Appliqué Books
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Feb
4
Sugarplums meet Tales of the Quilt Shop
Filed Under Books, Designers, Glue stick, Hand appliqué, Patterns, Photo tutorials, Prepared edge | Leave a Comment
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
Jan
1
It’s a New Year!
Filed Under Blanket stitch, Books, Prizes, Raw edge, Wool | 54 Comments
And we have a great book as our featured selection to start things off right!
Pennies From Heaven: Celebrated Quilt and Companion Projects by Gretchen Gibbons.
The title of the book and cover quilt comes from the old term “penny rug,” so called because of the circles, usually wool, that are blanket-stitched onto a base in decorative patterns. As Gretchen says, this style is “primitive, colorful, and funky all at the same time.”
Gretchen enjoys working with wool, and calls it the easiest appliqué technique, for several reasons:
• There are no edges to turn.
• There’s no right or wrong side, so you don’t have to reverse patterns.
• You don’t have to use fusible web (though you can if you want to).
• Cutting on the straight of grain or on the bias works equally well.
• The blanket stitching can be done by hand or machine.
• Hand-dyed wools come in yummy colors.
The book starts out with instructions for felting wool, which is the process that shrinks it, mats the fibers together, and eliminates raveling. Then there are complete instructions for wool appliqué, a color guide for the motifs used in the book’s projects, and information on needles, threads, and beads, and embroidery. There’s good advice on batting, mixing cottons and wools within a project, quilting considerations, and attaching a hanging sleeve.
Besides the cover quilt with its 10 beautiful blocks, there are instructions for eight more smaller projects, each one cuter than the last.
Enchanted Pennies
Joyful Pillow
Pennies Window Valance
Circle of Life Table Mat
I just love their primitive, folksy look. If you admire it too, and would like a chance to win this book, please leave a comment here on this post before 7:00 p.m. California time on Thursday, January 5. Contest open to U.S. and Canada mailing addresses only, and remember to click over to the blog itself instead of replying to your email feed.
Thank you, That Patchwork Place, for providing the book!
Until next time,
Kay
By Kay Mackenzie
Dec
14
Special holiday giveaway
Filed Under Books, Prizes | 50 Comments
The last couple of years, I did an extra holiday-season drawing to give away a book. It’s also the time of my birthday, which is December 17, and it made me feel like my birthday lasted a whole week. 
Let’s do it again!
Unless you’ve been living in a cave, if you’re a quilter you know Sunbonnet Sue. That simple little girl in a simple little frock and great big bonnet that conveniently hides her face. The first appliquér to come up with that concept was a genius!
Christine Porter and Darra Williamson collaborated “across the pond” to create a dozen small quilts to see what Sue gets up to through the seasons.
A Year in the Life of Sunbonnet Sue
The book starts with a section of “Sue Basics” that includes materials, frames, borders, backings, bindings, assembling the wall quilts, and how to add the appliqués. The method that the authors used was raw-edge fusible finished with a machine blanket stitch. They’ll take you through it step-by-step.
I’ll take a moment to say here that the illustrator for this book is the same one who is working on my new book, and the illustrations are fantastic. Kudos Robin!!
Sue decks the halls.
Sue tiptoes through the tulips.
Sue has to go back to school. Bummer.
If you’d like to win a copy of this book, courtesy of That Patchwork Place, please leave a comment on this blog post by 7:00 p.m. on Sunday, December 18. U.S. and Canada mailing addresses only.
Happiest of holidays to you and yours!
Kay
By Kay Mackenzie
Dec
1
Bloom Creek Quilts
Filed Under Books, Prizes | 58 Comments
Our featured book this month is Bloom Creek Quilts by Vicki Bellino.
I just love the soft, mellow feel of this book. Not only that, it has a cat on the cover! Very cool.
Bloom Creek is the name of Vicki’s pattern company, hence the name of the book, which includes 14 of Vicki’s most popular designs. She has included a variety of projects: smaller, larger, with appliqué, without appliqué, traditional, contemporary, some made with precuts, and a few brand-new designs. What a great combo platter.
The book starts out by covering quiltmaking basics, including working with precuts, freezer-paper hand appliqué, fusible machine appliqué, bias vines, and half-square triangle units. There’s also infomation on preparing for machine quilting, making a hanging sleeve, binding the quilt, and making creative quilt labels. Her labels are very cute.
Here are just a few of the projects in the book.
Brandyvine Tote Bag
I love this bag! The combination of red and white toiles plus the simple appliqué put it right up my alley.
A Pack of Posies
Here’s that soft mellow look again. This table runner is made with one charm pack and a half yard of fabric.
Home for the Holidays
Since ’tis the season, I thought I’d show you this darling Christmas tree complete with cardinals.
Also included are the Blooms pillow and bed quilt shown on the cover (under the cat) more bed quilts, wall quilts large and small, and sofa quilts suitable for snuggling under in the living room.
Courtesy of That Patchwork Place, I have a copy to give away in a drawing. If you’d like to win this attractive book full of very doable designs, leave a comment here on this post before 7:00 p.m. on Sunday, December 4. U.S. and Canada addresses only, and remember that replying to your email feed won’t enter you in the drawing. Go the the blog itself and leave your comment there.
Many thanks for your readership, and remember that if you haven’t used it yet, the $5 off any order of $10 or more is still on at kaymackenzie.com, through December 10.
Until next time,
Kay
Nov
25
Holiday Special
Filed Under Admin notes, Books, Patterns | 2 Comments
In contemplating thankfulness, I’d like to shout out a great big Thank You to all of you who follow All About Appliqué. I thoroughly enjoy writing this blog, and it’s gratifying to know that someone is reading. No matter what form of quilting we employ, we all have one thing in common… we are appliqué enthusiasts! Yay!
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| Ready, Shop, Sew! |
In appreciation, I’ve created a coupon for $5 off any order of $10 or more on my website, where all my stuff is. The coupon code is 5OFF and is good through December 10, 2011, for your holiday shopping pleasure. U.S. and Canada only, regular shipping charges apply.
Here are some great ways to take advantage of the coupon. Stocking stuffers for your quilty friends!
When you click on the links below, you’ll be taken to the page on the website where the item is found. If you don’t see it right away, just scroll down.
Quiltmaker’s 100 Blocks, Volume 4. Only $6.99.
A cute little pattern for your friend who would like to hang this in her sewing room. Just $6.
Magnetic Needleminder, $9.50. These look like beautiful cameos and make fantastic gifties. There are 10 different styles to choose from.
John James #10 Straw/Milliner needles, $3.00. My favorites for hand appliqué.
Clover 5″ miscroserrated scissors, fantastic for appliqué. They’re very grippy on the fabric and the cut edge is less prone to fraying. $23.50
The coupon is good on anything you’d like to order from By Kay Mackenzie, including all of my books, patterns and notions. Maybe you’d like to get a gift for yourself! Have you been looking at Sew the Perfect Gift, Inspired by Tradition, or Teapots 2 to Appliqué? Now’s the time!
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Hope you had a warm and wonderful Thanksgiving.
Until next time,
Kay
By Kay Mackenzie
Nov
1
Inspirational Appliqué
Filed Under Books, Machine appliqué, Prizes, Raw edge | 46 Comments
I want to thank Kay for inviting me to her blog today. I had the opportunity to be a guest on her blog once before and enjoyed the experience very much.
For those of you who don’t know me, I’m Cheryl Almgren Taylor, a quilter and designer who specializes in fusible-web appliqué. In certain quilting circles, making this admission is like admitting you feed your kids hot dogs and goldfish crackers for dinner every night! However, I find this method to be very user-friendly and it enables me to create fabulous, intricate shapes with ease. It also incorporates thread as a design element which gives me the opportunity to add more color and texture.
I have a brand-new book just released by Martingale & Company / That Patchwork Place: Inspirational Applique: Reflections of Faith, Hope, & Love.
The book is a collection of scripture-inspired quilts, wallhangings, and small projects. I am a pastor’s wife and as a person of faith, I enjoyed being able to create tangible objects that express my beliefs through my quilting. That is one of my favorite things about quilting—our ability as quilters to convey our thoughts and beliefs through the medium of fabric and thread and color.
As I worked on the book, I felt a connection to the quilters of past generations who also used their quilting skills to express their beliefs and dreams. If you study the Baltimore Albums of the 19th century, most of those beautiful creations give us glimpses into the lives of their makers. Even the plainer, patchwork quilts from the past sometimes include tantalizing personal insights left by the quilter. And one of the common practices in historic quilts was to include a deliberate mistake to express their religious faith, the belief that nothing is perfect except God. I’ve never had to create a deliberate mistake in a quilt—I’m quite proficient at providing numerous mistakes without any extra effort, but I enjoy this tradition and the significance it held for the quilters who did this.
I am happy, though, that I have access to the wonderful world of quilting that we live in now, with rotary cutters and electric irons and fabulous computerized sewing machines. I own several sewing machines and like a man and his car, I am bonded with my machines.
As I mentioned before, my favorite technique is fusible-web appliqué. I always recommend using a lightweight fusible web and the “doughnut” method of construction, which has you cut out the center portion of the web from large pieces before fusing it to the back of your motif fabric. This makes the quilt soft and pliable rather than stiff, which is a common complaint about quilts made with fusible web. However, when using a lightweight fusible web, you must sew a finishing stitch around each unfinished edge in the appliqué design. I prefer a very small blanket stitch, but it is possible to use a satin stitch or zigzag—it just gives a slightly different look to the finished piece.
In creating the quilts for the book, I discovered a new technique that I think a lot of people would enjoy knowing about. One of the designs in the book, “Daily Bread,” features a neg done in gold and blue tones.
A neg is a bundle of wheat that is set out in wintertime in Scandinavian countries for the animals. Because the design featured a number of strands of wheat bundled together, there are a large number of overlapping wheat kernels to be appliquéd. All of them needed to be finished with a blanket stitch. If you are a fusible appliquér, you know that sometimes as you sew around overlapping pieces, you do not end up in the right spot for the next shape. Then you have to stop, trim your threads, move the fabric, and start over again. By accident, I discovered a traveling technique that makes it easy to move from piece to piece.
I discovered that after finishing the blanket stitch on a piece, I could change the machine setting from the blanket stitch to a straight stitch and travel to the next piece along the edge of the pattern pieces. (The pieces do have to be overlapping.) This can be done before or after using the blanket stitch on the design. If I traveled before finishing the edge, the blanket stitch laid over the top of the straight stitching and couldn’t be seen. If the blanket stitch was already sewn along the edge, the straight stitch went on top of the edge stitch and still couldn’t be seen. Of course, you must be using the same color of thread on the next piece, but for my overlapping wheat kernels, it was an outstanding technique.
I used traditional bias strips for the border vine in “Birds of the Air.”
But, in two other projects I used another trick — cutting fusible web-backed fabric pieces rather than creating bias strips for vines. For the tablecloth “I Am the Vine,” I traced the vine shapes onto fusible backing, fused the vines to the background, and finished the edges with a blanket stitch. It looks great and was much easier than fussing with bias strips.
I hope these tips will help you in your quilting journey and, for those of you who have never tried fusing, I hope you will become inspired to try this wonderful and easy technique!
Happy quilting!~Cheryl
Kay here — Thanks a million Cheryl for those two fabulous appliqué tips! The traveling straight stitch to another shape is something I been playing with myself. Thank you for legitimizing it!
Courtesy of the publisher, we have a copy of Inspirational Appliqué to give away to a reader. If you’d like to enter the drawing for the book, leave a comment by 7:00 p.m. California time on Sunday, November 5. U.S. and Canada addresses only, and remember to resist the temptation to hit “reply” to your email subscription. Instead, click over to the blog itself.
Until next time,
Kay
By Kay Mackenzie
Oct
10
A name, and a cover!
Filed Under Books, The road to Book 3 | 18 Comments
The new book that I’m working on for That Patchwork Place now has an official name! Not only that, it has a cover!
Meet Scrap-Appliqué Playground.
This is something different for me. My previous two with TPP were block books. This one is more of a concept, method, and project book. It’s also different because the fabrics and the projects are rather fresh and modern compared to my usual look. In fact I heard that when the projects were spread out on the table for the committee, they said, “Kay Mackenzie sent these…???” That’s funny. Different again in that all of the work is done by machine. Not bad for a girl who started out doing everything by hand! I enjoyed working differently a whole bunch.
Look for Scrap-Appliqué Playground in April 2012. I’ll be hosting a Book-A-Round, so stay tuned!
Until next time,
Kay
By Kay Mackenzie
Oct
1
Sew the Perfect Gift
Filed Under Books, Prizes, Uncategorized | 44 Comments
Hot off the presses!
Sew the Perfect Gift: 25 Handmade Projects from Top Designers just came out a week ago. I guess I have received a promotion to “top designer” because one of the projects is mine!
Awhile back, when Martingale put out the call to its authors to contribute a project to a book idea that they had for making gifts, I didn’t let the sun set on the opportunity.
The teapot idea came to me right away when I thought about sewing a gift. You may know that I’ve designed a number of teapot patterns, and I’ve often heard quilters say that they’re inspired to make something special for a friend who collects teapots.
Time for Tea, Have a Cup With Me
Here’s my project from the book. It’s a little guy, 14″ x 9″, hung up with rickrack for a little extra touch. The caption says, “Include it with a gift of your time; brew a pot of tea, sit down, and have a long chat with your friend.” That was my thought about making something for somebody you care about.
Here are some more exceedingly cute things from the book.
Tic-Tac-Toe for Ewe from Cheryl Almgren Taylor.
Little Wool Bags from Karen Clifton.
Elegant Parsons Chair Dressing from Avis Shirer.
Sew the Perfect Gift is this month’s prize, thanks to That Patchwork Place! If you’d like to win a copy of this brand-new book, leave a comment here by 7:00 p.m. California time on Wednesday, October 5.
Open to U.S. and Canada shipping addresses only. Remember that if you are subscribed by email, replying to the email won’t get you in the drawing. Instead, click the title of the post and you will be taken to the blog itself. Leave your comment at the bottom of the post.
Good luck! If you don’t win the drawing, I put the book up on my website and you can order a copy there.
Cheers,
Kay
By Kay Mackenzie
Sep
14
Tea Ceremony
Filed Under Books, Freezer paper on the back, Machine appliqué, Show & Tell, Starch | 3 Comments
Before the lights went out in San Diego, I was tromping up the aisle, and someone was taking a picture of a quilt. Naturally I turned my head, and then I put on the brakes hard. I can spot my teapots at 50 paces! There was the most glorious oriental teapot quilt. I stood there with my jaw on the floor.
 Tea Ceremony by Marjorie Kilcrease, 109 x 120 |
Most of the teapots are from my Teapots 2 to Appliqué. I got the chance to talk with Marjorie a couple times during the show. She was beaming with pride over her quilt and so was I. Here’s the story of this masterpiece, from Marjorie herself.
When I saw Kay’s book on teapots, I fell in love with it. However, I kept thinking “Are you crazy? This is applique!” I collected oriental fabrics for about two years while I was trying to figure out how to display the teapots. Then I found the center panel with the Geisha holding the teacup.
Next, I found the block pattern called BQ2 by Maple Island Quilts and it looked very oriental to me. I was ready to sew!
This was my second appliqued quilt. I used the directions in the book to enlarge the patterns by 150% so they would fit on a 12″ block. I used a freezer-paper method (ironed to the back) with spray starch to anchor the edges down. Then I used the liquid basting to adhere the teapot parts to the block. The final step was machine-stitching the teapots. My husband designed three blocks for me too. The whole project took about four months.
The quilter, Wendy Knight, did custom quilting. In the black horizontal strips are names of tea or words like ‘happiness’, ‘peace’, etc. The vertical black strips have bamboo quilted in.
I had bought a large backing but still needed to enlarge it to make sure there was enough for the quilter. My husband helped me mimic the front design and we offset the black strips (instead of centering them) and then I used another panel that I found to add a decorative touch.
The quilt is for us and will take its turn on our king-size bed. However, all of my friends want me to put it in our will and leave it to them! They’ll need to discuss that with our two daughters though!
What Marjorie didn’t mention is that her quilt won First Place in Viewer’s Choice!
Congratulations Marjorie!!
Until next time,
Kay
By Kay Mackenzie
Sep
1
A Piece o’ Cake classic
Filed Under Books, Embellishment, Holiday, Prizes | 53 Comments
Guess what came out in 1997 and is still in print?
The fabulous Welcome to the North Pole from Piece o’ Cake!
This is one of my personal favorite books. I got it when it first came out and it sits on my bookshelf to this day. Back when I first got it, I made a little project for my friend’s parents, and loved every minute.
For Tess's folks, by Kay Mackenzie
I jumped at the chance to get an additional review copy from Martingale / That Patchwork Place. The scenes in this book, which is subtitled Santa’s Village in Appliqué, are just utterly whimsical and charming. Here are a couple of the vignettes from Santa’s Village.
The book includes notes on fabric selection and preparation, information on the Piece o’ Cake gals’ hand appliqué methods, adding embellishments, and finishing your festive little quilts.
If you’d like a chance to win Welcome to the North Pole, leave a comment here on this post by 7:00 p.m. California time on Sunday, September 4.
Drawing open to U.S. and Canada addresses only. Remember that if you’re subscribed by email, you’ll need to click on the title and come over to the blog itself to leave your comment.
Cheers,
Kay
By Kay Mackenzie
Aug
6
Quiltin’ Happy
Filed Under Books, Designers, Prizes | 62 Comments
At Spring Market, I stopped by the Lizzie B Cre8ive booth to visit with Beth Hawkins. Beth is half of the Lizzie B team. The other half, Liz, was manning a booth at another show the same weekend.
These gals are sisters-in-law who are both named Elizabeth Hawkins. Besides the name, I think they share a brain! They have the same design sensibility, the same upbeat humor, the same sense of whimsy and fun, and they even have identical handwriting!
This team seems to have a boundless supply of energy. They design and make quilts, they have a huge line of fun patterns, they have their own fabric with Henry Glass, they have books with the Kansas City Star, they publish an on-line magazine, and now I find out they’ve put out their own new book, Quiltin’ Happy!
The subtitle is “simple hip quilts to make ya smile.” There are seven fast, fun, fresh quilts included, with complete instructions, easy-to-follow diagrams, and full color photos of all the projects All the quilts in the book are made from the Hip Happy collection of fabrics designed by the Lizzie B girls. Hip Happy offers colorful brights combined with blacks and whites to make modern-looking quilts that pop.
Playful Posies and Happy Dancin'
Their links:
Lizzie B website
Lizzie B on-line store
Lizzie B blog
Lizzie B magazine
Beth gave me a copy of the new book for a giveaway. Thanks Beth! If you’d like to win a copy of Quiltin’ Happy, leave a comment on this post by 7:00 p.m. California time on Wednesday, August 10. Contest open to U.S. and Canada addresses only.
Remember that if you are subscribed by email, you’ll need to click over to the blog itself to leave a comment. Replying to your email feed won’t get it done .
Cheers,
Kay
By Kay Mackenzie
Jul
7
Mary from NOLA is the lucky winner of Quilting Those Flirty ’30s. Mary reports that she is flabbergasted because she’s never won anything! Just goes to show…
Donna A. came up the winner for Treasures From the ’30s. She says that she is sooooo excited and can hardly wait for it to arrive so she can plan and scheme.
Congratulations, both you gals! The books are going out in the mail today. Enjoy.
Many thanks to everyone who entered the drawing. I appreciate your reading my blog.
Until next time,
Kay
Jul
1
'30s + '30s = Double the '30s fun!
Filed Under Books, History, Prizes | 56 Comments
I have two fabulous books to show you this month, both hearkening back to the cute, cute fabrics and quilts of the 1930s.
As promised, I got my hands on a copy of Quilting Those Flirty '30s by Cynthia Tomaszewski. Thank you, That Patchwork Place!
“Quilting is steeped in history,” says Cynthia. “I still remember the first time I saw a 1930s quilt…. the prints reminded me of a roll of Necco candy wafers. Each fabric was cute in its own right, but gathered together like a floral bouquet, the effect was charming and heartwarming.”
I know what she means! All those ’30s repro prints just always seem to work together. It’s like they all have the same amount of gray in them or something.
“The designs you’ll discover in this book will be tomorrow’s traditions. They’re firmly rooted in the past with the use of the reproduction prints, but the designs are distinctive, open, and carefree to fit comfortably with your sense of today.”
In case it’s not enough to give us designs and instructions for very cute projects, Cynthia give us recipes for delicious cookies too! Butterscotch Oatmeal, Gingersnaps, and Peanut Blossoms are just a few of the old-fashioned confections sprinkled throughout the book.
To being with, quiltmaking basics are covered, including information on fabric, tools and supplies, rotary cutting, machine piecing, adding borders, and all the way through layering and basting, quilting, and binding. Then there’s a fabulous Introduction to Appliqué that gives Cynthia’s three favorite methods: fusible, freezer-paper-underneath, and traditional needleturn with a marked line. The author says, “Try them all so you have the ability to use the technique that’s best for your project.” And, you can mix them together for more variety and texture.
The follows the section of projects. Sooo cute, every one! Here are just a couple.
Sweet Pea's Garden
Tea cozy and pot holders
If you’re a ’30s fan, you’ll love Cynthia’s family stories, cookie recipes, and fresh quilty take on the decade. And be sure to go and read her interview over on the Martingale blog. This is quite the adventuresome woman!
Continuing the blast from the past, we have Treasures from the ’30s: Cheerful Quilts with Vintage Appeal by Nancy Mahoney.
Full disclosure statement: Nancy is a longtime Martingale author with about nine books to her credit, and she also does editing for the company. At Spring Market, I found out that Nancy is going to be the technical editor for my next book! I’m very thrilled to have such a veteran author on my team.
Treasures from the ’30s is fun for every quilter. Nancy says, “The projects on these pages are scrappy in style, constructed with 1930s reproduction fabrics, but they make use of updated appliqué and piecing techniques. Some are a bit more challenging, but you’ll also find projects for the confident beginner. If you’re a less-experienced quilter, dive in and try something new! The designs may look complicated, but they really aren’t.”
Never fear, Nancy starts with a whole section on quiltmaking basics, taking you through rotary cutting and on into several different methods of preparing and stitching your appliqué. You’ll find information on starch appliqué, hand appliqué, invisible machine appliqué, fusible appliqué, even embellishment!
Then Nancy presents eight of her favorite 1930s quilt designs.
Bride's Quilt
Bell Flowers
All of the quilts are darling, and so reminiscent of an earlier time. While working on this book, the author became fascinated with the rich history of the decade, which included not only hard and depressing times but some wonderful, amazing things that she shares throughout the pages.
I have one copy of each book to give away, thanks to the publisher. If you’d like to enter the drawing, just leave a comment by 7:00 p.m. California time on Wednesday, July 6. Open to U.S. and Canada addresses only. Also, be sure to leave your comment on THIS post. Sometimes readers poke around a little bit and end up leaving their entry comment somewhere else.
The first winner will receive Quilting Those Flirty '30s, the second winner will receive Treasures From the '30s. Good luck, and have a fabulous holiday weekend!!
Until then,
Kay
By Kay Mackenzie
Jun
23
Quilt as desired
Filed Under Books, Quilting | 4 Comments
In the recent Call for Topics, Bertha asked, “I would like to know more about how to quilt lovely appliquéd tops. Any suggestions would be helpful.”
Great question! Oh boy, this is gonna be a long one. Bertha, there’s no one right answer. I’ll present a variety of information for you to consider.
HAND QUILTING
In my own hand appliqué life, I’m heavily influenced by Jeana Kimball. One of my favorite all-time designs is her Fairmeadow. Here’s my Fairmeadow book from like 18 years ago, long out of print, battered, scuffed, and much loved.
As you can see, Jeana quilts on top of her appliqué motifs. In her later book she makes the point that hand quilters from bygone eras quilted on top of their motifs to make them more secure and better supported against wear. I love it. There’s an old-timey charm about the way this looks, and when I quilt by hand I do it some too.
Not only is Jeana a very special talent in appliqué design and execution, she’s a hand quilter extraordinaire. Her book Loving Stitches: A Guide to Fine Hand Quilting is one of my go-to resources.
Jeana says, “The focus of this book is to help you recognize your own criteria, to point out considerations, traditions, and options, and to help you with your decision of how to quilt your top.” I studied this book when I was trying to decide what to do for background fill quilting on my Growing Hearts.
I chose the “uncrossed lines” pattern.
MACHINE QUILTING
Not everyone enjoys quilting on top of their appliqué motifs. My pal Pam always tells her machine quilters, “Do whatever you like, but stay off the appliqué.”
Anne Sutton of Bunny Hill recently wrote a blog post about the very subject of quilting appliqué tops. Go see her post entitled One Week and Counting. She’s of the same opinion… viewers should see the appliqué, and “the quilting should add to the charm and finish off the quilt.”
A few years ago, I made a series of 8 x 10 quilts to give as gifts. They were simple daisies, machine appliquéd, and when I went to machine quilt them, I wanted to try something new for myself. I quilted everything! I changed threads to match or complement the colors of the motifs, and I had a blast with it!
Cute, no?
I think we all develop our own quilting ways. This experiment helped me progress as a machine quilter and define my own quirky quilting style. When I needed to finish a magazine project in a huge hurry, I fell back on this experience.
Detail of Mini Mixed Bouquet, McCall's Quilting Nov/Dec 2009
Yes, this project is hand appliquéd. Yes, I machine quilted it. No, I didn’t go to jail.
EITHER WAY
You’ve put a lot of time and love into your appliqué. Let it be the star. I’ll tell you a little anecdote. In my book Inspired by Tradition, the author’s page is adorned with a huge photo of a four-block sampler quilt. Now when you look at a flat shot of this quilt, you don’t see the quilting much at all. But the way that they lit the project for this photo makes the quilting show up in high relief.
Coming Up Roses by Kay Mackenzie
I tell you what, I’ve answered more questions about that quilting than about the appliqué LOL! I’m like, wait a minute, I’m an appliqué person, not a quilting person! Goes to show you that the quilting really should be the supporting character.
Hope this gives you some good food for thought,
Until next time,
Kay
By Kay Mackenzie
Jun
1
The Ultimate Appliqué Guidebook
Filed Under Books, Freezer paper on top, Glue stick, Hand appliqué, Machine appliqué, Prepared edge, Prizes, Raw edge | 44 Comments
Remember this photo, of me and Annie Smith holding each other’s books?
The Ultimate Appliqué Guidebook from C&T Publishing is our featured book this month.
Full disclosure: Annie is a buddy of mine. For years we’ve followed one another’s progression as we strove for and attained career goals. A goal that we each held dear was the publication of an appliqué book. I’m so thrilled for Annie that her wish came true last fall when this gorgeous book came to life.
I’ll start by telling you that this is not the ultimate guide to every method of appliqué that’s out there. It’ something very important, a sourcebook of appliqué design elements and a gentle guide through the process of finding inspiration, encouraging it, recording it when it strikes, and translating it into your own unique appliqué quilts.
Starting with the basics, Annie goes through choosing fabrics, playing with fabrics, employing a focus fabric, and determining value. There’s a comprehensive section on tools and supplies for appliqué.
Wow.
Then she moves on to detailed instructions for her own favored appliqué methods: raw-edge fusible machine appliqué and Holly Mabutas’s prepared-edge method for hand appliqué, where freezer-paper templates are ironed to the front and the turning allowance is glued to the back. All through the book there are specific, detailed photographs to help you see exactly what Annie’s talking about.
Then comes a section on the basics of design for blocks and quilts. These are important concepts that in my experience are not covered all the time. A beautiful gallery of quilts follows, to give you even more inspiration. Check out an earlier blog post of mine that shows Annie’s gorgeous coat and accompanying quilt, both of which are pictured in the book.
Following that are several lovely quilt projects to get you started, with pull-out patterns in the back Then comes a whole long catalog of appliqué design elements! A 50 page appliqué shape-a-palooza! Mix and match these as you like!
Many of the elements are given in a variety of sizes, and you can always enlarge or reduce on a photocopy machine. And, you can use any method of appliqué that you like. Another great thing about this book is that it has a lay-flat binding, so you can smooth it out flat for tracing without worrying about breaking the spine. Very cool!
Annie gave me an autographed copy of her book to give away to one of my readers in a drawing. Thank you Annie! If you’d like a chance to win, leave a comment by 7:00 p.m. California time on Saturday, June 4. Contest open to U.S. and Canada addresses only. Good luck!
Until then,
Kay
By Kay Mackenzie
P.S. In case you might not know, Annie does a podcast for quilters. Check it out at Simple Arts.
May
28
More from Schoolhouse
Filed Under Books, Designers, Glue stick, Magazines, Prepared edge, Prizes | 3 Comments
The winner of the Quilted Crow Girls pattern is… ! Congratulations
One of the Schoolhouse sessions that I attended during Spring Market was a presentation by Tri-State Printing. Tri-State is a well know name in the quilting industry. I’ve never used them, but I’ve been aware of them for a long time. They are extremely knowledgeable about our industry and its printing needs, and they print for a ton of quilt designers. If you need a little or a lot of help with your printed materials, from pattern covers to brochures to self-published books, they would be a good company to contact.
I went to a fun presentation from the Quilted Frog! Aka Carla Scott and Leanne Smith, who just came out with a new book from AQS Publishing called Lady Bug & Friends Quilts.
The Quilted Frog gals have developed a distinctive, cartoony, and very fun style they call Easy Outline Appliqué™. You have to go to their website and see the quilts from the new book! They are so different looking, really fresh and appealing!
Over on their website they also have tutorials and videos, so be sure to poke around all the great resources they offer.
There’s more from Schoolhouse and Market. I’m trying to wrangle some guest posts, so stay tuned!
Whilst I was tramping around the aisles of Market, I stopped by the Creative Crafts Group booth. They’re the ones who publish Quiltmaker and the special 100 Blocks issues, among many other publications. I was tickled to see the cover of the recent 100 Blocks Volume 3 blown up to poster size. A staffer insisted on taking my picture, and she told me to point to my block. This cheesy maneuver caused me to slump down, which made me look like I gained back that 10 pounds I just lost, but oh well.
In case you ‘re interested in getting that special issue and haven’t found it yet, I have it available on my website now, on the Patterns page.
Until next time,
Kay
By Kay Mackenzie
May
18
Schoolhouse cont’
Filed Under Books, Show & Tell | 1 Comment
Next I went to see Cynthia Tomaszewski present her new book Quilting Those Flirty ’30s.
All the projects in this book are super cute, ’30s style, and all incorporate a touch of appliqué. I’ll try to get my hands on a copy of this book in the future.
By then it was time for a little lunch. At Market you sit down wherever, and usually end up striking up a conversation with your neighbors. I started chatting with a couple gals and found out that they were sisters and co-authors of the new book Circle of Nine.
The subtitle is “24 Stunning and Creative Quilts: One Unique Quilt Setting.” A beautiful way to set a collection of nine blocks!
Holy cow, these gals are Janet Houts and Jean Ann Wright, who was editor-in-chief of Quilt Magazine for 20 years! What a great lunch!
The Checker Distributors Newsletter has a lot of great photos from Market. Pat Sloan also has fun Market recaps up on her blog, and recorded some radio interviews while she was there. More to come from me, including a lot of great information addressing some of the questions in the recent call for topics.
For those of you in the greater Los Angeles area, I’ll be in Northridge this weekend for Quilting in the Valley 2011, an annual show put on jointly by two area quilt guilds. Full information at quiltinginthevalley.com. Hope to see you there!
Until next time,
Kay
By Kay Mackenzie
May
16
I survived Market!
Filed Under Books, Quilt shops, Show & Tell | 1 Comment
The trip to Salt Lake City for Spring Quilt Market went “like butter.” I had a blast and a half. The good times started just as soon as the plane out of San Jose finished loading. My seat neighbor turned out to be going where I was going, so naturally we chattered like magpies the whole flight.
Julie operates an on-line boutique fabric shop, The Intrepid Thread, stocked with fresh modern fabrics. (And a whole lot of new ones coming after she saw the fabulous lines debuting at Market.)
And get this… Julie said her friend Sally, who was picking her up at the airport, would give me a ride to my hotel too! How’s that for nice? No Supershuttling! They even picked me up and took me back to the airport for the flight home!
These are the sweet gals who adopted me. Julie, left, and Sally, right.
Sally Keller’s shop is Sally’s Angelworks, offering darling mini art quilts, unique fabric camera-strap covers, and other handmade items.
Julie and Sally were there to shop, of course, and also to help out Amanda Herring at the Quilted Fish booth. All of them are part of the Riley Blake design team. Whew, these young quilter gals! Enough energy to power Salt Lake City for a week! Both of them have nice Market photos and stories on their blogs.
Thursday was Schoolhouse, which is a series of short break-out sessions geared toward the shop owner, to introduce what’s new and exciting. This is how it works. Two hours before the whole deal starts, you can get the schedule. There was a huge room full of chairs where you could sit and study the offerings, plotting and scheming on which ones you wanted to go to. There were about 20 sessions in each time slot, so if there were two at once you liked, you had to pick the one you wanted most!
When each session ended, it was that silly thing that happens when elevator doors open… people wanting to get out and people wanting to get in at the same time. There were thousands of bodies, everybody had wheelie bags, and it was one great big milling churn dash. I’ll share the first couple sessions that I went to, and I’ll put up more information later, in bites.
First on the docket I chose to go hear Dan Purcell. Dan is the boy genius son of Bob and Heather Purcell of Superior Threads. Dan, a smartywhistle techie extraordinaire, grew up in the quilting industry and is the nicest, friendliest young guy you would ever want to meet. Dan operates Websites for Quilters, a company offering a whole bunch of services for quilters who want to be on the web and need a little or a lot of help.
One of the great things that Dan told us about is his FindMyFabric.com, a fabric, quilting, and sewing supply search engine. You can search for products offered by hundreds of online stores to find exactly what you are looking for. You can also search by uploading a photo of the fabric you need more of! How cool is that?? And totally free, this one.
Dan also operates QuilterBlogs.com, a directory of quilting blogs that you can check out to see what’s out there in the blogosphere.
I bought Dan’s book so I can learn more valuable nuggets about having a quilting website.
Next I went to the presentation by Stacey Michell of Shades Textiles. Stacey’s main product is SoftFuse, a paper-backed fusible web that has become my favorite. It’s the lightest weight, and it actually works the way this type of product is supposed to work! What a concept! It fuses quickly, the paper comes off right away, and like I said it is extremely lightweight and flexible.
Stacey’s mom is Marti Michell. They were both there at the session to show us how you can use the product to do a prepared-edge type of appliqué for either hand or machine stitching. It’s fused, and the edges are turned! Very interesting! I’ll be giving this a try myself and will report the results here on the blog. I ordered some SoftFuse so I’ll be able to offer it on my website soon.
This was my favorite entry in the quilt display.
I’m Watching You by Barbara McKie of Old Lyme, Connecticut.
Much more to come,
Kay
By Kay Mackenzie
Apr
27
A visit with Annie
Filed Under Books, Prizes, Spotlights | 3 Comments
This just in! Yesterday I had lunch with my pal Annie Smith. Of course you can’t get together with Annie without being recorded for a podcast, so she cranked up her iPad and we started talking!
Go visit Annie’s Quilting Stash to listen to an interview with moi and have a chance to win prizes!
Here we are, in the lobby of the Green Valley Grill. The hostess was kind enough to snap the shot of us holding each others’ books. See that one in my paws? You’ll learn more about it soon!
Until next time,
Kay
By Kay Mackenzie
Apr
12
Exploring Embellishments
Filed Under Books, Color, Embellishment, Machine appliqué, Prizes | 14 Comments
The speaker at my guild’s meeting last night was Rose Hughes!
Rose is the author of Dream Landscapes, which was previously featured here on the blog.
Now Rose has published a beautiful followup book, Exploring Embellishments: More Artful Quilts with Fast-Piece Appliqué.
I just so happened to have a copy with me last night, which Rose graciously signed for us! That’s right, courtesy of That Patchwork Place we have a fantastic giveaway to a lucky winner of the book personally signed by the author.
Rose’s lecture was all about color, and about each quilter’s personal color journey. We had the treat of seeing her color-drenched, fast-piece appliquéd and embellished quilts in person as she displayed a trunk show of her work. On her website, Rose has a free Color Discovery Lesson. Check it out!
Exploring Embellishments focuses on the embellishment side of Rose’s work, taking us through all different types of fascinating doodads. Some were a surprise to me! I was familiar of course with buttons and with seed beads and bugle beads, but I never knew about coin beads or pressed glass/lampworked beads. They’re beautiful! Rose also urges us to consider a range of natural materials and found objects. Basically, anything that has a hole in it or that you can get a hole through, you can use to embellish your quilt!
I had never heard of air-dry clay. How very interesting! Rose also has good times with Angelina fibers, chenille sticks, wool roving, and the Mysterious Substance called Lutradur. You’ll see how to use these materials and more to fabricate your own unique embellishments.
Each project in the book is an embellishment learning experience, starting with Fast-Pieced Appliqué to create a colorful, interesting background.
Collectively these darling little quilts are called “The Truth About Cats and Dogs.”
The embellishments create the sparkle and glow of a moonlit “Starry Night.”
Wool-felt and wool-roving flowers.
To enter the drawing to win the book, leave a comment here on the blog before 7:00 p.m. California time on Friday, April 15. The contest is open to U.S. and Canada addresses only. If you’re subscribed by email or feed reader, remember to click over to the blog itself to leave your comment.
Cheers,
Kay
By Kay Mackenzie
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