Raw Edge Circle Appliqué Quilt

Always wanted to master applique?
Raw Edge applique is one quick and easy method and a great introduction to this technique that I'll be teaching next week in my one day class in Manhattan.

Circle Appliqué Quilt- $70

Saturday, 17 January 2015 - 11.00 am to 5.00 pm, The City Quilter, Manhattan

Learn to cut perfect circles and add them to a whole cloth quilt base using a raw edge applique method, then machine quilt to finish your baby/lap quilt By the end of the afternoon you could even be ready to bind your finished baby/lap quilt.  

Open to anyone who knows how to use a rotary cutter and sewing machine and can sew a straight seam.

Here's pics of my class sample, currently on display in the store.

Fabrics:

Ed Emberley's Picture Pie collection: Alphabet, Foxes and Scribble for Cloud9 Fabrics and Michael Miller's Black & White Clown Stripe.

Tools:

Circle Savvy Ruler by Creative Grids.

NOTE - I'm an Amazon affiliate and will receive a small commission (at no additional cost to you) on any purchase you make following this link.

The class was inspired by my Foxy Circle Quilt donated to charity earlier this year and which had a great response via social media and in store.

If you live in the greater New York area or are making a quick visit to the Big Apple, why not join in one of my classes?

You can find details of all Spring 2015 classes I'm teaching via the 'My Classes' link in the side bar or by clicking the link button below.

Wonky Log Cabin Block Tute - NYC Mod Quilt Guild Bee

   

Hi, Chris here, catching up with my NYC Mod Quilt Guild Bee Blocks - this one's for September and our Queen Bee is Andrea Deal of Gotham Quilts.  

If you haven't heard of Gotham Quilts yet then do check out their website - it's a brand new online fabric store owned by my two friends Andrea Deal and Ivete Tecedor, based in Manhattan but shipping internationally.

Not surprisingly Queen Bee Andrea picked some pretty gorgeous new fabrics for her blocks with her whole store to choose from!   

Forest Frivolity, Moonshine in Strawberry by Tula Pink for Free Spirit

Stitch Circle in Candy by Michael Miller

Chicken Coop in Egg Blue by Joel Dewberry for Free Spirit

Mini Confetti Dots in Cantaloupe by Dear Stella

Stampede Lawn, August in Mint by Sarah Watts for Cotton+Steel

Our instructions for the block:

"do a 12.5" wonky log cabin variation like the one pictured... . I have a cool new Tula Pink print for the feature fabric, but don't feel like you have to use it in the center. ... ".

I choose two images from the Tula Pink fabric and fussy cut them - first the tent as the central starting point for the block

and a long strip that included the two pink deer.

Time for the my Wonky Log Cabin Block tute -
click the image below to take you to the tute I wrote for the June 2014 NYC Mod Quilt Guild Bee Block.

I've used exactly the same process to make this latest block.  The only thing I did differently this time that I don't normally pay attention to was keeping the fussy cut central Tula Pink tent section totally horizontal to the finished block.

This was simple to do, I just made the block larger than necessary and then using the grid on my cutting mat and my long quilting ruler made sure this section was horizontal by wiggling the block between the mat and the ruler to line it up perfectly before trimming the block back with my 12.5" square ruler.  Wishing I'd taken a pic of how I did it now :(

Oh dear, yet another block that I wish I didn't have to hand back!  I'm particularly enjoying how I've cut away a lot of the pink round of fabric so you only see a really small section of pink down the right hand side of the block.  The trick is not to worry about cutting away a fair amount of a strip you've just sewn on - it's the best way to get large sections and unusual angles within the block.

I just love making wonky log cabins - anything that doesn't involve measuring and yet looks so precise in the finished piece is okay by me.

Two final questions for you:

1: How do you like your log cabins, wonky or straight?

2: Have you visited the Gotham Quilts online fabric store yet?

As always you can check out all the blocks that our Bee make for Andrea on my Quilty - Wonky Log Cabin Pinterest Board - I'll add more pins as each person in the Bee posts photos of their finished blocks and you can see my NYC Mod Quilt Guild post here too.

And you can click this link to see all of my NYC Mod Quilt Guild Bee Blocks and Challenge Blocks/Quilts.

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A Good Snapshot Or A Total Wash Out?

“A good snapshot keeps a moment from running away.” 

― Eudora Welty

Pics of another Christmas make I haven't shared before or rather snapshots full of memories.  I made 3 of these laminated wash bags as gifts for guys and don't you just love this masculine camera laminated fabric?  It's Cameras by Michael Miller Fabrics.

Laminated inside and out - perfect for a quick wipe clean

and even a guy can use a pack of man tissues in his travel bag.

Not a total washout even if I say so myself.

Speaking of laminated wash bags and tissue covers, yesterday I taught a class of wonderful ladies at The City Quilter in Manhattan how to make laminated wash bags and tissue covers for themselves.  All the ladies were new to sewing zippers, one of the ladies hadn't touched a sewing machine for over 20 years - since she was at school - and no-one had sewn with laminated fabric before.  

Students chose to make any size bag, from wash bag to cosmetic bag or even a tiny lipstick/coin change bag - the technique's the same whatever the size and they got to take my detailed written instructions home with them.

It was a really fun day and I think everyone got over their fear of zippers and laminates.

By the end of the day here's what everyone had produced and it was wonderful to see how excited they all were with their handiwork and I was an incredibly proud teacher :D

Have you tried sewing with laminated fabrics, what have you made?


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Disclaimer: 
This post is for informational purposes only, no payment or commission is received on click-throughs and opinions are my own.

 
      

A Foxy Circle Quilt - Cloud9 Fabrics Challenge

In June, we were lucky to have Michelle Engel Bencsko, Co-Founder, Design & Marketing Director at Cloud9 Fabrics come along to our NYC Metro Mod Quilt Guild meeting.

Michelle talked us through the design and organic production process and shared many Cloud9 fabrics and quilts.

At the end Michelle set the Guild a Cloud9 Fabrics Challenge:

Using 4 x Cloud9 Fabric fat quarters (supplied by Cloud9 Fabrics) make a baby quilt (approx 36" x 42") to give to charity.  Additional fabrics must be from the Cloud9 Fabrics range or any brand of solid.  All quilts to be handed over at the next meeting of the NYC Metro Mod Quilt Guild in October.

Here's my 4 fat quarters from Ed Emberley's Picture Pie collection: Alphabet, Foxes, and Scribble:

I've just purchased this Circle Savvy Ruler by Creative Grids, it cuts circles, semi-circles and quarter circles from 3" to 15.5" and every 0.5" in between and this seemed like a great opportunity to give it a try.  I won't tell you how to use it, there's a great video here on YouTube if you're interested.

NOTE - I'm an Amazon affiliate and will receive a small commission (at no additional cost to you) on any purchase you make following this link.

I added some more Cloud9 Scribble fabric in grey and orange and also Michael Miller soft white cotton couture solid along with a crib size Hobb's Heirloom double sided fusible batting to complete the quilt.

I started out making a quilt sandwich using the MM soft white for the quilt top and the orange scribble for the backing.  I haven't used this brand of fusible batting before and I wasn't too happy with how it looked before I started quilting.  Those troughs in the quilt surface really had me worried.

Even more worried when the fabric lifted clean away from the batting as I started to quilt - I ironed over it again to refuse it.

Update at 19 August 2014:

I've used the Hobbs fusible batting now in two more quilts and not had a problem with the fabric lifting away from the batting during quilting - I'm assuming from this that some fabrics fuse more easily than others depending on the surface finish.

I cut out circles from the fat quarters using the Circle Savvy Ruler and created this design on top of the MM soft white solid.

I appliqued each circle in place right through the quilt sandwich using Aurifil 40/2 #1133 - Bright Orange.  I was disappointed to discover that this batting needs to be quilted every 4" - a bit close for my liking - so I decided to quilt in wavy lines vertically down the quilt, leaving the circles unquilted and hoping to mask the issues with the batting using Aurifil 50/2 #2024 - White.

The wavy lines worked just as I hoped, masking any fabric bubbles caused by the fusible basting and there were no further issues with the batting.  Given the wavy quilting the quilt was begging to be washed and left crinkly - not my style at all, but I think this time it works really well as the unquilted circle areas stay flat and are more pronounced.

So here's the photoshoot:

See how the applique looks on the back of the quilt

and a closer view

I love the Circle Savvy Ruler, it was a great buy that I'm sure will get lots of use of many years - the jury's out still on that Heirloom double sided fusible batting, nice not to use pins but doesn't give me the pristine, flat look I prefer when I use Quilter's Dream Request and I want to be able to quilt further apart than 4" if I choose to.  Just to add in case you've not yet tried it, I've also used the Quilter's Dream Cotton Fusion and that worked great, total adhesion, flat finish and you can quilt with up to an 8" gap.  The trouble is it's only fusible on one side - perfect when creating my wholecloth QAYG quilts but not much use for a normal quilt sandwich as you still need to pin or spray baste the quilt top or bottom.

Here's a summary of my thoughts on the fusible battings:

Quilter's Dream Fusion

Pros:
Available in 100% cotton and also 100% polyester
Quilt at up to 8" apart for cotton and 10" for poly
Fully adhered to fabric after ironing
Lies perfectly flat against fabric creating a great quilting surface
Great for QAYG Wholecloth

Cons:
Fusible only on one side

Hobb's Heirloom Fusible

Pros:
Double sided fusion
Repositionable
Requires no pins or spray baste
Can fuse quilt top and quilt back separately or at the same time

Cons:
80% Cotton/20% Polyester (a con for me as I don't like using polyester in my quilting)
Quilting surface isn't flat
Repositionable - so fabric doesn't fully adhere and can loosen and lift during quilting
Quilt at up to 4" apart


Have you used fusible batting?  If  you have do share your own stories in the comments, it's great to hear other's experiences and pick up tips - Chris :D

And finally, just so we don't forget why we're here - a last look at my Foxy Circle Quilt.

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Click these buttons to see more of my NYC Mod Guild blocks and my tutorials

Disclaimer: Some fabrics used were supplied by Cloud9 Fabrics at no charge to mbCD otherwise this post is for informational purposes only, no payment or commission is received on click-throughs and opinions are my own.