More Applique from QuiltCon

Yesterday we looked at the winners and some of the other applique quilts from QuiltCon. Today, let’s finish them up!!

I love the shapes in this quilt. I would NEVER have thought of making them like this!!

The couplets of color are perfect in this next quilt…..

“Moon Pie Mood Ring” by Laura Henneberry

These rings of color are beautifully hand appliqued…..

This quilt used the fabrics from last year’s Wyndham Fabric Challenge.

Lori pieced and quilted the background before the applique overlay was added.

I don’t know about you but I get some of my best ideas while in the shower and that is what happened to Tia Curtis……

This is what she wrote about it…..

I love large-scale applique, but sometimes basting the pieces to get them ready for needle-turn applique is a bit of a pain. I was thinking of how I could make this easier on myself while I was in the shower and it came to me! Why don’t I baste the pieces with my longarm? I tried this exact technique out as soon as I threw on some clothes. I still need to tweak some things but overall the experiment was a success. I can’t wait to try it again with an even BIGGER design!!

We all look forward to seeing the next quilt!!

This next quilt is another where the background was quilted first and then the appliques were added….

This next quilt is about a cancer diagnosis and represents the “boulders” that she had to climb….

This is another example of how quilting has helped with physical healing!!

Come back tomorrow and we will look at the pieced division.

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Applique at QuiltCon…..

There were some wonderful Applique quilts at QuiltCon.

The first prize ribbon went to…..

Second place went to this humorous quilt….

“Double Meat – Double Cheese” by Christine Fornell

The fabrics that she chose for the lettuce was perfect…..

Third place went to…….

“100 Days of Greenery” by Cassandra Beaver

Cassandrda said that she split the drawing into 100 sections and worked on one each day. This is needle-turned applique!! She also said that the gridded quilting is reminiscent of observing the world through a window screen. I agree!!

In EVERY show that I visit, I always find at least one quilt by Nancy Lambert, who used to be a member of my local guild.

She does amazing machine applique and this quilt is no exception……

I enjoyed the bright colors in this piece…..

….and the “blobs” of this quilt……

The “blobs” were improvisationally appliqued and quilted…..

There was a lot of humor in the applique quilts this year. I loved this one…..

“One is An Exclamation Point, 10 is a Crowd” by Natalya Sumner

….and this quilt was based on a young boy’s drawing…..

Her fabric choices were perfect for the quilt!!

Come back tomorrow and we will finish up the Applique division. There are lots more great quilts to come!!!

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Boosting a jacket

This year I wanted to make a jean jacket for my friend Marnie. She had admired the one that I made for myself some years back and I decided that it was time for her to have one too!!

The first step was to make a pattern for the back. I took some lightweight tracing paper and pressed it into the seams on the back, leaving a perfect pattern…..

Now I needed to add some flowers. This is the first set that I auditioned…..

….but decided to use different designs and forgot to take a photo of the new pattern!

I now cut out a piece of Wonder Under that would fit on the back of the jacket and ironed it to the INSIDE of the jacket….

Of course, when I started removing the paper, I had issues with it coming loose….

I HATE when that happens, but I now know how to fix it!! Thirty seconds in my freezer…..

….did the trick and the rest of the paper peeled off perfectly……

Next step was to draw the designs on the jacket back and start CAREFULLY cutting them out…..

Honestly, this is the hardest part of this project!! When finished it looked like this….

Now to pick the fabric to use. But, I had cheated on this!! When Marnie was in my studio a couple of weeks ago, I had several pieces of fabric sitting out and I looked to see which one she went to first. This was it…..

So, I placed the fabric down on my ironing board and placed the cutwork jacket on top of the fabric, being sure that the fabric piece was big enough to cover all of the Wonder-Under on the jacket back.

I made a few adjustments and then ironed the jacket and the fabric together…..

Since I take so much of the denim out, I always worry about messing with the “structural integrity” of the jacket so I go one step further and put a lining over the cut out area.

This was accomplished by cutting a piece of Wonder Under that was the size of the back panel and ironed it to the backside of another piece of fabric…..

I folded the fabric edges over and fused it to the inside back…..

I sewed it in place along the pre-existing seams…..

The final step was to quilt around each of the shapes several times…..

This is finished product…..

I decided that she needed a small flower on the front but, instead of cutting the denim, I simply appliqued it in place…..

I am thrilled with how it turned out!!

It is a very simple project and can be made with an old jacket that needs an update or a brand new one!!

So….get busy and let’s have a chorus of Cut-Work Jean Jackets!!

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Trimming the Pink Flower Garden

Yesterday we put the finishing touches on the appliques and now it is time to complete the quilting!!

There were several areas where the grid quilting needed to be filled in.

I initially drew in my grids…..

…but then decided to add the actual stitching lines so I wouldn’t get confused…..

I remembered that I wanted the blue areas of these flowers to look like more of the sky, so I also drew in the quilting designs….

After some careful quilting, I am happy with the illusion that the blue portions of the flower are actually sky, meaning that the pink rays are the actual flower…..

Within a relatively short time, the quilting was finished….

After a quick binding session, the quilt is finished……

I am thrilled with how it turned out!! It is whimsical, well quilted and PINK!!!

AND….it is a great way to celebrate my ……

I started writing quilting blogs on this day, way back in 2008. Hopefully there is another 15 years to go!!!

Please come back next week as we lead up to the big event on the 25th!!!

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Thank you…….

Growing my garden…

When I left you yesterday, I had finished Grid quilting the sky, and was ready to start placing the flowers, stems and leaves.

I made my basic plan for flower placement……

….and cut out a bunch of stem strips with the fusible attached….

…and a nice selection of leaf shapes as well…..

I started by pinning the pieces in place…..

….and then used my tiny iron to fuse them in place……

I like to use a Dritz “Petite Press” (Click HERE to see it on Amazon)…

When they were all fused down, I removed the flowers once again…..

….and quilted/outlined each stem and leaf…..

I replaced the flowers and stitched them in place…..

For most of the, I didn’t worry about the points being loose….

I think that will add another layer of dimension to the piece!!

Well, it’s almost finished…..

Com back tomorrow and we will put the finishing quilting touches on!!

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