More Applipops Circles and Gadgets

 Raise your hand if you have more than one quilting gadget or tool you have never used.  Me? ✋✋ To be honest I'm not a gadget person.  But every once in a blue moon something comes over me to purchase a tool with the intentions of "someday" designing a quilt around using the impulse buy gadget.  These days I try to stifle the excitement of a new quilting gadget.  The urge to purchase the Applipops was intense.  They have a great marketing strategy of put them in your face nonstop on Facebook and Instagram.  About a year of watching the videos, I could not scroll by them...mesmerized and drooling.  Sometimes I would click over to their website put them in the cart, add all my information....and then my finger would hover over the Enter key.   

Click it!  Do it!  You need these!

I'm proud of myself for holding out so long but at the same time regret the decision.  It was a test of patience and control that in past I had failed.

Just to name a few.  Remember the big Hexie craze a few years ago?  As soon as I saw the Hex -N- More ruler and the amazing patterns it could make....CLICK... was on her way.  Never made a thing with it.  Then there's my obsession with dresdens.   One must have every size available...never used them either.  But there's plans....someday.

The reason why I was so reluctant to purchase the Applipops is more than just the fear of them being overrated and expensive.  You see I have many tools for making circles.  From the simplest drafting circle templates to some high priced die cutting.  This drafting circle template was the first circle maker I purchased.  Cheap and very effect if you have a steady strong hand for cutting.  Time consuming and really great for making calluses.  Sounds awful but I used it for years.  It's a multipurpose tool if you draft your own applique patterns by hand.  Now that I use EQ8 these are not used nearly as much.

Then I upgraded to the Karen Kay Buckley Perfect Circles.  The best things since the rotary cutter in my opinion.  Time consuming to use but they make perfect circles every time.  These have been used so much I was considering purchasing a new set.  Mine have gotten a little warped due to my attention to heat settings or my lack of attention.  I've shown how to use these but Karen has a video that is much better.  Click here.

Now lets talk about the most expensive impulsive circle making purchase....THE DIE CUTTER.  Die cutters are great.  The Sizzix is cheap compared to the other brand which I will leave unnamed.  If I were a rich woman I'm sure I would own the other brand.  This was an impulse buy when I found it it for $49.95 for the machine only.  That's a pretty good price.  And I can use other brands of dies in this machine.  I haven't but I can.  In two years I've used it three times.  I could see where this might get more use as I get older.  But that's story for another day.  Today we are focusing on circles.  I have two different dies for making circles.  As soon as they arrived from Amazon I tested them and they work great with and with out Heat -N- Bond fusible but I haven't actually used them in a quilt.  I'm sure they would be great for cutting out circles to use with the Applipops!  Yes my friends I'm in love with the Applipops.

Everyday I try to make a few.  Even if it's just one, progress is progress.  There's no real plan for them but I'm playing around with a couple of ideas in my mind.  It will morph into something eventually.  For now I'm just enjoying a little mindless circle making.  It's very relaxing.

I'm cutting the circles from scraps only.  My self imposed rule is I can not pull fabric from my F8's or FQ's, only small scraps.

I'm producing little niblets of scraps that can actually be tossed.  And you all know that's hard for me to toss out fabric.  But if the smallest Applipop won't fit on the scrap I'm letting it go.  There's still a little devil in me saying those could be used for tiny fusible raw edge applique but at some point it becomes hoarding and unrealistic to keep them.

It's a process, learning to let go.  Have those tiny scraps actually made it out of the house?  NO.  I'm saving them for Khaleesi a new dog bed.(insert shifty eyes here).🙄  That's the plan.  She's a big dog in need of a big bed.  Translated.....Gives me time to actually let go.

Maybe someday I'll be able to let go of some slightly bigger scraps.  Not that I'm feeling it necessary.  I mean just look at these small scraps.  Cute as can be and not taking up much space.  Gems!  A quilter never knows when she just might decided to make her master piece from dime sized applique. It's totally doable and reasonable.  Waste not want not.  One man's trash is another mans treasure.  

Let's get real....excuses are just that....excuses.  But it is what it is...Passion.  I know some of you understand. 

They say "enjoy the little things in life" and that's exactly what I'm doing.  It feels good to use up every last little bit of fabric.   It also feels good when you find a new gadget that does all that it claims to do and more.  The more part is it's making me love to make circle applique.

My word of the year Move.  Staying busy both physically and mentally.

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~ Dutch Delight Finished ~

 Every once in awhile a quilt comes along and I'm immediately swept off my feet.  Dutch Delight by Jill Finley is one of those quilts.  From the first time I laid eyes on her I knew I would make it as soon as I could get my hands on the pattern.  

She was introduced at the Spring Quilt Market this year.  Jill and her husband designed one of the cutest booths for market that won a award.  You can see her booth with all the quilts designed for her new Conservatory fabric on her website by clicking here.

It would have been nice to use her new line of fabric but I'm trying really hard to SIMPLY(my word of the year).  Simply means more than keeping thing simple.  It also means to use what I have if possible.  So I dug into the stash looking to recreate her color pallet as best I could.  You can see my fabric pull on a previous blog post by clicking here.

Since this quilt design had a fairly small amount of applique I decided to do turned edge applique instead of my go-to method of raw edge applique.  It would be nice to have the time(or the want to) to hand stitch the applique in place.  But honestly I don't like handwork.  So invisible machine applique is the next best thing.  It takes a quarter of the time and looks pretty close to the "real" thing.  Using Mono-Poly thread by Superior Threads is my secret to faking hand applique.  If you would like to see how I make my invisible machine applique click here.

Even with this speedy method I needed to take a break about halfway through stitching it into place.  Breaking one of my number one rules in the studio by bringing in my coffee.  The only rules in my studio are No Drinks, No food, No Pets.  Of course I was the only one home at the time so no one else knew but me and now you.   Shh...Don't tell Mr. Podunk, I run him out of here when her brings in a drink.

This quilt finishes at 64 x 64, a nice size throw quilt that is sure to be used often.  So I wanted to keep the quilting fairly light for a nice cuddly quilt.  I also wanted it to quilt quickly.  So I used the quilt piecing as my guide.  What does that mean?  It means very little marking, I just line up my quilt rulers with the seams or intersections (the orange dots below) of the piecing.  I did mark the long crosshatching (red arrow) because I felt it would be quicker to have them marked than to mess up and need to pick out stitches.

The binding is my favorite part of the quilting process.  It's so exciting to be on the home stretch to a completed quilt.  With this quilt I did what some call "a true quarter inch binding".  What this really means is it's a tiny binding that finishes 1/4" on the front and about 3/8" on the back, just enough to cover the stitches from stitching the binding down on the front of the quilt.  Most bindings are cut between 2" wide and 2.5" wide , the most common being 2.25" wide. (I rarely cut at 2.25).  For this binding I cut  1.5" wide strips.  Yep that's tiny, but it really isn't any harder than the larger widths.  Why would a quilter do this.  Various reasons I suppose.  I did it because this quilt doesn't have a border, so if the binding is too wide on the front it will cut off my points on the piecing.  And I like for my binding to be about the same size on the front and back of the quilt.  I made a chart for me to reference the different finished widths of binding.  You can find the free printable chart on a previous blog post by clicking here.  

She's so pretty.  I can't wait to get her washed and tossed over the back of my rocking chair.  The simplicity of this quilt is swoon worthy.  It was quick and easy, but so satisfying.  If you would like to make this quilt you can find it on Jill's website.  PDF pattern here.   And the mailed pattern here.  You can also find her Conservatory  line of fabric on her website.  Or buy them together as a kit here.  She has several of her quilt patterns kitted up and ready to ship.  Even if you don't want this quilt you should go check out her other quilts. She's an amazing designer with such a creative eye for applique.

Pulling from my stash was fun.  It gave me a chance to use some older fabrics that haven't seen the light of day in years.  Like this backing fabric, it's from the 1990's or at least that what I was told.  The blue on the label is another oldie fabric.  I'm not sure how old but I know it's over 10 yrs old because I purchased it 10 yrs ago at a local quilt show in a scrappy grab bag .

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~ Christmas Joy by Just Let Me Quilt ~

HELLO Happy Quilters!  Friday at last!  How many of you are like me and planning a private quilting retreat in your sewing room?  I bet I'm not the only one with few Christmas sewing projects on the to-do list.  For me these are the best retreats.  I prepared for this 3 day quilting retreat by cooking ahead for Mr. Podunk.  If he doesn't want to eat Taco Soup leftovers all weekend there's frozen pizza and cold cuts in the fridge.   The only thing that could interrupt my pajama quilting retreat is unexpected company.  But to be honest, we are so far out in Podunk no one drops by without calling.  My private podunk retreat officially started late yesterday afternoon with this jolly little Santa designed by Carol over at Just Let Me Quilt.  I chose this project first just because today is National St. Nicholas Day.  Who knew there was such a thing?  You can read more about how to observe National St. Nicholas Day here.

Really it just doesn't get much cuter than this.  The finished quilt is lap or large wall hanging size.  You can get all the details on Carols blog and at the Thermoweb website.  Pssst....it's a FREE quilt pattern.  Go get it even if you don't have time to make it right now.  Save to your computer for next year.  Maybe get a jump start on next Christmas...RIGHT!....LOL!   Who does that?!

Before I could start the Christmas Joy quilt I needed to make my final pull for two other quilts from my bin of over pulled fabrics.  Below is what's left after pulling out exactly what I needed to make the blocks for the other two quilts.  Well all but the black fabric.  Black is not a color I use often so I had to dig deep in the stash cabinets.  Can you see the selvage on the black fabric?  This little scrap is from my treasured discontinued, no longer in business, Lakehouse Drygoods stash.

The other two quilts on my list for the next month are my own designs.  They will eventually be published patterns.  For now I'm focusing on getting them pieced, quilted and ready for the grand children's Christmas visit.  I'll have a little extra time to get them completed because we will be celebrating Christmas in early January on my daughters birthday.  

Both of my designs are Christmas patterns.  One is 100% pieced blocks and the other has just a tiny bit of applique.  I'll be using Lori Holt's Gingerbread Man template.   This template is a few years old, so it might be hard to find.  And if you do find it, it comes in a set of several different Christmas templates.  So when I write the pattern it will come with a similar gingerbread man paper template.

Now that all that is taken care of I can get down to business.

As you can see I cut the center out of each applique piece.  Heat N Bond Lite isn't stiff.  It's actually very light weight.  The windowing makes it even lighter and it takes very little time to do.

The applique placement sheet printed out off center.  I'm sure this was a printer error and not a pattern error.  No worries, I simply folded the page in half, matching the outlines of the block.  Then marked the center of each line.   The same process was repeated on polka dot blue background fabric.

Using a light box to line up those markings on both the paper and the fabric.  Then started adding the applique.

I knew this was going to happen....shadowing.  Shadowing is when the darker fabrics show through the lighter fabrics on top.  My solution for this is simple, just add another applique.

So I traced, cut and layered them the best I could.  It's impossible to get them exactly the same when using scissors to cut your shapes.  The fix is simple.

After removing the paper from the back of all applique pieces, layer the two exact same shapes together on an applique pressing sheet.  Then press with a medium heat iron.  Allow them to cool for a minute or two.  Carefully peel them off the pressing sheet.

Now I can trim these up to match.  Trim carefully, taking off the tiny little pieces extending out past the top fabric.

There you have it!  Trimmed and fused in place.  Most of the shadowing is gone.  There is still a little right under the nose but we'll just call it a mustache!

I'm really happy how Jolly Ole St. Nick turned out.  After making all the applique blocks in this pattern I'll machine stitch around the applique with a tiny blanket stitch and matching thread.  

#JustLetMeQuilt #ChristmasJoyQuilt #christmasquilt #christmasquiltblock #freequiltpattern #thermoweb #heatnbondlite #podunkpretties

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Some seriously cute applique

Hi sweet friends!  Today I want to share a few cute little flowers.  The adorable one inch yo's-yo's were not part of the original pattern but they add a cute little touch of whimsy.  And it really didn't take long to make 3 of them.  

The next flower was a bit more tedious.  One little petal can fit on my finger.  I almost opted for raw edge on this one flower, but what the heck lets give'er a go at turned edge.

And again it didn't take that long...but it did require I wear my reading glasses.

What about a button instead of more teeny weeny applique.

There's only four blocks in the I love Home BOM by Jacquelynne Steves.  So why not add a few little extra WOW embellishments.  It didn't take that long to add them.  

So are you picking your fabrics?  Need some more inspiration?  Wanna join in the fun?  You can find all the information on the FREE I Love Home BOM by clicking here.  It starts in August, so there's plenty of time to pull fabric or better yet buy fabric.  Don't forget there's tons of sponsors and prizes for those who participate.   I bet your wondering how it is I have the pattern in advance.  Well it's because I'm a featured blogger.  So I'll be sharing my blocks and ideas with you along the way.  I can't wait!  This quilt is soooo cute!  Jacquelynne has given us permission to use our blocks however we wish.  So I've drawn up a plan for a quilt just a little larger than the suggested pattern.  I'll be sharing it as soon as possible.

~ Lea Anne ~

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Stars and Stripes Forever

This little quilt top has been finished for a couple of weeks.  For some reason it was  put away and forgotten.  Since the next few days is considered a holiday weekend I better share it now or I'll forget again.

"Stars and Stripes Forever"  was designed by me after seeing a much more complicated quilt.  

Here's the inspiration quilt.  Made by Joanne at the Patriotic Quilter Blog., she's also on instagram if you wanna look her up, just search for patriotic quilter.  The quilt is absolutely amazing.  Made of Log Cabin blocks, it must have taken forever.  What a beauty!  The original pattern is by Judy Martin in her book "Extraordinary Log Cabin Quilts"  If you would like more information about her quilt click here.  Thanks Joanne for allowing me to share your work of art on my blog.

The border is what really caught my eye.  So my quilty brain started churning and I came up with a plan to get the same visual with a lot less work.  Below is my quilt before working a little applique magic on the border.

The pins were temporary...after working out a plan I glue basted it in place then stitched it to the quilt.

Lets see if we can get a close up of the invisible stitches.  Can you see them?

How about now?  I used Superior Threads MonoPoly thread and a tiny blanket stitch to tack it in place.  Invisible!

The stars are also appliqued but using raw edge applique method.  There's no rule saying all the applique on a quilt must be the same method.

I used Heat -n- Bond Lite and the same blanket stitch just a little wider with a 100 wt white thread.   Now when will it get quilted?...Not this week I can assure you that!

~ Lea Anne ~

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