Merry Christmas

Have a great Christmas everyone, wherever you are!
Hope you can get down to some stitching during this holiday period, and all the best for 2014.
Kim McLean

Chloe's Quilt

The story of how my first quilt, Chloe's quilt has come about is as follows.

My name is Carla and I live in Tropical North Queensland outside the small town of Bartle Frere. My husband and I have a small farm there.

Beginning 2011 we had cyclone Yassi come through which did a lot of damage outside, but most importantly took out a small vanilla plantation.

A few months later our beloved dog Chloe, at only 4 years old was diagnosed with a malignant colon cancer which was a terrible blow. As my husband has to work away from home a lot I decided I needed to do something for myself to help me to deal with this situation.

Inspired by the movie Julie & Julia I thought to teach myself something new, challenging and give myself a year to do it. (Like Julie in the movie cooking every recipes from Julia Child's book within the year)

A quilt I thought and stumbled on the Glorious colour website, could not look at any other option but Roseville Album by Kim Mclean, was it even possible to make something so beautiful? A starters pack and pattern was ordered and I started my quilt June 2011.

What a journey it has been, I kept going and going coming to the end I decided to take the first 3 blocks out and rebalance the quilt.

Hand appliqued, machine pieced, hand quilted and finished early this year. Last but not least Chloe is happy and healthy which is just a miracle!  Without the inspiration of Kim's stunning work and designs and all glorious applique contributors I feel I would not have pulled it off. 

A big thanks to you all. 

Carla 

As shared with me from Carla! It's positively AMAZING!!! And, so...sew GLAD to learn Chloe is well!!! : ) Piecefully, Pam

Well, I have completed more than I realised!

I was ready to organise my next couple of blocks for appliquéing and I  thought I would put the completed ones on the design wall. I hadn't realised how many I had finished. The photos are not the best and the layout is a bit random at the moment.

Not a good photo, but these are the right and left side panels unpressed. 
Thanks for the info re: trimming them to size.  I have two borders left to stitch.  I had started working on the border after completing the center squares rather than leaving all of them to the end. 

You thought I forgot, didn't you

As you can see, I finally finished my Lollipops. It already hang at a local craft exhibition.
I spent an incredible amount of time thinking about how to quilt it. In the end, I just opted to machinequilt around the shapes.
I changed the way the binding was done, because from the very start that small line around the quilt bothered me. I feel it didn't fit all the squares and the busy quilt. So I added rectangles instead of squares at the exterior and used those to finish of the quilt. I have to admit the upper one does have a tendancy to faint but I can live with that, since the quilt is meant to be used.

I am very happy with how it turned out.

And thinking of which one to make now, since I enjoyed it so much.

Have fun,

Françoise in Belgium

Question

I am just completing my last panel of the Roseville Album quilt.  I am wondering what is the best method to use in trimming the panels to the finished size. 

Mary

Well, I finally finished the redesign of my in-laws 50th anniversary quilt.  It took me about 18 months to figure our how to redesign the quilt, and then accomplish the redesign.  I am getting ready to send it out for quilting.  It is pieced and appliqued, so I have considered both machine and hand quilting.  Any thoughts about it would be appreciated.  Also, I wrote a poem to go with the quilt, not sure how to incorporate that into this heirloom.  Again thoughts and ideas would be greatly appreciated.  Thanks Kim for all your inspiration.

Roseville Album centre blocks finished

It has taken a while, but I finally have all 9 centre blocks completed.

The are not stitched together yet so the arrangement may be altered.

I am happy to be back laying with all these gorgeous fabrics!

Now for the 4 corner squares.

Miriam

At last, Kim's Mariners Compass Medallion pattern is ready.  It is a beauty. It will test your skills at applique, paper piecing, English paper piecing and more.

fabric photos - this is the BACK of Hearts & Flowers

I recently updated my blog with a couple creative fabric photos. This one I love - it is the back of my Hearts & Flowers quilt that I finished a couple years ago. I have had it hanging for a while, but I've never displayed the back. Now I am "seeing" this quilt in a whole new way.

Check out my blog for a couple more fabric photos:  quiltsewlive.blogspot.com

Need a little help

I was just going down thhttp://www.designingquilts.blogspot.com/e list of blogs in the sidebar, and when I clicked on my own, my website popped up instead of my blog. How do I change it?
Thanks in advance,
Eileen

2 years and counting...

Well, this one has been 2 years in the making. Getting to the final stretch... I've had quite a few distractions, but I keep coming back to this one. Committed to 100% hand quilting. I am thinking about doing a quilt/embroidery stitch combo along the borders of each block... in a pink pearl cotton. Thoughts?  Too much?

Also, to see my many distractions, please check out my new blog: Quilting.Sewing.Living. I have ventured into machine quilting... and also have posts on my sewing studio and my quilt buddy's amazing studio.  http://quiltsewlive.blogspot.com

Fields of Flower Bouquet Quilt

Hi Everyone,

There is a quilt of mine in Quiltmania Special Summer 2013 edition, photo of the magazine below,

 

 The quilt is,
                

  
Really easy quilt to do, it should get done in no time!

The fabric used is Kaffe Fassett's " Field Bouquet" and " Marquee" and if you are quick, Glorious Colors has the field bouquet fabrics on SALE!! I just checked the website.

Save you doing those " Baltimore" applique - Kaffe already had it printed in these panels. Rather neat fabric, don't you think? I rather enjoyed this easy piecing quilt. Cheers, Kim McLean

Flower Garden 3 photos

 

 

 

 

Ta Dah.....finished!

It's been awhile since I've posted about my blocks but now I have finally finished the journey on the lollipop quilt top!  It's now on the quilting frame. This year I'm focusing on trying to finish UFO projects. I have 30 projects listed....count down is this is the third one finished.  Only 27 more to go.....and maybe a couple of new ones to pop up?! :)

Thanks for letting me share this journey!

...MONA

Flower Garden

 

Glorious Garden

24 blocks of Glorious Garden

I have started on my Glorious Garden (my name for Kim's Flower Garden pattern), quilt on January 3, 2013. Here I have all the blocks completed as of today July 4th 2013. The photo below shows the beginning of the top border. This is was done using needle turn applique in about 105,000 air miles. My favorite airport/flight activity other than reading. I am moving soon, so the floor is the only place to display it for now.

Top border started

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Roseville Album and my block #2 completed...

 I like how on the back of this block the stitches remind me of neon because of the black background...

I began this block on January 21, 2011.  There have been a LOT of changes in my life from those first stitches to these last stitches...  I marvel at the stories a quilt keeps.  ; )

And, since I now have everything unpacked, I started my third Roseville Album block preparation today.

Piecefully, Pam

"TREE"-mendous Fun!

Here is my first border of Kim's Trees of the Four Seasons.  With this quilt, I'm starting with dessert first--the borders.  Since I still haven't found a wall large enough to photograph my completed Roseville Album top (working on that), I decided I'd better downsize Trees so it would fit on an available wall.  Of course that means working with some extra-tiny circles and leaves, but this border takes care of most of those.  Working on the Kaffe Hydrangea Spots background is pure pleasure; I just love it.  

The Bizzy Bird Farm @ Denver National Quilt Festival

Hi Everyone,
   It has been a long time since I've posted on this blog and thought I would toot my own horn.  For the people that couldn't attend the Denver National Quilt Festival you can look at a slide show on The Quilt Show website, http://www.thequiltshow.com   My Bizzy Bird Farm (aka Roseville Album) was juried into this show but was not a winner.  Search the Denver Quilt show part 2 you can see my quilt along with 3 closeups of it.  My quilt also received Judges Recognition Award from Judy Simmons at the Mid Atlantic Quilt Festival February 2013 and also is in the AQS desk art calendar 2013.
  I've yet to finish the Medallion quilt by Kim, hopefully later this summer, will post when I get back to it.  I have been very busy with finishing up other projects.  I have taken a couple of classes on how to machine quilt on home sewing machine as I have always been and still doing hand quilting.  I actually entered one that was machine quilted at the Denver Quilt show, wall quilt done in wool & embroidery called One Little Red Bird so I could get a critique on it....judges said the machine quilting was very well done....yeah...thought this was great for a beginner at it.  Sounds funny to say I'm a beginner at something since I've been quilting since 1974 !!!  This quilt along with another large applique hand quilted will be shown at the MN quilt show in June if any of you are going to this show and want to look at them. 
  That enough about me, got to get back to my machine sewing....had 20 wall quilts on my list 'to do' and have knocked off half of them.  I've been saving all of these until I learned and had confidence in machine quilting. 
Have a good summer.
Julee

Aine's Farm

I call this "Aine's Farm", made for my great-niece Aine Tenoch --she has both Celtic and Aztec ancestors.  It's 36 inches square. I'm getting pretty good at selecting parts of Kim's designs and using them in small quilts-- more manageable for me.  I know I'm never going to make a queen- or king-size appliqué quilt but I get enormous pleasure working on these smaller projects.  These handsome animals are from Pandemonium.  Fabrics by Kaffe of course.  It is hand-appliquéd and hand-quilted.  I can't wait to start another one.

Lollypop progress

It's been over a year since I posted any progress on my Lollypop project.  I still love it but got sidetracked by several other projects (wedding quilt for my daughter among them).  As you've probably experienced, once you step away, it's sometimes difficult to get back on track.  However, I finally focused and finished my third block.

Am I the only one who finds the selection of fabrics to take more time than the handwork?

As I've mentioned before, I was inspired to use the red background after seeing Francoise's version.  I haven't regretted my choice for a minute.  Hopefully I'll be back with another finished block sooner than this one took!

~ Jan (Be*mused)

FLOWER BASKET MEDALLION & PINE TREES

Sunday April 28th was a day of celebration. I finished FBM !  Sorry about the photo quality. I had to pin it to a Kaffe quilt on my dining room wall to get a photo of all of it.

I started FBM October 2011 and worked hard on it ......until Pandemonium appeared on the scene! ...and it was left in a box until recently. I think I became "leafed out" there for a while.  I promised myself I would not start Trees of The Four Seasons (T4S as I call it) until FBM was completed. But of course I cheated a little and cut all the templates, decided which fabric goes where for the T4S leaves, and I started making set-in triangles for Kim's "Pine Trees" (Quiltmania). I'm using "leftover" Pandemonium animals, birds, plants and circles plus a few extra shapes made from my huge scrap pile to fill in LOL ; )    I'm having a lot of fun and that's what life's all about, ain't it?  

 

33 Pine Tree blocks - I need at least 33 more but they are fast and fun to make.

Happy sewing!

Sylvi, Texas

lollipop tree block #2

prepped and ready to stitch.

I had made such a mess with the first one, I figured, why not continue?  

This one went much faster, and I thought much less about the fabrics, fussy cutting and placement.

Much more fun and much more relaxing that way.

These trees are addictive and fun to make, but alas, I tidied up so I can begin stitching on tree #.  Don't think it will take long before I begin on number 3....

FLOWER POTS

Sarah Barkley is a member of our Kaffe Fassett & Friends Club in Stafford, Texas. She finished her Flower Pots and brought it to Show&Tell at the last meeting.  I would like to share it with you.  It's interesting and fun to see all the different versions of Kim's designs! Enjoy!
Sylvi

Lollipop Tree block #1

prepped and ready to be stitched.

It wasn't easy!  Although I've worked with Kaffe Fasett fabrics before it was in a different context, for a different sort of project.  Now I had to look at them in a new way, to try to see new things.  New color combinations.  Fussy cutting is fun, but....I like surprises too and just letting the quilt happen.  So lots to think about as to the approach to this quilt.  Still not sure about the peach large leaves.....

When all the pieces were complete and I saw the block in its entirety, I decided to glue the pieces down rather than to baste them onto the background.  The leaves are pre-basted, and for the circles I used Karen Kay Buckley's Perfect Circles.

At least I'm ready for Saturday's Bee.

Now back to my clamshells....

Lollipop Trees Start

Yep, a new project.  And one that I've been excited to get started on.

The Lollipop Trees Quilt by Kim Mclean.  Some of you may remember that I had begun preparations on the Roseville Album Quilt, but other projects with deadlines got in the way.  In the meantime,  priorities have changed, and the "to do" list has been re-drafted.  Working on the Lollipops is a way for me to work with wonderful colors, and it's an easy quilt to applique, leaving some energy over to work on some other projects  ( or so she thinks...)

6 background blocks are prepared and stitched with a central cross done by machine to help with placement. I'm starting with block #1, and using the starter pack I purchased for the Roseville Album quilt.  Just a few minutes of play and I already know that I'll be adding to this pack!

...and now the hardest part of making this quilt I think....

color selection!

warm and cool?

oh my, low contrast...hmm...now what?

let the texture do the talking?

Lots to think about, lots to play with.  Easy?  Hmmm...nope!  Fun?  Yes!

Just hope I can get at least one block prepared so that I have something to bring to the Kim McClean Bee in Haarlem's De Sampler's next session.  I've missed two meetings and can't wait to finally join these kind and creative ladies again and share in the fun!

In the meantime, I'm off to ponder some more colors.....

Trees Of The Four Seasons # 1

                                     

This quilt was inspired by an 1800's one, I've had it pinned into my scrap book since the early 2000, it has now sort of morphed into something else and the only thing now that is similar to the antique one is that the pots are in the same position. It took me a while to realize that the best way to design it is to do it in quarters, this way, the leaves can merge into each other. 

If you read through the instruction sheets in the pattern pack, it is important to transfer the position of the trunk to both sides of the background fabric, you may need to use a lamp under the glass coffee table.
Unlike the other quilts I have done, the midline guides here are only used for transferring the design on to the background, they will not be used for measuring the final size of the block. You will be using the line of the trunks of the trees to measure the final block size. As you'll be marking the final block size on the back of the background fabric, you really need to make sure that this trunk line is at the same position at the front as well as at the wrong side of background fabric.

You also need to mark the squares carefully, as there are 2 blocks which must be transferred in reverse. If one looks at the bottom left quarter, the right bottom one is the reverse. Going up, the top right quarter is the right side and the top left is the reverse. You'll also be needing 2 sets of leaves templates, one reversed and one set as is.

Now, to the fun part, choosing the fabrics. I've elected to do it in Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter colours. This has given the appearance of half the quilt being diagonally light and dark which had my husband rattled a bit! There was a suggestion by someone in a previous post that she might like to do hers with darker colours down below and going lighter towards the top, this sounds good too and might be easier to control.
I have a lot of lighter colour prints which I don't use very often, so this quilt was a good opportunity to use it. Colour wise, this quilt is a great one for you to use you stash, I don't think you'll have any problems with it. The best way is to lay out the numbered background fabric on a big table or the floor and place the pieces of fabrics with the ironed on freezer paper templates at the right positions and build from there. Leave a decent area around the ironed on templates so can see what fabrics you have used. Please refer to the previous applique tutorials, these were done for the Pandemonium Quilt but the method is the same. You'll find these tutorials under the banner photo on this blog. Use those fabrics with texture on them, the Feather, Brassica, Scallops and Shells for example. Stripe fabrics would be a contrast to the texture and give movement. Don't forget the geometrics to breakup the florals and the textured.

I'll attach the close ups of the four quarters :

                                        

                                         
                                       

 If you are going to the quilt with the four colours, it might be a good idea to do the cutting of the fabrics for each square in sequence and also write at the edge of the square which quarter you are doing. I did get myself into a knot! But this doesn't mean that you will though.

Have fun, I'll do another post with the borders - there isn't much to be aware of here.

Let me know if you have questions, Cheers, Kim

Flower Trellis Quilt in Quiltmania Magazine # 94 ( March - April 2013)

                    

Hi Everyone,

This is a quilt I did in early 2000 using red/green & white reproduction fabrics. I used a number of different red fabrics for the flowers and buds, I can"t remember what the collection was called though, they were lovely reds. The background is a shirting fabric and the green was one of those Baltimore greens.

The applique shapes are big, so they fill up the space pretty quickly. This was one of my first attempts at designing a quilt and I think the strips of diamonds were done on the sewing machine. Since I can't piece well on the machine, the quilt wasn't exactly straight!

I think this quilt would be great using all different colour flowers, buds and different green fabrics for the leaves. If you keep the long narrow strips a constant, then you'll be able to use the scraps for the diamonds.
An easy quilt to do! Cheers, K
PS. I don't know who Blueberries is! The article says " Kim McLean for Blueberries"

PANDEMONIUM

Here are my finished Pandemonium blocks (in no particular order). All are stitched, except the Horse Yard which I just finished prepping this week. I still have a few smaller pieced and appliqued blocks to make before I can put it all together, but the majority of the work is done. My goal is to have it finished by the end of April.  I am anxious to start Trees of The Four Seasons! My husband says he will confiscate the pattern for it until I have Pandemonium all sewn together. Ha! ; )

Sylvi, Houston, Texas

 

I placed a few circle blocks around to fill the photo. They will be placed differently later.