Raw Edge Circle Applique Class Quilts

This blog post has been sitting in my 'drafts' folder for over two years, it's high time I share these fab class quilts with you.

"It's The Stupidest Tea Party I Was Ever At" Said Alice

Super, super excited to share April's NYC Metro MOD Quilt Guild Bee Block with you, I'm just loving the challenge set by
Queen Bee Emily N.

The Bee Block package included a piece of green cotton and instructions to create an applique block on the theme of 'Tea'.  Emily is obviously a girl after my own heart and tells us she's obsessed with tea.  We can use any fabrics from our stash as long as we use the green fabric somewhere in the block and Emily suggests to applique items such as cups & saucers, mugs, tiered cake stands, teapots and more.

It doesn't get any better for this English girl abroad, immediately I knew what I was making - it just had to be a teapot and rather than sketching my own to save time I pulled this teapot image by Colleen from her blog justpaintit.

Pulling fabrics was easy - 

in my stash I had this scrap of British Icons: London by Timeless Treasures and then I pulled some Olive the Ostrich pink heart fabric by Laurie Wisbrun.  A multi dot (C3095 White) fabric from the Timeless Treasures Indian Summer collection is absolutely perfect to link the colours together with the given green which I'm going to use as the background fabric for the finished block.

I've an idea to include some of my Queen's Guard ribbon (Berisfords Ribbons - The Best Of British Art 13605 Soldiers) and a strip of Alice in Wonderland cotton twill ribbon too.

The strip of Alice ribbon was given to me by Dee, one of my Late Night Sewing students,

she's used it in my classes to make tea cosies for a couple of her friends and she gave me this piece.  This seemed like the perfect time to use it, thanks Dee xxx

Here's a look at one of Dee's tea cosies too, isn't it fab?

 Back to making the block, here we go, step by step:

I cut the image into sections - I'm not going to use the lid handle so I didn't cut that bit out;

I transferred each section onto the paper side of the Pellon Wonder Under fusible web Emily provided being sure to draw the pieces back to front so the final applique will come out the correct way round;

I pressed each piece of Wonder Under on to the appropriate fabrics

and cut the pieces out.

Emily asked for a 9.5" block so I placed the pieces under a 9.5" square ruler to see how best to lay them out.  I'm opting for a blown apart design, having gaps between each section leaves the background fabric visible and pulls the colours together more.

With the placement decided I marked the outline of the block and the pieces on the green background fabric using a FriXion pen that'll disappear with the heat of the iron then peeled the backing paper from each piece and pressed to fix them in place.  (Be sure to test any marking pen first on a scrap of fabric first to be certain it will 'disappear' from your project - also note that FriXion pen marks are known to 'reappear' in cold temperatures.)

Before fixing the teapot lid I sewed the looped piece of Soldier ribbon in place as the handle.

With everything ironed and permanently fixed in place I freemotion scribble-stitched two or three times around the pieces and within minutes it was all done.

 I love, love, love how easy raw edge applique is and if you're interested in learning more click through to any of my other applique tutes below:

And photos of that finished block

  with a closer look at the scribble stitching,

and the tea pot lid/handle

and a peep at the back.

I've put so much of me and my home country into creating this block, I do hope Emily loves it as much as I do.

And now I think it's time for a well earned cup of tea x

Clicking on a image will take you to a new page of crafty goodness :)
 

     

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.

There's No Soot In This Santa Sack!!!

When Santa got stuck up the chimney, he began to shout,

"You girls and boys won't get any toys, if you don't pull me out!

My beard is black, there's soot in my sack, my nose is tickling too."

When Santa got stuck up the chimney. Achoo! Achoo! Achoo!

When I was little I had a Santa Sack - well when I was really, really little it was a pillowcase and then Mum bought 2 heavy paper, super large Santa Sacks - one was green with red Christmas trees and the other was red with green Christmas trees,  we used those sacks year after year after year.

My children had their own Santa Sacks - fabric ones but shop bought - you might have seen them, they're pretty common.  Shop bought or not, they're full of memories for them and me and I loved seeing their faces each year when the empty sacks came out on Christmas Eve and even more the next morning when they saw them overflowing with presents from Santa. 

Last year I made my first Christmas Stocking - I absolutely love it but it's more decorative than practical.  You can read more about it here - Are You Hanging Up Your Stocking On The Wall?.

With the birth of Grandson Oliver this year seemed like time to make my first Santa Sack for him to create his own Christmas memories and what better than The Very Hungry Caterpillar Christmas panel part of the Eric Carle collection under license to Andover Fabrics?

For full instructions on how to make a Santa Sack click through to my Santa Sack Tute here.

Cutting the panel into two sections, I added a red top border and layered with batting.

Next I free motion quilted around the print detail changing colours along the way.
It's easiest to show you the stitching from the back...

...and then some detail sections from the front.

I added a decorative stitched row along the red border seam too.

To commerate Oliver's birth year I cut "Xmas 2014" lettering from double sided fusible and bonded each to co-ordinating Andover Christmas fabrics which I attached to the Xmas Tree panel using a raw edge applique technique (see my Raw Edge Applique Tute here).

A great wavy striped Xmas lining pattern by Kim Schaefer for Andover Fabrics and I've added my label to the lining and to the outside bottom edge of the sack and joined the outside and inside with another row of decorative stitching.  Finished size is 21" x 27".  

Finished...

...and full for now with presents from Grandma.

  

When I shared pics with my kids it sparked them all off trying to remember just what The Very Hungry Caterpillar ate, they loved the book when they were small and it was fun remembering it.  Seemed to me I needed to make a couple more of these Santa Sacks, don't tell my other two kids but I've made them one each too so they can each start their own Christmas memories.

Different linings in each, these two are holly leaves also by Kim Schaefer for Andover Fabrics.

Do you have a Christmas Stocking or a Santa Sack, what does he leave your presents in?

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