Missie's big reveal and more of my blocks

Good news - my computer problems are slowly getting worked out! Camera software was successfully installed so that's one problem resolved! I still have to move the dongel for my keyboard and mouse so that they function better and I'm learning Windows 8 through trial and error!

Missie of Traditional Primitives has given me permission to publish a picture of her finished Gardens of a King quilt on my blog. Hers is a lighter, brighter interpretation of the King George III coverlet (maker unknown). The original quilt is dated 1803-1805 and is made with many printed cottons.It resides at the Victoria & Albert Museum in England. The centre medallion depicts King George III reviewing volunteer troops in Hyde park in 1799. The quilt is an amazing historical document because it depicts events national (Britain) and international but it is also an art object. The handwork and detail is absolutely incredible!

This is Missie's interpretation of the original. It is a smaller quilt (it finishes just over 63") but there is no reason why it couldn't be made larger! She tells me that her pattern will be available for sale soon. I love the warm caramel colours of this quilt and I am partial to scrap quilts so this one speaks to me!

Missie's quilt features an applique border made with an assortment of light fabrics and this gives it a airy appearance. But I keep looking at the original and love the weight of the dark border so I'm torn....shall I go dark or light? In the picture below the fabric on the left looks grey but it is a warm beige and it is the fabric that will frame each of the pieced blocks in my quilt. I love the weight and pattern of the green print I've pulled from my stash and the toasty beige below it also has great appeal. I think I'll make all the pieced blocks and stitch the centre panel and saw tooth border together before I decide on the border fabric for the fruit and flower appliques.

Missie combined the pieced blocks from the original quilt with fruit and flower appliques in the outer border to represent the King's garden. Her pattern will call for appliques that are worked in wool. Oh so pretty!

I don't have access to shops that sell wool but more importantly I have a good stash of fabrics so I'm making my blocks with cotton! This is my version of Missie's pears made using the back basting applique method. The pattern works up equally well with cotton however I expect it is quicker with wool.

This is Missie's chamomile block done with wool applique. I love how wool allows you to achieve such lovely curvy edges. That's a huge challenge for me whether I do needle turn applique or back basting applique.

So I had a scrap of fabric with one pretty flower that has been hanging around for yonks. It was screaming to be used and I figured this was the right time and place! While I love the flower I was not happy with the leaf in the middle. It is too dark. If I can live with something that is off I live with it and if I can't I fix it. I knew this dark leaf was something that would bother me so fix it I must!

This is the corrected block with the new leaf. Still hot perfect but it is better and I can live with it!

My pattern for 81 The Giant Monstrosity is almost ready and I'm thinking that I'll publish it on November 22 to celebrate Blogathon Canada where Canadian Quilters Connect! This event has been organized by Sew Sisters quilt shop. They've got a great selection of fabrics and a huge room full of bolts of clearance fabrics! If you are a Canadian blogger consider joining in. A host blogger in your province will add you to her blog list! And if you aren't a blogger you still can join in the fun and can enter draws for fabulous prizes!

Speaking of patterns I'll be publishing Block 16 of my Value Proposition Hexagon Quilt Along pattern this Friday! There are only three full blocks and two partial blocks to go! So exciting!

Until I post again, happy sewing!
Karen H

Crosses in the Garden and a peach of a block

Good morning peoples! I've got a new computer, well new to me at least. Yesterday a good part of the day was spent transferring files and then I discovered that not all of my files had been backed up. Added to this is the fact that I have to install software for my camera but it is no longer available online and my new computer does not have a CD player (or as I like to call it a coffee cup holder). So today I'm going to have to figure out how to install camera software. Aggrannoying (aggravating AND annoying) to say the least. ARGHHHH!!!!!

Fortunately before I switched computers I took pictures of my Gardens of a King blocks so I've got another two blocks to share with you. I'm not entirely happy with either cross block but they are going in the quilt as they are and once they are reverse appliqued they will look more pleasing to my eye I'm sure. One thing I do know for certain is that once they are in the quilt with all of the other blocks any doubts I may have will disappear! However if they don't then I'll remake the blocks until I'm happy with them!

Missie published more sneak peeks of her quilt. You can see them here and the BIG REVEAL is now posted here. Her interpretation of the King George III coverlet was made with the permission of the Victoria & Albert Museum. The finished size of the quilt is 63" square. I think it would make a fabulous wall hanging. Her pattern will be available shortly. 

This is my second of twelve applique blocks for the border. I still have one peach floating in space so it needs a stem which I will embroider. I like to personalize my quilts and add my own details so I'm thinking I might squeeze the odd insect in with the various fruits and flowers! 

I've got the centre medallion started and will share pictures in the next day or two (assuming I can get my camera software installed)!

Until I post again, happy sewing!

Karen H

More on back basting applique

Time for some more Gardens of  King blocks! I can't tell you how much I am enjoying testing this pattern for Missie of Traditional Primitives. It has been a great learning experience and I am loving all of the blocks. Missie revealed a bit more of the quilt on Wednesday. Her big reveal is coming! Even I haven't seen the finished quilt so it will also be a surprise for me! One of the things Missie showed on Wednesday is applique blocks in the border. They are assorted fruits and plants that would have been in King George's garden hence the name of the quilt!

Missie is doing her blocks in wool applique but I don't have a quilt shop or wool so I am using my quilting cottons and the applique technique I am using is back basting applique. I wrote a little tutorial yesterday and you can read it here.

Here is my first block. It isn't quite finished because I still need to add the stems to attach the early apples to the branches so that they aren't floating in space! I plan on using a Hungarian chain stitch. I've never done it before so this seemed like a good time to learn how to do it!

In the picture below I've numbered the pieces to show you the order of basting and stitching. Back basting is such a great technique and I always get fabulous results! All of the fabrics used were in my scrap basket. It doesn't take much fabric to make this pretty little block.

I've still got more of the pieced blocks to make and here is the latest pair. I was dreading the tiny star in the middle of this block but as it turns out it came together nicely. It'f funny that some blocks that I thought were difficult turned out to be fairly easy and those that I thought would be easy were more challenging! I've ranked the blocks in order of difficult (from my perspective) and Missie will take that information into consideration when she ranks the blocks in the final pattern.

Once again I've change the value placement to create the second block that is subtly different. I did enjoy making this one and would consider making it once again in lieu of one of the others (one that I still have to finish)! I love the fussy cut centre in this block. I bought a half meter of this fabric and loved it so much that I bought a full meter and have used it extensively for fussy cutting.

Today is the final day for voting in the Blogger's Quilt Festival organized by Amy of Amy's Creative Side.Thank you to all of you lovely readers for your very generous comments and an extra big thank you for those of you who have been so generous in your comments and who voted for my quilts! 81 The Giant Monstrosity is in the running for Viewer's Choice and also it is in the Home Machine Quilted category. Cherry Blossom in is Original Design.  If you visit the Festival be sure to leave a comment to be entered in the draw for a Babylock sewing machine!

81 The Giant Monstrosity by Karen H

Blogger's Quilt Festival Viewer's Choice Finalist

81 The Giant Monstrosity by Karen H, Close-up of quilting

Blogger's Quilt Festival Home Machine Quilted Category

Cherry Blossom by Karen H

Blogger's Quilt Festival Original Design Category

That's it for today! Until I post again, happy sewing!

Karen H

TUTORIAL: Back basting applique

I am not an expert when it comes to applique but I enjoy doing it and I think that sometimes just a little bit of applique can add so much to a quilt. There are lots of different ways of doing applique and each has its own place. One of the methods I like is back basting applique. There are small applique blocks in Gardens of a King quilt that lend themselves perfectly to back basting applique.

So what is back basting applique? Simply put you baste your applique fabric to the background but you baste it from the wrong side. Once it is basted you do needle turn applique that is surprisingly easy!

The first step is to draw the shape on the wrong side of your background fabric. I will use a fleur de lis shape. I place my design on a light box or tape it to a window. I place my fabric over the pattern  with the wrong facing side up and I trace the shape with a fabric safe marker that makes a fine line. I like to use a mechanical pencil or a Frixion pen.

Cut a piece of applique fabric that is large enough to cover the entire shape.

I place the the applique fabric on the right side of my background fabric and hold it up to the light to make sure that it is correctly positioned which means that the applique fabric extends beyond my drawing on all sides. Depending on the size of the applique I may place a few pins to hold it in place. I then take a needle and thread and run basting stitches on the lines.

I turn the fabric over and on the right side I draw on the lines of the basting thread with a fabric safe marking tool. I like to use my mechanical pencil or a Frixion pen. If you use a pencil be sure that you can see the line but you don't want it do dark that it will show after the applique is finished. A chalk pencil would work equally well. Use the marking tool you have in your tool box that you like and that works for you!

Trim the excess fabric leaving a narrow seam allowance. I like to leave somewhere between 1/8" and 1/4". If there are inner points or curves you will need to clip them to make it easy to turn the seam allowance. In fact I like to clip all the way around the shape. I find that it makes turning the seam allowance much easier. I do not clip right to the line; I stop a few threads short of the line because I can always clip more but I can't clip less!

Now it is time to applique. Remove a few basting stitches and tuck the seam allowance under on the drawn line with the tip of your needle. Stitch until you reach the point where you need to remove another couple of basting stitches. Continue in this manner until the applique is completed removing only a basting stitch or two at a time. I like to use Superior's The Bottom Line thread for my applique. A soft taupe colour seems to work on virtually all colours!

This is the fleur de lis from the front.

This is the fleur de lis from the wrong side. When I press the piece all of the Frixion pen marks will disappear!

This method works well for simple shapes like the fleur de lis but it is even better for more complex, layered designs and small pieces! As with any applique work you have to give thought to the order of sewing pieces. For example in the picture below I stitched cherries before the stems because the stems sit on top of the cherries. The leaves were stitched before the branches. I'll often write the order of sewing pieces on the wrong side of the fabric so I know what to do next. I marked all of the leaves and most of the cherries as "1" because there were stems and branches that had to go on top of them. I back basted all of the pieces marked "1" at the same time and then I appliqued them in place. At the bottom of the picture you can see there is a cherry that is on top of another so the top cherry was marked "2". I continue numbering all of the shapes in this way. The back basted piece in the picture is the last stem that I need to applique and then the piece will be finished.

HELPFUL TIP: One of the tools I keep in my sewing kit is an orange stick (just below the scissors in the picture). It is great for turning applique edges especially if there is an inner point or inner curve to be turned. The wood just grabs the fabric and tucks it neatly into place! And it does it the first time so if the seam allowance is narrow there is little or no fraying. A needle is slippery so if I have to poke the fabric a few times it might start to fray and that will make the applique more difficult!

An important consideration is if your pattern is oriented the way it should look when it's finished your will need to create a reverse image for tracing on the wrong side of the background fabric. If you just trace it onto the wrong side of your fabric the final applique will be a mirror image of the pattern. To eliminate this problem I trace my pattern on the wrong side of the pattern with a fine Sharpie marker and that is what I use to trace the design on the wrong side of my fabric. Problem solved! Another option is to use your printer to print a mirror image.

I hope you enjoyed this little tutorial! Until I post again, happy sewing!
Karen H

Ninja Stars and Split Star!

It has been some time since I last shared a hexagon star using my foundation paper pieced English paper piecing technique. I've published a free instruction booklet called Easier Than Pie and Beyond - Where Foundation Piecing Meets English Paper Piecing and you will find it under the tab English Paper Piecing & Hexagon Fun just under the banner at the top of this page. It provides you with all of the basics. I've also published quite a few tutorials on this technique.This star reminds me of those stars that movie Ninjas throw at their enemies so I call it Ninja Star!

Close-up of Loopers in the Sky with Diamonds by Karen H

Close-up of Stars in the Loft by Karen H

It is a very simple star and this is the template I used to make it! The numbers on the template indicate the order of placement of fabric.My method is so easy! The basic foundation paper piecing instructions are here.  The instructions for basting the foundation paper pieced hexagon are here.

I initially developed this technique because I couldn't find the fabrics I wanted to use to make my quilt Stars in the Loft. My solution was to make the fabric on the paper hexagon! I worked a treat and since then I've used this technique with great success to create some interesting designs!

This is such a versatile technique and the possibilities for creating interesting hexagons are limitless. Today I'll share another hexagon star that I made! This one is a little more challenging but the method is the same and you don't have to put many of these stars in a quilt to make it sparkle! I call it Split Star.

Split Star by Karen H

The trick to this one is to use two different values of the same colour to form the star points. I used I light green and a medium green and each was placed in the same position on the hexagon template.

I can just hear you asking "what size are the hexagons?" It is up to you but I used a 1" hexagon to make Split Star. I've used this technique on 1/2" hexagons! What's that you ask? Where do I get the 1" hexagons? Easy!  I've published master templates in various sizes under the tab English Paper Piecing & Hexagon Fun. I just print off one copy of the size I want to use and I draw my sewing lines on it. If I think I'm going to make lots of stars of the same design I'll make copies of my drawing and save it as a master copy from which all copies will be made. If I'm only going to make one or two stars I just draw them on the template and cut them out!

I've got another variation of the Split Star to share with you but I'll save that for another day! I can tell you this - it is fabulous!

Time for me to get back to working on testing the Gardens of a King quilt pattern by Missie. She has published more teasers of her quilt pattern on her blog this morning and you can see them here.

And if you haven't yet visited the Blogger's Quilt Festival please do so! I've got 81 The Giant Monstrosity entered in the Home Machine Quilted category, Cherry Blossom in Original Design and 81 The Giant Monstrosity is also in Viewer's Choice. You can vote for your favourite quilts in these categories and an additional eight categories! Voting is open now until the end of day on Friday, November 7.

Until I post again, happy sewing!
Karen H

Framing the Gardens of a King blocks

Yesterday was productive and I started working on the applique blocks that will be in the border of the Gardens of a King quilt. I'll share pictures of those blocks soon! The quilt pattern is designed by Missie of Traditional Primitives and I am one of her pattern testers!  The quilt will finish at roughly 63: square. All this week Missie will be sharing her work with readers and on Sunday, November 9 she will reveal her finished quilt! If you are interested in purchasing her pattern you can contact her via her blog. For now I'll share some more of the pieced blocks I have made using Missie's English paper piecing technique that uses freezer paper and starch rather than thread basting!

Today I'll share two more Gardens of a King blocks. They are a good example of how a block can be made to look very different when colours and values are changed. In addition depending on how the block is oriented the effect can be very different! All of the fabrics I'm using are small scraps leftover from other projects. The first block was one of my earlier blocks and I struggled with the four compass points so they are rather rounded. The second block is much better. You learn as you go!

These blocks are a rough looking on the edges but that will change. Each block will be reverse appliqued to the background fabric. I prepared the background fabric and then used my Roxanne Glue Baste-It to tack the block to the background fabric. This is the background fabric, front and back, prepared for applique. I used freezer paper and my Starch Brush to turn under the seam allowance in the circle.

   

I've been stitching my blocks with Superior's The Bottom Line thread and the stitches virtually disappear! However, the thread is very fine so if you use it make a knot that it is large enough that it won't pop through the fabric. I've been wrapping it around my needle six or seven times in order to get a knot that will hold.

See how nice the blocks look once they have their background? They'll look even nicer when I give them a press! Missie is using an assortment of background fabrics in her quilt but I've decided to use a single fabric. I think that when the blocks are stitched together it will create negative space that I can fill will some interesting quilting. Plus I don't have to think about fabric choices if I use only one fabric and that has a great deal of appeal....the no thinking thing that is!

If you haven't visited the Blogger's Quilt Festival organized by Amy's Creative Side I would encourage you to do so. There are so many beautiful and interesting quilts on display and if you need some inspiration it is a good place to have a poke around! I've entered 81 The Giant Monstrosity in Home Machine Quilting and Cherry Blossom in Original Design. In addition 81 is a Viewer's Choice finalist. You can vote for your favourite quilts in each of twelve categories until the end of day on November 7th.

Until I post again, happy sewing!
Karen H

Yellow Bird's Sister, Viewer's Choice and Voting is now Open

Some of you commented on hexagons that you saw in a picture I posted of my friend Bab's bowls.

I gave you a sneak peek of the quilt that she is working on and it is called Yellow Bird's Sister.

Today I have another picture of Yellow Bird's Sister.  Bab's is designing her quilt as she goes. What doesn't show well is the black border around the entire quilt. The fabric had small white flowers on it but they were distracting so Bab's used a Sakura pen to colour them it. They look grey so the effect is very subtle but very nice! I'll take more pictures as it grows!

The voting is now open in the Blogger's Quilt Festival which is organized by Amy of Amy's Creative Side! A huge thank you to Amy and all of her sponsors for this fun event! Be sure to leave a comment on the main Festival page for a chance to win a Babylock Melody sewing machine!

I have two entries, 81 The Giant Monstrosity and Cherry Blossom. I was thrilled to find out that 81 The Giant Monstrosity is one of the finalists in Viewer's Choice!!! There are some spectacular quilts that have been nominated in this category so I am very honoured. Voting for Viewer's Choice is open from now until November 7th. You can see all of the finalists and vote for your favourites here. To vote you just click on the heart in the upper right hand corner of the quilt you are voting for. The thumbnail picture of my quilt in Viewer's Choice is this one!

You can also vote for your favourite quilts is every category. I entered 81 in the Home Machine Quilted category. This is the thumbnail picture you will see at the Festival. You can vote for your favourite quilts in Home Machine Quilted here.

Close-up of 81

81 The Giant Monstrosity by Karen H, 2014

Cherry Blossom is entered in the Original Design category. You can vote for your favourite quilts in Original Design here.

Cherry Blossom by Karen H 2013

(free pattern available under tab Patterns by Karen H)

Yesterday I went on a bus trip to two quilt shops. A girl always needs more fabric (well this girl does)! I had some ideas as to what I wanted/needed but didn't find it. Nonetheless I did manage to find a couple of pieces of fabric that will fit into my stash quite nicely. While we were on the bus I did manage to stitch together one more Lozagons hexagon block! I REALLY like this one!

That's it for today so until I post again, happy sewing!
Karen H