Time for leaves

As I am preparing to start stitching the flowers in my “Abiding Flower Garden”, I needed to spend some time making leaves!

I started out by pulling a number of leaf drawings…..

…and tracing/copying them onto the fusible stabilizer, and cutting them all out…..

At the end, I didn’t want to waste any fusible, so I just cut out shapes that could be turned into leaves.

I picked out a few and fused them onto various 2.5-inch scraps….

It was time to move downstairs and spend some time in my chair, in front of the TV….

After about an hour, I had finished prepping a nice set of leaves….

I figured I’d use them in groups of similar sizes and colors, so I needed a way to store they could be found easily.

After a bit of thought, I pulled out a piece of paper, added two lines of glue, and stuck my leaves to them…

They are easily removed and will stay in place until I am ready to use them…

But, of course, 18 leaves won’t get me very far, so I fused a bunch more…..

I do believe that it is time for more “Father Brown“!!

I am SLOWLY getting ready to start attaching bits to the background fabric.

I CAN’T WAIT!!

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Who knew I would enjoy hand-appliqué SO much!

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Applique Flower Prep

I am slowly getting ready to start applying flowers to my background!!

I decided to start at the top and work my way down, so the first flower would be this FUN one…

I absolutely LOVE the long skinny petals.

I started by tracing the pieces on the Apliquick Fusible Fabric…..

I cut them out and ironed them to various orange fabrics….

I found it so easy to prepare the pieces using the Apliquick tools…..

…and it was SO satisfying to see the FIRST flower pinned on the background…..

This project is going to be SO much fun!!!

One of the things I have been concerned about is finding more Apliquick brand fusibles that work so well with the system. I can’t find anywhere to purchase it except on their website… in SPAIN!!

So, it was time to start looking for something else that would work!!

In my applique box, I found a packet of fusible from Alex Anderson…..

….so I cut out a few petals and gave it a try. It seemed to work okay!

I decided to try another variety from C&T….

It looks EXACTLY like the Alex Anderson paper, and it works well, too!

So, now I have plenty of “paper” to use and it was time to prep another flower….

Hooray…the first two flowers are ready to go!!

I still need to make more stems and a lot of leaves but we will eventually get to that!!

I am TRULY having fun with this project!!

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Who knew I would enjoy hand-appliqué SO much!

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It’s time for stems

Since I am planning to build my “Abiding Garden” hand-appliqué as I go, I realized that I need stems and leaves available to include whenever the mood hit me.

But, how do you make skinny stems?

I spent a bit of time watching various videos….there are TONS of methods. Then, I remembered Karen Kay Buckley’s stem templates and realized that I had a set in my studio!!

Don’t you LOVE when that happens!

AND, the package included templates for 8 stems, ranging from 1/8-inch to 15/32-inch.

This is the process…..

Cut a strip of fabric at least twice as wide as your template, PLUS 1/2 inch for the seam allowance. So for a 1/8-inch stem, my strip would be at least 6/8ths (3/4-inch) wide.

I actually made it even wider, so it was easier to work with!

Fold and iron the fabric strip in half….

Place the template so that it snugs inside the fold……

Sew right along the edge of the template….

Trim the fabric as close to the stitching line as possible…

Now, using your thumbs, ROLL the tube until the seam allowance is on one side of the tube….

Iron it in place….

They suggest pressing the seam open, but on these tiny strips, there was no way to do so!

Finally, I brushed on some “Fabric Sizing”….

…and ironed it dry….

VOILA…..

One SKINNY stem…..

There are some threads sticking out along the edges, but those will be tucked in place during the appliqué process.

I loved the process, but I personally struggled to sew right up against the edge of the Teflon template, so I modified the process a bit.

Once I had the strip ironed in half, I DREW a line that was approximately 1/4 inch from the fold.

I sewed along my drawn line and trimmed the excess….

I then inserted the template into the tube…..

….and continued the process as normal.

At the end of my “learning” process, I had a BUNCH of stems ready to go!!

I expect these stems to be mostly straight, but if I need a curvy one, I will cut the strip on the bias rather than on the straight grain.

So now that I know HOW to make them, I need to get back up there and make BUNCH more!!

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Who knew I would enjoy hand-appliqué SO much!

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Applique Background update

As I mentioned in my post about painting the background, I was concerned that the paint had made the fabric a little stiff and might be hard to appliqué.

SO…..I performed a test!!

I cut out a small shape and prepped it for applique…..

I picked the area with the most paint and thus the stiffest…..

…and started stitching….

It was SLIGHTLY harder to get the needle into the fabric, but not enough to worry about.

I was able to achieve the stitch size I wanted, and the side I sewed looked great…

Okay….crisis averted.

Next Step…. STEMS AND LEAVES!!

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Who knew I would enjoy hand-appliqué SO much!

Join me in this journey by subscribing to the blog…

UFO from Nancy

Each Wednesday, I am talking about UFO’s in my studio, whether mine or inherited from others.

Today, we are looking at an inheritance from Nancy.

Nancy was a superwoman in my guild. She was highly active in our charity bee and had personally made hundreds of quilts for children in our local battered women’s shelter.

For Christmas one year, she gave me this sweet angel ornament, and it has become my “quilting angel” in the studio…

Nancy is always looking out for me!!

Sadly, she passed away in 2015.

As her friend was cleaning out her stash, she found this very cute applique quilt….

…along with the instructions saved from some magazine….

I love that she veered from the autumn colors and went for bright and bold owls!

As I have looked at this piece, I realize it just needs a border and some quilting… maybe 3 or 4 hours’ work.

SO…..I plan to finish it up and donate it to our charity group. They will either find someone to give it to or sell it to raise money for batting and thread.