PANDEMONIUM
Hello all. I'm so happy to be able to post now.  Here's my biggest applique achievement so far. I started it a few months after it was published. First, I thought "No way!", but my husband told me I simply had to make it as it is so fabulously crazy. Crazy in a fun and wonderful way! The blocks took approx. 1 year to finish. Then I had a break for a few months, but finally got it all put together last spring. I entered "Pandy" at a local quilt show in Stafford/Houston in September. It won "Best of Show", "1st Prize" and "Best Workmanship". The quilt was too big for the wall and the organizers folded the top over so it wouldn't lay on the floor, hence top rows not showing. I didn't leave them out! LOL The detail photos are not necessarily in their right places as they were not yet sewn together at that point.
I saw Kim's original Pandemonium at the Houston Quilt Festival in October. It was awesome! People who saw it were floored in amazement. ;)   I'm so grateful for Kim's patterns and for my husband who pushed me to make this one.
I'm curious who else has made, or is making this quilt?
Happy Holidays!

Flower Garden Quilt

A few years ago I started Kim's flower garden quilt and then I just stalled out
there was something wrong and I couldn't figure it out.  Finally I realized I just didn't like the background fabric.  So I gave away all my blocks and Sunday I started over.  I finally found the perfect shirting background and started with one of my favorite blocks!  I just love this quilt and look forward to starting my second block today…
Yes I am doing mine again in Reproduction fabrics!  don't look too close at the appliqué stitching haven't done any appliqué in over a year…..  but I wanted you to see the fabrics up close, I hear these are lovingly referred to as Old Brights…..in the reproduction fabric style.

 Kathie
http://inspiredbyantiquequilts.blogspot.com

Roseville Update

Finally finished the top panel.  It took a long time since I worked on it at the same time as the bottom panel and some other blocks, which I hope to finish (and share) soon.

Still Beaming

It took four years to completely finish my Roseville Album, but what a thrill it was to receive the ribbon for Best of Show at The Berrien Towne and Country Quilt Guild quilt show today.  Hanging under the big purple ribbon is a second ribbon for Honorable Mention in the Bed Quilt category. 

 One has to drive at least 90 minutes to find Kaffe Fassett fabrics in this part of the Midwest, but my quilt drew so many good questions about the fabric and the designer that I am betting some of the people who attended the show are on line right now seeking patterns and fabric.  Donna Kooistra, an AQS certified quilt appraiser, so admires the fabrics, and she loved the quilting, done by Heather Broehm.  Thank you, Kim, for your beautiful pattern, and thanks to all of you GA subscribers who have been unfailing in your encouragement along the way.

The Applique Society

I don't know how many of you know about The Applique Society. We're an international group of applique lovers and makers. www.theappliquesociety.org Come check us out.

For a long time I have wanted to learn to do needleturn applique, and been an admirer of Kim McLeans quilts, and was lucky enough to get into one of her classes at the Taupo {NZ} Symposium last year. Had a lovely day learning to do needleturn and admiring Kims quilts"in the flesh" as it were, and being glad that I hadn't jumped in the deep end by trying Pandemonium first up!
And twelve months later here is the reult of that day, I have so much enjoyed making this top, which is off to be quilted soon. Oh, the outer border has since been added. The hardest part was cutting and joining all the 2 1/2" square, some dont quite match, but they are my Amish pieces. I have no idea what will happen when it is finally finished, probably join all my other quilts stacked on beds and chairs around the house!

After four years. . .

I am ready to add yet another completed Roseville Album to our blog.  Although the quilt has been finished for many months now, I am just now finding a way to photograph it.  This quilt marks my journey through breast cancer surgery and recovery; its four "pink" corner blocks were my way of remembering that time in my life.  Having Kim's beautiful pattern to applique has been soothing and rewarding.  It is, to date, the most ambitious project I have attempted, but now it won't be the last.

Green Country Quilt Guild show June 6, 7th

Thank you Kim for making such a wonderful pattern!  I just won the Viewer's Choice today at the show.  This quilt is needle turn applique and hand quilted.  Mostly Kaffe fabric, some hand dyeds.

A boy and a girl, an album pattern is out

             

 

 Hi, thought I'd let you know that the pattern for this "a boy and a girl, an album" is out now, in Liza's website www.gloriouscolor.com, enjoy! Cheers, Kim McLean

finished - after 3 years - will you vote for me?

Friends: After 3 years, I finally finished my Roseville Album. Well to be honest, I still need to finish the hand quilting on the very last, bottom block. But I am calling this a victory.

I have had my own blog for about a year and I found this great online blogger quilt festival at Amy's Creative Side.... and I entered Roseville into this festival. Will you go there and vote for me?

Go here and find my image, then click on the heart in the upper right hand corner to vote.  Very simple. That's it. You also might want to look around at all the fabulous quilts here... I heard there are over 650 entries!

Find this image to vote:

Here are a few other images for fun. These are also posted on my blog with more info about the festival and links to my other entries in the art quilt category: thirdfloorquilts.com

Thanks friends. It has been a long journey. So proud to have reached this point!

True confession.  What would you do-----if you were trimming the s.a. on the last miter using a ruler and cutter and CUT an uneven triangle out of the border!!!  I usually use a scissors and trim one side of the seam at a time.  This time I decided to use the ruler so the s.a. would be even as the background is light and the s.a. will shadow through.  It has been a week since the dastardly deed was done.  I cut off the end of the border and re-mitered it, but I have not felt like adding the corner applique as yet. 

Baby Quilt using Kim's pattern Trees of the 4 Seasons

I fell in love the the animals on this pattern, here is what I did with them.  Lella Rose will be so happy with her animals...much love to Kim for her wonderful designs

A BOY AND A GIRL, AN ALBUM the full quilt!

OK, here it is, the full quilt! I have a full schedule in the next few days, so I thought I better post this now before bed.
Have a great Easter everyone, hope you get a chance to do some stitching and lots of chocolates, K

A BOY AND A GIRL, AN ALBUM bottom border

Here is the last border, the bottom one, a few more flowers on this one.

Whilst we are on borders, most of my quilts have mitred corners. I have been told that many people don't like doing this, but, there is an easy way. In my instruction sheets in the pattern pack, I do a drawing of the finished measurement of the border, it looks something like this:

Once you have completed the applique of the borders, press well. I also suggest that prior to drawing the applique design that it might be a good idea to locate the vertical and horizontal midlines of the long strip of background and then using the sewing machine set at the longest stitich, sew on these midlines as guides. So, using these midline guides, measure and mark on the wrong side of fabric as per drawing. In this case, you would measure 66" for the side that will be attached to the centre part of the quilt. Then measure the width of the border, in ths case 12" from the line ( the 66" one) . Now you have the line for the edge of the quilt. From the vertical centreline guide, measure 45" to the right and to the left, now you have 90". If you draw a 45 degree line and connect the 66" and the 90", you will have the mitre line where you will be sewing the mitre corner. Check that angle with your ruler. Whilst you have this piece on the table, mark on the edges of the 66", 1" spacings. If you do the same on the blocks, it will help a lot with the pinning and the seaming. Another advantage is that you will be checking the measurement that the 66" is really 66", same with the blocks, you will get the 22" x 22" exactly. Then, you will also get a quilt with exact 90 degrees corners, a point that judges like to see! Once you have the corners sewn and checked, remove the excess fabric behind the mitre, continue with the applique in the corners. I would also trim the excess fabric from the 66" side. I would leave the 90" edge with the excess fabric for the quilting stage unless that side has another border. Hope this will help those who shy away from mitre corners. Let me know if you have questions, cheers, K

A BOY AND A GIRL, AN ALBUM right border

The top border now travels down to the right. I like this border best, it has those paisley shapes. Choosing fabrics for these borders was really fun, be back tomorrow with the bottom one. Cheers, K

A BOY AND A GIRL, AN ALBUM top border

Yesterday, I posted the left border and now it has turned right to the top one, the elements here are different to yesterday's. Again choose the fabrics for the large leaves first, then balance the colours with the smaller motifs.

In yesterday's post, I was describing how I do my borders by taking a pic of the corner areas. Below is a photo of my border in process, it is showing the pieces in the top border, I must have started with the top one. I took the photo to remind me what fabrics I used in the corner area, so that when I get to do the left border, I wouldn't have to dig out the leaves out of the bag again.

The next photo showing the corner area of the bottom / left border. 

Is this what you are doing when cutting up? Will post the right border tomorrow, I'm going back to yesterday's and try to reply to comments, Cheers, K

A BOY AND A GIRL, AN ALBUM left border

I've done four different borders and corners, so we won't get bored. Took a bit longer to draw, but it would be longer still if I get bored doing the same thing four times. It's like knitting a pair of socks, fun to do one half, then harder to do the second half!
Lay out the fabrics for the big leaves first on the design sheet with the background fabric under it, then choose fabrics for the smaller pieces.
I tend to cut the fabrics for the four borders at the same time. After you have ironed the freezer paper templates onto the fabrics, cut them out, then lay them back on the sheet and before you bag them away, take a photo of the area towards the corners. Now, take the next border, here, they would be the top and bottom ones. Using the previous photo you took, choose fabrics for the the borders and the corners. Try this method if you are not already doing it, it is easier than hunting for these corner area pieces in the zip lock bags. Be back tomorrow with the next border, if you have questions, I'd be happy to answer, cheers, K

A BOY AND A GIRL, AN ALBUM block # 9

So, this is the boy and girl block, she is wearing a Lake Blossom skirt and he has Shirt Stripe fabric pants.
If you want to add dogs, cats and may be other figures in it, delete the inner leaves so you have more room. Or, this could be a wedding quilt, the figures can wear a more formal outfit like the original quilt in the 1800s. The leaves were fun to do, I used a lot of scraps. I kept the corner flowers in the same colour to unite the multiple fabrics. Be back tomorrow with one of the four borders, they are all different. K

A BOY AND A GIRL, AN ALBUM block # 8

The last of the cross spray block. I kept the smaller leaves in the red-pink and the bigger elements in the blues and green, no reason for it apart from the fact that I love the fabrics. Using 4 different colours would be grand too, try using the colours of the hearts but put it across the way. For example, in the photo, have a yellow piece where the green wavy fabric is and a purple one where the Shirtstripe fabric is. When you've chosen the colours for the big ones, the smaller leaves might be in a green or blues. Try out different combinations, after all, this is where the fun is, apart from buying fabrics! Be back tomorrow, K

A BOY AND A GIRL, AN ALBUM block # 7

 

With this block, I used different colours for the horses and the birds and kept the leaves in green and the flowers in the blue-purple and red-pink. I love those Roman Glass fabrics( I think that is the name), there is one in a really strong purple and I've used it in the centre with a solid. Pretty simple.
Our daughter had horses for over 12 years when she was little and during her teenage years, she rode everyday and during that time I got to know horses a lot. They are such funny creatures and beautiful too. K

A BOY AND A GIRL, AN ALBUM block # 6

The next cross spray block, I chose blue and pink for the corner large elements, but choosing 4 different colours would work really well also. There was no reason for choosing the colours I did, I liked the fabrics!
Pull out 8 fabrics for the main elements and work the leaves in a colour that goes with them. The central petals were fussy cut from the Paper Fan fabric of long ago, but this fabric is coming back in the summer, I'm so happy to hear that as the fabric is really useful. Think of the hexagons or the stars you can do with it.
The blocks have 1" sashings in various Shot Cotton colours, so the total measurement of the block with sashings is 22" x 22", and with 9 blocks and the 12" border, the quilt has a finished measurement of 90" x 90". Be back tomorrow with the next block, K

A BOY AND A GIRL, AN ALBUM block # 5

This block is full of handsome birds, not the shy types! I had a few scraps of ombre solids from years back which I've used for two of the birds' bodies, the rest are solids from the shot cottons, they seem to go well with KF collective fabrics.
I have a huge magnolia tree in the garden, it has a lot of fruit. Last week, the sulphur crested cockatoos swarmed the tree and pecked on the seeds and messed the foliage. They do the same damage to the cumquat trees too. I wish I had a camera ready, it was quite a sight. K

A BOY AND A GIRL, AN ALBUM block # 4

The next cross spray block, choose the fabrics for the big corner pieces first and then the buds on the vertical and horizontal, it is really an easy block to do, portable too. K

A BOY AND A GIRL, AN ALBUM block # 3

Here is a block with cats and mice, I quite enjoy doing the mice, the circles are there to give a bit more colour to the block (and using the scraps). The large circle in the centre was done by appliqueing a large circle and then removing the centre portion. I think it would be hard using a bias stem strip as you would have to do the join very carefully.
I didn't have any problem with posting and uploading the pic this morning, it must have been a glitch in the computer. My email went down too, couldn't send anything and there were strange warnings that came with it. I unplugged everything from the sockets and left it for an hour and then restart. It seems to work. K

A BOY AND A GIRL, AN ALBUM block #2

Heavens, it worked! I was trying to upload this pic a few hours ago and it wouldn't go, I was watching the grey status bar doing yo yos for half an hour or so. No idea what went on then.

So, this is the next block, there are 9 in total, finished size is 20" x 20" and the applique pieces are pretty big and not too many elements - easy peasy. Five of the blocks have figures in them and the other four have crossed sprays or round wreaths. A pretty simple quilt and you can gather up all the Kaffe Collective fabrics.
Did you know that there are new fabrics in Philip Jacob and Brandon Mably? PJ's Curly Baskets is right up my alley, lots of use for the fabric, like the his Shell and Scallop. Have a look, also Kaffe's Lake Blossom fabrics are back. I drooled over these newbies last night! K

Friends and kindred spirits...

unite and applique!!! Marion and all, I apologize for the inappropriate comment that showed up on our kind and peaceful/pieceful blog, and perhaps in your In-Boxes too! It has been deleted and the commenter marked as a spammer.

Imagine if WE had that amount of free time just how many stitches we could take, projects we could do and quilt tops we'd complete!?!?!?

I will try to do a better job of having more of a presence here. I SEW appreciate you, your participation in Glorious Applique and you're willingness to share with our community of stitchers (heart!).

My goal has been to take daily applique stitches on my (3rd) Roseville Album block, and I am pleased to say I have been making slow progress and take at least a few stitches on most days. I appreciate the balance, release and fuel that stitching provides me.

I am not as productive and far more quiet than in the past. This is because I have to dedicate time, channel chi, and place focus where it is necessary for me at this time. Many of us have had life changing events since the inception of this blog. Not all of those changes have been welcome or pleasant. I have remained quiet through many, choosing instead to hold you close to my heart and send + juju. I have found words to be a challenge.

So...sew, let's continue to celebrate, support and enjoy Glorious Applique!!! Let's delight in one another's choice of colors, design interpretations, fussy cuts, and stitches made!!! Let's take up needle, thread and fabric and CREATE!!! Let's foster our kindred spirits and this kind community!!!

Thank you, Kim, for sharing the gift of your talent and designs and your continued willingness to share with us here at Glorious Applique and our sister blogs. : )

And, thank you, to each of you. I admire and care for each one of you more than any of you can know. Just because I don't say words, doesn't mean I'm not participating, if only quietly and on the sidelines.

Piecefully and with much Love and Admiration, Pam

Trees Top

 

In deference to Lee, who asks for more activity on Glorious Applique, I'm posting my just finished adaptation of Kim's Trees of the Four Seasons.  I love pieced quilts with applique borders, so I adapted this pattern with that in mind.  I sort of thought it would go faster.  WRONG.  169 pieced 4" blocks took forever, but I liked the scrappiness possibilities of the design and the diagonals created by the subtle color contrasts which sort of refer back to Kim's original center design of the leaves.  My idea to downsize the quilt to 75% so it would fit on my design wall didn't quite work, so pardon the back lighting on the side borders.  It finishes at 67.5" square.

Appliqueing the borders was the most fun, and I did those first.

Now is anyone else working on Trees?  I'm thrilled to see more Roseville Album blocks and tops, and surely someone out there is working on Kim's medallion.  So I join Lee in hoping more of you will post soon!

Here's my 2nd Roseville block. Starting on the next one. I feel like I've found my niche!
                                                                         

kijk daar is: Beetje denken..;0)

kijk daar is: Beetje denken..;0)



Beautiful hexagons Gerda

QUILTING COMPLETED

So the quilting really does make the quilt.  I had this one machine quilted by Three Sisters Quilting in New Paris, Indiana.

  It is amazing to see what they did, especially with all the white spaces.  Now I have to put on the binding and give the quilt back to my in-laws 1 and 1/2 years after their 50th Wedding anniversary.
I wrote a poem to go with this quilt and included the ending of the poem for those who might enjoy it.

 " so when you decide to call it a night,

 You'll say your night prayers and snuggle up tight.

Or if your bodies just need a good rest,

Head on upstairs and get into your nest.

Climb under this quilt and know were all near,

to keep you both warm or blot up a tear.

In spirit, we are always close to your hearts,

though many long miles keep us apart.

Mom and Dad we all love you and we thank you with glee,

for the gift of our lives and the Bobrowski family."

Thank you all for your inspiring and kind words and well as your shared projects that kept me inspired years into the project.  Lets keep the encouragement going and bring the beauty and love of quilting into the generations that follow.  Pete