Appliqué Books
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Mar
3
Tile Quilt Revival
Filed Under Books, Fabrics, Fusible web, Hand appliqué, Machine appliqué, Needleturn, Prizes | 35 Comments
At the Road to California show in January, I had the excellent fortune to sit at the breakfast table with Carol Gilham Jones and Bobbi Finley. Several friends of mine were staying at the hotel, and they were also friends of Carol and Bobbi, so introductions were made–on a first-name basis–and Bobbi was flabbergasted when I asked her, “Are you Bobbi Finley??” That was a very familiar name to me after years of hanging around with active members of the American Quilt Study Group.
Carol and Bobbi had a special exhibit of their tile quilts in the show. Passing these at warp speed as I did the first time, these beautiful pieces have a stained-glass look, but lighter and airier. Bobbi says that a lot of people compare them to stained-glass quilts, but they’re not. Construction-wise, instead of “leading” applied over the raw edges of the shapes, these shapes are finished with turned edges, and the background is left exposed to create the spaces between shapes.
Tile Quilt Revival: Reinventing a Forgotten Form is Carol and Bobbi’s fascinating, educational, and inviting book that reintroduces this “unique and somewhat obscure” form of appliqué quilt.
Tile quilts are explained this way:
Traditional tile quilts… are constructed with small pieces of cotton fabric appliquéd in a random manner to a white background, leaving a narrow space between the pieces; this white space serves as the “grout” between the tiles or “mortar” between the pavers or stones.
The books starts out with a brief history of tile quilts, with great photos showing examples from the past. Then comes a section on how to make a tile quilt, reinterpreted for today. When I read the following, the heavens opened up and I heard the heavenly choir!
The tile quilt technique, with its large and simple shapes, creates an ideal showcase for bold, contemporary fabrics. Interesting, large-scale prints are will suited for the tile pieces. If you’ve ever found yourself admiring some of the daring prints now available but wondering how to use them, a tile quilt is an idea project for putting them to good use.
Hallelujah! I have a tub of fabrics in my stash labeled “Modern” that has been… well… sitting there.
Now my “daring” prints have a destiny!
The techniques used in the book are so simple they’re ingenious! No need to consider seam allowances, to reverse patterns, or to figure out where to place the pieces. Another really great thing about this book is that it has fantastic appliqué instructions… needle-turn by hand, turned-edge machine-appliqué and fusible machine appliqué too, all expertly explained and illustrated. If you’re reading this blog, you probably like appliqué already, but how about this section where the authors say:
Even if you don’t love to appliqué or don’t consider yourself to be skilled at it, chances are you will enjoy the tile quilt process because it is not exacting. The tile-and-grout form is quite forgiving, and the inevitable deviations from strict uniformity in the grout add to the visual interest and appeal of a piece.
How cool is that?? Get your A-word friends to take a look!
After the appliqué information, there are instructions for several projects with full-size pull-out patterns.
Then there’s a Gallery of Contemporary Tile Quilts. These are fun and inspiring to look at as you see what quilters of today are doing to reinvent the form.
C&T Publishing is graciously sponsoring a giveaway of a copy of Tile Quilt Revival! Leave a comment before 7:00 p.m. California time on Friday, March 5, to be in the drawing. U.S. and Canada only, unless you’d be willing to pay the shipping.
Those subscribed by email, click over the the blog itself and scroll to the bottom of the post to leave a comment.
I wanna start a tile quilt right now, but dang I have deadlines!
Until next time,
Kay
By Kay Mackenzie
Nov
11
Awesome Asian Teapots
Filed Under Books, Fabrics, Fusible web, Patterns, Raw edge, Show & Tell, Topstitch | 2 Comments
I came across this entry on longarm quilter Nancy Gambrel’s blog, where she shows off her customers’ quilts and the beautiful quilting she’s done on them.
Lo and behold, there’s an absolutely beautiful teapot quilt made by Pat Besenhofer, and I recognize it as being from my Teapots 2 to Appliqué.
What an internet find! Pat and Nancy both graciously agreed to let me use the photos and put up a Show & Tell of my own.
Asian Teapot quilt made by Pat Besenhofer, quilted by Nancy Gambrel.
Look at the elegant quilted frames surrounding each teapot, setting them off just so.
Pat writes,
This is so cool. My quilt is indeed based on your book Teapots to Applique 2. I would be thrilled to have my quilt shown on your website. And to think it isn’t even bound yet! I’m glad that Nancy and I spent so much time exchanging ideas about the quilting, I think the frame she did works beautifully with the teapots and the corner diamonds.
I’ve been a tea person all of my life, and I get so tired of patterns featuring coffee, espresso’s and latte’s, etc., so I snatched up this book (as well as the first one) when I saw it at the all-the-quilt-books-in-the-world vendor at the Rosemont, Illinois, Quilt Festival a a year or two ago.
This is the first quilt I’ve made with a definite location in mind; it’s going to go in my kitchen. I’ve been second-guessing myself on the pattern, wondering if I should have placed one or more teapots going the other way, or adding a teacup in one spot for a bit of whimsy. I’m happy that you like it as is.
Pat told me that the quilt was done with fusible raw-edge applique. In order to get the teapots facing the ‘correct’ way, she copied the positive images, then flipped the paper to create a reverse image to draw on the fusible web. Pat, that’s just the way I do it. Nancy stitched down the edges of the fusible applique with clear thread.
A beautiful job, both Pat and Nancy!
Until next time,
Kay
By Kay Mackenzie
Oct
26
A lovely quasi-quilty trip
Filed Under Books, Designers, Fabrics, Quilt shops | 3 Comments
It started last Wednesday morning bright and early as Dana and I packed the car and drove an hour and a half to Pleasant Hill, California, to attend the quarterly meeting of the Northern California Quilt Council. I had been invited to participate in a panel discussion called “So You Want to Get it Published.” How very cool! Publishing nerd that I am, I can’t think of a more thrilling topic.
My fellow panel members were Cara Gulati of Doodle Press, Jill Rixman of A Designing Woman, Megan Wisniewski and Lynn Koolish of C&T Publishing, authors Judy Sisneros and Melinda Bula, Tracey Brookshier of Brookshier Design Studio, and Judy Mullen of Scaredy Cat Designs. Quite an array of different perspectives on publishing in the quilting world!
We each had five minutes to introduce ourselves, complete with red, yellow, and green flash cards to let us know when the hook was approaching LOL. Questions from the floor followed. Some of the answers shared great information about various forms of ‘getting it published,’ while others provided moving inspiration. I think we all wish the session could have gone on longer. We only scratched the surface; there was so much more to talk about!
After the meeting was over Dana and I had lunch and set off for our next destination: Shinneyboo Creek Cabins near Emigrant Gap in the Sierra Nevadas. This is a rustic vacation resort with little cabins that I found by following Google Maps up I-80.
Little cabin in the woods.
It was so much fun! A complete change of scenery from our coastal Santa Cruz. Crisp mountain air, woodsy terrain, and tons of tumbled rocks and huge boulders thanks to the work of glaciers in the last Ice Age 20,000 years ago. (Hello, I‘m married to a science writer.)
We brought our dinner and warmed it up in our cozy little cabin in the microwave, and made tea with the electric kettle. Dana immediately climbed up into the loft and turned 10 years old again, reading in the loft as happy as a clam. I read some quilting magazines and stitched three holly leaves.
The next morning we went for a walk. (Notice I said walk. I’m a good sturdy walker but don’t say the word hike.) Our destination was the Pierce Creek Wetlands Trail, ¼ mile from the path behind our cabin.
A mile or so later down a rocky road, we came to the following sign.
I swear they were in that order.
But we did find the Pierce Wetlands, er, dry creekbed. Rains this winter will undoubtedly make it wet again.
They also have a yurt.
Dana examining a fascinating rock.
Dana contemplating a sign that says nothing, with a pine cone on his head. Don't ask.
We left Shinneyboo and drove east to Bearpaws & Hollyhocks, a charming quilt shop in Sacramento well worth the detour. I found some of the double pinks that I have come to greatly appreciate.
We got back on the freeway and proceeded eastward a short hop to historic Auburn, where I stopped in at the Cabin Fever Quilt Shoppe. The first thing I saw was Susan Brubaker Knapp’s hot-off-the-presses Applique Petal Party! (A whole post about that’s comin’ up.)
As I was perusing the shop’s lovely fabrics and making my selections, the owner came in. “Oh, hello!” she said to me. She had been at the NCQC meeting that morning! It was great to chat with Patti a little bit about the experience. She gave me a copy of the 2007 Quilt Sampler magazine, which features Cabin Fever as one of the Top Ten Stores! Congratulations Patti and staff!
Just one part of the store.
Then, on to our last stop, the Sands Regency in Reno, Nevada.
From woodsy to glitzy.
Dana plays in a chess tournament at the Sands once or twice a year and I love to go along when I can. The fabulous Windy Moon Quilts has a huge selection of fabrics, lots of lights and darks and other categories too numerous to mention. I also found Sew-n-Such, a very fun shop featuring sewing machines, sergers, and a sizeable quilt fabric presence. Very nice vibe in that shop.
My haul of fabrics from the trip. Can you tell that I’m collecting backgrounds, reds, pinks, greens, and blues? Yep, I’m off to the races on another future project.
So what quilter doesn’t combine vacation time with visits to quilt shops, catching up on quilting magazines, and time spent on take-along projects? For us, all trips are quasi-quilty! I sure enjoyed mine.
Until next time,
Kay
By Kay Mackenzie
Oct
19
Thank you so much to everyone who came over from the Bloggers Quilt Festival and left amazing comments about Shopping Bags. I cherish each and every one; you’ve done my heart good.
There’s a followup story. As I was cutting shapes for the bags, I also cut a few blades and squares from each fabric for some Dresden plate blocks, figuring I had already pulled a coordinated assortment of fabrics so why not make it a twofer. I made this quilt later. Same fabrics exactly as the shopping bags! This quilt is from Faye Anderson’s pattern ‘Cracked China.’ I call mine ‘Mix and Doesn’t Match.’
Mix and Doesn't Match by Kay Mackenzie
Here’s the quilt that appeared in American Quilter. Funny that they were originally attracted to the pattern from the dark blue quilt, requested an additional lighter sample, and then never used the first one at all!
Shopping Bags II by Kay Mackenzie
In this quilt, the bags were pieced into the background instead of appliquéd on.
Until next time,
Kay
By Kay Mackenzie
Oct
9
Dana’s choice
Filed Under Embellishment, Fabrics, Improvisational appliqué, Show & Tell, Turned edge | 57 Comments
I asked Dana which quilt should be my quilter’s choice for the Blogger’s Quilt Festival put on by Amy of Park City Girl. Immediately he said, “Shopping Bags.”
Shopping Bags by Kay Mackenzie
The bag popped into my head a number of years ago whilst tromping the aisles at Pacific International Quilt Festival. It must have been the heavenly combination of quilts, fabric, and shopping!
It took awhile for the concept to get from my head to a design. Yes, kids, each bag has set-in seams in two places. That did not deter me. I used freezer-paper templates and sewed carefully, and they came together just fine.
Shopping Bags detail
It was gobs of fun rummaging through my stash for fabrics to make the fronts, sides, and backs. For the sides, I chose fabrics where I could use both the back and the front, to add to the illusion of a folding pleat.
After the bags were all sewn together (by machine), I turned over a quarter of an inch all around the edges and pressed. I chose a swirly background fabric and made my best stab at an artistic arrangement. In fact this may have been my very first quilt to come even close to being an “art quilt.” I just wanted them to hang there in space and overlap and float in and out from each other.
Once the bags were arranged, I basted them down and stitched the turned edges like appliqué, changing threads to match or blend with each fabric.
I went to the craft store to get something for the handles. I made my choice and as I was standing in line I saw the manager. Susan!” I yelled. “Whaddya call this stuff?” “That’s rat-tail cord,” she replied. Who knew. I couched the cord into place using one of those curve-bar thingies for placement.
Get this… I totally forgot to leave enough background fabric at the top for the handles. I quickly figured out that the topmost handles were going to stick up off the quilt. A happy accident… I get comments on how creative and clever this is.
Along with a different version of the quilt, the Shopping Bag block pattern was published the Fall 2005 issue of American Quilter magazine.
Hope you like Dana’s choice! Visit Park City Girl every day through October 16 and get a ringside seat for other bloggers’ quilt picks.
Until next time,
Kay
By Kay Mackenzie
Sep
15
The item that I ordered from Keepsake Quilting to use for the new designs arrived. There’s your second clue. 
Until next time,
Kay
By Kay Mackenzie
Sep
3
This month’s prize winner among registered readers of the blog is
Kathy G. of Lincolnton, North Carolina. Congratulations Kathy!
Kathy has won a copy of Applique Quilt Revival: Updated Patterns from
the 30’s
The cool thing about this book is that it’s an homage to history while including updated quiltmaking tehniques. Besides all the patterns, there’s information on all the basics, like rotary cutting, machine piecing, pressing, squaring up, assembling the quilt top, adding borders, and finishing your quilt. Nancy also includes illustrated instructions for her method of hand appliqué plus two forms of machine appliqué. The whole package!
Nancy presents a dozen darling appliqué designs that are based on patterns published during the 1930s, and she gives us some background about the history. We have a huge array of 30s repro fabrics available to us today so that we can re-create the unmistakable and greatly appealing look of that period. The book gives a variety of projects for using the designs, and as the introduction says, “These wonderful homey quilts offer something for everyone: delightful bunnies, cheery flowerpots, darling kittens, beautiful butterflies, stunning wreaths, and frolicking cowboys.”
Here’s my favorite, Fandango, made with the Colonial Scrap Basket block.
If you register you can be eligible for the monthly prize drawings too. See the right-hand sidebar.
Until next time,
Kay
By Kay Mackenzie
Jul
15
The Encyclopedia of Appliqué is back!
Filed Under Books, Fabrics, Guest posts, History | 3 Comments
I’m delighted to present this guest post from Barbara Brackman, esteemed quilt historian and author. Barbara has some news to share that is of great interest and excitement to the appliqué enthusiast!
This just in from quilt scholar
Barbara Brackman
Twenty years ago I published my Encyclopedia of Appliqué, which indexed all the appliqué designs I could find before 1970. It’s been out of print for years.
This month, C&T Publishing is bringing out a revised edition. The index will be the same but the introduction is updated.
Applique artists will love having the inspiration that the 1,800 black-and-white drawings provide. Born organizers like me will enjoy seeing all that exuberant design classified and numbered.
Here’s a scan of one of the pages on Reel quilts (they are all numbered 17). I’ve been having fun lately by finding block designs from online auction quilts and making myself digital files with color pictures of actual quilts like the page here. (I am a born organizer so that’s my idea of fun.)
The reel is one of the oldest appliquéd block designs, with examples dated in the early 1830s. It remains popular today. Here are a few quilts made by me and my friends using variations of the pattern.
Oak Leaf and Orange Peel (Bowden Family Quilt) by Bobbi Finley, Williamsburg, Virginia, 2003-2005.
Hip Hop Hickory Leaf by Carol Gilham Jones, Lawrence, Kansas, 2007.
Hickory Leaf by Barbara Brackman, Lawrence, Kansas, 2003. Quilted by Lori Kukuk.
Kaw Valley Quilters Guild Opportunity Quilt
by Georgann Eglinski and Roseanne Smith, Lawrence, Kansas 2009. Quilted by Lori Kukuk.
Thank you so much Barbara for sharing this sneak peak with us! The new edition of the Encyclopedia means that not only is it in print again, there’s an updated introduction about the history of appliqué, plus it has color pictures accompanying the black-and-white reference drawings, and, five quilt projects!
You can pre-order your copy at amazon.com. Here’s the link: Encyclopedia of Appliqué on Amazon.
If you have an interest in quilt history and fabric dating, you’ll definitely want to read Barbara’s blog, Material Culture: Information from a Quilt Historian About Quilt Fabric Past and Present.
Until next time,
Kay
Quilt Puppy Pubications & Designs
Mar
21
Ruth wins the fabric
Filed Under Fabrics, Holiday | 2 Comments
Ruth B’s the winner! Ruth, your comment is the same as what I would say about why I love quilting. It allows me to be a creative person. I never found ‘it’ until I found quilting.
Ruth, send me your name and mailing address to topdog at quiltpuppy.com and your beautiful blue fabric will be on its way.
Thank you all for sharing what quilting means to you. It’s good to stop and think about it every now and then.
Until next time,
Kay
Quilt Puppy Publications & Designs
Mar
21
It’s National Quilting Day
Filed Under Fabrics, Holiday | 7 Comments
Today we give extra-special thoughts toward celebrating quilting in all of its forms.
Let’s talk about it. Leave a comment telling everyone why you love quilting.
At 7:00 p.m. California time I’ll draw randomly from among all the comments posted, and I’ll send the winner a yard of this gorgeous Michael Miller fabric “Lotus Blossoms” designed by M.E. Hordyszynski.
Your fellow quilter,
Kay
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