Applique Love and a quilty tip

Who doesn't love the quick and easy quilt pattern that gives us the instant gratification of a finished project?  I know I do.  I've several go to quilt patterns that will stitch up in an day and be ready for use in within 48 hrs.  But my all time favorite quilts are appliqued.  Just the tiniest of applique gives a quilt an extra kick and WOW factor.   Some say they are out of style and way to much work but I think every quilter needs to make at least one FABULOUS quilt in their lifetime.  Even though it may take a lifetime to make it!...LOL!  

So far my determination for finishing this quilt UFO hasn't diminished.  Stealing a few minutes here and there to make a few more applique pieces.

Many quilters say it's too time consuming to make applique.   True, it does take a bit of time.  So this week I decided to time how long it took to make one orange flower below.  From plain fabric to one finished flower it took 30 minutes.  Now you need understand that is three applique pieces for one flower.  This process could be sped up by using a Go Cutter or fusible applique.  You can even find some kits out there that the applique pieces are already cut for you.  All you have to do is stitch them in place. 

Applique is also very messy.  I cleaned up a little bit in the picture below so you wouldn't know just how messy I really can be.  The picture below was taken to show you my tip of the day.  See the rug under my table? That's a bath mat.  It's one of those really soft one's that has foam inside.  It also has a rubber backing that stops it from sliding across my tile floor.  The fluffiness of this mat keeps my sewing machine foot petal from sliding when in use.  And the number one reason for using this mat is...It keeps my bare feet off the cold tile floors. 

If you're interested in the quilt pattern I'm making you can find  it in the previous blog post.

~ Lea Anne ~

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Something to Tweet about

 In 2011 Erin Russek of One Piece at a time shared her My Tweets BOM patterns for free.  During 2011 the monthly blocks were free for the entire year but to finish the quilt quilters needed to purchase the center block at a very reasonable price.  How could I not make this quilt, it was love at first sight.  I quickly gathered my fabrics and began the My Tweets journey.   Well here we are 5 years later and I just finished hand stitching my center block. 

Each block is unique and with a few repeat applique pieces in the blocks.  Erin made my first attempt at hand applique so much easier with her helpful tips along the way.  You can find her applique lessons here.  

 For those of you that have followed me for a long time you know how much I dislike the color purple.  In this quilt it just works, I couldn't change Erin's choice in colors.

But in true Lea Anne style I CAN NOT stick with a pattern.   Block 10 was changed to suit me.  It's top right in the picture below.

Below is Erin's Block 10.   Absolutely adorable.  

Now I need to get started on the borders.  This is half of one side.  Another 5 years?  Lets hope not!

If you'd like to make the My Tweets quilt you can find the pattern here, it's no longer free but it's still a really good price for an applique pattern.   Erin is also working on a current block of the month Chocolate Bon Bons.  Below is the current free block.   You can find out more information on her blog One Piece at a Time.  Take a look around her blog she's giving some sneak peaks about next years BOM, it going to be pieced blocks with some applique, and you never know when she'll throw in some embroidery.

Take a look at this cutie below called Be Happy.  All of the the blocks below are still available for free on her blog here and here for the borders.  All but the center block, you'll need to purchase it here.   

Erin started out as a quilt blogger and quickly caught the eye of the quilt world.  She now works for Mcalls quilting.  I'm sure you've seen some of her patterns in there magazine.  Below is one of my favorite magazine quilt patterns, Miss Kyra.

Hope you found something today to Tweet about or make you do Happy Dance!

~Lea Anne~

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Fat finger applique

The older I get it seems the harder it is to do little tiny tedious detail work with my hands.  So I thought I'd share with you how I pre assemble small applique.  

The little pins shown below are the original pins I purchased over 20 years ago.  I keep them around for emergency use only because they are to hard for my fat fingers to manage.  They are perfect for this project because the heads won't melt.  Glass head pins could be used but mine are finer and bend to easily.   Pinning each little petal in place allows re-positioning of one petal if needed without disturbing the rest.  The scissors are pointing to the one I moved.

Note:  for more exact placement of applique I would have the applique outline sheet under the white fabric allowing it to show through.  But these can be free handed and not cause an issue with the rest of the pattern.

Using a larger longer pin helps to hold small applique steady while applying basting glue.  It also serves as a skewer making placement easier and less messy.

I should also mention the only glue I used is what you see.  The petals are held together by the center of the flower.

No need to remove pins when setting the glue with the iron.  

Perfect little Posies every time!  OOPS...looks like one of them still has water soluble ink shining through.  A little shot of water will take care of that.

~ Lea Anne ~

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Only one more to go!

Way back in 2011 this was a free BOM by Erin Russek at Onepieceatatime.  My quilt was started in January 2012.  Three years and I'm still plucking away a little by little.  This weekend the last of the 12 monthly blocks was finished!  Yeah!

 I know what you thinking, it could be those PURPLE birds that's been holding me back.  For those of you that are new to my blog, I've a fairly strong dislike of purple.  But my number rule in quilting is to work out of the comfort zone.   This quilt has been a challenge in more ways than just color.  I chose to stay with the colors in the pattern because the brights just say HELLO.   And the hand applique was enough of a challenge that I didn't want to throw in picking my own colors and fabrics.  

Even with my dislike of purple I love every expressive Distelfink.

I still need to decided what to do about eyes....do you think they NEED eyes or can they be blind birds?

I've also made a couple of changes to the original quilt pattern.  The first change was a in one block design.  The picture of the block came out blurry  so I'll just show the close up of this block, I love the orange in this one.  But if your really curious take a look at the first picture in this post.  Its the third block down from the top on the far left.  It had a huge heart at the bottom of the block that I felt look out of place with the rest of the blocks, so I change it to flowers.

And the second change would be to the block setting.  I'm tossing around a couple ideas that you can see here.

Once more I'll try to get the large center applique block at least glue basted before cleaning up this mess.  Wish me luck!  This is my third time working on this block.  

I'm linking up with a new linky party today.  I'd like to encourage you to hop over and check it out and link up!  

Beth@CookingUpQuilts is hosting Main Crush Monday Linky

And
Randi@Ihavetosay

I'll also be linking with Slow stitching Sunday, and

Design Wall Monday, you can find the links to both of these in the sidebar.
Let's add another Esther's Blog for WIP's Wednesday also found in my sidebar. 

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Summer Romance quilt progress

My week so far has been running my mom to one doctors appointment after another.  Not sure that it qualifies for quality time spent together but we've definatly done the time and both of us are completely wore out from the experience.  Next week I'll be babysitting her after her hysterectomy, so my dad can go to work and not worry about her getting around  and eating.  So again I'll be a little Missing In Action on the Blog. 

Even though I've been on the go I'v manage to work in a little sewing time.  Summer Romance is coming along slowly and I'm loving how its turning out so far.  Believe it or not it took me two days to finish the cross hatching in side the flowers....shewwwww.....and the micro stippling is even more intense and hard on my eyes.  Ross asked me who gets this quilt when finished, NO ONE!  Its mine all mine and he's not allowed to touch it.  Just like a kid, even though he's 48, I'll have to keep a close eye on him.....LOL

Our guild does a BOM.   Last month we were challenged to make a table runner out of the block.  I started it but of course I didn't have it finished in time for the meeting.  I'll have a late entry for next months meeting, but no prizes for completion when a month late.  Better late than never and I love this little table runner.  I used the cherry fabric because our kitchen has all sorts of different berries on the wall paper.  Its not as wavy as it looks here. Red gigham fabric is actually an old sheet so I chose not to quilt that area because the fabric is to tightly weaved.

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Hand Applique finished FINALLY!

My fingertips are celebrating its finish.  Now to get the machine piecing done.  I'm liking this little gal so much, another one for me may be in order!  Its on the long list of "gonna do's". 

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Looking for inspiration

I started this back in December.   It was supposed to be finished in time for the Iron quilter contest at Missouri Star Quilts.  But I bit off more than I could quilt with the hand applique.  Anyway its next on the quilt frame and I've no idea how to quilt it.  Pulled out all my books today  looking for inspiration, now I'm searching  cyberland.  As I sit looking at it now I'm thinking I might add another border of white and then scallop....Or maybe wavy cut where the white and blue come together. Something seems missing....  I was hoping to get this done in time for a small quilt show at the start of June but the way its going it doesn't look possible.  However I have named the quilt already "Summer Romance". Pin It