Category Archives: printing on fabric

And Then There Were Three

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Blocks stitched and shapes printed for three projects on Wednesday, that is.  Project one, the big pink and cream stars.  One more finished so there are now three completed.  Tuesday night I started thinking about different settings for the big pink stars and have decided on one that will include 6 of the large stars and some other elements.  Three more big stars to go and then the setting and it will be done.

The pieces printed and cut out for the remaining three big pink and cream stars.

Project two, two of the Pickled Ladies done.

Lots of clamshells printed and cut out for project two.

Lots of the shapes needed for the arcs also printed and ready to cut.

Project three, the Harpsichord Quilt.  One new block pieced and pressed.  Smudge was determined to be part of this photo — you can see his shadow.

Lots and lots of black and gold octagons and the little coloured squares printed for project three.

While my printer wasn’t going quite as quickly as in the video I showed yesterday, it was humming along for about half an hour last night.  I like working on projects in groups of three.  Getting the freezer paper sorted out made it all so easy.  In next to no time I had the fabric pressed to freezer paper and printed for all three of  this Wednesday’s projects.  Perhaps if I keep doing this for the next couple of weeks I can have all the pieces printed and ready to stitch for another 3 or 6 projects.  What other ones?  The Summer Picnic Dish, also known as pickle dish.  The Rouenneries Drunkard’s Path — I have another 3 sets of charms to print for that one.  The Storm at Sea is definitely on the list for next week.

For the most part, the cats had no interest in what was going on.  Lester had a nap.

Smudge was looking a bit bored, I think.

The Making of Big Pink Stars

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Two of the nine pink and cream stars are made and I’ve sorted out a stitching sequence that makes them very quick to construct.  The first part is to make the centre 8-pointed star.

Once that’s done then I stitch all the pieces that need to be stitched into pairs or triplets together.  It’s then just a matter of adding rounds to the centre — a great opportunity for lots of continuous stitching which makes the star go together quite quickly.

This picture shows the centre after I added the first round of cream pairs and started adding the next round of pink diamonds.  Everything is ready now to just keep stitching until the star is done.  I’ve found that pressing after I get the third round of pink diamonds added is the most efficient.  All that’s left after that is to add the final star points made up of the 2 cream and 1 pink diamonds, a final press and the star is finished.  This will actually be a quick quilt to make as the setting is planned and won’t require a lot more work.  As of now, I plan to use the sewing machine to join the blocks and sashing.

Monday night some time was spent sorting the stack of freezer paper sheets that were lying about that I use to print shapes on my fabric.  As I use the custom sizes suggested in the various Inklingo collections, I have quite the variety of sizes of freezer paper cut  ranging from 3.25″ x 5″ all the way up to 8.5″ x 14″ and, as freezer paper can be reused many times, I keep it.  Over the past few months the stack of freezer paper sheets on my printer was becoming unruly, to say the least.  So a few hours of organization, and I can now see at a glance if I have the size I need and find it easily.  What started me organizing it was sorting out what I need to print for a couple of the projects I’m working on. After a few frustrating minutes of trying to figure out if I had the right sizes of freezer paper already cut, I realized it was time to just sit down and organize it all. Now the trick will be to keep it organized and file the sheets away after I’ve used them.

The gardeners have been and have taken out the flowers and cut down the hosta on the roof garden.  The trees have lost most of their leaves now and it looks very stark.  At least we haven’t yet had snow although there apparently was some snow to the north of us on the weekend.  The cats are finding cozy spots to curl up and nap.  First Lester.

Smudge:

Pickled Ladies Again

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After having stitched a number of the arcs together, it felt like time to add a few to the clamshells.  Putting the arcs together is a bit more challenging than adding the completed arcs to the clamshells.  As the curve is so gentle, it’s really quite easy piecing to add an arc.  Some evenings are meant for the easier stitching — and it’s easier to do when watching baseball.

Another 35 of the clamshells have been fussy cut/printed.  I’m amazed at just how fast the process is using a window template.  I had the 35 fabrics cut in next to no time and the printing took only minutes.   I think if you click on this photo to enlarge it you can see the clamshell printed on the back of the fabric with the flower in the centre.

Lester likes to drape his paws over the arm of the chair.  This is a typical Lester pose during the day sometimes.  We’re off to the vet with him this afternoon as it appears he has a cold.  He had this last year and a course of antibiotics cleared it right up, so I’m hoping that’s all it will take this time.

Smudge curled up and had a snooze on the couch.

Beginning of a New Project

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Last week’s list of priority projects clearly went out the window this weekend with this new project! The above is the beginning of a block that I can’t resist. It’s fairly quick to stitch, so I have some hope that I may have this first block done sometime tonight. I was going to use a muslin as the neutral but then remembered I had some Kona Bay cream, which is my favourite solid to use.  I still haven’t decided on a name for this one.

The back:

These blocks will grow quickly as they’re made using the 6-inch LeMoyne Star Inklingo collection.  Once I got the idea, I had  six pink and the cream fabrics printed within minutes with the diamonds needed.  A little while later, they were all cut out:

What is it about making these stars I find so irresistible?  No matter what else I’ve got going on, it seems I always need a star project of some sort on which to work. I have the centres of three more of the stars ready and waiting as well.

When I wrote the post on Friday about the making of Chintz Circles, it made me realize that it’s rather fun to have a post like that about a quilt.  Which, of course, meant I had to figure out a way to store my photos a bit differently.  So I am, as of now, starting to store photos about each specific project in their own folder as I think I’d like to do recap posts like the one on Chintz Circles every time I finish a project.  Although at the rate I’ve been starting and not finishing, the next one may be far off!

We’re definitely into fall weather.  Lots of leaves have fallen and, as it was a bit breezy on the weekend, they’ve been drifting past the window.  This is Smudge’s favourite time for watching out the window.  We got this shot of him on the weekend.

Lester seemed to be trying to make sure we didn’t change the channel when we had the baseball games on — notice the paw firmly planted on the remote control!

Recap of Projects on List

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It has been so long since I’ve worked on a few of these projects that I thought it might be a good idea to have a look at them again.  First up are a few of the 30 Pink Ice blocks.

Than a few of the 30 Patchwork of the Crosses blocks.

Looking at these first two pictures makes me realize how nice it would be to have a design wall!  I could lay out all 30 blocks for each quilt and photograph them. Reorganizing the living room is on the horizon, so perhaps a design wall can get incorporated into that reorganization.

Next up are a few of the harpsichord blocks.  While I had started putting them into the first row, I have quite a few more done but not added to a row yet.  That will be something that I think I’ll start doing every 10 or 12 blocks or so.

While only one Storm at Sea block is done, as shown below, I have the fabrics for my Stormy Seas quilt ready to print and have worked out how many of each shape I’ll need.  Perhaps this weekend I can get some of the printing done.

The Pickled Ladies, which have clearly captured my interest almost exclusively for the past month and a half.

Then the sunshine star clams which are almost twice the size of the Pickled Ladies blocks:

The final item on the list is the baby quilt, which is ready to quilt as soon as I find the right backing.  Who knew finding a wider flannel would be such an adventure?  I may end up making a pieced backing with some ’30s FQs for it.  No picture of it yet but as soon as it’s quilted there will be.

Every one of these quilts has been/is being made with Inklingo templates printed on my fabric.  It has made even complex patterns like the clamshell pickles simple.

Smudge looking angelic in lace.

And Lester curled up beside Mr. Q.O.’s desk chair.

Circle of Fractured Hearts

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On Monday’s post, I showed a photo of one of the quarters of the applique I had done over the weekend.  Last night, I finally got up my courage and sat down at the sewing machine to stitch the four quarters together.  I was, as usual, practically breaking into a cold sweat at the thought of having to make sure my sewing was this precise, as my sewing machine skills are less than wonderful.  But, thanks to the fabulous lines that one can use as matching points, with a little careful pinning I was able to stitch the four quarters together and now have a circle of fractured hearts.   I didn’t have to frog stitch any of the seams!

The back shows just how perfectly the lines matched up.  I don’t know that I’d want to try this with anything other than the shapes printed with Inklingo, though — as I doubt I could trace anything with this kind of precision.  In fact, I wouldn’t even want to try.  But now that I’ve got this block under my belt, I think I’m going to try one of the Celtic applique designs that are available in this collection.

One of the things I really loved about this applique block was that I set the size. I could have printed a 4″ block, a 6″ block, a 8″ block but I chose to print the design in quarters and then have a larger block that finishes at 14.5″ but I didn’t have all that fabric bunched up in my hand while I appliqued.  That’s an added value for me, as my hand will begin to hurt very quickly if I’m having to hold a large piece of fabric.

I have an idea for the fall fabrics I showed a while back using Winding Ways blocks that’s begging to be made.  I’m trying to resist but it’s getting more and more difficult.  I have so many projects on the go and so many others in the ideas book that I’d like to finish at least one before starting this.  Whether I can continue to resist the siren call of those Winding Ways blocks remains to be seen!

Lester was curled up asleep on the couch, showing us the paw pads on one of his feet.

While Smudge had taken over my desk chair.

Back-Basting Tutorial — Lots of Photos

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Lester is intently watching as we go through the steps I take when doing applique using the back basting process.

For back basting I use both a larger needle and larger thread.

When I do any applique, my method of choice is back basting.  I’ve found a few tricks that really help me.  First of all, I use a larger needle.  In the above picture, the top needle is a #8 straw and the bottom one is a #12 sharp.  I use the #8 straw for back basting with a thicker thread, as shown below.  And I always wear a thimble when doing this as getting that needle through some fabrics, particularly a batik, requires some protection for the finger!

The thread on the left is the normal heirloom 80 weight thread I use for piecing and applique.  The thread on the right is 30 weight DMC thread I use for backbasting.

With the applique design printed on the back of my background fabric, I pin a piece of fabric that’s large enough to cover the shape to be appliqued on to the right side of the background, with the right side of the fabric to be appliqued facing up.  Then, from the wrong side of the background and following the lines, I baste the pieces on to the background fabric using the large needle and large thread and taking relatively small stitches.  Here you can see all the pieces on the quarter block basted down.  If you click on the picture to enlarge it, you’ll see the basting stitches quite clearly on the pieces to be appliqued.

This is the back and it shows the basting following along the lines of the shapes that are printed on the wrong side of the background.

What this picture doesn’t show, and I wish I had taken one after this next step, is how flat it sits after I run my nail along the lines of basting to relax any gathers that have occurred as a result of pulling the basting thread a bit too tight.  Running a nail along the stitching line is all that’s needed to ease out those little gathers.

I’ve found that leaving a piece that’s basted overnight before starting to applique it makes the next step a lot easier.  The next day I pick up the piece and clip the basting  thread at about every 5th or 6th stitch as seen in this picture.

This next step is where the magic of this technique appears. After clipping the threads, I pull out the first one or two sections. Take a look at this picture and you’ll see the perforations in the fabric to be appliqued where the basting line was.

The fabric folds along that perforation line so easily it’s always amazing to me. With my needle, I fold it under and start to applique. I don’t look at the back again where the lines are until I finish all the applique. And every time my applique stitches are close to being perfectly on the line. The reason I leave the basting stitches in overnight is that I’ve found that it makes that little perforated line really do its job. Think of it like a piece of paper that has some perforations to make it easier to remove. I think the basting line does the same thing but, in the case of fabric, makes the fabric easier to turn under.

I begin to applique, pulling out a section or two of the basting thread as I go along.  The basting thread also serves to hold the fabric being appliqued in place.  So no fighting with pins, no freezer paper to remove, no overlay to try to keep out-of-the-way and no lines that might show on the front if the applique isn’t right on the lines of the design.  Just needle, thread and fabric.

In this picture you can see how closely my applique stitches are right on the line of the design.  It also shows the lines of another shape, which I chose not to add to this part of my applique block.

Again, another picture showing how closely the applique stitches follow the line of the design.

Everyone has their favourite method, but I hope this little tutorial gives you the information you need if you’d like to try the back-basting method.

Smudge is hoping you found this relaxing and informative.

A Little Applique

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This is clearly a work in progress, but it’s one I’m thrilled about.  I haven’t really done much applique at all in the past few years, partially because tracing lines with any sort of precision is … well, difficult.  My hand cramps up after a minute or two and it becomes such a chore that I give up.  But now?  Now I’ll be doing a little applique again because there are a couple of Inklingo applique collections with the promise of more to come.  At the moment, there’s a free collection found here and a Celtic applique found here.  The Celtic applique is by designer Scarlett Rose and is called San Kamon.  I’ve always been fascinated by Celtic applique and, as soon as I can settle on a fabric for the applique, intend to make one of the San Kamon designs.

My favourite method of applique is backbasting as it makes it so easy to get perfect placement with no overlay or pins or freezer paper.  Just needle, thread and fabric.  With Inklingo printing the lines on the back of the fabric, it makes backbasting a breeze.  You could also print your lines on the front of the background fabric, and use that for placement if desired.  Or print the shapes only on the applique fabric with or without turn-under allowance.  All the options are there.  I chose what size my block would be.  The picture I showed is one-quarter of a block that will finish at 16″.   My plan is to add a small border, and have a small table topper.  With a wide-format printer, one could print larger backgrounds.   I love the idea of having the choice regarding what size my finished blocks will be.

The other benefit for me is that by being able to make a larger block by using smaller quarters of that block, my left hand won’t cramp up when holding it to do the applique.  I know that’s not an issue for everyone, but it has been a real stumbling block for me.  Holding a 16″ block while doing the applique is not something I can handle.  But a quarter of that?  No problem!  This week is looking rather overwhelming again with work, but I’m hoping to stitch the four quarters together — by machine, no less — and have it ready to show sometime this week.

It got very cold here on the weekend.  They’re saying there may be frost all around us overnight tonight.  I suppose the only good thing about that is that we may well have a real colour show on Thanksgiving weekend, which is the traditional weekend for people to go for drives north of the city to see the leaves.  I still can’t quite believe that Thanksgiving weekend is this coming weekend for us.  It seems like yesterday it was still warm and  felt like summer.  It always surprises me just how quickly the temperatures go from hot to cold in the fall.

Lester was relaxing on the pink loveseat.

Smudge spent some time on the windowsill.  The fall seems to be his time for the window as he loves to watch the leaves swirling around on a windy day.   There are still lots of green leaves on the trees, but a fair number have turned colour and fallen.

September Clamshell Report

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Over the past month I have been working on these 6″ pickled clamshell blocks almost exclusively.  So far, there are 25 of  them done.  I first saw the block on Barbara Brackman’s blog back in June and fell in love with it.  When the Inklingo collections for the clamshell pickles came out, I got an idea almost immediately about the florals for the clamshells and black and white for the arcs surrounding each.  I’m calling this the Pickled Ladies quilt as I have visions of some very elegant, almost Audrey Hepburn-like, ladies in an upscale Art Deco bar.  Once I got the idea, I immediately started going through my stash for florals that I could fussy cut/print for the clamshells.  With the aid of a window template, which was easy to prepare by just printing one shape on a piece of paper that was 5.25″ x 6.5″, I was able to quickly cut my fabrics and print the clamshell templates on the back of each.

Stitching the blocks is much simpler than they may appear.  Putting each arc together is just lots of quick continuous stitching.  Adding an arc to each clamshell is a very quick stitch.  Stitching the pickled ladies together hasn’t begun yet as this will be at least a lap-sized quilt, if not larger, and I know I’ll want to play with the placement of them once the piecing is finished.

With the 11″ clamshell pickle collection, I have started this sunshiny quilt but I’m using an alternate setting and various colours for the end pieces of the arcs so that a little star-type shape appears at the intersection.  While I haven’t added to this in a week or so, it won’t take long to get this to a good size for a lap quilt.  Maybe in October I can tear myself away from the Pickled Ladies to add a few more blocks to this so there’s some progress.

That said, I have lots of clamshells printed and ready to stitch more Pickled Ladies.

As well as the pieces needed for a number of the arcs.

To see more clamshell quilts, go to Cybele’s Patch here and you’ll see the list of those participants in the clamshell club who have posted their progress this month.

Wednesday evening we were cooking some chicken for dinner.  Almost the entire time it was cooking, Smudge was sitting in the kitchen staring at the oven and meowing.  He seemed a bit impatient to get the bit of chicken we always give them when we cook it.

Lester was somewhat more restrained and just sat on the back of the pink loveseat staring into the kitchen.

Fabrics for Pickled Ladies

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On Saturday we went up to Sew Sisters as I wanted to look for more florals for the Pickled Ladies blocks.  I found these and then, on Sunday, went through the final container of shabby chic fabrics here and found another great grouping.  So now I think I’m getting close to the halfway mark with florals for the clamshells.  I’m thinking of adding some Oriental florals into the mix as there are some that play quite nicely with the shabby chic.

As well as the florals, I found some great blacks that will work perfectly for the spiky triangles in the arcs.  There are some super black fabrics around now and they’re light enough on the back that printing the shapes with Inklingo is no problem.  I find that now I look at the back of fabrics when choosing them and am surprised at just how many dark fabrics are quite light on the back.  This photo doesn’t really show the black fabrics that well — they’re much darker than they appear in this.  I think I had the flash on when I took the photo.

Sunday afternoon I got out my window template and fussy cut and printed enough of the clamshells to keep me stitching for a couple of weeks.  Using a window template makes it so easy and quick that I had close to 30 blocks ready in next to no time.

Friday we had temperatures in the 90s.  Saturday?  Saturday it was maybe in the low 60s but very breezy and it felt unbelievably chilly after that heat the day before. The sky on Saturday looked so stormy, although we had nothing but a few sprinkles of rain.  We got this shot just down the street from Sew Sisters.

This one of some of the trees in the area looks very much like fall to me.  I kept saying to Mr. Q.O. that the clouds looked like snow clouds.  Hopefully we don’t see any of that white stuff until January or February.

Last week I went to visit one of the blogs I read, Ann Champion‘s, and got a warning about malicious content.  On Sunday, Ann posted about what had happened — all as a result of links left in comments to pages that no longer exist.  It seems Google has a bot that crawls through links on blogs and if a link doesn’t work, the warning goes up about that blog.  Rather than repeat what Ann wrote, I’d suggest you go to Ann’s blog and read about her experience.  What it has made me realize is that links in comments are something I’m going to go through and delete.  It’s going to take a couple of weeks to do so but, after reading about Ann’s experience, I’m thinking I’d rather be pro-active on this issue.  I think I’ll also test any links I had in older posts and, if they no longer work, then I’ll delete them as well.  Ann wrote, “As you have time..go through your blog and check your links.  Active links of any kind are considered dangerous by the Google ‘bot’ when they reside in your comments,” so I think it’s worth the effort.

We had the heat on, on and off, during the weekend.  At one point, Lester was sitting on the windowsill and the warm air blowing up from the heating unit was making his ruff look rather  — well, interesting.

Smudge we caught in mid-yawn.