Tag Archives: applique

What’s behind Door #2?

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I think there is a happy family behind Door #2! I know the new block looks way too big to fit with Door #1, but it gets trimmed to size after the applique is complete. 

DoorNumberTwo-04

I've made some progress since I last showed you the doors. The panels in the yellow doors are reverse appliqued and the 'stained glass' window over the door is stitched off the block. I needed to get the whole door and trim appliqued so that I could set the rest of the block together. I've designed these blocks so that they can be set together in one quilt or stand alone as individual quilts.

Here's a tip for stitching something like the window. Cut the underneath fabric bigger than it needs to be (in this case it's the floral print). Trace around the template onto the underneath fabric. Trace and cut out the smaller pieces. Finger-press them and sew them to the fabric like this…

Window_OffBlock-1 copy

Once the 'spokes' are sewn to the underneath fabric you can treat this as one piece and sew it in place. 

As I type this I'm taking a break from cutting leaves for the plants that go next to the door. I'm going out of town tomorrow to visit the Mississippi Valley Quilt Guild in Iowa and I really want to have some stitching to take with me. So now I'm going to get back to it!

FYI – You can click here to read about my class for Adventures In Italy where I will be teaching from the door patterns. My class is called Open A Door To Adventure.


A baby quilt, with attitude…

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We have 2 pregnant nieces; both are having girls in mid-August. I promised baby quilts. (I also promised the AAQI Quilt, a 12" block for a magazine, and I can't remember what else between August 1 and 15. Oh my.)

But back to this story… I put together the background for baby quilt #1 before I left home. I'm going to use the butterfly pattern and the stitching techniques from Applique With Attitude for this quilt. I plan to machine quilt the background with lots of lines. I think it's going to need lines to calm it down, pull it all together, and to make the butterflies stand out.

BabyQuilt-Alea

I think it's easy for those of us who applique, or who quilt in general, to try to put too much on a baby quilt. I want them to use this quilt. If the quilt has too much 'wonderful' applique, it might end up folded in a drawer, saved for the special occasion that never comes because it might get dirty.

This quilt is going to be pretty and fun and very use-able. And if the baby makes a mess on it it's likely going to be hard to see amid all that pattern.


I’m working on the borders…

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AAQI-SamplerImage-06

I haven't trimmed the center block yet so it's a bit out of proportion, as is the border. There are two side borders, none top and bottom. This AAQI quilt will finish at 16" x 16" – a nice to hang, don't you think?

Notice that Nan has her purse now. I am tempted to tuck a hankie up her sleeve (that's where she always carried her hankie) but I think it would look like a 'mistake' rather than an intentional object. I'll just imagine that her hankie is there.

I had intended to use a ribbon or bias strip for the twisty vine in the borders but it just wasn't working out. So I broke the vine into overlapping pieces and that is working well.