~ Love is in the Air ~

Yes it's true, my little ole heart is going pitter-pat.  Flying by the seat of my pants with this quilt design has let the creativity flow.  The design layout has changed several times, I think it might be finished evolving.   

It all started with this little 5.5" Dresden Block.   You would think by its tiny size that it was a pain to make, but really it wasn't. If you can make a normal 12" block you can make this.

Fussy cutting is fairly new to me.  In the past I would avoid it at all cost.  It just seemed so tedious.  Well what was I thinking?  The fussy cutting has taken the simple design from the cutesy little ...awe...   To a big WOW!  

As usual there's a few quilty rules being broken.  Fusible and turned edge applique techniques are used in this project.   I'm sure that makes some ruler maker cringe.   The Dresden's and all the circles are turned edge. Turning the edges of the circles is the only way to get them perfectly round...at least for ME to get them close to perfect.

There's a few more final touches to make before sharing the entire 24" block.  See you in a few days for the big reveal! 

Before leaving I want to give a big Hillbilly Hollar to Aunt Em's Soap.  This Mint soap has changed the look and feel of my skin.  It has the most amazing cent that you can't find at Walmart and it's gentle enough to use on my entire body.  Since I started using this a few months ago I no longer need to moisturize, the constant itchy skin is gone   It's priced higher than the yukky store bought stuff but it last so much longer, and I don't need to buy any products to repair the dry skin as with the other soaps. I think I'm actually saving money!  And to put the icing on the cake Em is a quilter and uses her tiny little scraps for packaging.  That's my kind of gal...use it up and re-purpose.  You can find Em's quilt an soap shop by clicking here.  Make sure you hop over to her quilt blog,  Em's Scrapbag, she always stitching up a scrappy beauty.

~  Lea Anne ~

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Feather Ready!

Well after hours of fiddling with different applique idea for this quilt I've decided, it's a quilt top, ready for quilting.  No more applique just tons of feathers, maybe some cross hatching.

Just look at all the wide open spaces....oh yes... just right for feathers galore.

After all the fussing about the applique it came together in the middle perfectly, what a relief.

I'll start marking it for quilting this afternoon and hope to have it on the frame by tomorrow morning.  Dolly(my BHQ 15) has been sitting idle for over 6 months.  Waiting patiently for me to get over my keeping it simple stage.  The wait is over!   I'm dusting her off, giving her a lube job and taking her for a test drive to blow out the gunk....YeeHaw!  My Mojo is back!  Hold on tight old Dolly, I'm putting the pedal to the metal and we're making up for lost time!  See you gals in a few days with sneak peak at what me old Dolly can do when we team up!

I'm linking up today's post with these fun linky parties.

Design Wall Monday@Patchworktimes

MainCrushMonday@CookingUpQuilts

MondayMakers@HugABitQuilts

LinkyTuesday@FreeMotionByTheRiver

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Freezer paper applique WARNING!!

After yesterdays internal struggle things didn't get any easier in the studio.  By the looks of the picture below you'd never know expletives were bouncing around the studio walls like a flock of birds trapped in glass house.  Oh yes, the foulest of words with a few paper crumbling, foot stomping, scissor slamming temper tantrums.   Normally I'd just fix the issue and move on, but with my time being so limited it just...well...got the better of me.  So what's my problem?

Shrinkage!  The little red arrow areas I can live with.  Once in the quilt no one would know there was shrinkage on the scallops.  But that circle area, that's another story.

It's a critical area, these HAVE to be perfect in order to meet at the corners with no gaps.  That's almost a quarter inch off.  Now I bet your wondering how many I made that were too short.  TWO!  And the only reason I caught it was....

When I tried to line up my template with the edge of the fabric... I couldn't.  They started out straight as an arrow, cut with my handy dandy old rotary cutter and ruler.  I've been using freezer paper applique for years with no issues, but I've never needed such accuracy in my applique pieces.  A little shrinkage or distortion on an appliqued leaf, who's going to notice?   Templar would have been the better option for these pieces, but all my pieces of templar were to small.  And going to the closest store that carries it is a 30 minute drive.  I'm way to practical(cheap) to do that. 

Now this is where the foul mouth really comes into play.  I used my last piece of Studio stash freezer paper to make the incredible shrinking templates.  $#@!  And I knew the roll in the kitchen was almost gone.  $#%!!  Luckily Mr. Podunk keeps a roll in the garage for processing deer during hunting season.  Yeah!  Using a template only once seems wasteful to me but it's cheaper, and quicker than running into town.

It all worked out in the end, and I felt rather silly for getting so upset.  My goal for the day was getting all the border pieces made, and I accomplished it, along with all my other Podunk chores.  So a good day can come with it's valuable lessons on shrinkage.

Linking up with some great bloggers today!  There's always tons of inspiration even if you don't link up you should hop over for excessive amounts of eye candy.  It's a good thing eye candy is calorie free otherwise I'd gain 10 lbs a week from all the sweet projects!

Linky Tuesday@FreeMotionByTheRiver

Show and Tell Tuesday@IHaveToSay

Sew Cue@BlossomHeartQuilts

Fabric Tuesday@QuiltStory

Let's be Social@SewFreshQuilts

~ Lea Anne ~

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That inner voice

The ideas have been flowing in like a tidal wave!  So many cute ideas.  The problem with that is I'm a visual/hands on kinda quilter.  Which means I need to see it, feel it, play around with it and that makes scrap pieces when there's several ideas.  I could use EQ7 to draft a quilt, but it can take longer, especially when drawing applique pieces.  So most of the time I use good old paper and pencil.  Another problem is my mind sees elaborate applique that me, myself and I have no interest in making.  The little pink mustache or grammar school bird shape was one of those ideas.

Here's the little birdy shape strutting her stuff.  Oh yes, a scallop around this dresden would be ADORABLE!  But the three musketeer alter ego's rejected the plan. What a lazy gang of naysayers.   They quickly put in their two cents of how long it would take to make the pieces, let alone stitch them down. (sigh)  So what's a gal to do but take the advice of a group that knows me so well.  They know if I go with this plan it'll become a UFO.  I tried my best to let them know that it's ONLY a four block setting, and they reminded me that it's canning season in Podunk, and free time for quilting is very limited.  The voice of reason, where were you when I buying fabric, templates I'll never use and what about during the expensive sewing machine purchases?   I don't recall you helping me out then!  Oh well what's a gal to do, this is a democracy. So me, myself and I have voted to go with the easier plan.  But I want everyone in bloggyland to know Lea Anne wants the scallops!

The one thing that we all agree on is linking up at these great linky parties.  We voted and its unanimous you should visit each of these links, and of course link up your lovelies too!  If you don't have a blog that's okay, because most linky parties let you link from other social media.  Me, myself and I are very powerful persuaders so...see you there!

Design Wall Monday@PatchworkTimes

Main Crush Monday@CookingUpQuilts

MondayMaking@LoveLaughQuilt

~ Lea Anne ~

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Finding time to play

 There's been little time for sewing in the last couple of weeks.  Most of my time is spent in the garden or in the kitchen, but my mind is always thinking of quilting.  In between the batches of preserving food I've played with an idea or two in the Studio. 

Drafting the dresden block was a little easier on paper than it was in EQ7.  After drafting it I needed to make a template.  As you know I often make my own Acrylic templates, but if I can use one that I already have that's even better.

So I pulled out every template in my stash and this one is the only one that fit in the wedge shape.  Glow line tape was added for easy placement onto the fabric.

My test block was a success!  Well...one fabric placement booboo but it can stay in the quilt.  It sticks out like a sore thumb to me, can you see it?

Now the playing begins.  This is my favorite part of the designing process.  I always have a general idea, but there's always room for improvement and improvising.  The circle and petal pieces were left overs from the my last little quilt that you can find here.  Not so sure that the red one is going to make it into this project but it's doing a good job of being useful as a visual aid.

I love the octagon shape that's made when the dresden tips are put together.  It wasn't part of the plan but I could play around with it a little bit more later on. 

For now the playtime is over and it's time to get busy doing the so called "important stuff".

So do you design your own quilts?  Do you play with the design after cutting a few test pieces?  What's your designing process?

~ Lea Anne ~

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Cherry Blossom Marmalade Tutorial

Good Monday morning!   As promised here's a tutorial for how I made my Dresden with scallops.  Before we get started I'd like to apologize for picture quality.  My camera quit working so I had to grab Ross's camera(older).  It didn't like up close shots and I just couldn't make sense of the manual.  Well here we go anyway.

You can get the templates for the applique here and here.

  Fabric needed for one block

(20) 2.5 squares (Dresden blades)

(1) 3.5 square green(leaves)

(2) 1.5 x WOF (scallops)

(2) 3/4 x 3.5 brown (stems)

(1) 1 3/8 x 26 bias strip (circle frame)

(2) 2.5 squares (cherries) 

(1) 9" square white (pic shows circle because I cut mine before pic..OOPS)

 This is the ruler I used, marking with glow tape as shown in picture.  If you don't have this ruler the templates for this block are provided here and here. 

So lets get started by cutting all 20 blades 

Sew them together in pairs.

 Keep sewing till you have a complete circle, then press seams open.  I don't use steam throughout the entire process of making this block.

 Trim away these little wings sticking out.  It will make it easier to sew on the scallops later.

 Once trimmed it can be set aside for now.

Because I made this pattern into a full size quilt with 12 blocks I made 20 scallop templates.  It made the process move along quicker.  Also my templates are made by taking 3 sheets of regular freezer paper and ironing them together, then tracing my templates onto them.  You can use these many times and they still stick really well.  This is the 13th time I've used this set.  Once your template is made line the straight edge up with the straight edge on your fabric and iron them shiny side down, the waxy surface sticks to the fabric and will not leave a residue.  

 Now cut them apart.

 Trim away the excess fabric about 1/4 inch away from the template.

  Any type of fabric starch will work for this next step.  I prefer Sta-flo concentrated starch.  It's economical and I can mix it to the desired stiffness needed.  For this type of applique my mix is 1 part starch 3 parts water.  Of course you can mix it however you like.  Any spray starch will work, you do not need to use Sta-flo.  If using an aerosol starch, spray a little of the starch in the cap or a small bowl. 

 Using a paint brush apply starch to the exposed fabric.

Carefully press the seam in towards the template. 

 Only 19 more to go! 

    

The same method was used to make the leaves and circles for the cherries.

 The starch when dry will stick to these templates, I was trying to show you how I use my thumb to loosen the edges before trying to pull out the paper.  Instead you got a great pic of the background...

 Remove the freezer paper templates from all applique shapes.  After removing the paper, press the applique shape.

Fold the bias strip in half wrong sides together(do not press). Using a contrasting thread(the contrast will be helpful later) sew a very small seam, about 1/16" to 1/8" .  Repeat this on the 3/4" x 3.5" Brown stem pieces.  

 I use these pressing bars, but the next step can be done without them.  I chose the 1/2" bar for the larger blue fabric and 3/16" bar for the brown fabric to be used or the cherry stems.

Weather you use the bias bar or not for pressing the bias strips, try to keep the seam in the middle of the strip it will serve as a guide later.  But if it gets a little wonky or off it's no big deal.  As long as you can't see it from the other side it's fine.

Remove the bar after pressing and press again.  I gave mine a little shot of steam to help it lay a little flatter.   I know I said I didn't use steam, but there's an exception to every rule, and this is one of them.  I like my applique to be thin with sharp edges.  The steam helps remove any creases or lines caused by the pressing bar.

Carefully tuck one end inside the tube about a quarter inch.

Cut out your circle using the template provided.

For this next step I use Roxanne's glue baste.  Any basting glue will work.  Even Elmer's Washable School Glue works perfectly fine.

 This is when that contrasting thread come in handy.  Put a few tiny drops of glue on the edge of your circle.  I line up my seam with the edge of the circle, working in about 2" sections, use an iron to set the glue and move on to the next section until you make it all the way around the circle.

 Trim away excess leaving about 1" overlap.  Tuck the over lap inside the other end.  After you get it in just the right spot add a tiny drop of glue inside to hold it in place until stitched.

Tada!  A pretty framed circle.

 Lightly press in half both ways as shown below.  

Line up the pressed lines with the lines on the template

  Glue baste the stems leaving the top longer than needed and not glued.

 Apply glue to leaves only as shown below.

  Position your leaves then press them with an iron to dry glue.  Next place a pin in the middle where the two leaves intersect.

  Trim off the top of the brown stems  right next to the pin.

Finish glue basting down your leaves, then glue baste the circles for the cherries.

Press the Dresden in half both ways.  Depending on the look that you want you may want to use the seam in the Dresden for the center, I chose the middle of the Dresden blade. 

 Line up the pressing lines on the circle and the Dresden, using one drop of glue at each pressed line to secure.

Finish gluing your way around the circle.  

Lets start adding those scallops.  You can glue them if you would like but I chose to pin them in place. 

 These are going to overlap just a bit.  One at a time pin or glue each scallops in place.  The next piece will be line up with the seam that the scissors are pointing to.  Allowing the overlap on the previous piece.  

 Carefully stitch that famous quarter inch seam.

  Press lightly out towards the scallop, NO STEAM...just give them a little press.

  Now turn it over and press the seam open to help reduce the bulky seam.

Flip that baby over and give her a good steam pressing if you like.

Ain't she a cutie?

  It's ready to be appliqued to your project.

Below is my original Scalloped Dresden.  I love how changing the fabrics can change the feel of a project.  I'm calling the one above "As American As Cherry Pie".

 The original below is "Cherry Blossom Marmalade".  Click here see the quilt I made using this color way.

And the American as Cherry Pie version was turned into a pillow.  Click on the image below to see it along with a few tips for making the pillow.  It's not a tutorial.

~ Lea Anne ~

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