WOW: Catching Up With Myself

WOW = WIPs On Wednesdays

After dutifully prepping all my pieces for part 4 of Secret Garden, I tucked the envelope away in the wrong folder and have been wondering these past weeks, where it could have got to?! With all the hours of prep in every envelope, losing it was never an option. I crossed my fingers and hoped for the best. Luckily I found my stash of pre stitched ivy leaves and can get my block in order today.

Phew! Not a minute too soon.. I want these blocks completed before I launch the center block.

What's Your WOW?

An InLinkz Link-up

WOW: Magnolia Madness!

WOW = WIPs On Wednesdays 

It's winter down my way and the weather has been weird and it's confused my magnolia tree. A lot of the buds have been destroyed by frost and look like they won't be developing any further. This poor tree has been hit by several false start seasons in a row over the last few years and I'm wondering when I'm going to get to see it in full bloom again.

Oh well, I guess I'll have to make my own 'Monday Flowers' vase installment and get my magnolia fix that way!

I've been photographing bits from my garden to add to my colour files which I always like to leaf through when in search of inspiration.

I have three quilt designs on my desk at the moment and I'm torn equally between each one. The hardest part of releasing each new quilt pattern is deciding which to 'bring to life' via the pattern sheet as I simply don't have enough lifetimes to do them all.

Today I'm doing the laundry and rearranging some plates before I can get back to finishing up some applique prep work. Chores are boring but necessary. I keep telling my DH that I need staff, so that I can dedicate myself to quilting full time. But he doesn't take my staffing requirements seriously. What's a quilter to do?!

What's Your WOW?

An InLinkz Link-up

'Monday Flowers' is Launched!

I'm so in love with Magnolias right now. My teacup magnolia tree is budding and promising a whole window full of blooms and I've got my fingers crossed for a bumper magnolia season so I can bring those gorgeous branches indoors for arranging. When I designed my weekly vase range, I just knew magnolias would feature for my 'Monday' vase. Because, after the real thing, there is something just as satisfying - and that's fabric painted magnolias on my wall. 

So here it is. An applique arrangement for any wall you think could use some floral colour. Will your magnolia's be soft and gentle like my own colour scheme? Or will your magnolia's be bold like my fuchsia ones below? Florals are so versatile, you can set the mood and match any interior theme that suits you. 

 

This is 'Monday Flowers' and it's a flower gallery style wall hanging. I’ve designed seven vase designs, one for each day of the week. Each is a stand alone wall hanging, designed to showcase my love of vase arrangements for the home.

Monday Flowers finished size is 23 x 33 inches which feels like a perfect 'painting' size on my walls. The pattern also includes a 50% reduced option for anyone wanting to make it smaller. It's perfect for beginners or anyone who wants to make a statement in applique.

Monday Flowers 

Complete Digital Pattern

(Digital Downloads are INSTANT)

$12.95 USD

OMWFB: Showing Off The Vase 1 Blocks

Oh WOW, take a look at these beauties! I haven't even started my own On My Window, Flowers Bloom yet, but I am very fortunate that I get to enjoy watching everyone else makes theirs over in my BOM Group. It's a hive of activity over there, whenever I drop in there's someone doing something incredible. I just sit down with a cup of coffee and swoon.

I only just released Part 1 of On My Window, Flowers Bloom on August 15th, but already some eager quilter's were quick to get started. So I asked them if I could show off their blocks here on the blog, and they generously agreed. So here we go:

First to get her block up and going was Jenny Henry. She even posted her process over on her blog (click here to visit her blog now). No regular readers of this blog will be surprised to hear this as Jenny is super quick with all my projects and each one somehow ends up being prettier than the last! I don't know how she manages it. 

How gorgeous is her fussy cutting for the centre bloom with just a dash of green? And I love that sky cloud print behind the window too. And her frame fabric is tiny bricks! It's all just so perfect.

Now for another Vase 1 that is equally beautiful but oh so different - take a look at Nancy Randy Paris's block. WOW! How absolutely beautiful are these colours? My goodness I was all in a swoon when I saw these pics.

The background is a scene of (birch?) trees that work perfectly and the balance of yellow, warm orange and brown along with the green foliage is just spot on. It's not easy to get such a harmonious balance that still shines so brightly, but Nancy did it!

And this fabulous color pop below reminds me of the Kaffee Fassett version I have in mind for my own OMWFB. Isn't it just so stunning?! It belongs to Valerie Giles. The foliage has been fussy cut to perfection - look at those leaf veins. The blooming heads are so cheerful and the vase along with that great blue background is just wonderful.

What more can I say? On My Window Flowers Bloom has only just launched and already the blocks being made are all so different but so beautiful and inspiring. WOW!

Thanks Jenny Henry, Nancy Randy Paris and Valerie Giles for allowing me to show off your blocks at this early stage. What eye candy!

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Like it? Make it!

This post is related to On My Window, Flowers Bloom which is my current Free BOM. 

It runs from August 15th - November 15th 2017. 

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WOW: Prep & Conquer

WOW = WIPs On Wednesdays

People always ask me how I get so much applique done and I always give the same answer - turn edge applique is a game of preparation. You must prep. If you don't like prepping, then applique is not for you. There simply isn't any way around this - although people have asked me if there is a secret more times than I care to count. The secret is prepping. So don't be daunted, just get stuck in. And once you do, you too can prep and conquer!

This envelope is my work for the morning, here I go!

What's Your WOW?

An InLinkz Link-up

Making Secret Garden Part 7

In my last Secret Garden post on the 1st, I showed you what the Secret Garden Part 7 block looked like (above). Today, I'm going to show you how I make the leaves using a turn edge method. Now, I prefer turn edge, so this is the method I'm showing. But you need to know that using a raw edge is also perfectly fine. In fact, I had planned to raw edge this entire quilt but found myself turn edging without really thinking about it. This happens when you prep as much as I do. I have so many quilts on the go that I sometimes lose track of myself. And when I realized I had gone ahead and turn edged so much..I decided to stick with it.

 Here's my fusible leaf shape with a fabric seam allowance, cut out and ready to turn

My preferred glue is always Elmer's disappearing purple but when I work on these small pieces, I use a glue stick I purchased at a local quilt store because it's smaller and drier to work with. This particular stick has no branding, but it is very dry and tacky - this makes it perfect for working on such a small piece. I could have also used the Elmer's, but it's wetter and when I turn the fabric edges they can roll back out. I usually keep a 6 gram tube of Elmer's next to my applique tools with the lid off to have a 'tacky' and slightly dry stick on hand for the same reason.

 So here's my piece with the glue smeared across it

 Using a wooden orange / manicure stick, I turn the first edge down one side of my shape

As I work the turn, I 'pleat' any excess fabric by bunching it close together as evenly as possible as I turn the shape

 When I reach the tip point of my shape, I dab some glue

 and before turning the other side, I flip the tip point up now

 like so

 Now I add some more glue to the side and hold the shape between my thumb and finger

 And sharply turn the other side so that the side turns over the tip point

 which leaves a little spot a bit higher up which I;ll need to pleat as I glue it down into position

 and this is what the finished piece looks like

 and this is the front

 and this is what it looks like when it all comes together

There is no cheat way around this process; if you're going to turn edge, your points have to be secure and neatly tucked away.

Turn edge applique is all about the prep: I have so many projects on the go that I keep my prepped pieces in envelopes, then bundled together. Often, I will spend days cutting out pieces to ready them for this turning step. I can turn pieces like this on a lap table in front of the TV or radio in the evenings and I usually have a few quilts worth of pieces on my WIP shelves to do during winter. In fact, I often discover prepped pieces for quilts I'd even forgotten I'd started years ago!

and now I have some buds to turn..

WOW: My New Free BOM Is Up & Running!

WOW = WIPs On Wednesdays

If you haven't already heard, there's a new free BOM in town and it's here to keep you busy right up until Christmas, so raid that stash and create a gorgeous windowsill scene today. I'm making mine up in wonderfully cheerful Fassett's and can't wait to start showing off my vases.

If feels great to have another BOM out and I'm already excited because I know there'll be lots of eye candy all over the Group before too long. Phew! Another BOM out of my sketchbook and brought to life. It feels good to get it out into the world.

What's Your WOW?

An InLinkz Link-up