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

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.

More blocks.....

Thank you for your previous comments........and more blocks to go!

..MONA

First of the Lollipops.....

These are the start of my lollipop blocks. Love the pattern by Kim! Am using fabrics from Kaffe and Jane Sassaman. The backgrounds will be of various fabrics, like I usually do in my quilts.

The photo of the blocks are a bit washed out, but that's due to the photographer.....me!

Originally, I was going to only applique four blocks (they were to be picture framed), but because I'm enjoying the outcome of the blocks, I've decided to sew more blocks. Guess the quilt is taking on a life of it's own!

...MONA

It took more than a year, but

I have finished my first Roseville Album panel.

Thank you to Kim and Liza for the kindness and support that you each have given during this past year.  And, Janet...HUGS to you Sensei!!!  Your dedication and amazing talent has allowed this blog to GROW and flourish!!!

I am tickled to bits with the works and shared experiences fostered within this community of stitchers.  : )  Even the spin off blogs are quite miraculous, aren't they?!?!?  Though I do not comment and post with regularity, know I watch and read and try to keep up to date.  I am in AWE with this blog space and that of our sister blogs as well!!!  I never would have imagined such interest, enthusiasm, encouragement and acceptance.

Thank you one and all for sharing here.  <3

Piecefully, Pam

Two More Blocks for Flower Pots

I liked the Star block in the center of the quilt so much I decided to make it twice, and skip the floral one. Now I'm working on the scrappy pieced borders. Does anyone have any advice about these? I am wondering if I should stick to softer prints like the 2nd and 3rd squares from the bottom on this trial piece. Would it be better to avoid stronger contrasting prints like the 2 in the middle and the one on the bottom? I like all of my fabrics so much, I paid little attention to placement, but perhaps I should. Help!

Circles for Flower Pots

Aren't these cute? I'm looking ahead to the outer border of Flower Pots and decided to start appliqueing the double circles. I think they'll be a lot of fun--they were fun to cut out. Marion encouraged me to skip the front-basting step and try glue dots--I'm a convert!
Now I have 2 blocks plus these circles to take on a one-week vacation (thanks for the San Diego quilt shop tips) which is ridiculous. But we hate to be unprepared, don't we?

2nd Flower Pots Panel

I finished my 2nd Flower Pots panel this weekend. The first panel took about 3 weeks, but this one took a little longer because I also managed to hand-quilt a baby quilt for my new nephew. Naturally I enjoyed every minute of applique.















Here they are together. I've cut out the Star block so I'll have handwork to take on vacation on Saturday. Does anyone know a good quilt shop in San Diego? I can always use a couple more pieces of fabric, right?

Some Kaffe, Brandon and Kim photo's (as well as the rest of us!!)...

Thanks Sally for the heads up of photos of these guys over on Kathy's blog. I'm bringing some pics to share here too! We had a wonderful night at Kim Mcleans (she is one gorgeous lady) and meeting Kaffe and Brandon was the highlight for all of us.

L-R front row: Sharron (Dragonfly Gypsy), Kim McLean, Kaffe Fassett
L-R back row: Sue (no blog), Brandon Mably, Janet (Quiltsalott), Me (Cabbage Quilts), Kathy (Material Obsession).

You can see more pics, as Sally mentioned, at Kathy's (Material Obsession) or Janet's (Quiltsalott) or my blog (Cabbage Quilts) just click on the links above.

But I really wanted to show another photo of Janet's incredible Stars and Sprigs quilt.  Janet's quilt is absolutely stunning...

and her quilting amazing. I simply cannot believe she hasn't done much quilting at all, this is perfect! (you should be able to click on the pic to see it even closer).

We also got to see some of Kim's award winning and divine quilts (the woman is a genius!)...

What inspiration all in the one room (people & quilts)!!

Good luck to Kaffe & Brandon as they travel around Australia bringing their passion for colour, their creativity and enthusiasm to so many Aussies. I'm sure we would all love to see pics from Kim's classes running in Sydney now too (hint, hint to anyone attending!!).

Cathy xo

Kaffe, Brandon, Kim in OZ!

There is a great post on materialobsession.blogspot.com showing Kim's quilts and includes Janet and Kathie (others?) of Glorious Applique! Kaffe and Brandon are in Australia to do a workshop. Could I be more envious? Don't forget to take a look. I'm sure there will be more posts once the workshop actually begins.

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.

Kaffe and Liza in Houston

Just saw this on the "TQS" website. There they are! With Alex Anderson, who's over the moon about the new stripes line.

A Friend's Quilt

I just returned from my local quilt guild's fall retreat, Camp Wannamakeablankie. One of the guild members, Pam, pieced this entire log cabin quilt top at camp. It is made entirely of Kaffe Fassett's fabrics and it was just wonderful. Each block center was fussy cut.

I believe this pattern is found in Kaffe Fassett's book Quilt Romance.

Are any of you Glorious Appliquers headed to Houston to the the International Quilt Festival? I am so excited to be seeing Kim's Roseville Album in person. There is also a lunch lecture on Thursday, November 4, by Kaffe Fassett.

Happy Stitching,

Cheri

It feels

g-l-o-r-i-o-u-s!!!  I did some SEWING today.  : )  Thank you for your kindness and understanding.  I am working on Kim's Hearts and Flowers quilt.  I have NOT enlarged the pattern.  I am sewing it actual size, and I am doing it by machine.  Here's what I've got so...sew far.

Piecefully, Pam

Hearts and Flowers Center

In an earlier post, Theresa asked about the center panel to Kim's Hearts and Flowers quilt.  This was probably the largest applique' block that I'd ever done, and here is how I did it.  First I traced the heart onto freezer paper - the outside fingers, the inside heart, and the middle heart. 

Then I machine basted the center horizontal and vertical lines onto my background fabric and traced the applique' design on the background with a Mark B Gone pen.  I ironed the freezer paper to the dotted fabric and drew around it with a Sew Line chalk pencil. 

 I did a rough cut around those outside fingers, but didn't do the final trim until an inch or so before I did the actual needle turn.  Then before I trimmed the inside of the heart away, I went back to the machine and basted on the line for the inside heart.  The Mark B Gone pen shows through on the back.  The line for the heart gave me a guideline for placing the inside heart.

I cut the heart shape out of the center of the freezer paper so after I appliqued the center heart to the middle heart fabric, I'd have a guideline to use to trace the applique' line on the middle heart fabric.

This is my center so far.  I still have a few berries and tongues to finish before the center is complete, but I've had a lot of fun fussy cutting leaves and berries from my fabrics.  My Stars and Sprigs has been shipped, so I've got to step it up a bit.   

Flower Pot Progress

I started on my Flower Pots journey well over a year ago when I took a class with Pam. Had never done any applique before, and was frankly a pretty awful hand sewer. But the pattern is so beautiful, I was determined to make it work.

My first block didn't take too long

but the second took well over a year. To be fair, I do have a 2 year old and a demanding job, but I'm trying to make more time to stitch, and finished this one earlier this week.

Now onto Block #3... pattern is traced, freezer paper shapes are cut... and starting to stitch...

I'm excited to share this journey with the rest of you. This blog is great inspiration to keep stitching!

WooHoo!!

I did it!! I just ordered the Roseville quilt pattern from Glorious Color. Be still my heart ;)!!
Besides the FQs I bought at the LQS, I won an ebay auction for 10 more Kaffe Fassett FQs. I'm going to use them in conjunction with my stash.
I'm finally going to do something for ME!

Got some fabrics!

I finally have a pic to show. I went to my LQS on Thursday and picked up this group of Kaffe fabrics. They're all fat quarters except for the gorgeous floral in the back-that's the end of a bolt. Sad news-when these bolts are done, they're not ordering any more Kaffe. They've had these bolts for over a year and nobody's bought.(Thank goodness I discovered you all!!) I asked the clerk who does all the cutting and customer work why she thought they didn't sell. She told me that our area is just extremely traditional and they like the "country" colors-like Thimbleberries. Oh well, it's their loss, right?
Personally, I love bright colors and lots of them so onward and upward!

Hi,
Sorry for the lay-out, i'm not a computercapable person.

The lollipops with the yellow leaves is my first block so far. The blue leaves i managed to prepare to take with me to Birmingham. To my disppointment, no quilts from Kim McLean, a lot of Kaffe Fassett though : quilts, fabric and even the person : tall, smiling, relaxed.
The dark red leaves are my third block. Now i would like very much to have your honest opinion because i am doubting myself very much at this point.

Meanwhile i am stewing over Kims heart quilt in the romance book. I found those background fabrics : 4 almost identical kaki background with pink spots. The layout of the spots is different in each one. With a Kaffe border (once finished), the right hand one probably, and i am thinking with repro's and japanese taupe.And maybe tht at kind of soft orange for the heart. But for the moment just stewing, to much other things going on.

About a week ago i read an entry on the blog from someone (couldn't find it back) who was talking about doing the circles from lollipop without the precut circles preparations. I just want to say i totally agree with her that it is more suitable for this pattern to do them without the templates, because then you have more of the oval shape as on the original pattern. I also think it takes a lot of the possible boredom of sewing that many circles away. I trace my circles from the pattern and then just crease the sewing line between thumb and index. I also crease the sharp points of the leaves.

I do have a question though : how do you put your shapes on the place where they belong, do you eyeball it or is there a method to get them on the right spot?

Could i also ask you, since i have the impression lots of you are using the blue watersoluble pen, to watch out with that : 2 of my quilts i made years ago, after rinsing them in the washing machine, show yellowish lines instead of the former blue ones. So i don't use that pen anymore, unless i can wash the lines out the same day i put them on.
Sorry for the layout again, have no patience now for searching everything out, but i do want to tell you how much i really love this blog.

Color.

Here's a little something that may help those struggling with color and fabric selections.  Choose a focus fabric...a fabric that you ABSOLUTELY LOVE!!!  If that particular fabric is going to be included in your quilt, then use that sublime fabric as a jumping off point.  Allow it to help you match colors and make other fabric choices.  Fabric has colored dots along the selvedge edge. Those dots show you what specific colors were used to make that particular piece of fabric.  So...sew, use those colored dots to your advantage!  If you are not going to use that sublime fabric in your quilt, but you do SO love the colors, then let those dots help you choose fabrics and colors that will match and work together in your quilt.

During a class I took with Sally Collins, she said, "Color gets all the glory, but value does all the work." Remember to add a mix of lights, darks and mediums.  This can be done using the value of a color or scale of a print.  If you are unsure what value a color is, photocopy the fabric.  It will copy dark, white or grey...

I don't always make the best choice first time around either.  My 'mistakes' can be used on the back of the quilt or may become a signature patch.  See, I can still use that awesome fabric somewhere!  For me, color and fabric selection are two of the MOST fun aspects of quilting.  I encourage you to just let go! Delight in color and let it make your soul smile and your designs soar.  I BELIEVE in you and your choices!!!

Make your quilt yours!  I use fussy cuts, favorite fabrics and hidden bits in most of the quilts I make...these things make the quilt mine!

I LOVE how this entire fussy cut flower turned out.  What FUN!!!  See that lime green Funky Monkey fabric on the left?  I happen to enjoy the whimsy of sock monkeys and isn't that color FAB?!  It found a place in my pieced border.

That dark fabric, on your right?  I didn't have a piece large enough for this applique shape.  So, I sewed two pieces together.  I bet you would never have known?!  

Can you spot the little hearts, words and pops of black tucked in there?  Those little things help to make a quilt magical!

I encourage you to enjoy your quilt making journey.  Choose colors and fabrics that make YOU happy.  It is my hope that you will LOVE the project you are working on and the process too.  : )

Piecefully, Pam