I had the chance to work on designing some new quilt blocks over the last couple of days and I’d forgotten how much I enjoy it. I could play with this stuff for days on end, but unfortunately, life kind of gets in the way. Here’s another one:
…and this next one is meant to have a mirror image block that will be to the left of it on “real quilt:”
…and this last one is for a different quilt entirely:
Can you tell that I’m having a love affair with these birds and all things “plumey?!” All of these will look so much better once machine embroidery has been added but I have so many projects going on right now that it’s gonna be awhile! I’ll post pictures once that part of the project is added.
On another note, I wanted to let folks know about a great resource for quilters interested in making quilts using fabric cutting dies. If you haven’t been to Ebony Love’s “Blocks to Die For” website, take some time to check it out! There’s a lot going on at that site. Ebony is a piecer who has spent loads of time cutting geometric shapes using Accuquilt products, both the Studio cutter and the Go cutters. She has very generously shared all kinds of tips and tricks that she’s learned along the way, and this is valuable information! She’s posted many, many, wonderful video tutorials. I haven’t watched them all, but my 2 favorite videos are the tutorial that shows how to lay out fabric on a strip die to use fabric most efficiently, and I also loved the tutorial that showed how to convert fabric scraps into useful strips. I don’t own any strip dies so as I watched these videos, all the info was new to me and I was struck by just how wonderful it is to have a site that is truly devoted to the fabric die-cutting community. While her site is loaded with lots of free information, she also has a digital magazine that’s available by subscription. This magazine is designed specifically for the die-cutting enthusiast, containing even more tips and tricks as well as patterns based on specific dies. If you’re reading this blog entry and have never played with a fabric die cutter, you honestly don’t know what you’re missing. I was very resistant to this form of fabric cutting myself and it has revolutionized my life! If there is any part of you thinking of taking the plunge, watch a few of Ebony’s videos and that may make your decision for you!
Recognize this block? It’s the machine embroidered version of this block I made earlier this summer:
Other than the feather color changes and a different central flower, they look the same from a distance. When you look at them close-up, though, the ME version has a lot of added interest due to the thread work. My favorite is the embroidery on the stems:
…and I also love that rope-like embroidery on the tulip edges. The center flower is nice as well:
The best part, though, is what happens when you quilt these machine-embroidered applique quilt blocks. They take on a wonderful 3-dimensional character that I just can’t capture with a still camera. While the embroidery machine was stitching this block today, I was quilting an earlier stitchout of this block and it was soooo exciting to see that 3rd dimension come to life! I’ll post pics once the quilting is completed, but it was way cool!!
We finally got a real snowstorm yesterday, but it’s so uplifting to be stitching bright, colorful tulips in bloom! These sets are part of a large block I’m working on:
and they all kind of “spring forth” from the center flower area:
(Sorry; I cannot seem to capture the background fabric color at all.) Do you see all those crosshairs that are near all 4 tulip sets? I can’t remove them yet because they will ensure the correct placement of the feather pairs that will line all 4 sides of the block. Here’s what it looks like at this point:
Working with these sure makes negotiating all this snow more bearable! Happy wintering…(not!)
We’ve got a new free video tutorial just posted and it’s all about different types of machine embroidery that can be used to finish and decorate the applique shapes on your quilts. We shot it a couple of months ago but I just now got around to giving Ernie the still shots that were missing from it. Someday, I will catch up with all the loose ends in my life! Anyway, if you enjoy applique, check out this tutorial:
And last but not least, the winner of the thread give-away is Jennifer Lanak of Redondo Beach, California! Congratulations, Jennifer, and I hope you make some fun projects with those threads! Don’t forget that there’s still time to enter the Famore Give-Away for a pair of batting scissors. These literally cut batting as if it were butter! To enter the Famore Blog Hop give away, leave a comment to this post.
