Martingale has announced that they will be distributing books produced by Stitch Publications—including books by famed Japanese quilt designer Yoko Saito.

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If you haven’t seen this book, 138 Original Appliqué Designs, you must take a look. It is incredible, in that incredibly sophisticated yet rustic and understated, thoroughly gorgeous Japanese way.

Until next time,
Kay
By Kay Mackenzie
Kay’s Etsy Shop

October 20, 2017

Filed Under Books | Comments Off on Incredible Yoko Saito appliqué book 

I recently received an order for my book Teapots 2 to Appliqué from a quilter living in New Zealand. She told me she had see a quilt made from the designs in a show in Orewa.

I was intrigued!! I asked her for a little more information, and she sent me a photo of the gorgeous quilt. It’s made with all Liberty fabrics!!

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liberty-label

The Hibiscus Coast Quilters of Whangaparaoa, New Zealand, put me in touch with the maker, Julie Davis. Julie shared the following about her project.

“I would be very happy for you to use my quilt on your blog. It is such a lovely pattern and I thoroughly enjoyed hand appliquéing the teapots. The Liberty fabrics I purchased from a Liberty club at my regular quilting shop. There were six different Liberty fabrics in a pack for six months. I couldn’t wait out the six months so I purchased them altogether. I am going to use this as a tablecloth when I have a High Tea for my quilting friends.”

Those are some lucky friends! Thank you Julie, for allowing me to share, and I’m so glad you had a good time with the designs. And thank you Tish for letting me know about the beautiful quilt. Will look forward to seeing your teapot creations as well!

Cheers,
Kay
By Kay Mackenzie
Kay’s Etsy Shop

September 3, 2017

Filed Under Hand appliqué, Quilt shows, Show & Tell | 3 Comments 

I started a new blog!

Screen Shot 2017-07-09 at 1.09.00 PM

Quilts and Buttons over at Blogspot is going to be more of a creative playground for me. While All About Appliqué was created to be a resource center for those interested in the art of appliqué, Quilts and Buttons is where I can branch out and show all of the stuff that I work on besides appliqué!

If you’re at all interested, come on by and check it out! You can follow it by email or in a blog reader, just like All About Appliqué. Hope to see you there!

Kay
By Kay Mackenzie
Kay’s Etsy Shop

July 9, 2017

Filed Under Admin notes, Buttons | 5 Comments 

Becky Goldsmith, who is one-half of the Piece o’ Cake team, has a new pattern booklet coming out soon from C&T.

unicorn-quilt

Swoon!

Kay
By Kay Mackenzie
Kay’s Etsy Shop

July 7, 2017

Filed Under Patterns | Comments Off on Oh how pretty!! 

A very happy Fourth to one and all! Keep your animals inside and safe from the hullabaloo!

In September, I’m traveling to Paducah to be a vendor at the brand-new AQS Fall QuiltWeek!

I guess you could call it a spinoff of the very famous show that happens every spring in Paducah. Have you heard of the new fall edition? Here’s some info:

aqs-fall-brochure1aqs-fall-brochure2

I’m both excited and terrified. I”ve always driven to the numerous quilt shows I’ve done, and this will be my first time flying. But I *think* I’ve got a handle on the logistics, so I’m giving it a whirl! At least one time in my life, I can say, I did Paducah!

Let me know if you’ll be there too!

Cheers,
Kay
By Kay Mackenzie
Kay’s Etsy Shop

July 4, 2017

Filed Under Quilt shows | 2 Comments 

All the way back in January, I received a call for designers to participate in Checker Distributor’s new pattern company, Cut Loose Press.

CLP takes a new approach to pattern publishing… it put out unique, affordable quilt and project patterns geared toward beginning and intermediate quilters. Each pattern, printed both sides on one 8½x11 page of heavy duty cardstock, also introduces quilters to new tools and notions that will help them with their project and with their quilting in general.

It took me awhile, but I finally got my first design all the way through the process and it’s available now!

Now don’t fall over in shock, but this one has no appliqué! Yes, I can piece when I want to!

Introducing Buttonton Square!

buttonton-square-web

I had a blast making this classic design using the good old-fashioned square-in-square block. I used Civil War-type fabrics together with shirtings for this version, but it would look great in any number of other fabric choices. And since I’ve been mini-obsessed with buttons lately, I added light ones on the colored fabrics and colored ones on the light fabrics. It was a lot of fun.

What made this project even nicer to construct was that I used a specialty tool to make the blocks, the Creative Grids Square On Square Trim Tool. It was such a relief when all the blocks came out the same size and with no points chopped off.

square-square-ruler

The pattern and the ruler are both available in my Etsy shop, as well as the “antique white” buttons that I used plus some embroidery needles for sewing on the buttons with embroidery thread.

Midyear kitten fix:

double-kilroy-sm

Until next time, with some news about another new venture!
Kay
By Kay Mackenzie
Kay’s Etsy Shop

June 28, 2017

Filed Under Patterns, Piecing | Comments Off on A new venture! 

The Amador Valley Quilt Guild, based in Pleasanton, California, used to have its biennial show at the fairgrounds. Now they’re having it at a spiffy new location in nearby Livermore.

Does Livermore ring a bell? Yes, it is the home of Alex Anderson! And she’s giving two talks on Sunday!

Screen Shot 2017-04-10 at 9.31.53 AM

The show is this coming weekend, April 22-23, at the Robert Livermore Community Center. I’ll be there in my vendor booth in the Ballroom.

If you ever wondered, Robert Livermore was a Brit who jumped ship in 1822 and eventually became an influential landowner who helped shape California. He’s also the Livermore part of the Lawrence Livermore national research facility, and there’s an element named livermorium!

I don’t have any patterns celebrating the Periodic Chart of the Elements, but I do have several new patterns that I haven’t been able to show off due to the temperamental nature of the blogosphere. Here’s one:

cluck-image

Hope to see you at the show!

By Kay Mackenzie
Kay’s Etsy Shop

April 16, 2017

Filed Under Patterns, Quilt shows | 3 Comments 

Well quilting friends, the blog was down for awhile there, and beyond my capacity to fix it. But then, our ISP moved our websites to a brand-new server, the blog updated itself when I wasn’t looking, and presto! It works again!

I’d like to celebrate by presenting a fabulous Show and Tell. I received the following message from Leslie Duran of Rocklin, California.

“Hi Kay! I met you at the Road to CA quilt show, and showed you my finished project using your Studio pattern from Scrap-Appliqué Playground. Here are my photos. Feel free to share and post if you would like! It was a fun pattern, and I really enjoy how it turned out. I see it everyday in my office/sewing room.”

duran1

duran2

duran3

How fun! I really enjoy this fresh, modern version, with the linen-y background. It’s perfect in its space. Leslie, thank you so much for taking the time to share. It’s moments like this that lend me the support that all designers need in order to carry on.

Cheers,
Kay

By Kay Mackenzie
Kay’s Etsy Shop

March 22, 2017

Filed Under Patched appliqué, Show & Tell | 2 Comments 

Once we discovered last year that Daisy loves kittens, 2016 saw the Mackenzie Finishing School for Felines back in full swing once again! It’s been a banner season of 25, with our latest enrollees still with us until the end of the year.

The kitties we take in are big enough to eat on their own, generally five to six weeks old, and we keep them until they’re at least eight weeks, two pounds, and in good body condition. It’s so much fun, and so rewarding to watch them grow from sometimes shy, teensy little klutzes with short stubby legs to sturdy confident pre-teens who sprout legs and run thumping and banging around the house. All have been promptly adopted upon their return to the shelter.

Our first batch, all the way back in April, were Emmie, Cedric, and Benjamin.

Emmie and Cedric do their very best to look cute at the top of the cat condo.

Emmie and Cedric doing their best poses at the top of the cat condo.

Benjamin at the other end.

Benjamin at the other end.

Next we had two siblings, Abby and Avery, and an additional singleton for good measure, Bobbie Sox.

Abby and Avery, little sweethearts the both of them.

Abby and Avery, little sweethearts the both of them.

Avery coming, Bobbie Sox going. Or is it the other way around?

Avery coming, Bobbie Sox going. Or is it the other way around…

Group nap.

Group nap.

The next batch were a group of thee brothers. The DH named them when I was out of town at a quilt show. Ace, Jack, and King. Yes, named after the playing cards. I thought King was more for a horse, or a German shepherd, so we came up with Kingsley.

Their shelter intake photos were hilarious.

Their shelter intake photos were pretty hilarious.


They were teeny tiny when I got them, and pretty messy.

Ace's first day in foster.

Ace’s first day in foster.

I got them cleaned up, and they soon began to prosper being warm, fed, and cared for. They grew to sturdy little kittens and got snatched up by happy adopters.

Jack in the hobbit house.

Jack in the hobbit house.

Kingsley deciding if he wants to pounce on one of his brothers.

Kingsley deciding if he wants to pounce on one of his brothers.

Usually three at a time is our limit, but maybe once a year I agree to take a batch of four. That’s how we got Winifred, Moo, Cooper, and Tab Hunter.

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Tab Hunter was Daisy's BFFF (Best Feline Friend Forever).

Tab Hunter was Daisy’s BFFF (Best Feline Friend Forever).

Next up were some kittens from a larger litter. One of them was a runt, and the staff at the shelter asked me if I wanted to try. I said I would give it a whirl, so home they came with me.

You can see that Kip, in the front, is much smaller than the others.

You can see that Kip, in the front, is much smaller than the others.

Kittens can be runty for any number of reasons, and Kip gave us some worry at the beginning. He was not a good eater, and not very social either. He just acted like he didn’t feel good and didn’t want to be bothered. If you petted him, he wouldn’t object, but pretty soon he would just get up and move away. I fed him diluted wet food through a wide syringe like the shelter vet taught me, but still he was acting pretty puny. Finally we opened a can of low-sodium tuna in water, and that did the trick! He found his stomach, and learned that eating was good! After a couple cans of tuna, we transitioned him back to a regular kitten diet (tuna does not provide complete nutrition so it can only be a temporary thing).

jjk

Jinjur, in the front, was a torbie.. that is, tortie and tabby. Jasper, back left, was a brown tabby, as was Kip. All fuzzy.

Jasper and Kip.

Jasper and Kip.

Because they were with us during warm weather, they could hang out on the cat-proofed back patio!

Because they were with us during warm weather, they could hang out on the cat-proofed back patio!

Eventually, as Kip felt better and better, he started to become more social, and got to the point where he would seek out my lap, enjoy being petted, and purr. That was a tremendous relief for me. Now for a shock.. I hate it when this happens… I took them in for their booster shots and was informed that Kip was a girl! Oy vey, he was given to me as a boy, and I never even checked!

When Kip was adopted, I believe the little girl named her Aria. :)

Next we had a brother-sister duo, two sweet brown mackerel tabbies.

Nikolai and Natasha.

Nikolai and Natasha.

The DH speaks Russian, and if you know your Russian literature you’ll remember that Nikolai and Natasha were brother and sister in War and Peace.

They enjoyed rollicking on the patio in a kitty conga line.

They enjoyed rollicking on the patio in a kitty conga line.

Cat Toy.. glasses... DirecTV remote... same thing.

Cat Toy.. glasses… DirecTV remote… same thing.

There was a whole lot of grooming going on with these two.

Daisy thinks kitten ears taste delicious.

Daisy thinks kitten ears taste delicious.

Even Max got in on the act.

Even Max got in on the act.

The next enrollees were two kittens from different litters, both smaller than their respective siblings and in need of a little foster time.

Maggie and Misty on leaf patrol!

Maggie and Misty on leaf patrol!

Shy little Misty was the smallest in a litter of 8 (that’s right, eight) pastel torties. Maggie was exactly the same size, a black-and-white “cow cat.” These girls got along instantly.

We sleeepy.

We sleeepy.

All tucked up.

All tucked up in minkee.

Bathrobes are gud.

Bathrobes are gud.

Big cat, little cat.

Big cat, little cat.

Once Misty and Maggie went back, kitten season was starting to wind down. The only kitty they had in need of foster was a scrappy little singleton. Usually I prefer to have 2 or 3, but in this case I took the little guy home with me.

eddie 1

There’s a whole syndrome named after single kittens. What it boils down to is that when they don’t have other kittens around to tussle with and learn limits from, they tend to treat human hands like other kittens… bite, chomp, thrash, etc., without the benefit of the other kittens letting them know when they’re playing too hard. Eddie wasn’t such a hard case, and he learned to rein in his teeth after a few well-timed puffs of air in his face. He was a super cute little dude, full of personality, and we enjoyed him immensely. Eddie stayed with us a good 3 weeks as the only kitten. He loved Daisy to pieces.

Fun to play with like a kitten.

Fun to play with like a kitten.

Snuggles gud like other kittens.

Snuggles gud like other kittens.

Don't ask.

Don’t ask.

Finally another single kitten came in and I was able to bring her home to join Eddie in foster.

Kitty Bella.

Kitty Bella.


Bella was a fancy mostly-white calico. She was a sweet marshmallow of a girl, but when I brought her home, it was pretty hilarious. At first, Eddie in particular was none too happy to be introduced, and acted like it was a mortal affront that this other creature was breathing his air. I wasn’t worried, because I’ve seen this before. Within 3 days they totally got over it and you’d never guess they hadn’t known each other all their lives. Bella also took to Daisy.

Let's dream together...

Let’s dream together…

Last but not least, I took three from a litter of six.

foster4

One of them had a rather rotund shape, which earned her the name Muffin. The black one, Pepper, has a coat that is actually what they call a black smoke… black at the ends and light gray underneath. The third one looks almost exactly like Muffin, except more slender. We call her Josie.

Daisy welcomes one of the tabbies.

Daisy welcomes one of the tabbies.

These three are still with us, spreading Christmas tree pine needles throughout the living room with gusto. They have been a delight to have… friendly, healthy lap cats. Two of them have already found a home! A family friend of one of the staff members at the shelter was looking to adopt two kittens. Kittens aren’t that common this time of year, so it was a perfect match! Pepper and Muffin will go to their new home just in time for the new year. I have no doubt that Josie will be snapped up immediately once she appears in Adoptables at the shelter.

Josie auditioning for calendar kitten.

Josie auditioning for calendar kitten.

Meowy Cwismis from Pepper and Muffin!

Meowy Cwismis from Pepper and Muffin!

'N loads of sisterly luv!

‘N loads of sisterly luv!

Happy holidays to you and yours,
Kay
By Kay Mackenzie
Kay’s Etsy Shop

December 25, 2016

Filed Under Kittens Off Topic | 9 Comments 

festive-leaf

The DH is picking up the turkey today. I’ve already been to the store to procure all of the traditional trimmings for the feast. The pumpkin bread is made, the cranberry sauce cooked. I’m feeling festive!

To celebrate Thanksgiving, the web store is having a sale now through Friday. You can holiday shop and save 20% off your entire order! Just use the coupon code HOLIDAY at checkout! Here’s the link: By Kay Mackenzie

There are many unique gift items available, so check it out! Perfect for stocking stuffers and lovely handcrafted goodies for your quilty and non-quilty friends alike.

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frame-1

bestever1

For years now I’ve started my Thanksgiving Day by making a big pan of spinach lasagna and delivering it to the animal shelter for the staff who work that day. The animals can’t take a day off from being cared for, so neither can the staff. The least I can do is feed them and make them feel a little cared for as well. Then I come home and start on the turkey, stuffing, sweet potatoes, and green bean casserole with the french-fried onion rings. It’s always just my hubby and me, so we have lots of leftovers! Which we both agree is a good thing!

Wishing you a warm and wonderful day.

Kay
By Kay Mackenzie
Kay’s Etsy Shop

November 23, 2016

Filed Under Holiday | 5 Comments 

Vol14-COVER-200px_69246

Welcome to All About Appliqué on this second day of the 100 Blocks Blog Tour!

I’m Kay Mackenzie, a designer and author in Santa Cruz, California. My website is By Kay Mackenzie, which has all of my books and patterns on it, plus select notions for the appliqué enthusiast. If this is your first time visiting my blog, I’m so glad you’re here! You’ll find a wealth of information about all kinds of appliqué here, so take your time clicking around the categories, and use the keyword search as well.

Here’s my block for Volume 14, “Little Falling Star.”

QM100-MACK

When I sent the block in, I called it “Shooting Star,” because it’s traveling upwards. You could make it more of a falling star just by rotating it a quarter turn.

QM100-MACK-falling

And if you want to to travel the other way just reverse it from there.

QM100-MACK-falling-rev

I used some beautiful batiks to make this version. You could also make it look very playful by using colorful prints. Here’s another version.

shooting star

You’ll notice that here I chose to leave out the inner trail and let the groovy flower print shine. :)

Of course, shooting or falling stars are really meteoroids, but it’s much more fun visually to render them as stars!

Hope you have fun with your star, and also enjoy the 99 other fantastic blocks in Volume 14. I already have my advance copy, and let me tell you, it is a feast for the eyes. If you’d like to win a copy, just leave a comment at the bottom of this post before noon California time on Friday, November 18.

(Remember that if you are subscribed by email, clicking “reply” will not enter you in the drawing. Click over to the blog itself on the internet to leave your comment at the bottom of the post. Thanks!!)

And don’t forget to start every day the rest of the week at Quilty Pleasures to take part in the blog hop.

Happy sitiching!

Kay
By Kay Mackenzie
Kay’s Etsy Shop

November 15, 2016

Filed Under Blog hops, Magazines, Prizes | 150 Comments 

Volume 14 of Quiltmaker’s 100 Blocks is about to come out. I have a block in there once again, and I’m participating in the blog hop that starts on Monday to celebrate!

Vol14-blog-tour-coming-socialmedia

Starting Monday and continuing all week, start at the Quiltmaker blog Quilty Pleasures and they’ll provide links to all of the designers that are in the hop that day. Everywhere you go there will be chances to win a copy of the magazine, plus additional prizes. That’s a lot of chances!

My day is Tuesday, November 15, and I’ll show you my block. See you then!

By Kay Mackenzie
Kay’s Etsy Shop

November 10, 2016

Filed Under Magazines, Prizes | 3 Comments 

Show & Tell!

There’s an outreach group within my quilt guild, The Allstar Quilters for Kids, who meet every two weeks and make cheery snuggle quilts for kids in need in our community. I’m sort of an honorary member; I don’t regularly attend the sew-ins, but I do try to support them however I can.

One of the members sent out a call for help making blocks for a quilt that will be used as a fundraiser for the group. I took a couple that had appliqué… because… well, you know :).

Here are my blocks, hot off the needle!

star-block

bunny-block

They’re part of the Spring Garden Sampler Quilt designed by Lydia Quigley, offered as a block-of-the-month by many quilt shops. Here’s one, Stitchin’ Heaven.

Can’t wait to see the whole quilt! It will most likely be part of the quilt auction that takes place during our guild’s annual quilt show in February.

Cheers,
Kay
By Kay Mackenzie
Kay’s Etsy Shop

October 5, 2016

Filed Under Show & Tell | 5 Comments 

No, I do not have a new quilting studio. Just the same cozy little one where I probably feel the most at home of anywhere in the world.

But, I did finish my new Studio banner. I’ve made several versions of this project and it’s always a fun and engaging process putting the scraps and strips together into patchwork compositions. I’ve now updated the pattern cover.

newstudio-cover-1000

It’s available from my new Square shop, or Etsy if you prefer. The links to both are at the bottom of the post. Here’s a 10% off coupon if you’re interested: Use the code THANKS at checkout. (It’ll be good on your whole order.)

Oh, and if you already ordered this pattern recently I’ll be sending you a copy of the new cover.

Now that that’s done, I’ll be gearing up for the Pacific International Quilt Festival in about two weeks time. Monster show, love it!! There’s no football game at the nearby stadium this year so everything should be smooooth sailing.

Cheers,
Kay
By Kay Mackenzie
Kay’s Etsy Shop

October 1, 2016

Filed Under Patterns | 4 Comments 

I’m working on a new version of my Studio banner.

studio-image

I absolutely love the black, white, and red version that was in Scrap-Appliqué Playground, but to be honest it looks better in person than it does reduced and printed on a pattern cover. The scraps with the white background seem to fall away and blend into the background too much at a small size.

This time I gravitated toward my beloved palette of red and blue with a touch of green. It’s gonna pop a lot more on the pattern cover!

new-studio

I’ve got my scraps sewn together and the letters cut out. The rectangles will compose the border. Right now I’m just waiting on some fabric that I ordered for the background. You see, I’m slightly obsessed with polka dotted backgrounds, but when I dug through my stash I found out that I had used all the pieces until there wasn’t a hunk big enough! As soon as the fabric arrives, I’ll be ready to go.

In the meantime, my summer hiatus is over and I’m headed to Sonora, California, this weekend for the Sierra Quilt Guild’s show. I really enjoy this annual trip up to gold country.

Until next time,
Kay
By Kay Mackenzie
Kay’s Etsy Shop

September 12, 2016

Filed Under Patched appliqué, Patterns | Comments Off on Waitin’ on polka dots 

Over on the Martingale blog, publisher Jennifer Keltner has put up a great article that includes some nifty tips for fusible machine appliqué.

at-home

Go take a look at Jennifer’s cute block “At Home Anywhere.”

Cheers,
Kay
By Kay Mackenzie
Kay’s Etsy Shop

August 25, 2016

Filed Under Fusible web, Machine appliqué | Comments Off on Home is where the sewing machine is 

Many thanks to those who enjoyed my musings on the holes in a button. If I get any more with fascinating hole configurations, I’ll be sure to share.

I’ve spent some time moving my “Author’s Gallery” from the old website over to the blog. Along the way I found some more projects and stuck them in there too. It was a fun trip down memory lane for me.

blast-past

If you’d like to take a look at my personal projects, show quilts, and published quilts, please visit the new “Author’s Gallery” page here at All About Appliqué.

If you’re subscribed by email or on a blog reader, you’ll need to click over to the blog itself on the internet. The tab is in the navigation bar at the top. Or, here’s a direct link to the Gallery page.

Cheers,
Kay
By Kay Mackenzie
Kay’s Etsy Shop

August 10, 2016

Filed Under Show & Tell | 2 Comments 

Besides being a quilter, for the last couple years I’ve been seriously into buttons. Not the antique kind that you mount on cards and keep in a collection, but cute and colorful buttons that I use to make notecards, magnets, flowers, and whatever else I can think of.

Okay so sometimes it’s the little things in life… truth be told it’s a whole lot of fun to sit down and sort a newly acquired batch of buttons to see what you’ve got.

Sometimes there are some head-scratchers.

When you think of a button, usually it’s gonna have two holes or four holes, for sewing through to attach to a garment. Right? Well I’ve come across some pretty peculiar buttons in the way of holes, and have been tossing them in a box for further contemplation.

Let us begin.

no-holes

That’s right, zero holes. All I can say is, hmmmm…. trying to think how can be attached…

one-hole

Here we have the one-hole button. Especially fascinating is the one-hole off-center specimen. Again, how can the attachment occur?

two-holes

Now we’re getting closer to a conventional button, but these buttonholes don’t seem to like one another.

caffeine

No more Starbucks for you.

three-holes

I can kind-of see how these might be attached, but it seems a bit of trouble.

puppies

Three holes off-center. These have got me stumped.

row

Four holes lined up like ducks in a row. That’s a hard shirt to button.

five-holes

The purple one says, I make an M… cool right? So green… what’s your story.

tiny-holes

Hope you weren’t planning on using button thread for these.

square

triangular

oblong

flower

Round is so boring.

quality-control

We love you just the way you are.

different

Wild child!

eight-holes

And last, my absolute favorite. Spoiled for choice of holes! Eight, count ’em, eight! Pick two, pick four, or sew through all of them if you truly enjoy attaching buttons. It’s a button-sewer’s paradise.

I enjoy my little collection of oddball buttons. And please, if you know the reasoning behind the various configurations of holes, enlighten us!

Until next time,
Kay
By Kay Mackenzie
Kay’s Etsy Shop

July 31, 2016

Filed Under Buttons | 8 Comments 

This Sunday, I’m making my first foray into the world of the street fair!

indie

Up until now I’ve resisted outdoor events, because I’m a very pale individual and have about zero tolerance for the sun before I fry like an egg. I also didn’t want to get into canopies with sandbags or umbrellas with 50 lb. bases. Oy vey! However, I found a nifty, small, lightweight item called a clamp-on umbrella, which I can attach to my chair and provide myself a little oasis of shade. So off I go to the streets with my little umbrella and lots of sunscreen.

Morgan Hill is a wonderful community that’s east of Santa Cruz and south of San Jose. In the summertime they have an downtown event on the fourth Sunday of the month called Indie Market. I’m bringing all of the stuff I’ve been making with buttons the last couple years. Magnet sets, notecards, flowers, gift tags, plus framed mini-quilts and a few other handmade goodies.

indie-button-card
indie-items

If you live in the area, I hope you’ll drop by the event. There should be lots of interesting stuff, all made by home-based artisans.

Cheers,
Kay
By Kay Mackenzie
Kay’s Etsy Shop

July 20, 2016

Filed Under Craft fairs | 2 Comments 

I’ve been enjoying the ‘black and white and red all over’ color scheme a lot lately. It’s the first thing I thought of when I started developing my new chicken pattern.

You may think of white chickens, or Rhode Island Reds, but I was inspired by a short story I once read about “Dominikers” or black-and-white Dominique chickens.

dominique

cluck-front-cover

Here’s my new pattern, Cluck & Co. Four fancy chicks are stepping out in style!

I used raw-edge fusible machine appliqué for my version. For a refresher on that method, here’s a link to my Raw-Edge Fusible Demo. Of course you can always use your own method if you favor another one. It’s all good!

Another trick that I pulled out of the bag for this one was the double-layer strategy for the heads, to avoid shadow-through when putting light over dark. Just fuse two layers of light fabric together, then use this composed fabric just like the others in your project.

Hope you are enjoying your summer! I have a couple months off from shows and have been knee-deep in foster kittens!

abby-avery

Until next time,
Kay
By Kay Mackenzie
Kay’s Etsy Shop

July 15, 2016

Filed Under Patterns, Photo tutorials | 3 Comments 

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