What a great week I had. Not only did Quiltmaker feature my Petal Path in an alternate colorway on their Quilty Pleasures blog, my home guild had its annual quilt show! It was a blast and a half, seeing old friends and making new ones.

AND on top of those two wonderful things, All About Appliqué was featured in a Best of the Web post on the Craft Corners blog!! Thank you so much!

craft-corners-logo-norm

Be sure to take some time to poke around Craft Corners, “a little workshop with corners for stitching, handmade jewelry, recycled crafts and ideas for home & garden or your art and design projects.”

In other news, I came across this announcement of an upcoming appliqué retreat in Texas, Appliqué Away on Galveston Bay. Sounds like great fun.

I’m on the road again tomorrow, headed toward Palm Springs for the Desert Guilds Quilt Show, March 2-3. If you’re out that way, I hope to see you at the show! Full information is at desertguildsquiltshow.com.

It’s a Friday-Saturday show, and on Sunday, March 4, my pal Debby is hosting a special tea party event at her quilt shop The Quilter’s Faire in nearby Palm Desert. I’ll be there 11-2 ish, and I can’t wait to see what the Debby’s BOM gals have done! It’s a teapot challenge, and I get to present a special “Designer’s Choice” award. How fun.

Then, on the way home, I get to see Cathy, always a super-special treat.

Lastly, you’ve heard of the Five-Dollar Foot-Long?

How about the Five-Month-Old Yard-Long?

How about the Five-Month-Old Yard-Long?

Stretch. Yawn.

Stretch. Yawn.

The Force of Grabbity is strong on a floppy cat.

The Force of Grabbity is strong on a floppy cat.

See you next week with a feature on a fantastic appliqué book!

Until then,
Kay
By Kay Mackenzie

Thank you, Angie in SoCal!!

peta-path

You remember I posted about my project in the current issue of Quiltmaker?

Angie left a comment this morning that she had just come from the Quiltmaker Magazine blog, Quilty Pleasures. The magazine is giving away three quilt tops from the March/April issue that they made in alternate colorways… and my Petal Path is one of them!

I did not know they were doing this! What a treat! Of course I clicked over at warp speed to check it out, and lo and behold there’s a springtime version of my quilt done up in pinks and oranges that is absolutely darling! Go on over and take a look. Quilt Tops for Giveaway.

The contest rules are in their post. To enter, you have to leave a comment saying which project from the March/April issue is your favorite, and why. You can leaf through your copy of the magazine or view the online table of contents.

A little bit later I received an email from one of the magazine’s editors, saying that Petal Path seems to be the favorite so far. What a great day!

Angie said she entered, so good luck Angie, and anybody else who enters! P.S. Be sure to leave your contest comment over there on Quilty Pleasures, not here :)

Until next time,
Doin’ a little happy dance,
Kay
By Kay Mackenzie

In response to last year’s Call for Topics, Donna A. wrote:

I need to know everything! I have a wonderful teacher but she lives a long ways from me. I pretty much just drink in all the information I can get my hands on. Make more books and more patterns — there can never be enough!

Donna, I’m workin’ on it . :)

Donna also wrote that she need to know the pros and cons of glue basting.

Personally I don’t use glue or starch (with the exception of a dab of glue stick in certain specialty situations) but I know that many appliquérs couldn’t live without glueing the edges of their pieces over. It all depends on what you prefer. Myself I’m in the camp of less prep and let’s get to the stitching, but then again needle-turn is like breathing for me. Other appliquérs do not enjoy the edge-turning process and would rather have it done in advance. It’s all good! Whatever gives you the satisfaction in the process and the happiness with the result, that’s what you should do.

Here are the pros and cons of glue from my personal perspective.

PROS

• It’s a prepared-edge method, which means you don’t have to turn the edge while stitching. You just get to stitch away.

CONS

• You get glue on your fingers. Ew.
• You have glue in your project.
• It’s more prep time before getting to the stitching.
• You have to make templates.

If you know of more pros and cons, please chime in!

glue-stick

Here’s a roundup of glue-related posts from the blog. (I got this by clicking on “Glue stick” in the Category list.) I’d pay particular attention to Holly’s method and Laurel’s book.

Glue stick.

Until next time,
Kay
By Kay Mackenzie

In other news, Anne Sutton posted about an upcoming on-line sewing competition show called Sliced. Ooooh that has got to be good. I can’t wait!

Reminder: I’ll be at the upcoming Pajaro Valley Quilt Association’s annual show, February 25-26. My booth is #30, the first one on the right as you come into the main building, aka the Crosetti building. Our featured speaker is amazing pictorial quilt artist Linda Schmidt. There’s a fashion show and a quilt auction, a bed turning, door prizes, guild flea market, children’s activities, and a whole lot of fun at our show.

Fran V. wrote:

I have found that there are a lot of assumptions made when it comes to actually stitching the pieces together and in what order. For some blocks it is rather obvious, but for others not so much, especially in more complicated blocks. Some direction here would be nice.

Fran, there are two ways of thinking about what a pattern should provide. Some patterns come with little numbers all over them indicating stitching order of the pieces. To me they look like they have the measles LOL. I’m in the other camp. You know that old expression, “If somebody’s hungry, you can give them a fish, or you can teach them to fish.”

numbered-roseRose block from Easy Appliqué Blocks.

The same process applies whether the pattern is simple and the order is obvious, or when the pattern is quite complicated and has many pieces and layers. Take charge! Just look and see which pieces are partially behind others, and start with them. Build from the back to the front. If it helps you, you can jot down your own measles on your master pattern. :)

Fran also wrote,

Also some hints on deep curves and points would be nice. Could you use your wavy blades to cut these out to eliminate the fray while you work with them?

We’re covered points, notches, and curves in previous posts. As for the wavy blades… wow! Now that’s a thought! A scary one! It’s a good thing Clover makes microserrated scissors with this very idea in mind. They’re like teeny tiny pinking shears. I carry them on my website in the 5″ hand-scissor size, in the Notions section.

scissors

Karen Kay Buckley also has her own brand in a larger and a smaller size on her website.

Miscroserrated scissors don’t exactly eliminate fraying. I don’t think anything can — it’s cut fabric after all — but they do make the cut edge less prone to fraying.

Hope this helps! Thanks for your question Fran! So glad you are enjoying the blog.
Until next time,
Kay
By Kay Mackenzie

Comment #35 came up the winner of Cheryl Lynch’s Quilt Fiesta! Congratulations Kathleen! Enjoy the book.

Are you a new quilter, or do you know somebody who is? Heck, I’ve been quilting for about 20 years, and I learned something really cool that I had never known before when I watched Kim Jamieson-Hirst‘s brand-new video series, Fabric Fundamentals. Kim is about the nicest person in the world, and her videos are wonderfully shot, so be sure to go and check out these little gems of fabric wisdom at Chatterbox Quilts Chitchat.

If you’re in the northern California area, I hope to see you at the upcoming Pajaro Valley Quilt Association’s annual show, February 25-26. The PVQA is my home guild and the weekend is full of smiles and wonderful feelings for me. My booth is #30, the first one on the right as you come into the main building, aka the Crosetti building. Our featured speaker is amazing pictorial quilt artist Linda Schmidt. There’s a fashion show and a quilt auction, a bed turning, door prizes, guild flea market, children’s activities, and just a large measure of all-around quilty goodness at our show.

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Until next time,
Kay

By Kay Mackenzie

Cheryl Lynch, well known for her charming Judaic quilt designs, took a trip to Mexico to go deep-sea fishing and whale-watching. While she was there she became enchanted with the colors and patterns of hand-painted Mexican folk art. On a return trip south of the border she traveled to Puebla, known as “The City of Tiles,” and steeped herself in the world of Talavera tilemaking. It is these little pieces of Mexican folk art, where “perfection is not a goal,” and “at their heart is the simple joy of creation,” that serve as the inspiration for the designs in Cheryl’s book Quilt Fiesta!

quilt-fiesta

The books starts out by with beautiful photographs of Mexican pottery and architecture. As Cheryl says, “Inspiration for quilt designs can be found everywhere,” and what a great idea to translate these into quilt patterns, especially since some of the tiles have corner motifs that result in a secondary design when blocks are put together. Very quilty!

Cheryl shares information about the appliqué method that she used for the motifs in the book, raw-edge fusible appliqué sewn by machine. There’s also a bit of foundation paper piecing instruction for when that’s needed, then a whole section on quilt construction and finishing. Then we’re on to 10 glorious decorative projects reflecting the beauty of Talavera ceramic tiles. There are quilts, placemats, a bed runner, and more. Here are just a few.

Frida's Flowers

Frida's Flowers

Puebla Posies

Puebla Posies

Floral Fiesta place mat. So cute!

Floral Fiesta place mat. So cute!

So vibrant! I love folk art. Cheryl helps you translate the solid colors of tilework into lively quilt designs using the array of fabrics at our disposal today.

Courtesy of That Patchwork Place, I have a copy to give away in a drawing. If you’d like a chance to win Quilt Fiesta, leave a comment on this post before 7:00 p.m. California time on Friday, February 10.

The fine print: Open to U.S. and Canada mailing addresses only. Do not reply to your email feed; instead, click over the blog itself and leave your comment at the bottom of the post. Good luck!

Cheers,
Kay
By Kay Mackenzie

This just in from my pal Holly Mabutas of Eat Cake Graphics:

I’m SO excited to announce a new project! I’ve teamed up with author Terri Thayer, actually she’s the one that approached me with the project over a year ago. She’s writing an 8 month series of stories called Tales of the Quilt Shop, and I’m creating an applique project to go along with it called Sugarplums.

You have GOT to go and take a look at the first block on Holly’s Blog Sprinkles of Thought. If there were anything cuter it wouldn’t be allowed by law. Way to go Holly! Not only that, Holly includes a link to her glue-stick turned-edge hand-appliqué tutorial.

Back soon,
Kay
By Kay Mackenzie