Jan Patek's Girl Gang Feathered Star quilt

I have what I think is really good news - at least for a few of you. I was talking to Barbara at Jan Patek Quilts - I confess, I've succumbed to this year's mystery - and I told her that there was interest in the Star Quilt since I started posting pictures of my version on my blog. I told her I was sorry that they'd never put it out in a book or pattern form because I thought many people would be interested in having it.

Barbara checked with Jan, and has just sent me an email. For $15 you can get the packet of instructions for the 2003-2004 Girl Gang Feathered Star. None of the extra projects will be included, and there is no colored picture of the quilt. It does include all the instructions and patterns for making the large quilt.

If you are interested either call them at (816) 632-7632 or email them at info@janpatekquilts.com. If you click on the link in the first paragraph you will be taken to her website.

You can see my version of the quilt here. No connection to Jan at all - just a quilter who loves her fabrics and designs.

Another block is ready

Update - both eagle blocks are now ready for appliqueing.

I had next to no time yesterday for quilting as it turned out. I wanted to make sure that didn't happen today. So . . . when I got home from the Weight Watchers meeting (we won't talk about my weigh-in this week as it wasn't good) I got back to prepping eagle blocks. The first one is ready for stitching. I wasn't at all sure if this was the right fabric choice for the eagle, but now that the block is together I've decided I like the visual texture of the fabric. Of course I had to pin it up on the wall to see how it's going to look in the quilt - I like it!

I wanted to see how one of the new blocks looked when pinned into place on the quilt. I like it!

Off to the wholesale house today as I need batting for customer quilts. This afternoon I'll prep the eagle blocks.

I think I gave the wrong impression in my tutorial. Much of the prep work involved is the same as what I've already been doing - tracing pattern onto freezer paper, cutting it out, ironing it onto the fabric and then cutting out the fabric pieces. The difference is this - I used to iron the freezer paper onto the right side of the fabric and then traced around it with a permanent pen. Now I iron it to the backside and use the brush, iron, water and stiletto to turn under the seam allowance. So the reality is that the prep time is only a bit longer than before. And it's more than made up for by the speed with which I can do the actual applique when the seams are already turned under.

Next two blocks prepped

Today I prepped the next two blocks for the Feathered Star Girl Gang quilt. All I need to do is baste the pieces down and it will be ready to go. Tomorrow I plan to prep the two eagle blocks. I'm going to be needing lots of handwork at the end of this week as I'll be doing a lot of sitting in waiting rooms. Between these four blocks and the last two borders of Heirloom Stitches I'll be all set. I love fussy cutting large floral prints for "painted" vases!

Applique Tutorial

Important - this isn't my method. I learned to do this from Margaret, who leads our Little Women's Club at Momma Made It in Longview, WA. Thanks Margaret!

This isn't really a new method for hand applique - rather a new method for preparing the applique. Usually I don't like fussy preparation methods, as I'd rather just get to the sewing. I've decided I to like this, however, for several different reasons.

• There is no marking on the fabric at all, so no worrying about getting the black line completely turned under while stitching.
• All edges are nicely turned already, especially the curves, which makes the stitching go SO much faster!
• Because the edges are already turned, it makes placing all the pieces correctly in a complex applique piece much easier.
• Because of #3, it's easy to thread baste all pieces in place so I don't have little pins in the project that fall out or catch my thread as I sew.
• Because the edges are already turned, I can fold the back fabric as I stitch, making it much easier to catch only a couple threads on the fold of the applique, and thus my stitches are hidden much better.
• Unlike the starch method - similar to this except starch is used instead of water - I don't have any messy residue and I don't have to worry about bugs being attracted by the starch.

Click on any picture for a better view of the details
Tools you need - a small iron that gets HOT. I have the little wand iron, but it doesn't get hot enough. I love my Rowenta Craft (used to be called Travel) iron. A seam ripper or a stiletto. I love using the stiletto. A paint brush. I like mine because of the slanted cut to the bristles and the plastic cushion where I hold it. Margaret had one like this, which she got at Joanne's. A small container for water. I like the small ironing pad also so I can sit down while I do this instead of standing at the ironing board. Freezer paper, scissors and a fine tip permanent marker.
1. Trace each applique piece onto freezer paper. If your design isn't symmetrical you will need to reverse the image. I do this by tracing on the shiny side of the freezer paper rather than the smooth, paper side. I like to cut a shape for each piece instead of using the same piece several times, as then I can do all the cutting and ironing at the same time. Cut our all the pieces.

2. Iron the freezer paper shapes to the wrong side of your fabric, leaving seam allowance space between the shapes. Put the curved parts of each piece on the bias whenever possible. Cut out each piece, leaving 3/16" seam allowance all around the piece (think a very fat 1/8", but less than 1/4").

3. Using the paint brush, wet just the seam allowance. If it's a big piece I do this in sections, pressing each one before painting the water onto the next one.

4. Using the stylus or seam ripper, fold the seam allowance over right at the edge of the freezer paper, using your fingertips of your other hand to hold it down as you turn. Press the edge well with your DRY iron. You shouldn't burn your fingers as long as you don't try to use steam. Because the fabric is wet it will crease nicely. Do just a little bit at a time - if you try to do too much your fingers won't be able to hold it down. (You don't see my fingers holding down the edge as I'm turning here because my other hand had to hold the camera!)

5. Curves turn under easily if they are on the bias. You will need a clip or two at inner curves - just make sure every thread turns under. For outer curves just fold a tiny bit at a time to keep the edge smooth. Try to have no large folds, as they will make a point instead of a smooth curve. Use your stylus and turn only a tiny bit at a time, holding the SA under with the tip of your finger as you turn.

6. Work your way around the entire piece. Give it a final good press on all the edges - both back and front. Fix any points that you see by opening up that spot, wetting it again, ironing it flat and then turning it again. When done, just pull out the freezer paper. Fabric has wonderful memory, and the edges will turn back very nicely even if they flatten a bit while waiting to be stitched down.

It will go a bit slowly to start with as you get used to turning the edge and pressing. At first I pressed under part of the freezer paper too, resulting in an edge that wasn't smooth. It took me a couple sessions of practice before I could do this easily and quickly. Don't give up right away if at first you find it a bit tricky and time consuming. You will soon get the right feel of the process.

If you've tried needle turn and given up, try this method. The stitching is so easy when the edges are already turned in place. I first tried this method on the little gold "vases" on the outside borders of Heirloom Stitches. It seemed to take forever to prep those 20 little pieces. I wondered if it was worth the effort - until I started to applique them. That's when I fell in love, because the stitching went so very fast. The second time for this method was the center block in the "Holiday Inn" medallion. The prep went very quickly on that one - just part of one evening. That's when I became totally sold on the method.

One more hint - the circles are still done with the Mylar washers. Check my other applique tutorials to see how to do them.

Happy Day!

Did you know that today is National Quilting Day? I was reminded earlier this week, but forgot about it this morning. A quilty greeting reminding us to celebrate just arrived from one of my Tangled Threads friends - I was glad to get that memory jog.

So . . . . here's wishing all of you a very happy National Quilting Day. I hope you all have a little time to spend quilting today - or doing something else that you want to do.

I spent much of yesterday and this morning finishing the March addition to Holiday Inn. I just love this little quilt! In case you hadn't noticed - I fussy cut all the "stopper" borders to give it a more "together" feeling. It doesn't really jump out at you, but I think it would be quite noticeable if I hadn't. If you click on the picture you can see the details much better.

One of you left a comment asking whether I used Thangles for the sawtooth border. I've tried Triangles on a Roll and wasn't impressed, and so I've never tried Thangles. I find that clever "shortcuts" usually work no better for me that just cutting triangles and sewing them together. What works best for me is to make many "parts" larger and then trim them down. I do this with half and quarter square triangle squares (hour glass blocks), square in a square blocks, and flying geese. The trimming down does take extra time, and can get tedious when there are hundreds of pieces to trim, but I love the way everything goes together so easily and perfectly after it's trimmed. I also use the "bias square" method of making triangle squares, using my Creative Grid rulers for the trimming instead of a "bias square" ruler. I have a tutorial on making triangle squares this way - check the list of tutorials near the top of my left sidebar.

Kona cottons

Some of you may be interested in more information about the Kona cottons. Here is the full list of the colors Eileen identified as historical. The numbers refer to the numbers on the color card from Robert Kaufmann fabrics. I ordered the color card from Hancocks of Paducah. The numbers on their website are different from the numbers below, so you'll need to look at the color name. Right now these fabrics are on sale for $2.25 per half yard. Here is a link directly to the fabrics.

149 Papaya is Chrome Orange (which 21st century quilters now call Cheddar)
1482 School Bus is 1890’s orange
1551 Rich Red is Turkey Red
1480 Chinese Red is 1840-1860 Turkey Red
1390 Wine is 1920’s Turkey Red as well as 1860’s and 70’s Turkey Red
25 Ocean is the closest thing to 19th Century Prussian blue
1192 Lime, 1703 Grass Green, 317 Peridot, and 1451 Avocado are all overdyed greens from the 1850’s through 1900
1865 Celadon, 29 Spring, 1259 Old Green, 1328 Seafoam, 1256 O.D. Green are all 1920’s through 30’s greens
198 Parsley is 1820’s through 30’s green
1185 Kelly, 1166 Hunter Green, 137 Pine are all oil boiled greens of the 1850’s through 1870’s
1361 Spruce, 1217 Mallard are 1870’s through 1880’s greens
1002 Alpine is an 1890's green
1373 Teal Blue is 1850’s green
1151 Garnet is an 1890’s red
1082 Cocoa is Oxblood from 1870’s
1191 Lilac is 1840’s-1900’s

A rough road ahead

I want to let my readers know that our family is facing some very difficult times in the next few months. I would appreciate you keeping us in your thoughts and prayers. Thank you to all my blogger friends for being there when I need you.

Weight loss journey - update

It's been some time since I've remembered to report on my weight loss journey. I'm progressing nicely - helped significantly by the fact that this virus - or viruses - that I've been battling for over a month took away most of my appetite. I'm now down over 35 pounds, and am about 8 pounds from goal! I'd actually like to lose an additional 5+ pounds after I reach my Weight Watchers goal, but my next focus is on hitting that 164 pounds suggested by my leader. It feels so good to be minus that weight. Now when I see people I've not seen for some time the first words out of there mouth are always "You look great!" What a nice thing to hear!

Fabric and more fabric

A few weeks ago I ordered a swatch card of Kona Cottons by Robert Kaufman fabrics. (I think these are the best quality solid fabrics available for quilters.) I took the card to my last "Turn of the Century Random Sampler" class with Eileen Trestain last month, and asked her to label various swatches as to which ones were suitable for reproduction quilts. I was surprised to find her labeling almost 25 of the different colors - I never thought there would be that many. My friend Franny - also in the class - and I decided to order bolts of many of these over the course of the next couple years, as we both want to replicate some of the antique quilts we saw in class - particularly applique quilts done with solid fabrics.

Yesterday the order arrived, and I spent much of today separating each bolt into two even halves. Gazing on such riches just makes me smile! That's about 10 yards apiece of each of the colors - enough for the very large four-block quilts we saw in class. We can hardly wait to get started!

From left to right, these are the fabrics we chose - overdyed greens 1850-1900 (Kona Grass Green), turkey red 1840-1860 (Kona Chinese red), 1870's-1880's green (Kona Spruce), chrome orange, which we call cheddar these days (Kona Papaya, which looks much too yellow in the picture), 1850-1870's oil boiled green (Kona Kelly).

I also ordered a couple of new-to-me books. I'd seen Flora Botanica by Barbara Brackman at Momma Made It and knew I had to have it. It's the catalog of a display of floral quilts at the Spencer Museum of Art in Kansas. It's a marvelous books - as are all Kansas City Star quilt books IMHO.

The second book, Small Blocks, Stunning Quilts, was recommended by my friend Kathie Holland. It's full of pictures of full size antique quilts made with small blocks - 4" to 5" or less - with instructions for reproducing them. Some have blocks as small as 1 1/2"! There are several quilts in this book that I'd love to make. If you love little blocks and antique quilts then you definitely need this book!

I've put my sewing room back in order after all the cutting - now to get back to the medallion quilt.