my sewing room, its about 13' x 18'....you asked

A Block! A Block!

I can't believe it, I've actually cut a block out, and I even started to stitch it last night. I'm pretty happy with the colours. I haven't picked the whole quilt out, I never do that. I just like to see where things develop.
Don't worry, there's other colours going over the top of that big dark vase, it needs breaking up.

I've decided that I'm going to have a designing holiday over the Christmas break and let myself play with all the half started things I want to play with, like this quilt and a few others I've had sitting around for a while, so you should be hearing from me a little more often after December 15!

If anyone is still interested in my tweezer scissors that I use for applique, I managed to source some in Houston and they are being delivered. I don't know how much yet, but I think about $12. If you're interested just send me an email!

my Kaffe stash for Roseville Album quilt

Pat's making progress

I'm making progress! took some time to fuse the next border...

the border after has to be altered since I have a certain size for the finished quilt...

Very happy with how it's coming along!

Pat Sloan
http://www.patsloan.typepad.com

Fabrics chosen

As I am only starting in 2011, January, nothing is sure. But one thing is: I am doing this wonderful quilt on black. I love the way colours 'pop' on black. Here is a picture of the fabrics I am going to work with. I might add something, I might skip something, but probably this is it!

Finally!

Hi! This is my first post but I have been enjoying this blog for several months. I started doing the Hearts and Flowers quilt and finally finished the center block. I am having a bit of trouble getting the scallops to line up but it has been fun quilt so far.

Hi fellow addicts,

Had a great shopping spree in the States and found some wonderful Kaffee fabric. Can't wait to get started on this fantastic quilt. I'll have to slow down a bit because I managed to break my foot the day after coming home, fell down 2 steps! And since all my sewing stuff is upstairs, including the computer I'll have to take it easy. I love the blue cloudy fabric that I bought for my background material. Wish we luck and hopefully Ill be able to get started soon.

my first Roseville Album square....I love this quilt....I have enjoyed looking at everyone's post..

More Roseville Blocks

I finished my last Roseville block and have the center sewn together.
I started the top panel and the 4 trees.
Having so much fun and my sewing room looks like a bright bomb went off.

The formal " Baltimore"

This is my first " Baltimore" that I made very early in my quilting journey, it was the 3rd quilt I made after doing a beginner's class. I must have been crazy when I started this quilt. Most of the blocks were from Elly's " Spoken Without A Word" and there are 2 - Row 1, 2nd block and Row 5, 2nd block that I drew from a photo of a quilt in a book ( can't remember which)

This was in the days when applique fabric was scarce, the pinks were taken from a Hawaiian print and I found a tied dye shirt which I cut up. There are a lot of hand quilting in this quilt, 22 reels worth and I do remember that quantity as I've never done it again since! I also did a bit of trapunto work and that was rather fun.

Wished I had the stash I have now when I was making this quilt, the colours would have been better. Still, I did learn a lot of needleturn applique from Elly's book. Kim McL

photo of Mary Mannakee quilt

This is the Mary Mannakee quilt which I made a number of years ago. I probably enjoyed working on this one more than the formal Baltimore I did at the beginning of my quilting journey. The background is shirting fabric. I like this naive style. The pattern is available from the DAR Museum but I did change 3 blocks with the ones I've drawn up, the top left hand corner, 4th block in 2nd row and 3rd block 4th row ( reading from left to right) Loooved making this quilt. Kim McL

Fabric Question

A couple people have asked which fabric is used for the purple flowers in this:

 

The name of the fabric is Petal Power by Moda

  

This is what a larger piece looks like.  Unfortunately, I bought it around 2006. I've looked online for it, but the only site I've found that has it is this one: http://www.quiltcorner.nl/view.php?catid=255 (hopefully that will work) Since it's not in English, I don't know if it is still for sale but the fabric seems the same though in different colors.

I'd love to have it in a bright pink if anyone finds some!

New member introduction

Hi there, I've been following this blog for some time now and I couldn't resist buying the latest pattern from Kim. Last week it arrived in the mail and now I am adding fabrics to my stash to have enough to get started by January 2011. I look forward to share this journey with you!

I am Joke, short for Johanna, from The Netherlands, wife of a loving husband, mother of three (almost) grown-ups (25, 18 and 16 y.o.) , almost fulltime schoollibrarian. I have been stitching for quite some years and now I am trying to quilt. Until now I like applique the most.

For more information, please visit my blog.

Update of my progress..

Well all the small blocks are done and now on to the last eight larger blocks, it is now to big for the design wall.

I have very happy with it.

cheers
Christine

I get by with a

little help from my friends.  Dear Glorious Applique blog authors, members, followers, family, friends, visitors, lurkers, etc...  I am pleased to announce that Janet, from quiltsallot blog fame, has willingly accept my offer and is going to lend me a hand.  Can I tell you just how thankful I am?!?!?!  And, I know you will be too!  ; )

My personal life is running on a new (and hectic!) course.  I can not give the necessary time to my own sewing endeavors, let alone this amazing blog. So...sew, my friend and stitching sister, Janet, will join me as a GA blog administrator.  Kim and Liza are on board with this change too.  I hope you all will join me in welcoming Janet aboard!!!

I do not know how or if adding a blog administrator will affect the Glorious Applique blog.  I do know you all have been very kind and patient with me as I sometimes have floundered about or been slow to respond.  Your continued support, kindness and creativity is very truly appreciated.

WELCOME, Janet, and a most sincere and heartfelt THANK YOU!!!
: )
Piecefully, Pam  

Lollipop Block Number Five

I finally finished another block, we went on a retreat to Shipshewana and I'm wondering how many women there will now be buying Kaffe Fasset fabrics. Every block seems like an individual adventure. It is just so much fun and so happy.

We went to a couple of fabric shops in town, purchase some more Kaffe fabrics for future projects.

I also had to laugh, I even bought a pair of shoes that are called lollipops. I thought they were perfect for the lollipop girl.


Happy stitching, The Lollipop Girl

My latest blocks

I have been busy appliqueing and enjoying working with all of the brighter fabrics.
Getting ready to start another panel.
I needleturn applique and use my needle to turn under the fabric. I don't finger press or baste the turn under, my needle does the work. I do trace some of my templates using my light table
and also use the light table for placement which I pin in place. Don't use glue.
When I do use a template I trace around it with a white gel pen using my sandpaper board.

Kim, love My Garden especially the pink bird bath fountain.

My Garden path

I was lucky enough to nab an advance copy of  The Garden from GloriousColor,  and have gone a little different route with it.   I thought you might like to see a few of my early blocks,  just thrown up on my wall for the moment.   They will have a checkerboard sashing later on.

I'm actually doing machine applique with the blind hem stitch using mono on top and a matching thread in the bobbin (in case it shows up a tad).   I am doing a freezer paper underneath and am gluing with Rubber Cement (Sharon Pederson's technique) which works so much better than the traditional glue stick.  Then a quick stitching and voila.

Front Basting?....I'm Hooked!

Not entirely what applique planet I have been living on, I had never heard of back basting let alone front basting!! When Liza posted about her front basting method here, and then Gay posted a link showing Liza actually stitching this method here, I just had to give it a go for myself. Not one to shrink from a challenge I thought I would try it out on my second coral tree!!!

Up until now I had always been a freezer paper, finger press and pin girl. I had already cut out the freezer paper for this tree and drawn around the freezer paper for the outline. I'm not sure how Liza draws her outline onto her fabric, but next time I will put the pattern over my lightbox, then place the fabric over that, then draw around the outline, thus skipping the freezer paper altogether. (Any hints Liza?)

Once the outline is drawn, pin the shape to the background fabric (I didn't need many pins to hold it in place)...

(Once again with this complicated coral tree shape I am only cutting around the fabric as I get to it, to help avoid very frayed edges. With most shapes I would simply cut around the entire shape in one go, then pin and stitch it onto the background.)

Once the shape was pinned to the background, I used my freemotion (darning) foot to stitch over the drawn line. The one thing you have to be careful about with the freemotion method is that your stitches don't become too small or they will be very hard to unpick!!!

 Here is the coral tree front basted (outline stitched) and ready to be appliqued....

To begin appliqueing simply unpick a few outline stitches...as Liza explained the fabric now has a memory of where the outline stitch was, so when you turn the edge under with your needle the fabric turns under very naturally and easily. If you click on these photo's they will enlarge to see closer detail.

Once you have appliqued around to the next lot of outline stitches, simply unpick a few more and continue with the needleturn applique. I found as I unpicked the outline stitches that it really helped to pull the thread left hanging loose on the back (bobbin thread) through to the front and cut off both the outline stitch threads. This avoids having the back thread getting tangled up in your applique stitches.

And that is it! I truly hope I haven't confused you further, I am not the best at explaining details, which is why I try and put in a heap of step-by-step photos!!!

One thing I do know is that I am truly hooked by this front basting method and will definitely be stitching this way from now on....thank you Liza.

 

Cathy xo

Cabbage Quilts

May I ask a question?

What is your favorite applique method? Needleturn, starch, glue stick, etc by hand? Or is it turned edge, raw edge, etc by machine? I'm still saving my pennies to buy my background. I hope people are still doing Kim's projects and this blog is still active when I finally get to start.
.

Mariners Compass on APC cover

Hi everyone,

My name is Robyn.

Apparently, on this blog, there has been some recent interest in my Mariners Compass Quilt which was on the cover of Australian Patchwork and Quilting Magazine in December 2008. After publication of the magazine, I was surprised at the numerous emails I received from Australia, New Zealand and other countries requesting information about the pattern, but Kim had not published it.

I made this quilt in a class with Kim using reproduction fabrics for the first time, forcing me out of my comfort zone. As is typical of Kim's quilts, this pattern was quite a challenge.

The quilt top is entirely hand pieced and the hexagonal medallions and scallops were mostly fussy-cut. They were then sewn over cardboard and appliquéd onto the background fabric.

The most challenging parts of the quilt were the large borders, where all the flowers were reverse appliquéd. I really enjoyed this technique as it was something quite new for me.

The quilt was commercially quilted by my friend, Kay Fernihough at Quilts on Q.

Every so often when making a quilt, I don't want it to be finished as I am enjoying the journey so much and this was one of those quilts.

My Block 1

No excuses for it but sheer laziness in posting the pictures of my block or blocks I should say I'm up to block 5 but because i use glue baste it i like to wash the completed blocks separately and rid the blocks of all the glue before i iron and cut them into the correct size. I have only washed one block so far see its laziness.

The background fabric i love but can be a bit challenging at times so i have to use really bright colours as the pretty one just sink into the background. I love the basket on this one, mind you this block was finished the first 2 days of receiving the kit.

I am ordering the Flower Garden quilt kit next fortnight my partner is buying it for my birthday and I'm going to use the mint spots for this one can't wait.

You have all been so busy I'm just loving whats coming out of this blog.

Must dash.

Adele in Oz

Second Roseville Block

Finally finished my second block, after doing a bit of unstitching.  (I left off the center stem, which I didn't realize until near the end, of course.)  One change I made on the block is on the turquoise flower at the top.  My center seemed to disappear, so I added another slightly larger orange circle behind it.

I'm enjoying working on the Roseville blocks so much (dare I say addicted), that I'm struggling to face the fact that Christmas, Thanksgiving, and my family are all coming soon. And looking around my house at what needs to be done, this is likely the last real stitching progress I'll make for awhile. I have selected fabrics for 2 more blocks, with the hope that I can squeeze in a few stitches...

All Things Kim

Would you like to learn more about Kim, our quilt design star? I found a delightful interview on the Alliance for American Quilts website, made at the Houston Quilt Festival in 2002. It's a transcription, and there are some parts missing, but I enjoyed it a lot. The address is http://www.allianceforamericanquilts.org/qsos/interview.php?pbd=qsos-a0a2j0-a
Just if your fingers are getting sore, and you need a break, of course.

One border to go

I've been away for a few weeks holiday and did find some time to stitch all the colorful bits onto the third border for Stars and Sprigs. Once home, I wasted no time in making another couple of stars and getting it all attached. A glorious moment for sure but I do have to say that my photos aren't too good with it being a grey day here.

 I'm pretty sure I can get the top all done before Christmas and then start thinking about the quilting stage.
Great news too, I'm looking forward to Kim's class for the Flower Garden quilt in February. How exciting!!

I noticed awhile back that someone was wondering how we can link individual's posts together so we can see progress. I thought that was a great idea so I went back on all my posts and clicked on edit then added my name to the lables for post options. Now if you click on my name at the bottom of each post, they all come up grouped together. It's the only way I could come up with but it works.

Second pink corner block

The second corner block was so much fun to make! Now I'm switching gears and making the bottom panel before making the two bottom corners. I'm learning to love those curly trees!

"Kim"spiration

Before I was blown away by the Roseville pattern and finally committed to tackling a "real" Kim quilt, I was a follower and admirer of her patterns on Glorious Color. You can see her influence in this baby quilt I adapted from a pattern called "Flowering Vines" by Becky Goldsmith. By the time I was ready to make the borders, I had the Roseville pattern; those are Kim's birds on the top. (I probably should have asked your permission, Kim, but I promise I'm not selling any patterns!)
Avery Rose is my newest great niece, the first child of my nephew and his wife. Apparently Avery didn't know first babies were supposed to take their time. She arrived precipitously on the living room couch and was delivered by a Chicago fire fighter! I don't usually make such elaborate baby quilts, but I just couldn't help myself once I discovered the fun of fussy cutting.

Now I'm well into Roseville. Separately I'll post a new finish (mostly because I haven't figured out how to put the photos where I want them). Can anyone help with that?

More Lollypop Trees

I have been working away on my Lollypop Trees and have managed to finish six blocks.
I like the way they are turning out although sometime I think I spend too much time stressing over not having the exact fabric.

I am using the freezer paper on top method without marking on the fabric.
I like this method but I wish I could figure  out a way to see the fabrics on the block before I sew them down.
I think it would help make my fabric choices easier.

Now with Kim's Flower Garden pattern available I am in a hurry to finish this one.

Because you dont have enough to sew

Check back later today at GloriousColor.com to see the Flower Garden pattern ready to go!

Not Quite Done...

Not quite done yet. I machine quilted in the ditch on the sashing to keep the panels squared. I outline quilted the appliquéd pieces with thicker thread using YLI Jeans Stitch variegated thread that I have on hand. Binding is done. Still trying to decide how to quilt the rest of the open space.

Close up of my hand quilting with variegated thread...

Roseville Fruit Bowl

Finally finished something--whoo hoo!

Somehow the block seems a bit  busy to me--perhaps the apple or the pineapple should have been plainer with the bowl print.  But I'm leaving it as is, following the principle that it's better to finish than to be totally happy, and knowing I can swap things later.  (Of course, I also know that change is a slippery slope--as soon as you change one fabric, the others will start to need adjusting, so I'm not going there.)  Hopefully as I finish more blocks they'll all blend together.  Now on to the next one....