Tag Archives: machine applique

Apr3

Another landscape – retreat coming!

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Well, getting ready for a great guild retreat next Monday thru Thursday – can’t wait.  I will be teaching a quick free half-day class on this super easy way to do a landscape quilt.  Being so close to the Gulf of Mexico I thought it would be fun to do a beach scene, and, I had to add one of the Lorelei beach ladies to my scene.  My studio bathroom is decorated with them so guess where my little quilt will eventually end up.  The quilt needs to be quilted yet, and, of course bound, but it’s moving right along.

Sexy Lady at the beach!

Paula and her quiltWell, if the above picture is titled “Sexy Lady at the Beach”  it stands to reason that this one should be called “Sexy Paula With Her Quilt!  It is so much fun to deliver a quilt and see the big smile!!!  Good job Paula!

Off to the Coastal Prairie Guild meeting tonight to learn all about broderie Perse…should be interesting.  Always fun to see so many quilters in one space having a great time.

Until later..BE HAPPY

Karen

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Mar18

Keeping Me Busy!

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I have been working on customer quilts and have a few pictures to show. The first “pile” of yellow dog toysis left over strips of fleece that I braided into pull toys for dogs.  I will give them to family dogs and take the rest to the shelter.  They were just the selvage edges that I cut off before finishing the edges of the blankets for a dance team.  The second picture is a delightful wall hanging, meant to hang on a high wall in a stairwell.  Joyce did a great job of designing this.  The last is a quilt made by Mary.  It has the cutest embroidered blocks.    Back to work for today.  I have a king size quilt on the long arm, 102″ x 96″

BE HAPPY…Karen

Joyce Wall hanging in progressMary A overall qult pic

Feb10

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Well I’ve finally recouperated from a fantastic retreat. Got lots done and had a ball. Also had way to much Blue Bell Homemade Vanilla! Check out the crew with the fancy cow – all ready for partying. On Wednesday evening we had to have dinner at Goodson’s Cafe in Tomball – well known for their Chicken Fried Steak – and it was “sew” good.

When I got home I was able to stay on track and quilted Judy’s two quilts. The first is gorgeous and has soft colors in teals and corals. The picture really doesn’t do it justice and is way off in color. I think I need a photography lesson!! The second is a sweet little baby quilt done in blue and yellow with butterflies. Some baby will smile over that one.

A picture of my completed red bird block. I started over and got it right this time. Soaked it and it definitely works..you cannot see the machine stitches at all! Very cool. This is a technique I will continue to use.

Lastly, on the way home Sally and I stopped at the Galleria in Houston for a luncheon for Bo’s Place. Our guild has been working for four years with Bo’s Place. It is a grief counseling facility and part of their counseling is having the participants make quilt squares. We have been putting them together and they hang on every wall in the building. What a great group!

Been making lots of fleece blankets today for my daughter’s dance team. The are gold with the name of the team “Golddusters” embroidered in green. It takes 31 minutes to sew out the name since it is rather large. The edges are finished with a wave stitch in green and gold (from the Babylock Evolve). They look nice but…only 26 of them!.

Until later

BE HAPPY…Karen

Feb5

Day Two at Retreat

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It’s happy Tuesday at Retreat today! Bonnie has finished her One Block Wonder Quilt – we named it THE FINGER! She is working on her second quilt top built from the special Creative Grids ruler, the 4 1/2″ quarter square triangle…Looks like it will be really neat!

Carole has been slaving over her blocks for two days now…maybe a glass of wine for dinner. She is one of the happiest quilters I know!

Sally gave up on her workshop project for a while and has resorted to crocheting. Grandbaby coming soon so she has an excuse. Can you tell she doesn’t want her picture taken – she hasn’t “styled” her hair yet!

Sandy finished this great quilt today. Looks really great especially the opposing corners!

Last, but not least, is our esteemed crew Captain – Judy! Her baby quilt is coming right along – a disappearing 4 patch.

The bright project is my finished top from a workshop several years ago. It is a Cara Gullati pattern only I made it with all of my hand dyed fabrics – super happy!

So…busy Retreat -lots of laughs and sewing and fun!

Until later…BE HAPPY

Karen

Feb3

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bird pic soaked

design opportunity

roving boxer

Well, when you soak a block to remove the foundation and find little red dots floating on the top of the water – IT’S NOT THE MEASLES! My machine applique was so invisible that I simply missed the fact that I hadn’t actually sewn the tail of that bird! OK, design opportunity – 3D tail? Guess not, but it was worth a try. Anyway, the invisible sewing method works pretty well. It is very difficult to see the stitching where I did it correctly. It does take a little practice, and slow sewing. Also, it helps to use a fine Microtex sharp needle. For a while I sewed with a hunker that I had put in for costume sequin sewing…forgot to remove it and that area, needless to say, looks a bit rough! Heading out for retreat tomorrow so I plan on really trying it seriously.

Don’t you love the boxer. Valerie, one of my quilting buddies, is really into wool sculpting. She made this with roving as a birthday present to me! How happy I am!!!

BE HAPPY…Karen

Jan31

TESTING A MACHINE APPLIQUE TECHNIQUE

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I have been wanting to test this machine applique technique for a long time. I also have wanted to work on this quilt “Red Delicious” by Esther Alieu. It is all done in multiple red prints and I just love the finished product. That being said, however, I just don’t have the time to needle turn applique and have watched Sharon Schamber use this technique of applique on most of her award winning quilts. The pieces are prepared with a specific foundation and edge turned with Elmer’s Glue. Here is the biggy…using monofilament you machine stitch a very small blanket stitch around all edges. As a prep Sharon instructs you to wash all of your applique fabric but NOT the background fabric. After completing the machine stitching you soak the block – this disintegrates the foundation into a soft fibre – and let the block dry. The background fabric, because it has not been prewashed, will shrink just a tad and thereby pull the stitching under so that it is completely invisible. Thats how it’s supposed to work anyway. I will soak my block tonight and let you know tomorrow how it does. I hope the picture of the bird is close enough for you to see the stitching before it is soaked. On this bird I was experimenting with the stitching. I started with a simple zig zag stitch but wasn’t happy with the way the thread pulled to the top no matter what tension adjustments I made. I then changed to a very small blanket (1.0/1.0) and it looks lots better. We will see tomorrow…..

Meanwhile, off to lunch with some good friends and then to the local quilt shop to deliver a couple of quilts.

Until later, BE HAPPY!

Karen