Examples of how the block should be:
Violets I – In Progress and Violets II – In Progress

Violets II – In Progress
Hand Pieced, Hand – Appliqued

Waiting for Ruched Violets to be added

JoAnn Fabrics, Quilter’s Garden – QBOM (1996)

Violets I – In Progress, originally uploaded by quiltnomad.

Violets II – In Progress, Violets III – In Progress

Artful Applique by Jane Townswick

Artful Applique: The Easy Way (That Patchwork Place)

This is one of my most useful books about applique.  It is a book that I have read again and again, each time absorbing more of the applique techniques.  The photos are very clear and the instructions are thorough.  I consider myself to be self-taught when it comes to applique — and this is the most important text that I use.

Blazing Star, originally uploaded by quiltnomad.

I was quite pleased with how it turned out, except for a couple not-quite-so-sharp points, and a point that is going to be eaten when I sew it to its neighboring block.

I was especially happy with how, well — how circular, my flower center is.  I used a circle from Paper Pieces.   They are die-cut templates made out of sturdy paper, used for applique or English Paper Piecing. 

I showed my block to my friend, Kim, who sits behind me at work.  She is not a seamstress, much less a quilter.  Fellow quilters, you understand — she was impressed, but not for the same reasons that another fellow quilter would be impressed.

I told her that I was pleasantly surprised at how well the block had turned out.  Kim asked me, “Why?”

Remembering that I was talking to a non-sewer, I told her “because sewing a circle that looks like a real circle is just about one of the most difficult things to do.”

Dan, my manager, piped up from behind his pod wall.  “No.  That’s not the most difficult things to do.”

“And what would be the most difficult thing to do then?”  I called back.

“Threading the needle.”

Of course, at which point, I got up from my chair and took my tiny needle and thread to his office and proceeded to demonstrate threading the tiny eye of the tiny needle that I use for applique.

0904081835a.jpg, originally uploaded by quiltnomad.

This is an Hourglass block from JoAnn Fabrics 2006 QBOM – Garden Impressions.

This particular block is machine-pieced; the circles and tear-drops are hand-appliqued.

The circles were made by using a dime as a template. I cut a square of fabric that was approximately 1-1/2″ square, then basted and gathered it around a dime.

Since I was lazy, and I was at work — I appliqued the circle (dime and all) directly to the block. Appliquing the circle, with the thickness of the dime inside, was probably not the best choice of methods.

After the circle was completely sewn, I snipped away the extra fabric at the back of the block, teased out the basted stitches, and trimmed away the extra corners of fabric (since I started with a square, instead of a circle).

Finally, after much manuevering, I managed to extract the dime.

Given the appropriate setting and the right tools, I would approach this differently, if I were at home.

I would still baste over the dime. However, then I would press the circle (with the dime inside). After the dime cooled, I would carefully snip enough of the basting to remove the dime — then repress (and rebaste, if necessary). After I had my perfect circle, I would then applique the circle to the block.

I might not remove the extra fabric from the back of the block, and so would result in a slightly puffy, self-puffed circle.

When I appliqued these teardrops, I deviated from my normal procedure of appliqueing.

I still followed the same procedure as I mentioned for the Blazing Star: tracing the template onto paper, cutting out the paper template, basting the paper to the fabric on the sewing line, carefully tearing away the paper from the fabric.

This is where I deviated: since it was very apparent where to lay the teardrops, I didn’t feel it necessary to turn the seam allowances before beginning to applique. I pinned the two teardrops in position, and then needle-turn appliqued the teardrops.

In retrospect, this was a mistake, I believe. I think I would have accomplished much smoother curves and much sharper points, if I had carefully turned the seam allowances and basted them down before begining the applique.

Of course, this was my first hand-sewing project in …. well, in months, so maybe I was just a bit rusty.

I will post the second Hourglass block later, so you can judge for yourself.

0904081835.jpg, originally uploaded by quiltnomad.

This block is from JoAnn Fabrics 2006 QBOM – Rhythm and Blues.

The background is one piece, even though the fold lines make it look like it was a pieced background.

I use an amalgamation of techniques to make my applique. I have read so many different books and have applied a little bit of what I’ve learned from one location, and added a little bit of something else.

My first attempts at applique used the traditional “needle-turn” technique. However, my first attempts did not take into account the seam allowances.

Oh, I cut the pieces out correctly, but when I laid them on the ground, I did not take into account the fact that the pieces were going to be 1/4″ smaller all the way around. This resulted in pieces that were supposed to be touching each other, floating about 1/2″ away from each other.

I have since learned to prevent that by turning under all my seam allowances on each individual piece before starting to applique. It was particularly important in a block like this one, where eight different petals had to interlock correctly.

Some people might find that my method takes extra, unnecessary steps — but I don’t mind, because it leads to accuracy.

In this case, I traced the individual pieces onto paper, marking on the sewing line. I then cut out the paper templates, with a 1/4″ seam allowance, by eye.

I pinned the each piece to its respective fabric, then basted the paper template to the patch — basting on the sewing line. I then cut out each patch, again adding a 1/4″ seam allowance by eye.

I then carefully tore away the paper template. Using the basted line as my turning guide, I turned under the edges — basting the seam allowance down.

Once all pieces were prepared in this way, I pinned all the petals to the background fabric. This proved to be an important step, because my first attempt resulted in the petals being too far apart in the center. If I had not laid out all of the petals first, and had just started needle-turning each patch one at a time, this would have led to disaster.

Some of the petals would have encroached into the seam allowance edge of the block and one of petals would not have fit at all.

Preparing the block in this way also allowed me to consider the layout of the pieces, and which seam allowances needed to be turned, and which would lay flat (because they were covered by other patches).

For instance, I started sewing one of the dark green petals, starting just at the point where it was covered by the medium blue swirl petal. This let me turn the seam allowance where necessary, and left the rest of the seam allowance flat. I sewed a partial seam on the dark green petal, sewing from the curve and just around the point of the petal.

I then moved back to the medium blue petal and repeated the process — only this time, I was able to sew the complete petal: sewing the curve, around the point, and then the straight-away where it overlapped the dark green petal.

I then continued clockwise around the flower.  When I reached the original dark green petal, I started up where I left off on the straightaway and appliqued the dark green petal over the edge of the dark blue petal.

Even after all those steps, you can see that I should have exercised a bit more care in laying out the petals.  They all should have been snuggled up closer together yet at the center of the block; the tip of one of the petals is going to be cut off in the seam allowance when I sew this block to its mate.

http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/exchange/node/1675

Starry Night, by Vincent van Gogh

How much of van Gogh’s artistic ability and creativity was a direct result of his mental condition? Hundreds of physicians and psychiatrists have tried to define van Gogh’s medical conditions over the years. One of those conditions that he has been diagnosed with post-humously is bipolar disorder.

“Due to Van Gogh’s extreme enthusiasm and dedication to first religion and then art coupled with the feverish pace of his art production many believe that mania was a prominent condition in Van Gogh’s life. However, these episodes were always followed by exhaustion and depression and ultimately suicide. Therefore, a diagnosis of bipolar disorder or manic depression makes sense with the accounts of these episodes in Van Gogh’s life.”

http://www.vangoghgallery.com/misc/mental.html