Appliqué Books
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Dec
1
Baltimore Basics
Filed Under Baltimore Album, Books, Borders, Designers, Hand appliqué, History, Needleturn, Patterns, Prizes | 46 Comments
Have I got a good one for you this time! December’s giveaway, sponsored by Martingale & Company / That Patchwork Place, is Mimi Dietrich’s classic, Baltimore Basics: Album Quilts from Start to Finish.
What a delight for the appliqué enthusiast! Mimi, a Baltimore native and lifelong resident, is an authority on this amazing quilt form that has hooked so many of us on appliqué.
Mimi begins by presenting food for thought in planning your quilt, considering options, making decisions, and getting organized. This is not your quick-and-easy type o’ deal. These are more like thoughtful, measured, long-range projects that you should enjoy all along the way.
Next comes a great idea — printed layout mockups! You can photocopy the block thumbnails, cut them apart, and try them out in several pre-printed arrangements to see what you like best. Very cool.
Then there’s a whole beautiful section giving fabric yardage and cutting instructions for a wide variety of sizes and settings. Mimi really helps you design your own quilt.
After giving information on fabrics and supplies, Mimi takes you step-by-step through several methods of preparation for hand appliqué. She encourages you to try them all to see which is your favorite. Then comes detailed information on hand stitching, plus sections on the stems, circles, baskets, and bows that we see so commonly in Baltimore Album. Since Mimi also knows dimensional appliqué, she throws in folded rosebuds and ruched flowers.
Then, of course, there are the 12 beautiful block patterns reminiscent of old, each one accompanied by a color photo of the stitched design.
The book ends with how to sew your blocks together, how to make appliquéd borders, and quilting and finishing your big or little masterpiece.
I get to play Santa! U.S. and Canada only, unless you’d be willing to pay the shipping. Leave a comment before 7:00 p.m. California time on Friday, December 4. The lucky winner will receive Baltimore Basics plus my book Easy Appliqué Blocks: 50 Designs in 5 Sizes.
Ho ho ho!
Kay
By Kay Mackenzie
Nov
1
Pat’s pics of antique quilts at Houston
Filed Under Borders, Circles, Color, Designers, Hand appliqué, History, Quilt shows | Leave a Comment
Daily blogger Pat Sloan put up a post showing some of the antique appliqué quilts that were displayed during Festival in Houston. They are so amazing.
Until next time,
Kay
By Kay Mackenzie
Oct
28
Applique Petal Party
Filed Under Books, Borders, Designers, Hand appliqué, Needleturn, Prizes | 40 Comments
Susan Brubaker Knapp and I became acquainted through a Yahoo discussion group for pattern designers. Her Blue Moon River blog was one of the stops on my Easy Applique Blocks Book-a-Round in April. In May, Susan and I were able to meet in person during Spring Quilt Market in Pittsburgh. (See my post-Market post.)
We were both as high as kites above Pittsburgh. Me because my book had just come out, and Susan because she had just found out that not one but two of her quilts had been chosen for the 2010 Quilting Arts Calendar, one of them actually being on the cover! That’s right, those stunning citrus slices are Susan’s. Not only that, she and C&T Publishing were hard at work on Susan’s first book due out in the fall.
During the summer, C&T contacted me to ask if I would like to write an blurb about Susan’s book. Would I! They sent me an advance galley copy of Applique Petal Party so I was able to pore over the gorgeous floral designs and the written information. I wrote my blurb and sent it in.
Check out the interview with Susan on the C&T blog.
Now the book is out!
Appliqué Petal Party by Susan Brubaker Knapp
Applique Petal Party is presented in a unique format… a glossy heavyweight sleeve contains an instruction booklet and… get this… 16 full-size patterns! Each block is 13”, so what a convenience. You can make the Petal Party quilt, a smaller wall quilt, or use these designs whenever you need an appliqué block. Click here to see the full quilt on the C&T site..
The booklet gives great hand appliqué instructions plus construction information for the Petal Party quilt that goes from cutting to quilting to binding and labeling. The quilt has scalloped borders so here’s your chance to learn how to do those, including the binding part.
My blurb? It just flowed from my brain through my fingertips to the keyboard. When I got the book, I saw that my quote had made the back cover! In fact, it’s the only one!!! Wow!
Susan has generously sent me an autographed copy to give away in a drawing to a lucky reader. Leave a comment before 7:00 p.m. on Halloween to enter the drawing. (U.S. and Canada only unless you’re willing to pay the shipping.)
Boo!
Until next time,
Kay
By Kay Mackenzie
Apr
17
My favorite quilt
Filed Under Borders, Color, Embellishment, Freezer paper on top, Hand appliqué, Needleturn, Quilt shows, Stems/vines | 29 Comments
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.
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.
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
Dec
23
‘Tis the Season
Filed Under Books, Borders, Embellishment, Fusible web, Holiday, Improvisational appliqué, Machine appliqué, Patterns, Raw edge | 3 Comments
And here’s my quilt of the same name.
I made this little 18 x 18 wall quilt last year, just putting together some motifs from A Merry Little Christmas to Appliqué and filling in the white space with some cute red and green buttons. I used different prints and widths for side and top and bottom borders, something I’ve become fond of doing. The Christmas cracker is tied with embroidery thread. This one’s machine appliquéd and machine quilted.
If you’d like to see more Christmassy quilts, click on the ‘Holiday’ category in the left sidebar and that’ll bring up the ones I posted last year.
A very happy holiday time to you all! See you next year.
Kay
Quilt Puppy Publications & Designs
Sep
15
Ricky Tims’ extra-wide freezer paper
Filed Under Borders, Designers, Freezer paper on the back, Freezer paper on top, Product demo | 6 Comments
Being the ever-curious appliquér, I picked up a package of Ricky’s version of freezer paper.
Here’s what the package says:
Here’s what it looks like when you take it out of the package. This is only a portion of it.
I cut out a hunk of the regular supermarket freezer paper and a piece of Ricky’s. Ricky’s does feel softer, thinner, and more flexible. I hope you can see a difference in this photo.
Personally I end up chopping my freezer paper into little pieces for the type of appliqué that I do, but I can see where this product would come in mighty handy if you’ve been taping together sections of freezer paper to use with large patterns in other techniques. For instance, what comes to mind is designing and marking swag borders, where you use a piece of freezer paper that’s the same dimensions as your border, then fold it into sections for the swags.
I went ahead and tested it out for the freezer-paper-on-top type of appliqué that I know.
Note the cardboard underneath. The firm surface helps create a better bond when ironing the template onto the fabric.
I’m a baster… can’t abide pins when I’m trying to stitch.
Works great!
It strikes me as amusing that Ricky would need to call this product by a name that’s not what it’s intended for (wrapping meat for the freezer) so that it will be familiar for quilters!
C’mon gang, chime in. What use would you make out of extra-wide freezer paper?
Kay
Quilt Puppy Publications & Designs
Aug
26
Vine and sugar bowl border
Filed Under Books, Borders, Patterns | Leave a Comment
Pam Crooks is one of the members of the small quilt group I’ve been stitching with for over 12 years. She’s a super-busy gal, working full-time and traveling for her position with a banking institution, plus participating in so many appliqué projects it could make your head spin. Yet she has been a fabulous supporter of my publishing work, finding the time to contribute beautiful original samples when I have a new book in the works.
Here’s what she made for Teapots 2 to Appliqué. I just love it!
Pam was at Round Robin Fabrics here in Santa Cruz, a quilt shop that specializes in ethnic, beachy, and not-your-ordinary-calicoes. Some Kaffe Fassett prints and some rusty batiks captured her imagination that day.
Pam has a habit of giving me her project for photography without telling me a name for it. I was considering “Sugar, No Milk” or maybe “With Sugar Please” because of her adorable vine-and-sugar-bowl border. Before the book went to print, I ran my ideas past her, and a funny look came over her face. “Not so much,” I said to myself. Turns out that Pam was thinking more like “Tea With Kaffe” because of the K.F. print she used for the teapot. Well, I already had a “Tea with…” quilt, so we came up with “Tea Garden” to include the beautiful twining vines.
Pam in her generosity also gave me a hand-drawn pattern for her original border. So if you order Teapots 2 to Appliqué over at Quilt Puppy and you’d like the border pattern, just type “Pam’s border” in the comments area and I’ll put one in with the book.
Thanks Pam!
Until next time,
Kay
Quilt Puppy Publications & Designs
Apr
1
A Spot of Tea
Filed Under Blanket stitch, Books, Borders, Fusible web, Machine appliqué, Raw edge | 2 Comments
Look at this cute thing I just stitched up to hang in my booth at quilt shows!
I made this version of “A Little More Tea” smaller than the sampler pattern in Teapots 2 to Appliqué…it has 9 of the 16 designs. I call this one “A Spot of Tea.”
The appliqué notes in Teapots 2 are all about the back-basting, or no-template prep method for hand appliqué. For this cheery sample I used fusible appliqué with a small machine blanket stitch.
Sometimes I pull fabrics and make blocks, then go hunting for a border that will work with them. In this case I started with the border fabric and pulled the teapot fabrics from there.
Cheerio,
Kay
Quilt Puppy Publications & Designs
Dec
13
You’ve never seen it all
Filed Under Borders, Embellishment, Fusible web, Machine appliqué, Raw edge, Threads | Leave a Comment
Mistress of machines Janet showed me a border she’d made for a round robin. I couldn’t believe it. Yet another edge treatment for fusible appliqué!
At first I thought Janet had used the machine embroidery technique that I’d seen on her pieces in the past. I asked her to describe how she’d done this beautiful stitching. Here’s what she told me.
Usually, when machine embroidering, Janet hoops the fabric. This time, since the oak leaves and acorns were fused onto the background fabric, there was enough stability so that she could skip the hoop. Instead of stitching back and forth a little at a time to simulate three strands of embroidery floss, Janet did a free-motion stitch traveling in one direction all the time, and went around each motif two or three times close to the edges. The veins on the leaves were done the same way. She used variegated Star cotton thread from Coats & Clark, which is one of her favorite threads for her machine work.
Here’s the project so far, with just the center and Janet’s fabulous appliquéd border. Janet told me I could put this picture up, but shh! don’t tell the person whose center that is, or we’ll get busted.
Until next time,
Kay
Nov
18
An appliquér’s mitered border
Filed Under Borders, Hand appliqué, Photo tutorial | 1 Comment
I sew mitered borders from the top, where I can see what I’m doing. For me it’s more of an intuitive approach, but maybe that’s just because I’m an appliqué girl!
This illustration shows an inner border and an outer border, sewn together and applied to the quilt top at the same time and mitered at a 45º angle at the corners. The border strip sets need to start out longer than the sides of the quilt.
Sew the borders to each side, leaving ¼” free at each end of the seams. Secure the starting and stopping points with backstitching.
Place the quilt on the ironing board. Fold one border under at a 45º angle so that it lines up exactly with its neighbor underneath. Use your ruler to check the angle of the miter and its 45º relationship to the square corner of the quilt top. When all is satisfactory, press and then carefully baste in place without shifting the fabric.
Hand appliqué the miter, using threads to match the fabrics. Remove the basting stitches.
Complete all four corners in this manner. After a final check that all four corners are square and correct, trim off the excess border ends, leaving a ¼” seam allowance. Press seams open.
And that’s how I do that!
Until next time,
Kay
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