Applique Quilting Fun

Well things are slowing down just a little around my house, so I thought I would get back to my sewing. The baby has turned one, daddy even had a birthday, so we are full from the cake still. Things have been hectic and uncomfortable at times but we are moving forward.

I have broken my only rule of quilting, again, "don't buy another project until you're finished this one." So yep, I bought the kit for the "Joy to the World" applique quilt by Nancy Halvorsen - LOVE IT!!

I am two blocks away from having her 'Be Attitudes" blanket completed, not that bad I guess. Here are some quick pictures that don't include my toes ;) It needs a press after taking it to quilt group the other day, can't wait to have it COMPLETELY finished. Well enough of my guilty pleasures.



My grandmother's flower garden is coming together and I am looking forward to a hefty road trip in August to get some more put together. But for now here are the results.


I have decided to sew the quilt in strips and then sew the strips together, something about a huge big quilt on my lap in August makes me overheat! Thank you for the comments, I am putting a template basting tutorial on my to do list. I would also love to know how you can reuse your templates when you stitch them to your fabric? The things I didn't know I didn't know :)

Well I am off to sew or rest or clean, not sure it will be the later - Happy Quilting

Machine Quilting and Flower Garden Fun

So many fun things to talk about. I have been busy and not because I have been doing laundry ;)

Machine quilting is so much fun, especially when your tension is good, your bobbin doesn't run out AND your thread doesn't break. I have several smaller projects completed, a baby quilt for my niece and and few other recipient unknowns. So far they are all panel tops, no pieced projects but I do have an applique quilt to finish before my first nephew comes for a visit. I am still learning to know when and where and how to make the quilting the best I can. I am going to put a few more pantograph patterns together and really figure out the scale of the quilting design. I have had a little thread battle but I think I have that figured out, all in all, all is good.

This week I have been taken completely over by my Grandmother's Flower Garden project. I am hooked, those little flowers can keep me up way past my bedtime. Things are progressing and I love the lay out design, thanks to the internet, I have found. I also found a great tutorial on-line for basting the fabric to the cardboard template. The only thing I do different then in the photos is that I don't pin my template and fabric together, oh and I knot my thread to start and finish. I don't want the basting to come out if I leave it for a while before assembling a block. Okay so I will try to be kind but I just don't understand why you sew your fabric to the cardboard - now you can't use the template again and you have to take out the stitches. So to anyone who has sewn their templates to their fabric, I am sorry and to anyone considering a Grandma's Flower Garden Quilt using an English Paper Piecing method baste your fabric to your templates. Please send me an email if you have any questions :)

My family is great, my little ones are getting bigger. Dad is away this week, so we should get lots of sewing done... we hope.

Too many projects and not enough time.

Things at our house are busy as usual, we are enjoying every moment as they happen or trying to at least!

Our Easter was wonderful, we really enjoyed the long weekend with Dad. The bunny made an appearance or two and the girls loved finding eggs with cousin. We ate a wonderful meal and went to bed early, what more can you ask for really?

I have taken some pictures of my Be Attitudes applique blocks, they are so much fun. I have always loved to applique and Nancy Halverson's patterns are especially fun. So beautiful and direct, not complicated or fussy. I love how her patterns are presented, easy to follow and clear. They make me re-check my patterns and aspire to the same standard. I have learned a lot from teaching others the fusible web technique and with my personal practice of late I am feeling the needed improvement with this technique. My sewing machine and I are getting along nicely and I have some real time spent perfecting my applique stitch - love it. So now I just need to finish all the blocks and get it on my quilting frame and get some practice in that department as well, that's what I love about teaching, generally the teacher learns more than the student. Thank you to my quilting group, we might be small but we are learning and sewing. :)

My latest love, other than the Be Attitudes applique, is an English Paper Piecing project. I have a local quilt store that carries the pre-cut hexagons paper templates by Paper Pieces, on the web at www.paperpieces.com They are sew much fun, pun intended. I have two sizes, the 1" and the 1 1/4", that measurement is of one side, not the diameter, keep that in mind when looking, that makes a big difference. Any who, I am slowly getting my color scheme put together and looking forward to hours spent in the car or something like that so I can make a dent. I would like the top to be at least twin so my fabric stash takes a hit and I only 'have' to buy some key fabrics. Ahh the rationalizing, at least my husband has a hobby he spends more money on. Here is a picture of the start, I will post more as things get further along.

I have some really exciting applique patterns in the works, think wild west and babies. There is also a penny rug expansion planned for The Pattern Place. Like I said at the beginning too many projects and not enough time, that and the baby is up from her nap, timing is everything :)
Happy Quilting and send me an email with your thoughts and or suggestions.

Patterns and Pretty Things

Well January is just about over, we have been very busy having a lot of fun. The people we meet and talk quilts with are I am sure some of the most interesting around. I receive so much joy from introducing quilting to those starting or wanting to start. I love sewing quilts and appliques, I think they are so beautiful. So I hope my enthusiasm rubs off just a little and doesn't rub anyone the wrong way. Thank you to those I have met or spoken to this month and keep those questions coming.

Pattern News: The newest free applique pattern is ready to download! Hearts with Love is available for download and can be found in the free pattern section of The Pattern Place website. We hope your Valentine wishes and projects come true and of course finished for Valentine's day. We are working on several large scale applique patterns, and some seasonal patterns for a quick and easy project. Let us know your thoughts and comments on the patterns we offer. Looking a particular applique pattern, send me an email. I can make custom applique patterns just for you or add them to my current patterns for everyone to enjoy.


I spend a lot of time online, mostly playing and seeking inspiration, instruction and insights. This leads me to a lot of great web sites, some I post links to from my web site (The Pattern Place) and some I just make a mental note of. Silly me, I should post them here, that way we all can see them and frankly I might be able to remember them all a little better. So with out further ado....
visit Quilt Qua, a wonderful quilting resource of all things quilt. From blogs to articles, tips to a photo gallery its a fun place to spend a minute or two.

Putting it all Together

Well three months can go by faster than you want. Things are busy and wonderful. Our children are truly a miracle and so much fun. I have been able to put some things together amid my new family of four.

The foundation quilt pattern for Easter Delight can be found here. This quilt pattern works up very quickly and is quite fun to put together. I like it because I know that the appliqués will be the focus and who am I kidding, straight seams are always easier :) You can adjust any number of the design elements, larger boxes or sashing for example to accommodate your appliqué. This quilt pattern is great for any appliqué project, center your designs within the nine squares or arrange your designs to off set the openings and 'think out side the box' as it were.

My Scrappy Irish Chain class went very well in September, we have even had a follow-up get together in early October. My personal project is coming together nicely and Emi's quilt top will hopefully be ready for Christmas. You can see the original quilt I made in tones of pink in the background and in my hands is the current project in shades of teal and chocolate It was great to work with some great ladies as I taught this quilt pattern for the first time. I love the fusible interfacing appliqué technique we used and I think the participants appreciated the time they saved as they appliquéd. I will post further pictures as the top is finished and I have the quilting completed.

There are several new patterns in the works, a great fall leaves and acorn pattern that I am completing the table runner example for today, hopefully. I am trying to echo quilt it and the learning curve is a little steep. All in good fun, Happy Quilting

Lazy Daisy Project

OK here we go!!! I have taken on some challenges recently, some I create for myself and others come and find me. Learning is such a wonderful experience, this project has been fun and very rewarding.

This pattern is offered for free, click the free patterns button above. Print these patterns onto standard letter computer paper. My appliques were cut from several colors of purple and green felt. I love to trace my patterns using a light box onto a very light weight fusible interfacing, space them comfortably apart so you can cut close to but not on the line, then using a hot iron fuse to the fabric or in this case felt. Let the appliques cool, then cut using the traced lines on the fusible interfacing. Then I arranged the flower and leaf appliques as desired, basted them in place and began thinking about assembly of the pieced border.

The pieced border was where my challenge showed itself and my honesty must come out. I have always followed someone elses pattern when constructing a quilt. I thought that I should author this entire project, so I cut my center block, arranged and basted my appliques before considering the size and how that would affect my border design, rookie mistake I hope.

Knowing now that this project progressed the really hard way from this point on, for me, here are the cutting instructions I should have used.

Cut center block 12.5"x16.5"
Cut border strips 1.5"x 14" cut 18
Cut outer border 3.5"x 20.5" for top/bottom
Cut outer border 3.5"x 22.5" for sides
Cut approximately 110" of 2.5" wide strips to bind wall hanging.
Cut backing and batting approximately 26"x 30"

Stitch three of the 14" strips together six times to yield 6 strip units. Press seams and cut each unit into three 4.5" square blocks, yielding 18 blocks.

Assemble center block and side borders as shown.

Add top and bottom of border as shown.

Add sides and top/bottom of outer border in exactly the same way. I hope future projects, yours and mine can proceed a little smoother. On with my original post :)

I thought the asymmetrical applique design would lend itself to a stitchery component in the upper right hand corner and while wrestling with the border the phrase 'Love grows Here' entered my mind. I do try to listen to the little bits of insight and perspective life hands out and after being quite frustrated and hard on myself I smiled and gave thanks for the lesson taught, love truly grows everywhere. After tracing the pattern Loves grows Here, which is included in the free pattern page above, to my center block with my handy light box and a water soluble pen I stitched the design with brown embroidery floss and made sure all markings were erased. A back stitch truly works the best when stitching lettering, I am no expert but this aspect of the project was very relaxing, worked up quickly and I achieved the desired look with no real problems. In other words it worked and it was fun.

Now this is where I really began to enjoy myself, I love to machine quilt. I dream one day one hours spent machine quilting with an industrial long arm. Reality for now is learning to use my domestic machine and a darning foot. Its not as fancy but it can be done at my kitchen table while my almost two year old naps. After machine quilting the pieced border and quilting in the ditch the seams from center block and outer border I was really starting to like my Lazy Daisy Project. Now that the pieced border is quilted I can stitch the flowers and leaves using a blanket or applique stitch. For this project I wanted to match the thread and felt colors versus a high contrast thread which also produces great results. Feel free to use embroidery floss, there are hundreds of colors. I seperate the six threads and use two in my needle at a time. With the leaves and flowers stitched in place I decided to use felt, my other option was the cotton from the pieced border, for the center of the flowers. Once stitched down we are really close being done.

Next thing I added the binding so I could then trim away the excess backing and batting. Then I started and finished hand stitching the binding in place. All it needs is a label on the back and it is finished.

I hope you enjoy the Lazy Daisy Project or what ever parts of it you choose to use. Please let me know if you have any questions or feedback. We would love a picture of your completed project, it would be fantastic. We will make sure it is included in the Design Gallery section of The Pattern Place. Take care and Happy Quilting.