Thursday, March 31, 2011

Another Way to Applique

I have finished repairing the dasies on my quilt top.  I thought I would share with you how I did it as it can be used as a way to applique.

Firstly choose your fabric you are going to use (appilique).  Press it very well, startch and press it again.  You do not want any folds or creases as you will not be able to press again until the process is complete.

Find or purchase some light weight fusible interfacing.  Interfacing differs from fusible bond by only having glue on one side.  It is normally used in making clothing, but my friend used  it to make the arcs for her wedding ring quilt.

Now cut out your design from the fabric piece and the interfacing (mine is petals).  Take one piece of fabric and one piece of interfacing and with right side of fabric up place the side of interfacing with glue or dots on top, glue dots facing fabric.  With a short stitch, stitch around the edge using a narrow seam.  With my petal I had the bottom open to turn the petal right side out.  If you don't have this, like on a circle, make a slit in the interfacing big enough to pull the fabric through.  Be gentle and once turned out, smooth out the edges with your finger.  DO NOT PRESS!
Now I am going to use these petals to replace the ones on the quilt.  First I am going to snip a hold in each petal.
Now I am going to place each of 5 petals over the old ones with the interfacing side down.  Take your iron without steam and press the new petal in place.  Now you can stitch the petal in place using whatever methold you like.  I am going to use a blanket stitch on my sewing machine.  Do this with each petal.

Now you can take your finger and grasp the new top piece and using another hand pull from the back on the backing.  They will seperate.  All they are being held together with is the interfacing.  Now I am going to take a small pair of scissors and carefully cut away the fabric and interfacing behind the new petal.  Go slowly as it is so easy to snip your new piece.  Here are the pieces I have removed.  That is the old white petal with the interfacing peeled back.



Here you can see the before and after of the replaced petals.  I decided to add a couple smaller dasies and the process is exactly the same.  Place the flowers where you want them, press them in place, stitch down.  To cut the backing away, pull the top and bottom apart and make a slit in the backing.  Now you can trim away the backing and interfacing.  You will do the same process for the flower centers.  Here is a pic of my finished flowers.
This process is not good to use as an applique for small irregular shapes but does a nice job on simple flowers and leaves.  It is an easy beginner type of applique.  Hope this may be helpful to some new quilters.

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

QUILTS for JAPAN

Sorry I had to delete the first posting as the link wasn't working correctly.  So once again, I hope you are considering joining the many quilters all over the world donating quilts to those suffering from the devastating diaster in Japan.

Canadians, there is a group in Calgary collecting quilts to be sent to Japan.  This is much easier for us than shipping directly to Japan or some other country collecting quilts.  The link she sent me is not working correctly so if you would like more information please email her:  bev.rogan@gmail.com.  Just about any quilt is excepted and they would like quilts not larger than approx. 50"x75" because of shipping costs.

Sunday, March 27, 2011

Fabric Giveaway

I just got this fabulous email from This and That Fabrics and they are giving away 3 Jelly Rolls.  Grab the button on my side bar and check this out.

It has been a distracting week with water runoff, car problems....you all know how it goes sometimes.  I have been working on my kitchen wall hanging in spurts and have to the binding today.  I am very happy with the quilting I did, doesn't show much in the pictures.  I used a variegated thread and did some swirls in the borders.  Here it is at this stage:
This is call Daisies Through My Window from the Fons & Porter Easy Quilts, summer.  It was very easy to make .
Oh, Canada we love you so and Amber Holland from Saskatchewan too!  This is our women's curling team that won a Silver Medal today.  We are feeling so very proud.  Congratulations to Sweden on winning the Gold, well earned.  It was so exciting recognizing some of the players in the worlds that were right here in my town, Swift Current, SK. last year at this time.  It was a very exciting event for our small community to host.

Not much to post today.  I need to get working on my quilt for Japan.  Hope you are planning on a donation.

Hope you have had a wonderful weekend.

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

No new pictures today or any one item completely finished.  Today has been focused on finding a Canadian source for Quilts for Japan.

Hop on over to That Girl...That Quilt and check out the cute tutorial she has for a neat lunch bag.  There are also some very nice pics of weekend projects.

Last night I started a new spring project (I know I should not do this) because we are right back into winter with 7" snow, icy roads, just blah, blah and this project is at the quilting stage and really cheering me up.  Check back tomorrow, pictures I promise.

Hope you are having a wonderful week.

Friday, March 18, 2011

This is not working right.  I want to post under my Quilt Along tab.  Thank you...more patience please.
This section will be devoted to pictures of projects I do through a Quilt Along and links to the site so you can do one too.  I admire the talent and time people take so we can learn something new.

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Every Wednesday morning I go and hand quilt at our United Church with a group of really wonderful ladies, well there really are only 5 of us most times.  These ladies are all sporting 84+ years, spry, full of fun and I so look forward to being with them each week.  The church also holds a rummage sale each week on Wednesdays.  Donations of fabric come into the quilting room for us to look at and choose things we like.  Today was a very special day.  A quilting lady I know sent a bag to the church for me and I want to show it to you.
This top is 55" x 65" and the dasies are fused on.  Here is a close up of the flowers.

I don't think the lady liked these flowers.  They are fused on.  Does anyone know if you can remove something that has been fused?  It is too bad the background shows through.  If I leave them there, I will applique another set of petals and a center over the fused ones.  Do you think I should add stems and leaves or just leave the 3 flowers?

Here is another surprise the same lady gave me.

These are 24 fat eights.  I am open to suggestions as to what I can make with this.  A couple ideas I have, is a stacked coin quilt and I also love pinwheels. 

Another great find I got at the Rummage Sale is this beautiful crocheted edging.  It was on a table cloth but the cloth had stains so I cut the edging off.  I am a real sucker for these beautiful dolies and edgings you come across.  I guess I am centimental because my Mom crocheted.  These items are just disappearing so fast and they are so beautiful I have to hoard a little bit.
I hope someone has time to give me some ideas on these new projects. Today has been such a great day, spring is really coming along here and I was out for a walk this afternoon.  The fresh air, warm temperaturs and sunshine feel so good.  I hope you have had a good day today.

Sunday, March 13, 2011

Look at this, I have my blog button up and I have Jennifer's button from That Girl...That Quilt!  I am so excited and thank you Jennifer(Steve) for sharing this tutorial with us not very techy bloggers.  My DH doesn't have computers in his portfolio but he can take a big tractor all apart and fix it and put it back together and have it work perfect.  He also makes all kinds of things for me that make my hobbies work better so I love him for all he does.

Beware!  there is an update to Firefox.  I got into that last night and had all these "facemoods" after me, lost my windows email and still am not back on it.  It has just been an nightmare.  I am now working through Internet Explorer and I think I will stay here.

Spring is just around the corner....how do I know?  It is going to be above freezing day and night here for the next 5 days so the snow will be all gone(crossing fingers). 

Grab my Button and let me know if it works.  If you have sunshine at your house tomorrow, take time to enjoy it!

Saturday, March 12, 2011

This week has whizzed by and I don't seem to have accomplished much.  The weather was nice so I had to be out and about enjoying some fresh air. I only got this little table topper finished.  I am very happy with my FMQ and I did the veggies freehand. I am trying to do some more improvements on my blog here and it seems to eat up a lot of my free time.  The weekend is here so enjoy it and do something special.  Stop by and tell me about it.

Monday, March 7, 2011

We are still in the deep freeze but there is nothing like a fabric fix to cheer up a cold day.  Look at these beautiful fabrics I received from Marmalade Fabrics!
The first piece is by Ty Pennington  and the others are by Pat Bravo.  These are 1/2 yd pieces and I plan to make some new cushions with these prints.  I just love the fabrics that Tammy carries at Marmalade and, best of all, are her shipping prices.  As Canadians, we pay very high shipping costs and this is in no way the fault of any supplier, I love shopping at a lot of them.  For my order I received from Tammy, it was only $4.00.  Others use the priority flat envelope which is $12-$15 and this is standard.  Many Online stores use this so no matter how small your order is, you still pay the flat envelope charge.  Tammy does her shipping a little different, not using the flat envelopes and they arrive just as safe wrapped in tissue with this lovely card and ribbon, then in a zip lock bag and finally her secure shipping envelope.  So Canadians and others, take a look at Tammy's fabrics, you will surely be delighted!
I have several  UFO's on the go.  I shock myself as I never thought I would get here.  Last year I sewed and sewed with very little quilting so where else are you going to end up.  This is a small table topper I am doing some FMQ and straight line quilting on my treasured treadle.

My last project for today is to put the binding on this baby quilt that the church ladies hand quilted.  I think this one has a spring flair to it.




Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Hop on over to Pleasant Homehttp://www.pleasant-home.com/ to see her new grandbaby quilt and enter for a chance on a AccuQuilt.  Her blog is a great place for inspiration...like we all need.