Appliqué Books
Shop our APPLIQUÉ BOOKSTORE, powered by Amazon. Lots and lots of gorgeous books, all about appliqué!
Oct
20
PIQF favorite
Filed Under Designers, Embellishment, Quilt shows, Show & Tell | 8 Comments
Pacific International Quilt Festival was last weekend and as usual it was a colorful, energetic, heavenly concentration of quilts, quilters, and wares under one roof.
The quilt that reached out and grabbed me this year was Fragrant Memories by Rachel Wetzler of St. Charles, Illinois.
Fragrant Memories by Rachel Wetzler
Rachel graciously consented to my posting her quilt on my blog. She reports, “It’s one of my favorites as it brings back ‘the good old days’ when mom’s warm bread or rolls awaited me after school. Yum!”
The description read, “One of my favorite childhood memories is coming home from school to the aroma of mom’s homemade bread. This quilt is one of five in my Simply Sensational series using architectural settings to highlight each of the five senses.”
I think Rachel succeeded in the smellorama department, don’t you? I wanted to step right into that kitchen and dive into a cinnamon bun.
This quilt won the Best of Country ~ United States award in the World Quilt Competition.
Rachel is an amazing quiltmaker. I found this interview with her on the Alliance for American Quilts website that was done in connection with the Q.S.O.S. project. She talks about the series and about how it wasn’t all that easy to make LOL! (I imagine not!)
Thanks, Rachel, for sharing your fragrant memories with us.
Until next time,
Much more from PIQF,
Kay
By Kay Mackenzie
Oct
9
Dana’s choice
Filed Under Embellishment, Fabrics, Improvisational appliqué, Show & Tell, Turned edge | 58 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
Oct
4
Blogger’s Quilt Festival coming up
Filed Under Prizes, Quilt shows, Show & Tell | 2 Comments
Amy at Park City Girl is sponsoring another internet Quilt Festival for those who have Market envy. (Just kidding! If you’re making the pilgrimage to Houston you’re welcome too 
.
Click the logo to learn all about the Festival, And, if you have a blog, consider participating! You’ll get to showcase one of your quilts for whole bunches of appreciative quilters. I’m a prize sponsor and there are lots of others too.
Until next time,
Kay
By Kay Mackenzie
Aug
6
Let’s Flickr
Filed Under Show & Tell | 2 Comments
For a long while I’ve been pondering ways in which to invite you readers to participate in the blog more. To that end, I started a Flickr group.
This public group is for appliqué enthusiasts, to enjoy some eye candy and show off your projects! It’s called, naturally, All About Appliqué. I put in some entries just to get the ball rolling.
Please go and share photos of your appliqué projects there! Any stage of completion is great… don’t feel like you have to wait until every stitch is in. And please tell us a little bit about your project in the description. Be sure to put in the design source.
Here’s the link to the group: All About Appliqué Flickr Group
Note: I’m new to Flickr myself. Hopefully a lot of you are old hands at it!
It not, I have learned the following:
• Anyone can view and enjoy this group’s photos.
• Flickr is part of Yahoo. To post a photo you’ll need a Yahoo account.
• To add a photo to the group, you’ll need to join the group. Click “join” then log in with your Yahoo account.
• You’ll need to upload at least five photos before your new account will be reviewed and approved. Until then, your photos won’t show up in the group. Here’s the FAQ page at Flickr that explains that. If you just want to add one photo to the All About Appliqué group, then add four more random photos not in the group to your photostream to trigger the review process. Then it’ll be a couple days.
Can’t wait to see your projects!
Kay
Quilt Puppy Publications & Designs
Subscribe
Subscribe in a reader 
Subscribe by email
I'm a cover girl!
A blog tour for Inspired by Tradition!
A visit to other wonderful quilting blogs!