Blog, Richard and Tanya's Link a finish Friday and Leah Days Freemotion Friday!  

Check them all out on my sidebar !  Awesome projects to see !!

Red Bird Growth Chart for Gramma's House

I completed the quilting on the Red Bird Growth Chart this week.  You can see a few more of my Quilted Growth Charts here!.  I tried a new pattern with swirls and circles that I learned from Angela Walters Craftsy Quilting class.  Although I have a flush top table for my Janome Horizon I really need a larger space.  The quilt gets hung up on the edges :(  and my quilting is a little wonky :(

I have a little more quilting to do on the red bird and the ground under his feet but wanted to get it hung before the grandchildren arrived this weekend.

I love how the border worked out!

Fun fun quilting the yellow bird!  Love his tail feathers!

I used Aurifil Thread and just love how it quilted.  I did not have any tension issues or breaks! 

Thanks for stopping by.

Hugs,

Karen

Quilting Ideas?

Hi all, I'm preparing to quilt another SuseBee Growth chart tonight.

 I'm wondering if I should quilt it the same way I did the last Red Bird Growth Chart...

What do you think?

Have a blessed day.

Karen