Seaside Postcards from McKenna Ryan

One of the perks of a wholesale account with McKenna Ryan is that I also get to make her quilts at an affordable price. Imagine the problems I had resisting the deal on laser cut kits on two of her designs – ‘From the Coast with Love’ and’ Snow Buds’

It is sort of cheating but I just fancied a bit of applique that I could do in a hurry. I have started on the Coastal one as I thought it would make a good window display, my being by the seaside and such. Added to which, I already bought the pattern on its own and having it made up as an example never hurts to sell a pattern.

I also have two Kukaburra Cottage quilts cut out ready to applique so the next few weeks could be busy on the applique front. I just need the machine to behave now and I will have fun.

I have laid out some of the Coast but I will be doing it with satin stitch rather than the McKenna Ryan method. It is the way I like to work and even wall hangings need a wash occasionally and I would not be happy if they frayed. Having said that I see why she uses her straight stitch method as it means the lines stay clean on what are almost paintings done in fabric.

Here are the first three laid out.

 

The fabric is interesting. It might be interesting to try it with other fabric too.

I will keep you posted on progress.

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Sunbonnet Sue Strikes Again.

For someone who purports not to like Sunbonnet Sue I am again showing signs of inadvertent addiction. I once made two bags using free Sue and Sam patterns from The Quiltery. Later I joined their pattern club when it was a very reasonable price and two of the downloads were the same Sue and Sam but more of them. (see this link).

So far I have appliqued ten blocks to make two quilts. They are fun and easy to do and I think they turned out well.

See what you think.

Now I just need to work out what to do about their faces. The sideways ones are fine but I think too many blank stares could cause nightmares amongst the young.

Anyway I am working on the rest of the top in my dungeon so pop back another day if you would like to see the results. I’m on a roll so it shouldn’t take too long. After all housework is not good for the soul, only the conscience.

I used the fabric I dyed myself and put into a blog last year.   I find it much easier to get variations whilst tying colours together using a fabric with lots of shades and patterns in different densities.

 

They also do matching embroideries. (see this link.)

Here is one I did earlier.

 

 

The Cheapskate’s Way to Unique Applique.

You may have noticed that patterns are expensive. They are also not always what you would choose. For instance, suppose that your child likes a particular character from literature or TV. You may not be able to get a pattern for an applique of same but you can probably find a colouring book. How obvious is that and how many people never think of it? I never have used this method but I’m considering it.

The other day I was browsing in a local shop that sells a lot of end-of-line  and remaindered stock and I found a  colouring book featuring snowmen. It is a bit late for this year but I will be making at least a snowman themed wall hanging  next year. In theory I could do it  now but I have a queue of UFOs and  refuse to allow a new project until at least some are finished.

This  book is ‘Colour with Frosty’ from www.holland-publishing.co.uk . This particular book is no longer on the site (probably why it was reduced) but there are lots more. The best place for cheap books is one of the remainder shops like The Works. If you want a closer look than the internet affords they have a store finder from your post code   and you can go along and grab an armful.

There were lots of other animals; bears and penguins for instance but these are the ones I have chosen on the snowman theme.

The Book – I am not sure  it is the actual Frosty the Snowman but that’s what it says on the tin so I’ll go with it.

Unless you are a McKenna Ryan fan choose pictures with large pieces and no fiddly bits. Having said that, if you see something you really like and it has lots of fiddly bits, have a go. I use the satin stitch method of attaching my appliques and I have not yet found anything too difficult, small or fiddly to deal with (even McKenna Ryan). In fact she has a beautiful new quilt with snowmen too. Have a look. If you like kits her fabrics are lovely.

If you need instructions on applique have a look at the ‘Tips and Tricks’ page on the heading at the top of this page. There are several applique projects with the basic how tos.

One note of caution. The books are someone’s copyright. If you use them for yourself I cannot see there would be a problem, although I am no expert. If you try to sell the resulting quilt, in theory you could get into copyright problems so best not to do it.

Monkey Puzzle Solved and the End of Christmas.

Just an update on the projects featured in the last post.

And  this one.

I had completed the alphabet monkeys for what was going to be a cot quilt. I obviously took my eye off the ball and having put it together with a set of 25 patch blocks, realised that it was a bit on the long and thin size. The only way to proceed was to make it into a full sized quilt for a single bed.

This I did.

Some Detail.

   Yet More.

And again.

Not my usual colours but I think they work quite well.

At the same time I was finishing ‘Chrissie Down Under’ by McKenna Ryan.

I can’t say I am as thrilled as I hoped by the completed wall hanging but at least it is finished.

I think my conclusion is that she does animals and birds very well but the Santa and the Cat don’t quite work. The problem with her patterns is that it is not easy to find a large picture of the finished quilt to see what it will look like.

I did use satin stitch round all the appliques rather than the suggested straight stitching with a poly filament thread. At least I can wash it without it falling apart.Mind you my all singing and dancing newer Pfaff refused to have anything to do with the multiple layers of fabric and glue. Whilst it was sulking I dug out my original Pfaff bought in 1985 and I have to say that it is far superior to the one I bought to replace it when the motor gave up. Nothing to do with the fact the original was made in Germany of course. (sarcy face emoticon) Luckily I decided that the small amount of money I was going to be charged to have a new motor fitted was worth it so I now have my old machine back and this quilt was able to be completed. What I will do with it I am not sure. We may have to move house to get higher ceilings.

I love the detail on these birds.

Fiddly but worth it.

These may be my favourites.

This bird presented the biggest challenge with its layers of feathers.

See the detail.

Kangaroos and pelicans.

As I sit posting this I can hear music from the village green. Every year Polperro has a music festival so every afternoon there are a couple of bands performing and then lots more in all the pubs in the evening. The Big Cheese and myself even took in a spot of chamber music on Sunday.

Dyeing to Show You

If you read my last blog you will have seen my first attempts at dyeing fabric. Since then I can’t stop myself. I have dyed a fabric in every colour I bought and some in more than one. Behold.

I have also started using them in my applique.

This one makes for rather a busy background but you can’t deny it’s colourful.

You may remember I used some similar fabric in a quilt I made featuring dragons. In fact it was this fabric that started the interest in dyeing my own.

close up of fabrics.

In case you were wondering about the clowns, they are from my new quilt pattern. It will be published as soon as I get the time to sort out the printing.

Here’s a preview.

Bow Acquires Colourful New String.

As if I didn’t have enough  hobbies and hobbies in abeyance I have started down the road to bancruptcy with yet another. I bought some rather beautiful hand dyed fabrics at two separate quilt shows. They are fantastic for applique as each piece of fabric can yield hundreds of variations of colour and texture  rather than having one overall  pattern or colour.

Although I have several, I got to thinking how useful it would be to have  variations of variations ad infinitum. The rest, as they say is history. I had a bit of an expensive hicccup at the beginning, choosing the wrong type of fabric but even that wasn’t a disaster, just a teaching aid.

My first mistake was to believe the wording on a fabric supplier’s site that stated that it’s RFD (ready for dyeing) fabric was the best it had ever seen. On the strength of that I bought a quantity. I would probably have been happy with the results if I hadn’t had the hand dyed fabric I had bought at the shows with which to compare it. The colours were bright but the finish on the fabric was letting them down. They looked dull when I wanted vibrant.

Over Christmas myself and Daughters numbers one and two did quite a bit of dyeing of fabrics but we were definitely underwhelmed with the results. I searched the internet to find out how other people tackled the problem. and found several answers and a reasonable consensus on the best way to go about things.

First of all I discovered that mercerised cotton is a better way to go. The treatment of the fabric means that the surface is less hairy and the  fibres absorb the dye better, thus providing the required vibrancy.

I also discovered that it appears that keeping the dye bath warm for as long as possible gives better results. For someone who works from a cellar that is decidedly nippy at this time of year this could be regarded as essential information.

The picture below was taken in said cellar and still you can see the difference.

The other thing that became apparent was that the way the fabric dyes also varies with the different fabric/methods. There is less of a flat colour with the mercerised cotton. See how the pattern is varied on the bigger sample below.

To an applique addict this type of fabric is the answer to so many problems.

I used the first fabrics I dyed to finish off my latest design. It is actually a Christmas wall hanging so it’s a bit late or a bit early depending how you view it. The design is actually from daughter number one and interpreted by yours truly.  I am particularly pleased with the fabric I used for Rudolph. It wasn’t planned but turned out to be perfect.

First the elf that has lost his clothes and the friend that thinks it is hilarious.

Not quite fiddling whilst Rome burns but something equally dangerous.

Seasoning greetings.

Above an inebriated Rudolph.

Below it doesn’t pay to sleep with idle hands in the vicinity.

At the moment I am working on some clowns using the more vibrant mercerised cotton. I will post pictures to show the difference. I will also do a tutorial based on the things I have learned. Watch this space.

The Trials, Tribulations and Triumphs of Chrissie Down Under.

I have finally started my Mckenna Ryan quilt. I think the one I have chosen – Chrissie Down Under – is probably one of the better ones for my purpose. It is a personal opinion but, art quilt or not, I cannot get my head round the idea of not actually sewing the shapes permanently onto the backing. The advice is to vacuum rather than wash but I guess that depends on how long you intend to use the quilt and, in the case of the Christmas one, whether it will suffer from storage or sticky fingers. I had ideas of ignoring the instructions and satin stitching the pieces on but there are so many layers on some of the pieces that I fear my Pfaff will rebel as it always does given too much bulk to deal with. I think the main problem is the layers of glue from the fusible web but whatever it is it may scupper my plans.

I would also say that these are not patterns for a beginner. This is not because they are complicated, although they are. If you have the determination and the discipline to practise and a modicum of common sense then I think most things in applique are possible. My main contention with this , and presumably her other patterns, is that they are printed on both sides of the pattern sheet. This may not seem a problem if you have not tried tracing them off but if, like me, you like to use a lightbox, it is very frustrating. It is not as if they are cheap and there is therefore a need to save paper to save money. It is not impossible to trace the pieces off but it is unnecessarily frustrating trying to sort out what is the outline of the piece being traced and having to turn the light box on and off in order to determine which side of the pattern it is on. As such it might put a beginner off applique in general.

Despite the above I have just spent a pleasant couple of days tracing and fusing  blocks, at the same time  listening to  the new J.K. Rowling on my iPod. Whilst this would not be any good in the tradition of Dunbar of Catch 22 fame who liked to stay as bored as possible in order to live longer, the combination of the two makes the day fly past. Luckily this is not a problem as I have so many quilts still to make that I will have to live for ever in order to complete them or die in the attempt.

Here are the first three laid out ready to stitch. Having traced the shapes and fused them onto the various fabrics, if you follow the numerical or alphabetical order of the pieces they are actually easy to construct.

I have not bought the fabrics recommended for the quilt partly because I have far too much fabric already and partly because I want to put my own stamp on it.

I will post the rest as I do them and show what method of attaching the shapes to the background I adopt in the end.

Having a Masked Ball

Aren’t these just the bees knees? When I saw them over on Tiramisues  blog I just had to have a go. I survived  30 years in Africa, amongst  other places and whilst there were a couple of close calls and not all the memories are happy ones, I have always had a fascination with some of the artefacts, particularly masks and I am always looking for different embroideries so these definitely appealed. I don’t think they are all necessarily African masks but that matters not a jot.

If you do any amount of machine embroidery you will know that not all digitisings (is that a word?) are equal. Some stitch out beautifully and some, what can I say – don’t. These particular ones come into the  category of ‘beautifully’. They start with a line of stitching which frames the design and  in effect tacks the fabric to the background.

This was an added bonus for me because it meant I could hoop stabiliser and float the fabric on top without worrying about it moving during the stitching.

This meant I didn’t need such a large piece of fabric because I didn’t need to allow for the hooping nor did I have to work out why the machine was telling me the designs were bigger than they were. (It was telling me an untruth.)  It also gave me a use for the absolutely ginormous hoops that came with my machine. Having had them for over two years without using them I was glad to find they aren’t wasted. The frame is literally just a tack down and it is loose so that it can be removed after stitching.

The  colour charts look as if they have lots of colours but in fact you can use as many or as few as you like. I averaged about 5 colours but you could really go to town on the psychedelics if so inclined. If you have never done any machine applique before it may appear a bit daunting but all you have to do is read through the charts before starting and all becomes clear.The charts supplied make it easy to understand.

I used the diagram printout produced by my software to trace pieces roughly the size needed but as long as the fabric  covers the trace line stitched for each shape it doesn’t really matter unless you are trying to preserve fabric.

For each applique shape the pattern stitches an outline onto which the roughly cut fabric piece is then placed. You can see the stages in the chart above. Look at the main head shape and you will see there are four stages to its completion. The first is to define the shape, the second to stitch the fabric in place the third defines the path the satin stitch will take and the fourth is the satin stitch itself.

Defining the shape.

Placing the fabric.

The fabric is then trimmed close to the line, preferably with a pair of duckbill scissors like these. They make the trimming so much easier and with less likelihood of snipping the threads. This is obviously done without removing the fabric from the hoop as you need it to stay in the same place, although you can remove the hoop from the machine to make it easier.

Trimming.

Ready for Stitching. Ignore the fact it is a different mask. the same principles apply.

The next stage may be the satin stitch that fixes the piece permanently to the background or this stage may be done later with other satin stitch, depending on the design.

I did a test firing so to speak to see how the designs and colours work so I used roughly the same colours as the originals so that I was only worrying about one thing at a time. I shall probably end up doing several versions now I have the measure of it. If you want to see how they all look on a plain background go over to Tiramisue’s blog  (link in the first paragraph above) or her Etsy Page where you can see the whole range and buy the designs if you want to.

This was the first one I tried with a plain background on a stiff fabric so that all conditions were ideal.

Isn’t he a handsome fellow.

Closeup of the stitching .

I have done the rest on a print to show a different way.  I chose a fabric that reminds me of the threatening sky of a tropical thunderstorm. I kept the black for the base of the masks to stand out from the busy background.

Here is the first one with the tacking frame still on. This could be a good guide to square up the blocks too. The design allowed for another piece of fabric in the central part of the design (see the chart above) but I decided just to outline it with satin stitch. With the blue one with the big horns  below I have added the extra layer of  purple fabric.

Here is a close-up.

An even closer up showing the ”beads’ on the alternative version of this mask.

Some more

Imagine the fun you could have making a wall hanging and adding beads and jewels and 3D bits and pieces.

If you fancy a set of these as pictures or a wall hanging or quilt you can get the designs  from Tiramasue’s  Etsy page.

Check your hoop capabilities as they are all large designs.

Here is the finished article.

Shoes, Glorious Shoes

When my family go travelling their suitcase interiors stay sparkly clean. This is due in part to the bright idea thought up by Daughter Number One several years ago. Shoe bags are the secret weapon. In fact they are not only for shoes. I use them for anything that needs to be protected or from which other things need protection. Ergo undies, laundry items, shoes, hair dryers and straightening irons, belts, books etc etc etc. Between DNO, DNT and myself we made hundreds . They are very relaxing to make and rather fetching when finished. DNO visited this week and while she was choosing a selection to sell in a local hotel we came across some appliqued but not finished.

These are not like the sock monkeys I have been appliqueing. These are individually traced, pieced, fused and machine appliqued without the aid of a digitiser. They are a labour of love and I thought you might like to see some of them.

This is my favourite style. Whilst we do not ever do two exactly the same I do rather like this one and so a few have been made in this style with different fabrics.

The Same but different.

Interestingly with three of us choosing styles and fabrics the shoes come out as shoes we would probably buy if available. DNT did quite a few of these and this one is definitely her style.

I rather like this boot.

This is another of my favourites.

This one is appropriately of a dance shoe as the idea originally came from a dancer for use by dancers.

A bright trainer.

Lots of strappy sandals.

Mustn’t leave out the men.

I also made a couple of quilts at one time. Not that I’m obsessed or anything.

I designed quilt patterns to add to the patterns available on my web site.

Remember when you are ooohing, aaahing and why?ing that these are original patterns made with loving care.  Pattern pieces produced by Spotty Chicken, pieced by Bird Brain and appliqued and finished by Speckled Hen. (Don’t ask) They really are quite addictive. If you would like one they are on the website. If you would like to make your own but would like some top notch patterns with which to do them, why not buy a quilt pattern and that will give you six applique patterns suitable for shoe bags as well as a quilt pattern. That’s Christmas sorted. Clever eh!

The End of the Monkey Business

Herewith the final part of the sock monkey extravaganza. The alphabet bags.

I embroidered sock monkey appliques from designs by juju onto cotton bags. I did two sets but here is a selection. If you are interested in the other sock monkey blogs or other designs they are HERE and HERE and HERE.

I did two different styles of fabric and had matching hats on one set and contrasting on the other.

Here are a few examples.

If you want to see any more letters have a look at my website page.

They also come in girl monkeys but I haven’t done those yet as they are a bit gender specific.

Happy monkeying.