A bundle of colour

This is what the postman brought for me this morning so I can get going now with the Hearts and Flowers quilt. So excited.

The little roll of long quarters isn't really for this quilt...I thought I should start building up a stash :grin:

The Lollipop Girl and her Techniques

Happy morning to all,

I thought that this morning I would share with everyone on how I put my blocks together. Due to the fact that I have MS, (not complaining, just explaining) I can no longer do much hand appliqué so I am using some different techniques in order to appliqué. I thought I would share with those of you that want to see what I'm doing.


The first step is to take my freezer paper and iron it onto my fabric. I then cut out my fabric a quarter inch around my entire piece to be appliquéd. I have these absolute wonderful electric scissors, for those of you that have never used electric scissors and that have maybe arthritis or trouble with your hands, you need to try a pair. They make life a lot easier.




I then take my iron and iron all the edges under. If I have a piece of applique that has a lot of different edges, sometimes I might need to use an acid-free glue stick to help me to get my edges stay under.






I then use an acid-free starch and paint around the edges of my applique. As I put on the starch, I iron the starch to hold the piece in place.




I then remove all freezer paper and as you can see all my edges are
neatly turned under and my pieces are ready to appliqué. It does take some time but I think the process is worth the time for me.
The lollipop quilt has a lot of circles in it, the perfect Circle templates by Karen K. Buckley will be used for this process.








Now I am ready to machine appliqué my pieces to my fabric.
Normally I would use the buttonhole stitch to do my applique, for some reason this time I chose a very small zigzag applique stitch, 1.0 in length and 1.5 in width. I think that the zigzag appliqué stitch will be a lot easier to use because there are so many circular shapes, trying to get a buttonhole stitch to go around a circle would not be a very easy task.

Looking forward to working on my lollipops with such beautiful and happy fabric as I sing the song. Thank you all so much for sharing your blocks, your knowledge and information. You are all such an inspiration, it is wonderful how we all can do things in different ways with different fabrics to create such beauty.
Happy Stitching to All,

Rosemary
The Lollipop Girl

second block

Here is my second block. Phew, it took a long time as I worked very hard with everyone's suggestions on the inner curves of the leaves. I've gotten better thanks to all of you! I'm really amazed at the progress of some of you! I think I'm the snail in this journey, but that's ok. Nedra

That was fast!

My that was fast! I ordered my pattern yesterday and it came today. The pressure is on. I am thinking to maybe alternate working on Roseville and Stars and Sprigs, that way I am doing something different and won't feel overwhelmed. At least that is what I am telling myself!

How do you do it?

Seriously --- how do you ever get the courage to fussy cut all these beautiful wonderful Kaffe fabrics? I am a hoarder of all my Kaffes, keep them segregated from the rest of the stash and all my scraps in a separate container. While they play well with others -- I don't share them well in other quilts. So -- here I sit with the most wonderful 1/4 yd cuts from Glorious Color, a Lollypop Trees pattern that makes my heart sing, my Kaffe scraps/stash, and all I feel comfortable doing is cutting the 2.5" squares b/c that conserves fabric and doesn't make big holes.

This is a serious question and I know you're going to tell me to just jump in -- but it seems incredibly wasteful and I want to make sure I don't compromise the block b/c I'm trying to save as much fabric as possible. Some of you will "get" this and others are likely to recommend therapy.

All I have to do is get another big project done and then I can have all the time I want to fret about fussy cutting! Thanks for any suggestions (except the therapy!). :0

I'm coming out of the closet!!

LOL! I told Pam this week that "Lurkdom is way overrated!"
I've been salivating over the various Kim McLean designs now for a couple of months.  With so many wondrous examples and possibilities shown on this site, I've finally come out of the lurking closet and into the light of Glorious Applique! :-D  (Thanks, especially, to the encouragement from Kathie and Ann!)

I had a single piece of Phillip Jacobs fabric in my stash - a multi-hued Coleus that screamed my name in a quilt shop several months ago, long before I heard of Roseville or Kim McLean or Glorious Applique (which I found by way of Quiltsalott, thanks Janet!).

After deciding I couldn't live without doing Roseville and Stars and Sprigs, I broke down and ordered some Kaffe and more Phillip fabric, and a very good friend also gifted me with several fat quarters of their fabrics.

I investigated my stash and found some Thimbleberries! --- yes, THIMBLEBERRIES! lol -- that will also work!! (on the far left of the photo -- the bright tone-on-tone-ish fabrics from the Flying Colors line!)  So I'm totally vindicated.  I've not strayed that far from my traditional, dark repro-like roots.  :-)
A few interesting batiks will finish up my starting line-up, and I'll add to the stash as needed!

Now I gotta work up my nerve to actually cut them. Sigh.  It's like riding a roller coaster for the first time. I know I'm going to love it.  I just gotta sit here and breathe for a few minutes!

Blessings!

Roseville #1

Stick a fork in it and call it done! Certainly the Dear Jane motto
applies to this block: "Finished is better than perfect."
What a learning curve! I certainly enjoyed making this block and
am surprised at my patience in changing elements of the block as it progressed. I will certainly audition all the fabrics in Block #2
before stitching them down!
Birds? What birds??? Am I the only one who got cherries in her pattern? Well, I just had to put those Michigan cherries here for my fellow Kaffettes, Gay and Rosemary, who hail from Grand Rapids.

Kim, I don't know what that melon is either, but I realized I've had one for years in this bowl of paper mache fruit and veggies. Thank you for this delightful pattern!

I love following everyone's progress. Please keep posting your blocks. You all are an inspiration to me!

Now, I'm off to pickle a clamshell as my reward for finishing my block.

Happy stitching!

I got my Roseville Quilt Kit today

and i couldn't wait to open the box. At last here it is sitting on my lap there is so much fabric. Can't wait to start something new and fresh. It is a bit overwhelming at the moment as i have never used colours as bright as this so now I'm sitting here and going through the pattern and seeing which blocks I'm not attracted to. I always do this and number them from like the least to i like the most and i start the one i like the least first as its a well known fact with me it i left the ones i liked the least to finish the quilt it would never get finished so i do that first but i have a change of heart i want to start on the fruit block first as i can hear it calling my name.

Ummmmmmm now to decide on fabric to use oh and the background fabric i have chosen i simply adore it and its me to a tee.

Have a nice day Ladies.

Adele in Oz