Sarah Vee’s happy pineapple

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During the recent Easy Appliqué Blocks Book-A-Around, Sarah Vanderburgh of Espanola, Ontario, Canada, won a copy on Day 4.

Pineapple Welcome Banner by Sarah VanderburghThat gal is fast! She’s already made a project and is it ever nifty! Check out Sarah’s Pineapple Welcome Banner on her blog Sew Joy.

Until next time,
Kay
Quilt Puppy Publications & Designs

Today I’m writing about my favorite quilt as part of the Bloggers Quilt Festival put on by Amy of
Park City Girl.

My favorite quilt is usually the one I just started :) but if I had to pick just one, I’d have to say that it’s my Sixteen Baskets.

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Here are the reasons why:

In many ways I think this is my best work. It’s hand appliquéd, back during the time that I favored the freezer-paper-template-on-top method (before I learned back-basting). The tiniest motifs are machine appliquéd or hand embroidered.

Each of the blocks is my original design… they’re published in my book Baskets to Appliqué. It was an exciting, emotional, fulfilling process developing the concept for each basket, and I still remember that time…. the mischevious kitty, the fat quarters rolled up, the nod to Baltimore, the pastel eggs inspired by Janet’s chickens who gave us eggs exactly those colors.

This quilt is also hand quilted. I took a picture that’s unevenly lit on purpose to try to get the quilting to show up. I love hand quilting and don’t get the chance to do it as much as I used to.

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I love the soldier blue and the dogtooth border. (Also that it’s called a dogtooth border, because I love dogs.)

So that’s my favorite quilt. Thanks for visiting to see my entry in the Bloggers’ Quilt Festival! Visit Park City Girl every day through April 24 and get a ringside seat for other bloggers’ favorite quilts! It’s quite a show!

Until next time,
Kay
Quilt Puppy Publications & Designs

Last summer I wrote about Baltimore on the Prairie.

This just in from appliqué designer and teacher Kathy Delaney. Registration is still open!

Kathy: Hey Applique Fans! Have you heard about the new conference to be held this fall in Nebraska, halfway between Omaha and Lincoln (centrally located for all!) called Baltimore on the Prairie? This is a conference for appliqué lovers everywhere (we even have someone coming from Australia!) and centers on the Baltimore style of appliqué from the 1840s and 50s. (Have you ever wished for a Baltimore style appliqué conference closer to you than the East Coast? This is IT!)

Are you fairly new to appliqué or intimidated by what the “big girls” are doing? You don’t have to be! The Baltimore on the Prairie conference has something for all levels of applique enthusiast — from the beginner to the most accomplished. AND the price is extremely right! What better way to learn a new technique or practice what you already know than to spend from Thursday evening to Sunday afternoon with a knowledgeable and talented teacher!

This year there are only openings for 100 students and spaces are filling quickly. Check out the Baltimore on the Prairie website for information, registration forms, and class samples.

Until next time,
Kay
Quilt Puppy Publications & Designs

More great stuff at APQ site

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I’ve written before about the American Patchwork & Quilting site, AllPeopleQuilt.com, being a good resource for appliqué info. I just surfed over there again and found a glorious wealth of appliqué information, from patterns to videos to tips and tricks, etc. Here’s the link to their appliqué section.

When I was on the homepage I clicked on one of their most popular searches, “Flower Appliqué Quilts” and it brought up 22 darling appliqué patterns with flowers in them. Some of these patterns are for purchase and download, but a lot of them are free!

Until next time,
Kay
Quilt Puppy Publications & Designs

You all left such nice comments on the Easy Appliqué Blocks virtual tour! The other bloggers, the publisher, and I greatly appreciate it! Your feedback is so valuable for all of us. Here are the readers who won copies for themselves through random draw from the comments.

Launch Party ~ Jenni in Goderich, Ontario, Canada
Day 2 ~ Kathie in Mountain Lakes, New Jersey
Day 3 ~ Jennifer in Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Day 4 ~ Sarah in Espanola, Ontario, Canada
Day 5 ~ Jessica in Boston, Massachussetts
Day 6 ~ Terri in Medford, Oregon
Day 7 ~ Nancy in Weaverville, North Carolina
Day 8 ~ Mary in Buffalo, Minnesota
Day 8 ~ Barbara in Spokane, Washington
Day 10 ~ June in Monrovia, California
Wrap Party ~ Lindi in Astoria, Oregon

The readership was as widespread geographically as the tour itself. The power of the blog!

Until next time, back in your feed with more appliqué topics,
Kay
Quilt Puppy Publications & Designs

Greetings fellow appliqué enthusiasts! I hope you enjoyed our 10-day tour of the blogosphere, visiting quilting blogs all over the northern continent. Myself, I had the most fun since the 1962 North Carolina State Fair!

Thanks a million to all the bloggers who participated, and to the readers who followed the trail of breadcrumbs through cyberspace. Today I’d like to hear your feedback. Leave a comment about the blog tour… how did you enjoy it? What was your favorite part? I’ll give away one more copy of Easy Appliqué Blocks, and I’ll draw the winner Tuesday morning.

It’s time for Show & Tell. Here’s one more little quilt that appears in the book’s “Little Gallery of Ideas.”

ThereThis cute thing is called ‘There’s One in Every Crowd’. (The working title was ‘Renegade Terrier’.) If you read my article series ‘A journey to a book’ you may recall my surprise at finding out that according to the dictionary the little white guy who’s crashing the Scottie party is a West Highland white terrier instead of a West Highland White Terrier. It’s one of those things that may *be* right but just *looks* wrong IMO so I settled for calling him a Westie. I have friends in Ohio who have a bunch of Westies and I couldn’t wait to show them this quilt. This one’s machine appliquéd.

Now for our party refreshments:

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Kay’s Cakey Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 sticks butter, at room temperature
1 cup light brown sugar
¾ cup white sugar

1 tablespoon real vanilla extract
2 large eggs

¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon baking soda
1 cup all-purpose flour
2¼ cups cake flour

12 oz pkg semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350º.

In a large bowl, beat together butter and sugars. Add vanilla and eggs and mix well.

In a medium bowl, mix dry ingredients together. Add to wet ingredients and mix well.

Add chocolate chips and mix well.

Drop spoonfuls of dough onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake one sheet at a time, about 12 minutes or until very lightly browned around edges. Let cool on pan 5 minutes before removing. Makes about 6 dozen.

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Enjoy!

Kay
Quilt Puppy Publications & Designs

Book-A-Round ~ Day 10

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It’s Day 10, the final day of the Easy Appliqué Blocks Book-A-Round. I hope you have enjoyed the easy travel of the internet as we went from one side of the country, toured Canada, and hopped down the west coast. Today we end up in the Heartland, Oklahoma City.


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Darcy Ashton’s new book Bunnies & More is the latest in her long line of darling appliqué books from Ashton Publications. Today Darcy is hosting a guest post from me, where I get to talk about one of the quilts shown in Easy Appliqué Blocks, “The Mackenzie Family Quilt.” Join me at Darcy’s Ashton Publications blog.

Kay
Quilt Puppy Publications & Designs

Book-A-Round ~ Day 9

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It’s Day 9 of the Easy Appliqué Blocks Book-A-Round. Today we move further down the California coast to land in Yorba Linda, just 10 miles from Disneyland.


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Gina Halladay writes one of the most widely read blogs for quilters, Quilters Buzz. She is such a busy lady… in addition to blogging, she has a Gammill dealership and a longarm quilting businees, Cranberry Quiltworks, a pattern company, Threaded Pear Studio, and just opened a fabric store in the same location, Fresh Picked Fabrics. Whew! I hear she doesn’t sleep much.

Off to discover the Quilters Buzz on Easy Appliqué Blocks!

Kay
Quilt Puppy Publications & Designs

Book-A-Round ~ Day 8

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Welcome to Day 8 of the Easy Appliqué Blocks Book-A-Round. This 10-day tour takes hardly any energy at all! Ready for a short hop from San Jose to Hollister, California?


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Let’s drop in on Holly Mabutas of Eat Cake Graphics, rubber stamp and quilt designer of the highest-cuteness-factor-ever.

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Holly, the little red-haired girl, with Puppy Tucker.

I hear Holly plans to show some of the blocks from the book that she’s appliquéd. Show & Tell! Show & Tell! Off to Holly’s blog, Sprinkles of Thought.

Kay
Quilt Puppy Publications & Designs

And we’re back! After a lovely trip to the emergency room to see if she had rebroken her foot (she hadn’t, but it’s a bad sprain), Annie is ready to receive us. It’s Day 7 of the Easy Appliqué Blocks Book-A-Round. Today we fly through cyberspace down the west coast to San Jose, California. (We’re getting close to my stomping grounds here in Santa Cruz.) We’re visiting with Annie Smith of Simple Arts.


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annie-at-es.gifHere’s Annie being Artist-in-Residence at Empty Spools earlier this month.

If you haven’t heard of it, Annie has the most wonderful, warm podcast for quilters, Annie’s Quilting Stash. The information and insight she brings us through her passion for quilting combined with her years of podcasting are incredible. Today you’ll find a recorded interview where we talk about Easy Appliqué Blocks and how it all came about. We recorded it at a retreat and it was just wonderful to be able to talk with other quilters about things they were curious about.

If you haven’t listened to a podcast before, never fear. You don’t need an iPod… you can listen to it right on your computer! Off to Quilting Stash!

Kay
Quilt Puppy Publications & Designs

Book-A-Round ~ Day 6

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It’s Day 6 of the Easy Appliqué Blocks Book-A-Round. Are you having a good time visiting our stops on the tour? Today we re-enter Canada, zigging northeast to Calgary, Alberta. You might know Calgary from the 1988 Winter Olympics, or their famous Greatest Outdoor Event on Earth, aka the Calgary Exhibition and Stampede.


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Kim Jamieson-Hirst, a mother of two, designs quilt patterns and works part-time at her local quilt shop, Along Came Quilting, which provides her with lots of inspiration. Kim’s website is Chatterbox Quilts, where you can see her adorable patterns. Kim also has some great podcasts on her blog. Today she’s writing about the very cool CD that comes with Easy Appliqué Blocks and what a wonderful convenience it is for the appliqué enthusiast. Let’s go visit Kim at her Chatterbox Quilts Blog.

See you there!
Kay
Quilt Puppy Publications & Designs