Modern Mini Applique Block 39

I had fun playing with scale on this one.  I also love these two fabrics together.

I hope you get to quilt today!

Suzy

Blog Post #300!?

I happened to notice my tally of blog posts the other day and this very post is number 300!  How did that happen so fast?

I never knew when I started blogging that I would enjoy it so much!  It's a blast sharing what I'm learning and creating.  It gives me some creative freedom and permission to make something that is not a show quilt.  I love those too, but blogging has been very freeing from that.

So...what to do for post 300?  How about a few highlights!

First of all, I started not only this blog, but at blog post 100 I started a Facebook Group called Machine Applique Adventures which is up to about 550 members!  There are people form all over the world in the group which I find so amazing and fun.

Second, becoming an Island Batik Ambassador has been an absolute pleasure and thrill!  Here are a few lovely projects from my 2016 tenure.

Third, I've done two quilt alongs!  The Flower in a Pot Quilt Along and the Brick Wall Free Motion Quilt Along (links are at the top of the page and I updated them last weekend!).  So fun!  I'm thinking about what to design next...

Fourth, I've made new quilting friends which is always fun!  (Yes, I know....lots of exclamation marks.  The third grade teacher in me cringes, but I'm just so excited I can't help it!!!!)

I hope you get to quilt today!
Suzy

Free Motion Friday - Lightbulbs

I'm not quite sure where the design inspiration for this came from, but it looks to me like an old fashioned incandescent light bulbs. You can find the written directions right here.

Start by stitching in the ditch around the block as usual.  Then make a triangle shape with one the middle edge curving in to the center of the triangle as shown below.

Curve around your triangle in a feather shape as shown below.

Add another triangle and feather.  You can either start from the same spot or travel by backtracking to where you want to start the next light bulb.

Here you can see that I had a little space in the corner, so I did a partial motif.

Keep repeating the process until having fun as you go!

Below you can see that I have a small space left in the middle of my block.  I decided to add a smaller shape there to fill the space.

Lightbulbs all done!  I really like this design as a play on classic feathers.  You could even put this shape inside of a feather.  Come to think of it, Judi Madsen does make a feather sort of like this.  Maybe that's where the inspiration came from?!

Don't forget to share your pictures of your quilt along on my Machine Applique Adventures Facebook group.

I hope you get to quilt today!

Suzy

Flower in a Pot Quilt Along - Pattern #9

Here is the final block in my Flower in a Pot Quilt Along!

Here are links to how I put this Flower in a Pot together:
Flower in a Pot #9 

Here are the links:
Flower in a Pot #9 Pattern
Machine Applique Directions

Here are links to all the other blocks in the Flower in a Pot Quilt Along:

Flower in a Pot #8 Pattern
Flower in a Pot #7 Pattern
Flower in a Pot #6 Pattern
Flower in a Pot #5 Pattern
Flower in a Pot #4 Pattern
Flower in a Pot #3 Pattern
Flower in a Pot #2 Pattern
Flower in a Pot #1 Pattern

Please share what you've been creating on my Machine Applique Adventures Facebook group.

I hope you get to quilt today!
Suzy

Flower in a Pot #9

I was so excited to make this last pot in the Flower in a Pot Quilt Along that I completely forgot to take pictures along the way!  Oops.

Here is the first two layers of pieces.  I really love these leaves.  They're make a statement.

Here is the block mostly finished without the top piece of the flower.  I had a really hard time choosing a pot fabric for this flower.  I knew right away that I wanted the flower to be red so I went in search of a fabric that would work for the pot and had red.  It was really hard to find a batik that fit this!  Thus I ended up with a fairly simple dot print.  I like the end result.

Here is the back of the block at this point.  If you look closely you can see how I stop and start when I know a piece is going to be put on top.

And here is the final block.  Check out the top of the flower!  I totally fussy cut that piece to look like it radiated.  It's from a batik that had circles of dots that got larger as you went out.  This is also a sneak peak at the quilting.  More on that on Saturday!

And don't forget to join my Machine Applique Adventures Facebook group!

I hope you get a chance to quilt today!
Suzy

Flower in a Pot Quilt Along - Pattern #8

I'm excited to share the pattern for Flower in a Pot #8 with you!

Here are links to how I put this Flower in a Pot together:
Flower in a Pot #8 - Part One
Flower in a Pot #8 - Part Two

Here are the links:
Flower in a Pot #8 Pattern
Machine Applique Directions

Here are links to all the other blocks in the Flower in a Pot Quilt Along:
Flower in a Pot #7 Pattern
Flower in a Pot #6 Pattern
Flower in a Pot #5 Pattern
Flower in a Pot #4 Pattern
Flower in a Pot #3 Pattern
Flower in a Pot #2 Pattern
Flower in a Pot #1 Pattern

Donna just recently finished Flower in a Pot #1 and posted a picture to my Machine Applique Adventures Facebook group.

Happy Quilting!
Suzy

Flower in a Pot #8 - Part Two

I'm working on my Flower in a Pot Quilt Along and having a blast as usual.  My last post (click here) was all about selecting fabric for my flower.  After working on it I decided there was one piece I wasn't sure of.  If you look below the dark purple top of the flower below you will see two coral colored pieces.  I thought they stood out too much so I decided to try a few other fabrics.

I tried orange instead.  It doesn't seem any better though.

What about a real change....lime green!  Nope, it looks strange.

I finally decided to stick with the original coral fabrics.  Below you can see that I've stitched layer one.  If you look at the stem of the pot you can see that I chose to do my blanket stitching around it in a lime green thread.  I chose lime green because I thought if I used pink it would take away from the pattern of the fabric.

The back after layer one has been stitched.  I use a tear-away stabilizer that I rip away before I layer the quilt.

After a few more layers.  I got so excited I forgot to take pictures of different layers!

The back after many layers.

Happy Saturday!  I hope you get to quilt some today.  Please join me over at my Machine Applique Adventures Facebook Group.

Suzy

Flower in a Pot Quilt Along - Pattern #7

Here is the pattern for Flower in a Pot #7.  Please make sure to join my Machine Applique Adventures Facebook group and share what you've done with my patterns and any other applique project too!

Here are the links you'll need for this block:

Flower in a Pot Pattern #7

Basic Applique Directions

You should also check out my posts about how I made this block:

Flower in a Pot #7 - Part One

Flower in a Pot #7 - Part Two

And be sure to join my Machine Applique Adventures Facebook group to share your progress on the blocks and any other applique too!

In case you missed it, here are the other blocks in this series:

Flower in a Pot Pattern #6

Flower in a Pot Pattern #5

Flower in a Pot Pattern #4
Flower in a Pot Pattern #3
Flower in a Pot Pattern #2
Flower in a Pot Pattern #1

Donna just started working on her pots!  Here is her Pot #1.  I can't wait to see what else she creates.

I hope you get to quilt today,

Suzy

Flower in a Pot #7 - Part Two

Hello readers!  I'm excited to show you the rest of Flower in a Pot #7!  As you can see below I started adding more layers onto the applique.  My goal in this post is to talk to you about how I pick the threads I use for my blanket stitching.

In the picture below you can see how I travel between pieces whenever possible.  If you look at the blue blanket stitching on the bottom piece you can see that I traveled from the first to the send leaf with some straight stitching.  I do this whenever I am close to the next piece and I know another piece will cover it.  That covering piece should be dark enough to cover the threads.  You wouldn't want to do some black stitching and then cover it with a light yellow piece where the black might show through.

Here you can see that I have added the light green blanket stitching around the darker green leaves.  I decided to use a lighter thread to match the dots to make them pop.  If I'd used a darker thread to match the background of the dark green it wouldn't highlight the dots as well.  If I didn't want to highlight the dots at all the dark green would've been a better choice.  I like to use contrasting colored thread a lot to help play up the fabrics I'm using.

Below you can see me testing threads for stitching down the red flower,  One is slightly darker and one is lighter.  I still couldn't tell which one I'd like best.  What to do?

The thing to do is to unwind a little bit of thread and lay it on top of the piece.  Then you can tell what effect it's going to have when you stitch with the threads.  The thread that starts in the lower left corner disappears a lot when it goes over the flower.  The thread that starts in the lower right corner is more visible on the flower.  Depending on whether or not I want it to show, I make a decision about which to use.

Since this red batik has a ton of texture to it I decided to go with the lower left thread that blended in more to let the fabric shine instead of sharing the spotlight with the thread.

Here is layer 2 complete.

A close up of the pot base shows that I used a darker turquoise to outline the turquoise and lime batik.  I didn't want to use lime because it would take away from the swirls, but I didn't want it to match exactly either, so I chose a slightly darker shade of turquoise.  It shows up, but is still subtle.

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Here is the back of the blanket stitching.  I've kept the size of the stitches fairly uniform on this flower.  The blue stitching is a little larger than the others, but not by much.

Here is the final block.  I really liked playing around with mixing blues and greens on this block.  None of them are true blues or greens.  They are all variations and it was really fun to try to put some of my stranger greens and blue/green combination fabrics together in a way that pleased the eye.  I'm very happy with the final composition.

Here's the back with the stabilizer still attached.

Happy Saturday!  I hope you find some time to quilt.  I'd love to see what you're doing with my Flower in a Pot patterns.  Please join me in my Machine Applique Adventures Facebook Group and share what you're appliqueing!  

Suzy

AQS Paducah 2016

Last Sunday I got an email informing me that I'd won a ribbon at the American Quilter's Society Paducah show this year.  They don't tell you what you've won, just that you have.  There was a new feature this year, the live streamed the awards ceremony on YouTube.  So, Tuesday evening from the comfort of my own couch I was able find out that my quilt Harmony's Loop placed third in it's small wall quilt-home machine quilted category.  It was quite thrilling.

Winning an award in Paducah is something I've thought about and strived towards for many years.  It's a dream come true.  Some day, I'd love to win Best of Show (you have to keep dreaming big dreams after all), or one of the other larger awards, but what a moment this win was.

So thrilling in fact we bought tickets and my mom and I flew to St. Louis late Friday night after work, stayed overnight, rented a car and drove to Paducah for the day on Saturday.  We then returned to St. Louis and flew out VERY early Sunday morning.  It was a whirlwind, but way worth the trip!

One amazing thing AQS does for winners is interview in front of your quilt about your quilt.  I did this Saturday morning with Bonnie Browning.  It's not up yet on their YouTube channel, but Marilyn Badger's (she won Best of Show) is and it's amazing.  Click here to watch it.  I'll be sure to share the link when mine is available!

I was also able to have fabulous chats with lovely ladies from Hobbs batting, Superior Threads, and the always amazing Ricky Tims.

Mom and I shopped until we dropped (including the fabulous Hancock's of Paducah).  I bought lots of Island Batiks (of course) and some other fabric as well as some Superior Threads needles and Aurifil thread.

There were many amazing moments and I'll be sharing all the pictures I took over in my Machine Applique Adventures Facebook group because I took TONS.  Be sure to join us!

Here are a few of my favorites:

I love the symmetry of this quilt and the quilting is absolutely fabulous.  

Here you can see the quilting behind the applique and the symmetry at the edges.  Symmetry always makes my heart sing.

I've seen this quilt before in magazines, but the photo's didn't do it justice.  It is absolutely fabulous in person and so creative!  I love all the different quilting motifs and colors.

I love this close up of one of the flowers.  Of course, I love the flowers!

Another stunning flower.  I like how she quilted it to enhance the design.

Okay, yes, I know this picture is sideways, but I couldn't make it rotate. Someday I will figure out how to fix it, but since it's symmetrical (are you detecting a theme yet?), it looks excellent sideways too.  This is a wholecloth quilt.  All the stitching that is in color was done with turquoise thread.

 

As you can see, the threadwork is just spectacular!

Now that I'm home with a million ideas of what to start quilting next, I have to go to work tomorrow.  Back to reality I suppose, but with plenty of quilting after bedtime!

Happy Quilting!
Suzy