Appliqué Books
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Feb
24
Pat Sloan offers new free BOM
Filed Under Blanket stitch, Designers, Fusible web, Machine appliqué, Patterns, Threads | 3 Comments
The ever-zany daily blogger Pat Sloan has started a new, free BOM. Check it out at Pat Sloan’s Corner. A very cute block and great closeup photography of her fusible appliqué and thread choice.
Until next time,
Kay
By Kay Mackenzie
Feb
20
It’s a hoot!
Filed Under Designers, Patterns, Prizes | 20 Comments
Kim Jamieson-Hirst of Chatterbox Quilts is a designer friend of mine in Calgary. Recently, she put out the most darling pattern called Hoot-mon!
I love this perky little family of owls.
“Hoot-mon,” according to the urban dictionary, is Scottish for “Yo dude!” That makes me laugh. My grandmother was Scottish, however I don’t remember her using this expression. I guess she just wasn’t that hip. It does convey to me the sense of Canada being part of the Commonwealth.
And how’s this for cute?
They’re stuffies!
We’re giving away a copy of Hoot-mon! to a lucky winner, so leave a comment by 7:00 p.m. California time on Monday, February 22, to enter the draw. Tell us why you like owls!
Coming up on the blog… revisiting thread topics and a look at Tile Quilt Revival.
Until next time,
Kay
By Kay Mackenzie
Feb
3
Another Season of Beautiful Blooms
Filed Under Books, Designers, Prizes | 33 Comments
This month’s book review is the brand-new title from Susan Taylor Propst, Another Season of Beautiful Blooms: Appliquéd Quilts and Cushions.
Inspired by the gardens and countryside of England and Europe, this book brings fresh floral designs to appliqué enthusiasts. Each of nine flower designs includes a full-sized block pattern and instructions for both a pillow and a wall hanging—in two different colorways—providing 18 projects in all.
In the intro Susan says, “These designs are great for hand appliqué, but can also be done with fusible appliqué. One of the best things about appliqué, and flowers in particular, is that the result doesn’t have to look exactly like the pattern. Flowers are quite varied, so relax and enjoy the appliqué.” Here here!
This gorgeous book is filled with photos of the cultivated gardens and wild countryside that give the author inspiration. The front matter includes information on choosing appliqué fabrics, backgrounds, and borders, then moves to the appliqué process. Susan uses the overlay method for positioning, and uses freezer-paper templates on the back of the appliqué fabrics. Step-by-step instructions and illustrations take you through her process in detail. Unit appliqué and bias stems are also covered. Then there are some really great general instructions for making wall quilts and cushions.
On to the flowers! So beautiful. Petunias (as seen on the cover), Poinsettias, Black-Eyed Susans, Cherry Blossoms, Lilies, Tuplis, Bougainvillea, and more! Each one detailed and realistic, yet designed to avoid difficult stitching.
If you like floral appliqué, you will love this new book. Martingale and Company has provided a copy for a drawing, so leave a comment before 7:00 p.m. on Friday, February 5, to be eligible to win.
And guess what? I also have Susan’s first book in the series, Beautiful Blooms! The lucky winner will get both books! That’s a whole lotta floral appliqué.
U.S. and Canada only, unless you’d be willing to pay the shipping.
A note to those subscribed to the blog by email: To leave a comment, you’ll first need to click over to the blog itself. Scroll to the bottom of the post and click on the Comments link. Leave your comment there to enter the drawing.
Until next time (with some exciting news),
Kay
By Kay Mackenzie
Jan
27
Superior windfall
Filed Under Designers, Threads | 7 Comments
At the Road to California show earlier this month, I was directly across the aisle from the Superior Threads booth. What a fantastic location!
I was on the lookout for The Thread Guy and Mother Superior, aka Bob and Heather Purcell. I was sure I would recognize them from their appearances on The Quilt Show.
When the opportunity presented itself, I approached Bob and said, “Mr. Bob Purcell?”
He looked at me with a little bit of that “deer in the headlights” look (like is this someone I’ve met and I can’t remember her?) but I quickly explained how his fame as The Thread Guy had preceded him. I told him about what an appliqué enthusiast I am (gesturing toward my booth as evidence) and that I had been using DMC 50-weight 2-ply cotton for years. I asked him whether Superior’s MasterPiece would be like an equivalent.
The answer was yes, and it’s long-staple Egyptian-grown cotton, which makes it, well, superior! I told him of my appliqué blog and how I liked to supply information to other appliqué enthusiasts, and he generously presented me with a fantastic goody! A rainbow of MasterPiece threads in a collection of prewound bobbins! Yippee! A little bit of 36 colors!
Later in the show, Heather came over and said, “I know you like Bob better.”
“Well,” I replied, “he gave me thread.”
“But I want you to try this,” she said, and handed me a rainbow of polyester threads in a collection of prewound bobbins. Wow!
“Now I know that you’ve only used cotton,” she went on. “But just try this poly thread and you will never go back. And then, you will like me better.”
Cotton on the left and poly on the right. The “Frosted” part of the cotton name came about because Superior did a collection of threads for the Piece o’ Cake gals, and donut, kinda self-explanatory. I can only conjecture about how they came up with Holy SuperBobs.
What a thread windfall for an appliquér. All those luscious colors at my fingertips… I can’t wait to try out each kind, for hand and machine appliqué, and file a report!
The cotton MasterPiece thread feels and looks very comparable to the DMC. The poly thread is even finer than the two cottons.
The Purcells are super-nice, down-to-earth people. I like ‘em both. They care passionately about their product and they are very tuned-in to the needs and wants of the quilter. Just check the Education tab of the Superior website for gobs of information about the world of thread.
I also met quilter, designer, author, and sweetheart Cindy Needham, who was hanging out in the Superior booth helping shoppers with their questions about thread. I think I persuaded her to go a guest post for us about appliqué and her fabulous work with wholecloth linen quilts. Stay tuned!
More later,
Kay
By Kay Mackenzie
Jan
24
Butterflies and a spaniel
Filed Under Classes, Color, Designers, Machine appliqué, Patterns, Show & Tell | 2 Comments
A couple of years ago I blogged about Sheril Drummond’s quilt Remembering Barbaro.
Last October at PIQF she had the most amazing, huge butterfly quilt called “Flights of Fancy.”
Flights of Fancy by Sheril Drummond
I checked Sheril’s blog Serendipity and was delighted to learn that she is now offering patterns and on-line classes to help others achieve the stunning look of her quilts. While you’re there be sure to send virtual scritchies to the Cavalier King Charles spaniel 
.
Until next time,
Kay
By Kay Mackenzie
Jan
21
Got home on Monday afternoon from Road to California, tired but happy. The show was beyond fabulous. I met many amazing folks, got some new products to try out, and will write about everything in the fullness of time.
In the meantime, head over to Darcy Ashton’s blog, where you’ll see all the projects from her new book of appliqué patterns Horsing Around, which is just about to come out!
Sigh. I love horses.
Until next time,
Kay
By Kay Mackenzie
Jan
3
Machine Appliqué for the Terrified Quilter
Filed Under Books, Designers, Fusible web, Machine appliqué, Prepared edge, Prizes, Raw edge, Reverse appliqué, Stained glass, Turned edge | 33 Comments
Happy New Year appliqué enthusiasts!
Hey is anybody going to Road to California later this month? I got a call just a couple weeks ago offering me a spot as a vendor and I said yippee! If you’re going to be at this fabulous quilt show and conference in Ontario, California, in two weeks’ time, please come by and say hello! I’ll be in 806.
Now on to our January giveaway, sponsored by Martingale & Company / That Patchwork Place. Sharon Pederson is a Canadian quilter whom I’ve met a couple times, most recently when she came to give a talk at my guild. If you ever get the chance, be sure to go to one of her lectures because it is a highly amusing experience. Sharon’s book Machine Appliqué for the Terrified Quilter is intended for quilters who (like Sharon in a former life) “refer to appliqué as the A word.”
Sharon says that her book is for those who are attracted to appliqué but feel that life is too short to do hand work. Learning that she could appliqué by machine was what it took to make her a total convert! I’ll throw in my 2¢ worth and add that even if you like hand work, it’s great to throw more techniques into your appliqué bag of tricks.
Lots of introductory information is given about fabrics, threads, needles, sewing machines, and stitches. Then Sharon takes you step-by-step through two methods: invisible machine appliqué, where the edges of the appliqué are turned and the stitches are unseen, and fusible appliqué, where the edges are raw and the stitches are visible. Reverse appliqué is also covered.
Sharon gives lessons on a variety of machine stitches, including the satin stitch, narrow zigzag, and decorative stitches, plus how to manipulate them in interesting ways. Great closeup photos accompany this information.
The projects in the book are mostly small and manageable, because after all, “you might be just a little bit terrified about the prospect of machine appliqué, so why further terrorize yourself by trying a queen-size project first?”
If you’re more of a visual learner, you might be interested in the DVD, a separate item. A sample lesson from it is available for viewing on the Martingale website.
Whether you’re terrified or not, this is one great resource for those interested in machine appliqué! Leave a comment by 7:00 p.m. California time on Wednesday, January 6, to enter the drawing for the book. U.S. and Canada only, unless you’d be willing to pay the shipping.
The winner gets my book Easy Appliqué Blocks too, with its companion CD that lets you print 50 designs in 5 sizes!
Until next time,
Kay
By Kay Mackenzie
Dec
14
Double the Artful Appliqué!
Filed Under Books, Color, Cutaway, Designers, Hand appliqué, Needleturn, Patterns, Prizes | 80 Comments
To celebrate my birthday on December 17 (not to mention the holiday season), I’m doing a super-duper, extra, extra-special, double-the-appliqué giveaway! Because you see, these things are as much fun for me as they are for you.
I happen to have copies of both Artful Appliqué: The Easy Way from the year 2000 and still in print, and the brand-new Artful Appliqué II: Introducing Scrappliqué and 12 New Floral Designs by Jane Townswick, provided by Martingale & Company / That Patchwork Place. I’m putting them together and giving you guys an opportunity to win them as a package deal. How festive is that for an appliqué enthusiast?
“Having been a die-hard patchwork fan for many years,” begins Jane in the introduction, “I thought there was very little reason for appliqué quilts to exist — until Nancy Pearson’s “Techny Chimes” stopped me dead in my tracks.”
I’m right there with you on that one, Jane. Here’s a page from my inspiration scrapbook. That’s Techny Chimes on the lower right.
“Beautiful hand appliqué is as individual as a fingerprint,” Jane continues.
I really appreciate this sentiment of encouraging individuality and de-emphasizing the need for exact copying and perfection, which IMO takes away from the pleasure of the work.
In the book Jane presents many unusual (to me) and innovative techniques for creating motifs — partial stitching, modified cutwork, and unit construction. (Just goes to show how different brains work differently.) These methods enable tiny, rich details that still have turned edges.
The appliqué information also shows how to achieve precision where precision is important, and individual, artful results where precision is less important.
Leaves don’t have to be green, did you know that? I know that, but I mostly forget it when I reach for my fabrics. You’ll see some stunning results in the book’s gallery of quilts where the quilters have reached past the green box.
The gallery includes many beautiful quilts made by Jane and her students. The author then includes 16 appliqué blocks, each one with complete skill-building instructions. It’s easy to see why this one is still in print after nine years, it’s a classic.
Artful Appliqué II: Introducing Scrapliqué and 12 New Floral Designs
I just received this one from Martingale so it’s hot off the presses! I can tell from the cover that the floral designs are even more free-form, natural, and detailed. Never fear, Jane takes you step-by-step through her way of mastering this realism. She does advises beginners to consult one of her previous books or another reference book for the basics of appliqué.
In this book Jane introduces Scrapliqué, a technique for creating mosaic-like fabric compositions for your motifs without having to stitch tiny pieces together. There’s also information on unit appliqué, where you can stitch an entire flower before stitching it to the background. Jane explains several advantages to this strategy.
The book has sections on color blending, free-form stems and branches, and a unique way of stitching sharp points. There’s a gorgeous gallery of quilts and 12 floral blocks with step-by-step instructions and photos. You’ll find anemone, camellia, iris, lady’s slipper, pansies, sweet peas, and more! All so detailed you wouldn’t believe it.
Martingale recently published an interview with Jane on their blog. Be sure to go and read that for more information on the artist.
Leave a comment before 7:00 p.m. California time on Thursday, December 17 (my bday ), for a chance to win this fantastic combo platter. U.S. and Canada only, unless you’d be willing to pay the shipping.
Happiest holidays to you!
Kay
By Kay Mackenzie
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
22
Spotlight on Laurene Sinema
Filed Under Designers, History, Spotlights | 1 Comment
I got a note from Lynn Miller in Arizona.
“Wanted to mention the person who inspired me the most with applique, Laurene Sinema. She is in the Arizona Quilters Hall of Fame. Laurene is no longer with us, but she is not forgotten. I hoped you might give her a mention sometime on your blog. She was a wonderful, kind, caring person.”
I knew the name was familiar, but it wasn’t until I looked her up that I remembered Laurene is the author of the classic Appliqué! Appliqué!! Appliqué!!!
What a great title.
Laurene is also the author of Primitive Folk Art Designs From Antique Album Quilts as well as several more books on appliqué and redwork. She’s a co-author of the popular Hooked on Hankies.
The AQHF article tells of Laurene’s many important contributions to the quilting scene in Arizona and around the world. She opened the first quilt shop in Phoenix, founded the state-wide Arizona Quilters Guild, and served as president of the Arizona Quilt Project. She was instrumental in the redwork revival when she helped coordinate an exhibit one year at International Quilt Market.
On the Quilt History website, Laurene is remembered as “warm, upbeat, and sharing.” Her legacy lives on in her books, patterns, fabrics, and the memories that many quilters have of her talent, energy, and inspiration.
Until next time,
Kay
By Kay Mackenzie
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