Barbara Brandeburg’s machine appliqué tutorial

Kay — Mon, 12 May 2008 18:01:23 +0000

I found the most fabulous photo tutorial on designer Barbara Brandeburg’s blog. She has posted a wonderful step-by-step visual guide to creating raw-edge fusible appliqué. Hurry over to her blog and look on the righthand sidebar for “Easy Appliqué Tutorial” and have it all laid out before your eyes.

While you’re there, read her posts answering questions about appliqué. It’s a treasure trove over there. Thank you Barbara! You can also shop for her highly attractive patterns.

Barbara’s blog

Until next time,
Kay
Quilt Puppy Publications & Designs

Willie’s a homebody

Kay — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 00:25:18 +0000

My little dog Willie loves to go places, and loves to come back. He’s a good traveler, but I think he’s the very happiest when all of his pack are at home.

As you know, he helps me in the studio and is my boon companion while I’m working on all of my “stuff.” Here he is checking out my latest project, Home.

Yes, that’s right, the ink was hardly dry on Teapots 2 to Appliqué when I was already hard at work on another quilt design. I’ve been in a phase of doing things I haven’t done before, and it’s great! Home is more primitive and folksy than what I’ve done before, and I love it.

I knew the word “Home” would be front and center, and didn’t worry about how I was going to get it on there until I was ready to do it. After all, I co-wrote an article about words in quilts, which appeared in American Quilter. I knew I had some tricks up my sleeve! But when it came to it, I ended up doing… guess what… something I hadn’t done before.

Okay, so I’ve made plenty of bias tape in my life with my trusty green gadget (see the post on stems and skinny stems) but I’ve usually stitched both sides, either by hand or machine. This time I just zig-zagged down the center of each strip with black thread. Then I made a trip to the store to get some fresh Fray Chek (the bottle in my drawer was ancient, probably came with me from Ohio 11 years ago). I used a tiny bit of this seam sealant on the raw ends of the letters to prevent fraying. I ended up with the folksy look I was after for this project.

Home’s going to be a booklet with full-size patterns printed in it. Stay tuned!

Until next time,
Kay
Quilt Puppy Publications & Designs

All About Applique » Zigzag

Barbara Brandeburg’s machine appliqué tutorial

Willie’s a homebody