Tag Archives: applique

Blogtoberfest Day XIX–The Guest Book Quilt

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I finished up a commission quilt this week, and I’m delivering it to my client this evening.  I first talked about it here, and showed you our inspiration piece.  It’s a signature quilt, that served as the “guest book” for the client’s July wedding.  Her wedding colors were Truffle Brown and Daisy Yellow, and she had yellow Gerber daisies as her primary flower.  I drew up a sketch for her, she loved it, and I prepared the blocks for her prior to the wedding (freezer paper stabilizer on the back of them, pinked edges to prevent raveling while being handled, and provided her with a supply of permanent pens for signatures).  I got the signed blocks back from her in late August, and went to work piecing the quilt and creating the applique design.

I’ve never had this issue before, but I had to baste this quilt THREE times, and tear out far too much quilting, because of bunching up fabric on the back.  Grrrr…  I finally walked away from it Saturday evening, went on a date night with my sweetie, and after Church Sunday morning, went back to basting it fresh for the third time.  Third time was a charm.

Here it is in all its (finally) finished glory:

Yellow is not really my color, but this quilt may change my mind about it.  It’s so bright and cheerful, I’m going to have a hard time parting with it!

The couple’s names and wedding date are hand embroidered at the center of the daisy (used my Aurifil wool thread to embroider–worked wonderfully!!)  The photograph does not show it, but the wool thread provided a wonderful visual texture on this embroidery…

This design may be making a repeat appearance here one day:

Happy October!
Don’t forget to leave your comments before 8 PM (CST) time this evening to qualify for this week’s giveaway:

And come back tomorrow for another installment of our Halloween Party and NEW GIVEAWAYS!!!!

p.p.s If you are in Central Iowa, join us tomorrow night for the Des Moines Modern Quilt Guild Meeting, at 6:30 pm, West Des Moines Public Library.  More details here.

Hello, Kitty!

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A sweet little friend of mine turned four last weekend.  She asked months ago for a Hello Kitty birthday party (there she is with Kitty on the cake). Her Mom is my friend Tonya, the friend that helped me create my own 3-tier wedding cake.  You might recall the Princess Cake we created for her birthday in 2010… 

For her gift this year, I made her a Hello Kitty Princess outfit.  Started with a plain white tee from Target…some scraps of Lakehouse Fabric, white flannel, a little Heat N’ Bond Lite…

Lots of satin-stitching with the walking foot…

 

Lots of “stops” and “starts” with the Janome Horizon…

Lots of pushing the tee shirt fabric out of the way of the needle….

And a lavender tutu skirt added to the bottom…and we have a birthday outfit fit for a princess!

The tagless tees always show the printing through the shirt a tad, so I added one of “Kitty”‘s bows to the back of the neck to cover it up…

The finished shirt along with the cute party invite her Mom created:

I was glad I thought to use white flannel for Kitty’s head, because not only did it add great texture to the shirt, but I didn’t have to worry about the lavender stripes showing through white cotton!

We’ve had some unseasonably warm weather already this month–nearly 100 degrees last week.  That is far too hot for the actual kitties around our house; they didn’t have the energy to care that the other was laying a mere three feet away, or to even bother chasing each other around the house. 

I don’t like the heat, but it did make it rather peaceful on the homefront.  This week, the temps are down and they are back to their usual antics.

Go, Diego, Go!

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Hi reader, happy December!  I can’t believe we are almost to the end of another calendar year.  That means another round of holiday gatherings, and in our family, more birthday celebrations.  You might recall the post I did about my nephews Curious George birthday party last year, and the shirts I made for them.  Well, this year, it is all Diego, all the time.  Big Brother was even Diego for Halloween this year…Baby jaguar, magic backpack, and flashlight included:
 
My sister, their talented mommy, made this awesome Diego and Dora cake for them:

 And Aunt Doris made them “magic Diego birthday shirts”:

 I’ll let you in on a little secret…  there is no licensed Diego fabric on the market, so I bought a package of Diego underwear (called “unders” in Big Brother’s world) at Target, used Heat-n-Bond Lite to stabilize the fabric before cutting the numbers out of them, and satin-stitched around the edges after heat-setting them to the shirts:

Not bad, huh?   I can only imagine what next year’s pop culture obsession will be.  Here’s Little Brother in his shirt, lest anyone be left out….

What Did You Call Me?!?

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I made this sassy little gal to hang at the shop, she is from the book Happy Haunters by the Wooden Bear.  The kits have been selling like hot cakes (although, I’ve never been certain how hot cakes sell…..)

 
She’s stylin’ in her striped stockings, gold laced shoes, and orange lace slip….
 
What every well dressed w—- spellcaster should be wearing…don’t you think?
 
The kit is not currently listed in the online store, but you can call the shop and order one, if you’re dying to make a sassy little w—- sorceress for yourself this month….  The book is full of fun projects; a candy corn apron, a tic-tac-toad game, table runners, etc….  The book can be ordered from Quilters Cupboard as well. 
Love the little details…including these “bead and button” spiders that make their appearance on more than one project in the book…


Just don’t cal her a —–

**HALLOWEEN HOOPLA GIVEAWAY**
At the end of October, I will be giving away multiple prizes, including a quilted item, holiday fabric, patterns, etc.  The more posts you comment on in October the better your chances of winning something!  Follow my blog and you have an even better chance!!!

Have you ever sewn an Halloween goodies?  Care to share a link in the comments, I’d love to see ’em!

Midnight Serenade

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I love Halloween.  Not just the holiday (and the candy corn!!), but the colors, the macabre symbols, the chance to be someone or something else for a day…  I haven’t dressed up for a few years, and we don’t get trick-or-treaters where I live, but that does not stop me from decorating, or sewing, with Halloween in mind.

A few sneak peeks at a project I’m working on for our upcoming Guild show:


Lots of cutting.  Lots of basting.  Lots of quilting. 

I’m think next Friday, I’m going to kick-off a month of Halloween related posts.  There mght even be a tutorial, pattern or giveaway….watch this space!

Coffee Cozy

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It used to be that I didn’t know anyone in my generation that quilted or knew how to sew.  My hobbies were very solo activities.  Until about six years ago when I met my friend Toni (younger than me and just as crazy for quiting and fabric!), and discovered quilt retreats, eventually joined the my local Quilt Guild, and finally found a small group to join.  I’m now blessed with many like-minded friends who understand my fabric obsession, why I would use vacation days from work to go quilting, etc.

One of those friends has had a bit of success lately with local craft shows, her etsy shop, and now, a spread in the most recent Quilts n’ More magazine (Fall 2010):

Veronica Koh Eischeid is a paper crafter, seamstress, jeweler, and quilter.  These adorable coffee cozies are of her design, and are popular stocking stuffers, hostess gifts, and “just because” gifts…

I’m lucky enough to have one of her originals, I received as part of my gift from her in our group Christmas exchange in 2009…

Here it is on a glass (so you can see the cute inner side as well:

Veronica is also the creator of this fabulous circle quilt (getting lots of notice on Flickr these days) that hangs over the sofa in her home here in Iowa:

It’s even more lovely in person.  Check our her etsy shop and her Flickr photostream and tell her you found her through my shout out!