First Finish 2021 – Bunnies on the Go

I’m still working on American Patchwork and Quilting’s UFO Challenge. It has been a real motivator! In 2020, I finished all the tops on my list. Bunnies on the Go from Darcy Ashton‘s book Bunnies & More, was number 11 on my UFO list last year. I don’t remember which month it was picked, but I finished the top in May while we were in Oregon. I’ve mentioned before, this quilt is for Guy. I guess it is a reward for going to a quilt show with me once. He saw the sample and requested it. I started working on it sometime between 2013 and 2015.

Since I quilt for others, it can be a challenge to get my own quilts on the machine. I had a slight lull at the end of December and managed to quilt this by the 31st. Binding was completed last week.

The technical details for anyone who cares — The applique is all turned edge using the starch and press method, then hand stitched. The carrot in the border was in the book. I digitized it in Art and Stitch and arranged to fit in the border at the same time. I imported the border into IQ as one design with jump stitches between the carrots. Once it was in IQ, I split out the jump stitches. Because I didn’t want to start and stop between each carrot, I used the record feature on IQ to record a meandering line between carrots. I did two or three recordings. Then I was able to copy the designs I recorded and “randomly” use them to connect the carrots. Voila a continuous border. I freehand quilted all the rest of the white background. For the bear paw blocks, I used Ocracoke Sashing corner from My Creative Stitches to create a 3/4 block and fill groups of three in one pass. Finally I used line pattern on the IQ to do the continuous curves in the triangles. The backing is flannel and the batting is Hobbs 80/20 that was preshrunk. Guy is very pleased to have a finished quilt.

Where Do All the Samples Go?

Have you ever wondered what happens to all the samples at your favorite quilt shop?  At Ruth’s Stitchery if we make it, it is ours when it has run its course.  After working and teaching there for over four years I’m starting to have a fair collection of samples that have come home.

My house is finally decorated for Fall and a large number of samples have found a spot this year.

The table runner draped over the top of the ladder was a sample for the wool felt class I taught for 3 years.  (The pattern can be found at Nutmeg Hare.)  The quilts rolled in the egg basket in back weren’t samples, but were class projects at some point in time.

Another table runner from Nutmeg Hare found its way to the top of the buffet.

Here’s a better photo.

A table mat from Brandywine Design made it home, and onto the top of a can turned end table.

The turkey (pattern from The Wooden Bear) was just something to keep me busy while I went to watch my boys in a soccer tournament.  The penny rug below it coordinates perfectly, and that was a sample (the pattern is from Annelle’s Originals).

This Harvest Moon Penny Rug (pattern from Penny Lane Primitives) is sitting on my Martha Washington sewing cabinet.

This wall hanging found a home on the wall in the stairwell.  (Pattern from Wooden Spool Designs)

This pumpkin table runner which I used at one point in time to teach fused applique now resides on the kitchen table. (Pattern from Bloomin Minds)

Finally just a shot of the fireplace mantle.  No samples here, just playing around.  You’ve heard of time in a bottle, how about kids in a jar.  OK, I doubt they’d appreciate it, but they are away at college so I can do what I want.

Now you know where some samples go.

Something Odd Happened Today

Yes, indeed, something very odd happened today.  I finished a class sample almost 3 weeks in advance rather than in the wee hours of the morning prior to class!  I was at the store about an hour early this morning, and in that hour I put the last stitches in this candle mat.

The pattern is Spring! from Penny Lane Primitives, and is the project I’ll be discussing in the Wool Projects class in April.  The entire mat was made with Wool Felt produced by National Nonwovens.   I prefer items that while they will work for specific holidays, they can also carry throughout a season.

I left the actual sample hanging in Ruth’s Stitchery today.

 

Goldfinch

This post catches me up to current information from my various projects!  The panel for this month in Audubon’s Christmas was the goldfinch.  At class 2/3 of those that showed up were already pretty much finished with it, so we spent much of the class period hunting fabrics for the Quail panel.

If you’ve looked at the Kathy McNeil’s Audubon’s Christmas quilt, you may notice by goldfinches are much brighter than hers.  I once again did an image search on Google and found the birds I wanted to emulate.  I’m not a birdwatcher, but I do know males of many bird species are more flashy than the females.  I was talking to my friend and coworker Beth and she told me the colors on the goldfinch also become duller during the winter.  I had no idea!  So I have two male goldfinches on my block who are either lost or their color hasn’t changed.  I wanted the brighter birds because the largest block of cardinals is going to be bright and I wanted the flash of color in other places as well.

As you may have deduced, I did finish this block in one month. The remainder of the year will be used to finish the last two panels.

I have no idea what type of plant the birds are supposed to be perched upon.  However, I knew what color I wanted for the pods and couldn’t find it.  To achieve the effect shown here I started with a mottled batik that was more orange than anything else, and then painted over it with several different colors of Tsukineko ink until I arrived at a color with which I was pleased.

After all the applique was finished, I came back with two strands of very light tan floss and added lazy daisy stitches.  Then I used two strands of gold floss and put two wrap french knots inside the lazy daisies.

When I looked at images of the birds, a large percentage of the body was a solid bright yellow.  I added some single strand straight stitches with floss to hint at some shading.

It helps to look at fabric a little differently when doing these small pieces.  The tail feathers on both birds are a black and white dragonfly print.  I was able to strategically place the fabric so the heads of the dragonflies were covered with leaves.

Here’s a close up of one section of the block.

And yes, I have started on the next panel — gotta keep up!

Bluebird of Happiness

It appears I’m gaining on the finished items for this year.  I allowed the month of June for the Bluebird block for Audubon’s Christmas.  I’m happy to say I pulled off the block in just a week.

The leaves were from the same fabric as the Chickadee block.  The berries were bigger (and fewer in number) on this block so I decided to go ahead and applique them .  They came from the scrap from a table runner backing and are actually supposed to be cherries in that fabric.

I added a fair amount of embroidery to the birds themselves.

Snowmen in July

I just put the last stitch in this top at about noon today.

Nolan purchased the pattern “Postcard Cuties for Winter” from Bunny Hill Designs for me for Christmas several years ago.  I never quite decided what fabric I wanted to use until I saw that the pattern was being reissued using the Primitive Gatherings Snowman Gathering line of fabric.  We already had the precuts in the store so I grabbed those in early April.  The  same week I got those, the yardage arrived and I took it home the same day UPS delivered it to the store.

The blocks were super fast.  I was doing two a day for the first few days.  (Remember I get dropped off at work up to 2-1/2 hours early during the school year.)  In fact I made it all the way to just a little work on the last two blocks before I decided I had to go back to Audubon’s Christmas to be ready for class.  I  pulled it all back out last Sunday night and finished it up.  There are buttons that I will add after quilting.  I used Pendleton Wool for the snowmen which I picked up when I went to Walla Walla for the boys soccer tournament.

I had my blocks at the store during the time I was working on them and we had preorders for several patterns before they were ever released and the fabric line zipped out the door.   We were told this line wouldn’t be reprinted, but it looks like that may have changed.  We are waiting to see.

Camouflage Netting as a By Product

I spent April and May on the Chickadee panel for Audubon’s Christmas.  My plan was to demonstrate starch and press applique on this block.  I did one bird and started to show my class, but everyone was already familiar with the method.  So happily, I could go back to my back basting.   I get better results with back basting, but that is a personal preference!  This is as finished as this panel is going to get until I quilt it.  The chickadees in the pattern appeared to be mostly black and white, but when I did a Google search for images I found there was a lot of gray and tan as well.

There are supposed to be loads of little berries on this block.  I decided I didn’t want to turn all those little circles so I’m going to add bead berries after the quilt is finished.  I even have them waiting for that point in time.

The design also has a large birdhouse added during the quilting process.  So in May, I demonstrated machine shadow trapunto.  Here’s the whole bird house, but I won’t use this much color when I put it on the quilt and there will be quilting around the design.

Still with me?  Are you wondering if I’ve finally lost it based on my title?  The leaves for this block and the next were all fussy cut from a leaf print.  And, yes, it does appear I may have created camouflage netting. 😉

What’s the Difference Between Owls & a Hedgehog?

I allowed only March for the Owl panel in Kathy McNeil’s Audubon’s Christmas quilt.  I have to say this panel was the most fun so far.

Kathy’s pattern suggested padding the fence posts, but didn’t give directions.  I padded both the fence posts and the snow using Quilters Dream Request white batting.  I traced the shapes of each piece from the right side of the pattern onto paper-backed fusible web.  Fused this to the batting and cut on the lines.  I then fused the batting pieces to the wrong side of the applique fabric.  I just needle turned the applique pieces to the edge of the batting.

The “barbed wire” is yarn couched over the fence posts.  I used two different yarns twisted together to have both a little metallic and hair where animals had rubbed up against the fence.  After couching the yarn I determined the silver fibers were too long for the scale of the block, so I gave them a haircut.

Back to the question in my title.  What is the difference between owls and a hedgehog?

Hedgehog from my All God’s Critters quilt.

In this case it is only where the heads of the owls and the hedgehog body were cut from the same piece of fabric.

I only purchased 1/4 yard of this fabric when I was making my “All God’s Critters” quilt.  When people in my class started coveting that fabric after they saw my owls, I wished I bought more.

I had originally intended to applique the pupils in the eyes, but after grabbing the wrong template plastic and melting it all over the black fabric, I came up with a better plan.  I used the circle template (that drafting kit from college still comes in handy) to mark the size pupils I wanted.

Then I filled in those circles using a black Fabrico pen.

I didn’t have the polka dot fabric I wanted for the feet.  So I used a dark brown batik and added dots with white Tsukineko ink with the tip of my paint brush handle.  That was a little stark, so I painted over the whole thing with brown Neocolor II crayons.

Some of my class was a little peeved with me because everything except for the bellies came out of my stash, so they couldn’t get their hands on the same things.  I’m sorry, but that is why I have a stash.

 

 

 

Wouldn’t Want to Be Bored

So you’d think the Blue Jays might be enough to keep me busy during the January/February time frame.  No way!  I taught beginning hand applique in mid February and I wanted a sample from a current book or pattern.  I settled on Pat Sloan’s book Applique a Garden.  The book is written for fused machine applique, but the shapes were great for beginners doing hand applique.  Just a block would have sufficed, but as usual I couldn’t take the easy road.

In class, I taught how to use the Clover Bias Tape Makers for the stems/vines (tutorial included in this post); freezer paper applique for the bowl, flowers, leaves, stars and hearts (covered in this tutorial); and finally starch and press for the circles (learn about that method here).

Then of course it is best to quilt the sample before it is hung, and hand applique deserves interesting quilting.  Here’s a close up of a bit ofquilting.

I’m starting to get tired just thinking about the first couple months of the year.

 

Open Mouth, Insert Foot

Looking at the number of post here this year, one could assume I’ve been sitting around eating Bonbons and reading books.  Fortunately (or perhaps unfortunately) that has not been the case.  I’ve been scrambling on several projects and haven’t had the time to sit down and write.

After Quilt Market those that went from our store bring back piles of brochures and flyers.  This was the case after Fall Market, and as I was leafing through all those papers I came across a small picture of Audubon’s Christmas by Kathy McNeil and the note that the pattern was going to be published in November.  This is where I opened my mouth without much thought and said, “I want to do this for a block party.”

We published the class information, but didn’t get our hands on the pattern until sometime in December.  When I opened the pattern, I began to question my sanity, but I had a commitment so off I went.

There are 7 panels in the quilt, which means I can allow  two months on 5 of the panels.  Panel number one was the Blue Jay and I planned to do it in January and February because of the pine cones.  I was saving a few details after that for people who said they needed to be caught up, but I finally gave up on them and finished the block this week.

I used back basting for the applique (see tutorial).  There is a new book which was released this month called Back Basting Step-by-Step by Barbara Eikmeier that does a great job covering this technique.

The pine needles and details on the birds were done with hand embroidery.  The shading and highlights on the pine cones as well as some coloring on the birds were done with  Necolor II crayons (available from art supply stores)

 and tsukenko ink.