Sister's Choice Quilts

Staying Alive

 
Ozzie isn't quite sure what to make of this whole moving and packing business.  Here he is sitting in one of his favorite spots, the back of the living room couch, looking rather bemused.  He had better watch himself, that bag of packing peanuts is about to explode all over him.

I am surviving, barely.  We drove up to see the new house, now that the previous owners have moved out and the place is empty.  I loved having the chance to wander around for as long as I liked, imagining where furniture and other objects will go.  It is going to be a major challenge to fit most of our belongings into this much smaller space.  I have gotten rid of many things, but I know some of our furniture just isn't going to make it.  There is always Craigs list and a couple of local consignment shops....

 
The packing is getting real old about now, and I haven't even done the kitchen yet.  That is going to take at least two days, I am pretty sure.  And then there are all those decorative things that are impossible to pack:

 
How the heck do you pack silk floral arrangements?  Lots of wrapping paper and lots of boxes!

Belle Meade, Quilted

 
I received my Belle Meade quilt back from being quilted.  The quilter was LeAnne Olson, who I met last September in Illinois when I took two classes from Carrie Nelson.  LeAnne is a well known quilter, who has had her work published in magazines such as Better Homes and Gardens American Patchwork and Quilting.  Her work is lovely.

 
Isn't that beautiful?

And each and every small triangle has a curved outline quilting design.

 
There are 656 small half square triangles in this quilt, so the quilter had to do that outline stitch 1312 times.  It definitely gives the quilt of lot of texture and dimension! 

The quilt is beautiful and will be a favorite for many years.  Everytime I walk past it, I stop and study it in admiration.  Now if I only had time to cut out and sew on the binding...

Moving On To Another Part Of The House

I decided to start at the back of the house, in the guest room.  The closet in there has been the repository for my "out of season" clothing.   Much of my out of season clothing includes a number of items that are not in my current size.  Being a bit of a yo yo dieter, my clothes range in size from 10 to 14.  Right now I am at the lower end of my size range, and the idea of schlepping all those jumbo sizes up to Angels Camp, in case I get fat again is just not something I am interested in doing.

 
That closet has pretty much been emptied.  If it doesn't fit, if it hasn't been worn in over a year, if it doesn't make my heart sing, it goes into the black garbage bag.  These clothes will be donated to Hope Services, a charity that benefits the developmentally disabled.

I couldn't wear all these clothes if I lived to be 99 and wore a different outfit every single day.  How did that happen?   Nobody needs so much stuff.  In my next life, I swear, if I bring home something new, something old is going out the door.  When I was in high school, my boyfriend's father had that rule.  I just thought he was a terrible old tyrant, making his sweet wife throw out a dress if she got a new one.  Now, I am thinking he had a good idea.

 
The rest of the closet held decorative and seasonal items--you know the Halloween figurines, the Easter nests and baskets.  I have to say, I had a much harder time tossing that category of stuff.  Aw, I could use those turkey candle holders sometime...

And Sara?  If you are reading my blog today, do you want your yoga mat, knitting bag, wrapping paper and toy car?  How I ended up with my kids stuff is a mystery.

You want a mystery?  Answer me this then:

 
Can you even see this?  I was cleaning out under the sink in Ahren's bathroom, and discovered that he had been keeping kindling wood under his vanity.

I do not even know what to say about that.  So, do I pack it up in case he comes home from Dublin and needs it for something?

Packing: You have to start somewhere

 
Books.  I am all about books.  Since I was a tiny tot, I have loved books.  Over my lifetime, I have collected a tremendous number of books--I have kept many, but have donated much of my collection.   I believe in sharing.  Besides, there is a limit to how many books a person can store in their home!  Fortunately, the house that I have been living in is rich in bookshelves.  I think the beautiful built in bookshelves were one of the things that made this house so appealing to me.  And a feature that I will miss most!

So, now that I am moving, I have to deal with all those books.  At least 25% of them will be donated to my local library.  But the rest?  They must be packed up.

 
And packed up.

 
Once this room is finished being packed, this one is waiting for me.

 

Yes indeed, I do love books.  My new house?  Not a bookcase in sight.  !

Luckily, my husband is acquainted with a carpenter, who not only will be setting up my quilting studio, but building me plenty of bookcases!

I had an estimate from a proper moving company on Monday.  I thought since my husband is of a certain age, moving all these heavy boxes and all our furniture would be out of the question.  We have always moved ourselves in the past, but perhaps now that needs to be left up to the professionals.  The cost to move us to Angels Camp, even if I do ALL the packing?  $5000.  Yes indeedy.  Let me just say, that is not going to happen.  Looks like we are moving ourselves if it kills us.

It Has Begun

 
The packing has begun.  On Saturday, I emptied my big dresser in my bedroom and packed one box.  The good thing is, those two big black garbage bags are things that I am getting rid of. 

This move involves a significant downsize for us, so getting rid of things I don't use or need anymore is essential.  Those bags are full of lingerie.  I don't seem to ever throw away bras, underpants and shapewear.  That isn't to say that I don't buy new things and stop wearing the old.  I just never throw away the old stuff.  When a good bra costs over $60, you kind of hate to toss it.  (My personal philosophy is that there are three clothing items one should not to skimp on:  shoes, underwear and your handbag). 

I swear I had bras that were ten years old in that dresser.  And hadn't been worn for nine years.  I guess they will all be thrown out.  You can't really donate your old underwear to Good Will, can you?  Eeew.

It took me a couple of hours to sort through that dresser and pack that one box.  Then I wanted to sit in my big comfy chair with my book and a Diet Coke for an hour to rest.  At this rate, I should have the house packed by December.

My Project, Coming Along

 
This is as far as I got over the past weekend.  There are three apples down on and the one on the far right is glued on, ready to be stitched.  Since Sunday, I have not had one single second to work on my applique.  (The move to Angels Camp is becoming very REAL.  More on that later).

This past weekend, after stitching for a half hour or so, I realized that I had sewn my entire applique project piece to the leg of my pants.  (I told you that I wasn't very good at this craft yet).  No, I meant to do that.  Right.  No more of that though.  I am on the way to becoming far more skilled.

This week, I have learned a TON of fantastic information that is going to help me become a darn good appliquer.  Or a darn better one anyway!   A huge thanks to all of you who have commented and emailed me on the techniques that work for you.  I hope the rest of you read the comments and learned as much as I did!  Incredible amounts of information, and here are just some of the things I am going to start doing immediately:

Use two layers of freezer paper and remove them after the seam allowance is all pressed down.  I am assured that I will not lose my crease and the seam allowance will stay put.  The double layer of freezer paper is just to give you a sturdy base to iron the seam allowance down under.  I feel like a dumb bell for thinking I had to leave it under the applique piece until I sewed almost all the way around it, then remove it with tweezers.  I was making that step WAY to hard.

Use the Roxanne glue applicator or a toothpick to apply the Baste It glue.  No more big blobs of glue on my pieces, only the teensiest dots.  Dot, dot, dot, not a lot...One reader sent me that phrase and I can't get it out of my head.  (Is that what they call an ear worm?  Just asking..).

Use silk thread because it disappears into the applique piece.  I actually have tried this and it is like sewing with an invisable hair.  You cannot even see your stitches on the top piece of the fabric.

I tried using a glue stick (The Lapel Stick actually) instead of starch on one of my leaf shapes, and it worked great too.  I don't know at this point which method I like best.  I am leaning towards the starch method because I really like what happens when you use your iron to press the seam allowance down.  That starch gives you such a nice crisp edge.

As far as the mini iron I ruined goes, I may purchase another one.  Maybe a different brand.   I am on the fence.  That lousy stand has pretty much put me off the Clover mini iron for now.  I may just use my Rowenta travel iron.  That is going ok for now.  And, to those of you who suggested various methods to remove the melted plastic----Once that plastic is melted onto the metal, there is nothing on this earth that will take it off again.  It isn't like a bit of applique glue or fusible stuff that gets melted onto your iron.  This iron is now permanently plastic coated.

I think I need to buy that Pearl Pereira DVD on her applique methods.  So many of you recommended it.

Finally, you have persuaded me that cutting out some of the bulk behind my applique pieces will not affect the strength and durability of my final project.  In fact, it makes a better finished look and is a boon if you are going to do any hand quilting.

A thousand hugs and kisses to all of you who took the time to leave comments this week!  So many more people than just me have benefited from your experience and knowledge.

As for what is coming up for next week...Let the packing begin, is all I have to say about that!  I will be buried in boxes, packing paper, bubble wrap and piles of household stuff to donate for the foreseeable future.

More Applique Questions

 
Most of the applique instruction books that I have read show using just one layer of freezer paper for your applique template.

However, in many of the more recent patterns I have picked up (the most recent Fig Tree patterns for example) call for using TWO layers of freezer paper for your applique templates.  The idea is that you are creating an extra strong template for your piece.

In the photo above, you see the two pieces of freezer paper about to be ironed to the wrong side of the fabric.  The bottom piece of freezer paper is waxy side down so it will stick to the fabric.  The second piece of freezer paper is also waxy side down so it will stick to the freezer paper below it.

 
Here is my double layer of freezer paper all ironed onto the fabric, ready to be cut out.

I did some pieces with the double layer and most with just one layer of freezer paper.

 
The single layer pieces lay nice and flat on the background fabric, but the double layer ones tended to curl up.  The double layer pieces were indeed noticeably stiffer.  Is that an advantage?  How so?  Just in ironing down the seam allowance is all I can think of.  I would love it if any of you who favor the double layer method could explain why it is preferable.  I have already had a couple of emails from people who swear by this double layer method.

Now we need to stick the applique pieces onto the background.  I tried using a glue stick, but that wasn't very successful in really sticking the piece to my background.  The product I have heard touted most for this step in the applique process is shown below.

 
Roxanne's Glue Baste It.  The glue bottle comes with a couple of super thin applicator tips, which I immediately mangaged to lose once I got the product home.  I used a q-tip to dot the glue onto the back of my applique piece and along the seam allowance.

The stuff is like cement.  I mean, it says "temporary", but I swear, those pieces were on there to stay.  Did I use too much?  Should I not have gotten it on the seam allowances?  This is the stuff no one bothers to put in the applique instruction books.  I need the details please.  How do you applique pros stick your pieces onto the background?  With the freezer paper, you can't really use pins, can you?

So, I stitched my glued down applique pieces to my background fabric, almost all the way around.  That freezer paper under there needs to come out right?  I took a pair of tweezers and tried to loosen the freezer paper from the background to pull it out.

 

Whew.  I have to say that the single layer freezer paper came out a lot easier than the double layer.  I had not used glue on the smaller leaf shapes, so the paper wasn't too hard to tease out.  But those bigger apple pieces that I had really stuck on with the glue were a big mess.  They did not want to release.  The freezer paper tore and came out in bits.  Ultimately I got it out, but it was a struggle.

This leads me to one more question for the pros out there.  How do you remove the freezer paper?   I have seen a method for removing your freezer paper, where you cut the fabric on the back side of your underlying background piece.  Just make one slash or cut around the entire shape, leaving a quarter inch or so seam allowance.  Yikes!  I don't want to cut up the underside of my piece to get the freezer paper out!  Doesn't that undermine the integrity of the piece as a whole?  I know it is also supposed to eliminate bulk, but these little pieces aren't adding that much bulk to my overall finished quilt.  Cutting up the back of my piece makes me super nervous.  Should I go for it, or will I regret it?

Freezer Paper and a Cautionary Tale

After cutting out your applique pieces from the freezer paper, the next step is to iron them onto the wrong side of your fabric, waxy side to the fabric.  The light coating of wax melts just enough to adhere the freezer paper to the fabric.  You will be using the freezer paper as a template.  Cut out your shape, leaving a scant quarter inch seam allowance as you see in my photo above.  I clipped the edges of the seam allowance every inch or so all around.  Not right down to the freezer paper, only about half way.

We are going to apply starch to the seam allowance and iron it down all around the edge of the freezer paper template.

But before we do that, here is a question for you applique pros out there:  I have seen instructions that call for ironing the freezer paper to the RIGHT side of the fabric and pressing the seam allowance under.  How does that work?  It seems like you lose the effect of the freezer paper being a template that way.  I would love to know if any of you do it that way and why you like it.  Here are pictures of the freezer paper ironed to the right side of the fabric.  What advantage is that?  I don't get it.  I really want to understand this--someone explain it, please?

 
Moving on.

Here I am painting the starch onto the seam allowance of my applique piece.  I am not left handed, but had to do it that way since I am holding my camera with my right hand!

Next, iron your seam allowance down over the edge of the freezer paper. 

See that cute teensy iron?  I bought it specifically to use for applique.  It is super hot and so small that you can iron down the most microscopic pieces.  Clover Mini Iron II.

But, there was a problem I want to tell you about.

It is a great little tool, and I was ironing away at my seam allowances, happy as can be.  The tool comes with a little rest stand that you can lay the hot iron on when you need to set it down.  The stand has a plastic base and a little metal piece that sticks up to hold the hot part of the iron.  I set the hot iron on it and went back to get my next applique piece.  This is what I found when I came back.

The iron had rolled over slightly and the hot part came in contact with the plastic base of the rest stand.  The plastic melted all over the iron.  I could not get it off while it was all hot and melty, and when it dried the iron was now coated in plastic.  It was ruined after I had only used it for about fifteen minutes!  Talk about a poor design.  So now I am back to using my big iron to iron down all my little seam allowances.

I will probably buy another little iron, but will never use the little rest stand that comes with it.  Maybe another brand will have a better design.  Any suggestions?

Preparing the Applique Pieces

Obviously, the freezer paper method of applique requires freezer paper.  I bought mine at my local Nob Hill grocery store in the section with aluminum foil and waxed paper etc.  The paper has two sides, a shiny waxy side and a matte side.  My instructions said to trace my design on the matte side, but I have seen other patterns say to trace on the waxy side.  I tried it both ways and I found it much easier to trace on the matte side.  How do you pros do your tracing?   

It doesn't really matter if you wobble a bit with your tracing, just make your corrections and cut the shape out properly.  The seam allowance will be added later when you are cutting out the fabric.  What you see here is the actual shape of the applique piece.  See those little leaf shapes above the apples?  Well, they were just ridiculously small.  I decided that there was no way I was going to be able to iron those onto a piece of fabric, add seam allowances and then somehow stitch them onto anything. My small motor coordination is not that good at this point in my applique career.

I remembered that I had some terrific plastic leaf templates that I had used with a past needle turn project.

I don't know if June Tailor is still making these, but they are fantastic.  I got a couple of other sets at the same time--hearts, fleur de lis and circles.  The second smallest leaf shape is what I chose for my applique, it is just the right size, including the seam allowance that I will be turning under.  Shoot, if I am going to the bother of appliquing leaves onto my project I darn well want them big enough to show up.  These leaves are three times the size of the ones in the pattern!  I just traced around the template and was good to go.

The other element to the apple applique is the stems.  The stem pattern pieces were even smaller than the leaves!  No way was I going to fuss with those itty bitty pieces.  I remembered my Celtic Bars, also left over from the past needleturn project.

They look pretty mysterious, don't they?  They are exactly what you want when you have to make vines or stems in an applique project.  I wanted quarter inch wide stems for my apples.  I cut my fabric on the bias, ending up with a bias strip about an inch wide.  I folded it in half and stitched the length of it with a quarter inch seam allowance.

Insert your quarter inch wide Celtic Bar.  Twist the fabric piece around on it so the seam is on the back.

Iron the piece with the bar still inside it, seam to the underside along the whole length of the piece.  Watch out when you scooch the bar along because it is metal and is going to be hot as blazes.  Let it cool a second before touching it.

Remove the bar and there you have your bias strip.  No edges to turn under, just apply to your background piece and stitch down.  Since I have to cut smaller sections of this long strip to be my little apple stems, I will be turning under just the top edge of the stem on each apple.

Tomorrow I will show you how I used the freezer paper.  And do I ever have questions for you pros out there.

 

 

 

 

Adventure into Applique With Me This Week

Hand applique is not exactly new to me.  I have done traditional needleturn applique before, where one just turns under the seam allowance of your piece as you go.  No special preparation required. All you need are pins and your needle and thread. 

The freezer paper/starch method of applique is so popular these days, and so many people who are really experienced with applique seem to favor it.  I have been wanting to learn this method for ages and never seem to be able to attend any classes. I shared with you last week the Henrietta Whiskers pattern that I would love to do some day, and thought to myself that before I jump headfirst into something that advanced, maybe I should do a simpler project or two.

It would be lovely if you want to follow along with me this week and see how I progressed with trying to teach myself this method of applique.  WARNING:  My posts this week are in no way meant to be a tutorial.  For all I know, I am doing the entire thing wrong!  My hope is that you will learn with me from my mistakes.  Most of all, I am hoping you applique gurus out there will contribute your instructional comments.  We novices could all greatly benefit from your expertise!

It all started with the book pictured above, which I picked up at my local Beverly's.  It is by Debbie Mumm, who is known for her simple kind of folk artsy designs.  There are a number of adorable projects in the book, including a patchwork pattern featuring apples which I may do as a companion piece to the applique project I found.  Here is the project I found in the book that I thought could be my applique "learner" project:

The project needed tweaking for me.  First of all, I don't do wall hangings, which this is.  I thought the shape was right for a table runner, especially if I orient the apples a bit differently.  Pretty cute, huh?  Wouldn't that apple also be cute appliqued onto a simple butcher style apron?

I had my usual fun raiding my stash bins, and picking out the fabrics I wanted to use.  Reds and greens, black and gold.  The fabrics are a bit rumpled looking prior to being ironed.  I really need to find a better method for storing my smaller scrap pieces.

I went to work preparing my background piece and now I am ready to go with the applique.

Check back with me this week for the next installments in my learning process with freezer paper/starch applique!  I had my share of issues and can't wait to have you all weigh in with your tips.  We will all be able to learn more about applique from the comments I hope to get from those of you who know what you are doing!