Tag: Fusible Applique

The Birth of Winnie…..

I have another baby quilt to make and this time the theme is “Winnie The Pooh”!!

I started out looking for fabric that I could use and do a simple pieced design, but apparently, Pooh is not in vogue right now, so I had to look for another idea.

I found a photo of Pooh bear and decided to use that as my inspiration……

I started out with the applique and quickly decided that he needed a lot of outlining, so out came the Fabrico markers and Pooh was born……

Now I needed to add some borders to make him larger. I was happy with the first blue one…..

….and now wanted to add some nine patches around the edge.

I had a stack of fabrics that I thought might go with the design….

….and started out by cutting a 2.5-inch strip from each fabric.

I then cut that strip down into as many 8.5-inch units as I could get from one strip.

I randomly (well….mostly randomly) selected sets of strips and sewed them together.

About this time, I decided that 4-patches would be okay, which meant that I didn’t have as much cutting and sewing to do…..always a good thing!!!!

It was bedtime so I left it hanging on the design wall to conquer the next day.

Come back tomorrow and see the finished product….I am really happy with it!!!!

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In this blog, I post stories about creativity, techniques, tools of the trade, and lots more about the wonderful art of quilting. If you are enjoying these posts, please subscribe to be notified of each new blog as it becomes available.

Flowers Will Bloom Again!

On Friday I posted about building the Bargello top for my guild challenge which is named “Flowers Will Bloom Again.

Yesterday we took a break as I celebrated my 14th Blogoversary!!!

Today, let’s get the quilting done on this challenge!!

The first step was to follow the ups and downs of the bargello and divide the quilt into three sections…..

Much like the design for the piecing, I wanted to make the darker, bottom portion really austere and then have it become more fun as it moved to the top.

So, I started with 1/2-inch spaced straight lines…….

In the next section, I kept the lines spaced at 1/2-inch but made them wiggly and used a black & white variegated thread….

I wasn’t super happy with how it looked when the white thread had to travel along the already stitched black thread…..

But I quickly fixed that using a Fabrico Marker…..

That looks so much better!!

In the next section, I decided to quilt vines (which are pretty hard to see)….

As I rose further into the “fun” section, I debated about which flower meander to use…..

Of course, the obvious answer was BOTH….

So, I combined the two designs. This photo is actually from the back but you can see better……

I outlined the flowers and added some details to the petals….

….and finished off with a paisley meander between the flowers…..

I had a leftover strata strip and, knowing that I would NEVER use it in another project, I added it to the back…..

Here is the finished quilt……

“Flowers Will Bloom Again”

It definitely reminds me that we have been through some hard times but that, in the end, the flowers will always bloom and life will be good!!!

Thanks for joining me on this bargello journey!!!

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In this blog, I post stories about creativity, techniques, tools of the trade, and lots more about the wonderful art of quilting. If you are enjoying these posts, please subscribe to be notified of each new blog as it becomes available.

FABRIC PULL!!!!

I don’t know what your favorite part of a project is, but I LOVE the fabric pull stage. My mind is full of possibilities and going thru the cubbies of fabrics, looking for the perfect ones, is SO…..MUCH……FUN!!

Yesterday’s event was even more fun because I watched my friend Marnie pull fabric for a quilt. Making it even nicer is that this quilt will be a Christmas gift for her friend Mike.

OKAY…..FOR ALL OF YOU WHO KNOW MARNIE AND MIKE……IT IS A SURPRISE SO DON’T TELL!!!

The quilt that she is making will use Laura Heine Guitar Collage…..

This design calls for numerous solid/”reads-as-solid” fabrics for the background and then lots of fussy-cut pieces added as embellishments.

Marnie threw herself into the assignment of choosing fabrics….

….pulling whites, blues, greens, oranges and …..TONS of possible embellishment fabrics.

As she searched, I cleared the cutting table…..

….and covered it with a neutral-colored fabric…..

As much as I like my purple cutting mat, it doesn’t do ANYTHING for helping to discern the true color of the fabrics!!

Marnie picked 8 to 10 fabrics in each color category and LOTS of possible embellishment fabrics. We spread them out to have a look…..

Now it was time to look at each color group and winnow down the options. The whites were the easiest to do so we started with those…..

As we went, Marnie learned how to place the fabrics in succession so that one flowed into the next…..

We now had all of the fabrics selected……

….and could start on the layout process.

It is going to be a great journey. Be sure to come back next week for more!!!

Quilting the jungle….

Yesterday I posted about designing the quilt top and back for my first grandchild’s baby quilt. Needless to say, I was smiling the whole time!!

The real fun came when it was time to quilt it!!

I started out with the lion’s face and mane…..

I was excited to see that the swirl designs were perfect for the mane and paisley designs worked for the lion’s body…..

The crocodile needed some scales to go along with his red toenails…..

I had lots of fun adding a loopy meander to the giraffe…..

The elephant needed some echoes…..

…..and the sky was quilted with a basic meander…..

The final quilt looked great…..

….and the little monkey on the back was so cute…..

When Jenny opened the present, she saw this monkey first and said “It looks like Moochie” (Moochie was the stuffed monkey that she LIVED with for many years). It made my heart so full to hear that!!!

Here is the photo that made the day perfect…..

Now we just need a baby boy to go with it!!!