Honeysuckle Rose

Meet the Botanical Blue collection 

from Connecting Threads.

I am excited to announce 

I have a new kit with them...

Meet 

"HONEYSUCKLE ROSE"

The sweet little flowers in that strip 

are fusible applique' done with 

my method of cutting multiples

included in the pattern.

You can find additional visuals on

my blog within post tutorials.

Cutting Multiples

Heartbursts

This is also a full pattern 

available HERE on my website now.

"Honeysuckle Rose" is available 

through Connecting Threads 

as a kit or PDF downloadable pattern.

I LOVE to see pics of 

finished designs!

~ENJOY~

Connecting Threads 'Autumums'

AUTUMUMS is now available in the

Fall Connecting Threads catalog!

This is the Gathering Wishes fabric line and all that

Autumn makes my heart sing:) 

It has been a year long adventure and

I am so happy to be able to share it with you now:)

You can always scroll to the bottom but how about building the anticipation with a quick tutorial on assembly.

Lately I have been cutting my HSTs to the next inch up vs. the 7/8".  This gives me a little wiggle room and an opportunity to trim if necessary.  Sometimes my personal seam allowance brings me right to the measurement I needed.

I have said it before and I will say it again, I am old fashioned and find that I get better results when I work one step at a time.  The blue ruler above is the Quick Quarter ruler (above pic) and I get very good results with it and Mary Ellen's Best Press. Pictured below are some sewn squares that have been sprayed with Best Press.

 Look how nice and crisp they are after and ready to be cut apart!

 Trimmed and ready to go!

 Time for applique....

Sometimes the amount of applique pieces needed can seem overwhelming but if you go to my tutorial, you can cut down your tracing and cutting by a quarter if not more. 

Save this link so that when you buy the pattern,

you will have this to refer back to.

See my CUTTING MULTIPLES TUTORIAL HERE: http://nestlingsbyrobin.blogspot.com/2015/02/tutorial-cutting-multiples-of-fusible.html

I used a small zig zag stitch to applique all

my petals down before assembly.

 

Let's talk quilting....I know it is hard to decide on a design that will accent your applique or fill a large space.  I outlined the flowers and did stitch in the ditch for all the seams (blocks and borders).
The border quilting was finding a leaf shape I liked and adding swirls around it. 
The leaves were alternated right and left and traced to the border.  I then lightly sketched in some vines and smaller swirls to fill the space around them.

I believe you can click on the photo to enlarge it and the side lighting should show the quilting a bit.

Enjoy having a little Autumum in your world as much as I enjoyed designing and making it!

QUILTMAKER 100 Quilt Blocks Volume 12 Blog Hop

HEART BURSTS

 

Good Morning and Welcome to the blog hop for Quiltmaker's 12th Volume of 100 Quilt Blocks.

 

 

This block is so whimsical and SO me:)  I love the applique and the swirly vine too. Showing other layouts is usually what I do here but that will have to wait since it will be featured in the Spring:)

Stay tuned for that~

 

Instead, I would like to share with you an easy way to cut multiples of fusible applique.  Many times I hear quilters say that there is too much applique and that puts them off making and loving certain designs.  This particular block has 8 identical petals and is perfect for cutting multiples.  With this technique, you can cut your work time in third (pun intended:).

 

 

For the petals, cut a fabric strip @ 2-1/2" and a fusible strip @ 2-3/8".  Keeping the fusible strip just a tad narrower than your fabric strip keeps accidental guck (the technical term:) off the ironing board while applying.  Cut strip into 4" sections. 

Trace a petal onto freezer paper.  This will be ironed to the right side of one section.  Stack with the freezer paper template on top.

Binder Clips are our friends!  They give the stack stability while freeing up your non-cutting hand to hold without fear of the stack slipping and without cramping up (I know how intense this can get:).  I can cut up to 4 at a time relatively well with scissors that have a light serrated edge.  Cutting stacks of 3 is a more accurate way to do this when you are just starting out.

As you can see with the petals, I didn't put a clip on the side I would start cutting on.  Once that side is cut, I will place a clip there to keep that side together and reduce slipping.
On the leaf, I did place clips on the side I plan to cut first because the leaf shape is quite a bit larger with more chance of slippage.

Carefully cut your shapes and Wa La, I cut out 4 leaves at once without having to trace each and every piece onto the paper-backed fusible.

My other tip for you today is Roxanne's Glue Baste-It EZ Squeezie (in the accordion bottle).  Once I had all my bias strips done, I just placed a very thin line of glue onto my drawn vine guide and then pressed the vines into place.

 The leaf was fused in place before adding the vines so that once they were all in position I could zig zag stitch everything in place.

Here is a link to a previous post with more information on how to figure out dimensions for other applique projects: http://nestlingsbyrobin.blogspot.com/2015/02/tutorial-cutting-multiples-of-fusible.html

 

NOW TO THE GOOD PART:)))

Leave your comments here before Thursday and I will draw 2 lucky winners for a FREE copy of the new magazine.

 

Don't forget to follow the Quiltmaker Blog to read more fun blog posts this week.

 

If you are interested in receiving my newsletter, please leave your email address in your comment or head over to FB and private message me there:)

Thanks for following along! Robin

 





TUTORIAL: Cutting Multiples of Fusible Shapes

I know a lot of people love the look of applique and then decide it is too much work. 

Well nothing good comes from NO work but today I want to show a way to make it a bit less:)

 

Usually patterns that call for fusible applique have you trace each piece separately onto the paper-backed fusible you are using, cut each template out, fuse it to the wrong side of the fabric, and then you cut the actual fused fabric template out.  A lot of my patterns are written this way but most of my patterns are small wall hangs and it is the more accurate way.  I personally don't mind sitting and tracing/cutting whilst watching a great movie or two:) 

Today let's do things a bit differently....

Step 1.  The first bit of information you will need is the actual size of your template. In the photo above the template is 1-3/8" long x not quite 3/4" wide. For ease of my demo, I am using a precut 2-1/2" strip.  When measuring your template and cutting your strips, leave a little extra...  The actual strip would be cut @ 1-3/4" wide.  

Step 2.  You will cut your fabric strips up to a 1/2" wider than needed and your fusible an 1/8" narrower than your fabric strip. 
Actual fusible cut @ 1-5/8" wide for this template.  Cutting the fusible narrower allows that bit of wiggle room so that you aren't fusing glue to your ironing board...Ask me how I know:)

Step 3.  Cut strip into sections that are the size needed for your template. Remember earlier I said the Actual template is 1-3/8" x not quite 3/4".  I will cut my sections at 1-3/4" x 7/8". 
Make a FREEZER paper template and iron it to the right side of one section. Make sure all sections are fabric side up or you may inadvertently get a reverse piece where you didn't want one.

Step 4.  Cutting: I can cut up to 4 sections at a time with a wonderful pair of scissors with serrated edges which help to grip the fabric as it cuts. 
The other way I keep a good grip is with a small binder clip.  BINDER CLIPS ARE YOUR FRIEND! You could pin your layers but pinning tends to distort the stack.

Cut one side of the templates just to the outside of that Freezer paper template. 
In the photo, you only see the binder clip but remember you will be holding the rest of the stack with your non-cutting hand so slipping should NOT be an issue.  Gripping the stack of sections well, carefully reposition the binder clip to the other side and cut.

Remove your Freezer paper template and Ta-Da, 4 for the work of one.  Repeat this process for as many pieces as pattern calls for. When you are done cutting applique pieces, proceed to the next step of your applique process.

In these last two photos I wanted to show you to think beyond the rigid straight up and down positioning of templates.
In the top photo you will see that this template is longer than 3" and my strip is a 2-1/2" precut.  It will use up more fabric to cut my sections to fit this almost 3-1/2" template. 
In the bottom photo, I can rotate the template to fit within the 3" x 2-1/4" (fusible) and this may allow me to cut at least one more from this strip than doing it straight. 

A note about templates being reversed...
Since you are working on the right side of the fabrics, no need to reverse templates unless needed for mirror images or the pattern has already reversed them. 
Remember that most of the time the pattern templates are reversed so that you get Exactly what you are seeing on the cover.  It would not matter if things were done the other direction unless there is lettering.  So don't spend time worrying about whether you remembered to reverse or not.  Use all the templates the same way and you will have a lovely applique quilt when you are done!
Enjoy:))