Tuesday, October 27, 2020

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME:)

Another year passes and 
how do we mark them?

This year has had many 
challenges and one was all
my work cancellations.
As October approached, 2
contracts remained and both
groups decided to go forward.

So the day before my birthday
I taught one of my favorite
workshops ever, 
to the 
near Leesburg, FL
.
Beautiful setting and a 
FABULOUS group of ladies.
They really took my inspiration
and made it their own.

Below is Margaret Travis and 
her sister, Marie.
Margaret is known for her Fabulous 
Cheerleading in our industry!


On my actual birthday, I spent 
the evening showing off the 
LADIES to the 
in Lakeland, FL.
They loved them almost as
much as I do:)

I was somewhat apprehensive
getting back out with the 
new little coming to visit.
Thankfully most were very 
understanding of wearing masks.

I received lots of wonderful gifts 
from family and friends including
fabric, a salon tray for upcoming
filming assistance and ….
This sweet little
 (ca 1940s??) machine &

This Awesome book about
the Colonial Williamsburg
textile collection!

The reason I was so excited
is that back in 2018 I was 
privileged to stitch with some
of the volunteers on this quilt (above)
as they reproduced it for the 
house displays around the property.

When I received the book, I 
was able to find the exact 
quilting diagram of what I 
had been working on.
Nerd here finds that
very exciting:)

So, HAPPY HAPPY
BIRTHDAY to 
all the October kids and
Thank you to everyone
who reached out to make
me feel special!
 
Keep quilting:)

Sunday, October 18, 2020

Well-Loved Ladies QAL: Pomegranate


Welcome to Block 4.

The photo above is a portion of 
a circa 1860 quilt in my collection.
The quilting is straight lines about
1/2" apart along with echo in 
the leaves and fruit.
Also fun to note that the cheddar
insert is pieced in NOT
reverse applique' as I had
originally assumed.

My first exposure to pomegranates
was from my grandma.
She loved breaking one open
and giving my brother and I 
a section in a small bowl.
We would watch tv with 
her and suck the pulp off
each little seed.
Very fun for a child!

My quilter did a linear layout
with poms going in 
different directions.

Pomegranates were one of 
those exotic plants coming 
into the US as early as 
the mid 1700s.
I am fascinated by the origin
of words and so this
name comes from a mix
of medieval Latin and French
to describe its shape and color;
pomum "apple" and 
granatum "of a dark red color".

So let's talk Pomegranate or 
Love Apple variations!
This design is highly recognizable 
from the large roundish shape
usually in red with a sliver
of cheddar peeking through
to represent seeds even
though the seeds are red too:)

Here is a variation from
America's Applique'd Quilts.
A phenomenal collection to 
get your creative juices going!

this lovely in its collection.
SO many leaves and vines, OH MY!

Barbara Brackman, Queen of
design indexing, has 10
variations in her Encyclopedia
of Applique' book.

ASSEMBLY TIPS
Once you have folded and creased
your block for alignment and use
the triangle pots for stem/
pomegranate alignment.
You will notice that my 
triangles come 1/4" into 
the design where the side 
petals get sewn into 
the seam allowance.

IF you are a seasoned 
applique' quilter, you 
could very easily reverse
applique' the center gold. 

Come quilt along with us
as we learn about the quilts
that inspired my 
WELL-LOVED LADIES 
SAMPLER PATTERN
FULL PATTERN

Pomegranate TEMPLATES ONLY

where I showcase the 
variations of designs and 
it is exciting to announce that 
this lecture will become available
in ZOOM format in 2021
for so many more guilds to access
and see all the lovely details.

ADDITIONAL READING:
The links below go into more depth about 
either the history of the plants if you are a 
gardener OR the history of the quilt block. 
Barbara Brackman will blow you away
with all the variations she has accumulated!!
ENJOY~



Friday, October 16, 2020

LEAVES

I love designing them, 
looking at them, &
making them!

Sometimes getting them just 
where I want them can be
a bit tricky so here are a few 
tips for better alignment.
Remember nature isn't perfect
and we don't have to be either!

Here is my traced
leaf with my lines going
way beyond where my
template would have been.
I do this so that I can 
measure 1/4" past the
point for my seam allowance.
To place leaves, put a pin
straight through at the seam
allowance point and into the
vine where you want 
them to meet (top pic).
Rotate the pin up until
leaf is aligned, glue baste 
in place, remove pin and
you are ready to stitch
(bottom pic).

I always stitch into
the point where the leaf
meets the stem first so that
if the alignment isn't perfect
I can fix it now before 
I get too far into the project.
If I find that it didn't meet 
exactly the way I would like, 
I can always use the thread to 
add a few stitches between the leaf
and the vine to connect them
(pic below).
Almost unnoticeable, right?!
Perfect:)

KEEP STITCHING &
Join us over on my FB


Wednesday, October 14, 2020

Sweet Persimmons

I have never had a persimmon 
and maybe I should try 
one now that I have named 
a quilt after them:)
New in the November
issue of AQ Magazine
meet Sweet Persimmons.
This sweet design started 
out in a 30s rendition.

Once I started thinking in Autumn
colors, I came up with this palette.
Still really like it and may have
to put this grouping to work
in another project!

Looks great, right?

Sometimes I can't see past my 
own vision but I also had 
this Sandy Gervais print sitting
around that I had been wanting 
to use in something....

Voila'! 
Pull some colors right out of 
the print and it is the perfect
assembly of color for this project!

When I started this, I was preparing
to help my daughter after the birth
of our first grand child so travel
hand work was appropriate.
The pic above shows alignment
for needle turn curves.
The pic below shows turning under
my edges to assemble the berries
before applying to the background. 

Here I stitch on a leaf.
Wow, my lighting was 
all over the place.

IF you own a rotating mat, 
it is the perfect way to trim
4 half-square triangles blocks
at one time by cutting 2 sides, 
rotate, cut 2 sides, etc. 
until finished.

Time to quilt.
I free motion quilted this 
sample myself...WHAT??!!
I used my freezer paper leaf
templates to create more
leaves that I could add 
swirls into the center
(bottom of pic).

When done quilting, 
you need a label:) 
I really like using a square 
of fabric folded in half 
and sewn into a bottom 
corner seam allowance.
The size of the square
depends on how much
you want to write.
This was 2 scraps of fabric
sewn together for an 
approximate 4-1/2" square. 

Thank You again, AQ for an
amazing layout!
It is Awesome!

Saturday, October 3, 2020

Well-Loved Ladies QAL: Oak Leaf


 Welcome to Block 3.

The photo above is a portion of 
a circa 1900 quilt in my collection.
The quilting is a nice job of 
outlining the applique' and adding 
a larger leaf in some of the open areas.

Everywhere you see white leaves
and vines used to be green but 
the synthetic dyes of the day
sometimes faded away completely.
Again we see the familiar rosettes.

where I showcase the 
variations of designs and 
it is exciting to announce that 
this lecture will become available
in ZOOM format in 2021
for so many more guilds to access
and see all the lovely details.

So let's talk Oak Leaf variations!
This design is usually recognized as
oak leaf and reel.
I purchased this one because
I was looking for inexpensive
examples at the time.
The large 4 block layout
was also attractive to me.
These blocks measure 36" each.

Along my studies it has been
suggested that this leaf could
also be a watermelon leaf 
or  tobacco leaf.
Barbara Brackman, Queen of
design indexing, has some 
variations in her Encyclopedia
of Applique' book.

Watermelons were in the US
by the 16th century so very possible.
I definitely see the shape in my leaf
to this leaf with the open center.

We all know that tobacco was a 
big US crop so that leap isn't
far fetched either.

There is always a lot of discussion
about how variations occur.
Quilter #1 sees it in nature
and while showing her design,
quilter #2 decides she can make 
that too.  Before you know it
the telephone game has begun 
and no 2 look alike and actually
start to take on their own identity.
Fascinating don't you think? !!

ASSEMBLY TIPS
Once you have folded and creased
your block for alignment, 
pin the center square to 
help align leaves and vines
correctly.

IF you are a seasoned 
applique' quilter, you 
could very easily reverse
applique' the center gold. 

Come quilt along with us
as we learn about the quilts
that inspired my 
WELL-LOVED LADIES 
SAMPLER PATTERN
FULL PATTERN

Oak Leaf TEMPLATES ONLY

ADDITIONAL READING:
The links below go into more depth about 
either the history of the plants if you are a 
gardener OR the history of the quilt block. 
Barbara Brackman will blow you away
with all the variations she has accumulated!!
ENJOY~