Thursday, May 5, 2016

Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks, Volume 13 Blog Tour

Hello quilters!  Welcome to my little segment of the Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks, Volume 13 Blog Tour.  I can't believe we're up to 13 issues of 100 Blocks already!  Here's my block for this issue, Evening Bloom.  It's in the applique section, on page 14.  If you love applique as much as I do, this block will be fun to sew!  I believe there are 67 pieces?  Count them if you want to.

I made my block with these gorgeous fabrics - Wool Needle Flannels III by Primitive Gatherings for Moda Fabrics.  So delicious!

I used a green tone on tone plaid for the bias stems.  To make the stems, cut the fabric 1-1/4" wide on the bias, fold in half, and sew a tiny seam along the length of the strip.  Press the seam under and voila! - you are ready to applique.

To help with stem placement, I drew a four by four grid with chalk onto my background piece.  I did not have to remove the markings later, they were gone by the time I was finished sewing the stems down.

Next, I used tiny applique pins to secure the stem in place, and stitched it to the background fabric.

I applied the flowers, leaves, and berries using the fusible applique method - always fun!

To keep my pieces separated while I work, I put them into little zipper sandwich bags as soon as I cut them out.

Here you can see the stems sewn in place and the flowers, berries, and a few of the small leaves after fusing.  I prefer to fuse a few at a time, rather than trying to lay out all the pieces at once.  I just give them a quick tap with the iron at this stage, so if I need to move anything I still can.  I give everything a final fuse when all the pieces are in place.

Here is a close up pic of the berries and leaves.

After all the pieces are fused in place, I like to go around each patch with matching thread and a zigzag stitch.  You can just barely see the stitching here, on the bud and leaves.

Here is the completed block, once again, Evening Bloom.  I hope you enjoyed seeing my creative process and maybe learned a tip or two for sewing my block.
  
And now for the giveaway!  If you would like your very own copy of Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks, Volume 13, please leave a comment below, and let's make it interesting.  Please comment about who taught you to quilt.  I'll choose a random winner at the end of the blog tour.  Please be sure I have a way to contact you, should you be the lucky one.

To return to the blog tour, and more quilty inspiration, click here:  Quilty Pleasures.

Have a lovely day,

Jennifer Schifano Thomas



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