Month: March 2022

Last week, we explored what kind of fabric is needed for raw edge applique.  This week we’ll explore the tools which are essential to perform this applique technique.  Fortunately, if you’re a machine-piecer, you probably have most (if not all) of these gadgets in your sewing area.

First, let’s define exactly what raw-edge applique is.  Last week I explained there are two broad categories of machine applique – raw edge and finished edge.  Raw edge is exactly as it sounds.  Raw Edge Applique is a technique in which the motifs to be appliqued to the background fabric are cut the exact size needed and the edges are kept “raw”, meaning the edges are not turned under to the back.  These applique motifs are stitched to the background fabric with either a zigzag or buttonhole or blanket stitch stitch…which brings us to the first tool needed for raw-edge applique … your sewing machine. 

Neither raw edge nor finished edge applique require a sewing machine with a lot of fancy stitches (but if your machine has a few extra posh ones, don’t hesitate to try them out on your applique).  As long as your machine can do the basics, it’s good to go.  In next week’s blog we’ll explore the stitches, their lengths and widths, and tension.  For now, just know as long as your sewing machine can do a single stitch zigzag and you have the ability to change the length and width of the stitch, you’re ready to start.  If your machine can make a buttonhole or blanket stitch, you’ve got lots of raw-edge applique options.  And one more piece of information at this point:  A buttonhole stitch and a blanket stitch are the same stitch.

Sewing machine manuals call them different names, but for my blog, I will refer to this stitch as the buttonhole stitch.  The standard sewing machine rules apply:  Make sure it’s cleaned, oiled (if necessary) and in good working order.  You will probably want to clean your machine after completing a raw-edge project, too.  All the fabric and stabilizer can cause lint build-up in the bobbin case and surrounding area.

In keeping with the sewing machine theme, the next notion to consider is your sewing machine needle.  The needle needs to be sharp and thin, so it will cleanly pierce the fabric and not leave a noticeable hole behind.  For most   applique fabrics, a size 70 or 75 will work nicely.  If burlap, ultra-suede, denim, or other fabrics which are not quilters cotton or batiks are used, please consult a needle guide to determine which sewing machine needle will work best.  I wrote a blog about sewing machine needles https://sherriquiltsalot.com/2021/01/20/most-of-what-you-need-to-know-about-sewing-machine-needles/.  It may be handy to refer to this if you need to. 

My favorite applique needle is Schmetz Microtex.

It’s thin and sharp.  I use it for almost everything – piecing, applique, even quilting on my M7.  A few years ago, Schmetz came out with their Super Nonstick Needle in size 70/10. 

And I must admit, as far as machine applique goes (of either type), this needle is pretty awesome. 

These needles are coated with a  non-stick coating of NIT (Nickel-Phosphor-PTFE).  The NIT performs like Teflon in a pan – nothing sticks to it – which means neither the fusible nor glue used with machine applique rubs off on the needle.  With a regular needle, eventually a gucky build up will coat the needle shaft, making it difficult to stitch.  You’ll need to change regular needles more frequently, especially if it’s a large applique project under your needle.  If you quilt on a domestic or (some) mid-arms and use basting spray, the fusible spray also won’t stick to the needle.  The Super Nonstick Needles aren’t expensive.  You may find they’re a welcome addition to your machine applique tool kit. 

Two different types of scissors are needed – the pair you use to cut paper and a pair to cut fabric.  My favorite type of fabric scissors for machine and hand applique are Karen Kay Buckley’s Perfect Scissors. 

I’ve talked about how much I love these in other blogs.  The blade edges are micro-serrated, meaning not only do these scissors grip and then cut your fabric, but the micro-serration works like tiny pinking shears – they help keep the applique fabric from fraying.  Paper scissors are needed to cut the fusible web, which (with the exception of Misty Fuse) is backed by paper.

Obviously, thread must have some careful consideration.  Most of the time, it’s the co-star of raw-edge applique, but there are times when it plays front and center.  This all depends on the look you want.  The raw-edge applique from the 1930’s (which was done by hand), used heavy black thread – usually embroidery floss.  So, if you’re constructing a 1930’s applique reproduction quilt, you may want to opt for black thread in order to make the quilt look historically correct.  If a matte finish is the look you want, then cotton thread may be what you need.  A polyester or rayon thread will have more sheen and may compete with your fabric.  But if you are making a quilt with shiny objects, such as snowflakes, fairies, lights, and stars, you may want to reach for one of those to complement your applique pattern.  With either the cotton, rayon, or polyester thread, most of the time the thread should match the fabric … which brings us to the issue…

What if a lot  of different fabrics are used?  If I have an applique block such as this:

I’ll may change thread hundreds of times!  This takes time!  This takes thread!  There’s got to be an easier way!

And there is.  There are three ways to approach this issue:

•  Fuse down all the applique pieces in the block.  I know some applique artists do bits and pieces at the time, but if you can, lay out the entire block and fuse everything down.  If you can’t fuse all the applique down at once, at least try to break the block into sections.  Then stitch around all the fabrics which are the same color – stitch around all the greens, then all the pinks, then all the yellows, etc.  This way instead of changing thread a dozen or more times, you’ve reduced the amount to only the number of colors used. 
• Use a variegated thread.  This is one of my favorite go-to tricks when I’m working with floral designs – especially for leaves and stems.  A variegated green seems to blend in effortlessly amid a ton of different greens in my fabric foliage.  Same thing with pinks.  My personal preference is Aurifil 50-weight variegated.  There is no “white gap” between the different shades and hues on the thread (sometimes there is a noticeable length of white thread before the colors begin to repeat and this sticks out like a sore thumb on your applique). And the 50-weight assures the fabric will be showcased, not the thread.

• You can use monofilament thread.  Now, huge disclaimers about the monofilament thread.  First, it may require special handling, and I’ll have more about this later.  Second, it’s important to remember what your thread is supposed to do with raw edge applique:  Encase the outer edge of fabric to help prevent fraying.  Monofilament thread doesn’t do this as well as regular thread.  Third, some monofilament thread becomes fragile as it’s exposed to light, heat, and age.  All of that said, I have a love/hate relationship with monofilament.  It can be fiddly to sew with, I must give it more attention than normal thread, and it’s not going to last forever.  But if I’m working on a quilt like this:

I definitely consider using monofilament.  However, due to some of its drawbacks, I wouldn’t use it on a quilt which may regularly see the inside of a washing machine.  Certain detergents can also degrade this thread.  Since we’re here, let’s discuss some of the characteristics of monofilament and some steps you may want to take in order to have a successful relationship with it.

Monofilament thread comes in two colors – smoke and clear.  The smoke is used on darker fabrics and clear on the lighter ones.  Lots of thread manufacturers offer monofilament thread, but my one word of caution is stay away from the super-cheap, badly manufactured ones.  I know my regular readers remember I’m a thread snob, but seriously…do yourself a favor and purchase from a good thread manufacturer.  My favorite monofilament threads come from YLI, Superior Threads, and Aurifil. 

Once you have good monofilament thread, the next step is to look closely at how it’s wound on the spool.  Usually, it’s straight-wound – the thread is stacked in horizontal rows.  If this is the case, then you will need to use the vertical spool pin on your sewing machine. 

Often this is a separate spool pin included with your machine.  Consult your manual to see if you have one and where it’s located.  If you don’t have a vertical pin, this is not a problem.  Vertical thread holders can be ordered from nearly any sewing website or Amazon and they’re reasonably priced. 

Use regular cotton thread in your bobbin and proceed to test your preferred raw-edge applique stitch on scrap fabric.  The stitch should look completely normal.  If you find the monofilament thread looks like it’s just sitting on the fabric, adjust your top tension a bit.  Loosening the tension should fix this, as well as any puckering you may see. 

If your monofilament seems to be too tightly wound – it curls like crazy as it’s coming off the vertical spool holder and this makes it difficult to feed smoothly through the machine – you may want to put some distance between the thread and the machine.  Put the thread on a stand alone vertical holder, in a cup, or a bowl (really anything with high enough sides the thread won’t roll out of) and move it several feet away from your sewing machine.  This extra space allows the monofilament to relax a bit and easily feed through your machine.

My last word about monofilament concerns the fabric used with it.  Remember monofilament doesn’t cover the edge of the applique motif as well as other thread, so the fraying factor is an issue.  Because of this, I only use batiks when I raw edge with monofilament.  Batiks have a high thread count, so they don’t fray much anyway.  This gives me  a little more piece of mind when stitching my piece out with monofilament.

There are a couple of more machine applique notions you will want to have.  Both finished edge and raw edge applique can employ a single-stitch zigzag, and most machines come with such a stitch and a foot for it. 

The buttonhole stitch requires a foot which has an open slot for the needle to move both horizontally and vertically to complete the stitch. 

Either of these feet can be used for raw-edge applique, but because of the feet’s construction, it’s difficult to get a clear view of your stitches.  If your machine has an open-toe embroidery foot and you can use it for these stitches, I would recommend it.  This type of foot makes it so much easier to see the needle’s path.  I was really excited when I found out my M7 not only has an open-toe foot, but this foot:

Which is specifically made for machine applique.  It’s made from clear plastic, and the two toes do not extend out very far from the stitch slot.  This foot is smaller than most feet, giving me a lot of viewing area around my applique motif, the needle, and the stitches. 

You may also want a Goddess Sheet, or some other Teflon infused surface.  These will give you the ability to assemble some applique pieces off the background.  The Teflon keeps the pieces from sticking to your ironing surface when you press them together.  A piece of parchment paper will also work in a pinch.

The last few items are also pretty handy:

Bias Tape Makers and/or Bias Bars

The gadgets are used to make stems and vines.  I have both bias tape makers and the bias bars.  Which ones I use depends on the look I want, and the size of the stem.  The largest bias tape maker can produce 2-inch-wide stems, and the smallest can make ¼-inch ones.  For the novice machine or hand appliquer, this is probably exactly what you need.  However, as you become a more confident applique artist, you may want narrower stems than ¼-inch.  This is where the bias bars come in handy. 

These can be used to make super-skinny stems and vines.  The stems made with the bars also have a bit of height to them (due to the seam in the back), so they do add a little more dimension to your applique project.  I plan to write a blog on these tools (as well as the other ways I make stems) in the future.

Stiletto

I’ve mentioned this tool before.  The pointy end can be used to hold applique motifs in place as you stitch them down or press them in place.  Personally, I own a small horde of stilettoes.  They’re in my hand sewing kit, in my pressing area, and near my sewing machine.  Yes, I use them a lot!

Fabric Glue

Once in a while, the fusible behind your motif may loosen it’s grip on the background, and a dab of fabric glue can hold everything in place until you get it stitched down.  I generally use Roxanne’s either in the bottles with the tip or in glue stick form.  However….in a pinch, I’ve also reached for Elmer’s school glue.  A dap of this works just as well.

Circle Templates

No one knows how hard it is to draw a really good circle until they try to do it.  They come out lopsided and lumpy and pretty awful.  There are a number of wonderful circle templates out there.  In the art section of many big box stores Hobby Lobby or on Amazon, you can find these:

These are architectural gridded circles used for landscape or building plans.  However, they work fine and dandy for quilting.  Creative Grids also has this template:

Which is also very nice.

If you think either finished edge applique or hand applique may be in your future, you may want to opt for Karen Kay Buckley’s Perfect Circles (they come in two sizes) or Applipops. 

A blog on how to make circles will also be published in the future.

While we’re on the subject of templates, if you find the applique bug bites you hard, you may want to begin collecting templates.  Templates are an easy way to change up an applique block and make it more your design than the pattern’s.  Have a beautiful wreath, but you’d really like to add a bird?  There are bird templates.  Need some leaves?  There are templates for those, too.  Applique templates are heat-resistant, meaning you can use them for both types of applique.  For raw edge applique you simply trace around them on the paper side of the fusible.  For finished-edge applique you can press the fabric’s edge over the side of the template for either hand or machine stitching.  I have purchased a lot of template sets from Piecing the Past Quilts (https://www.piecingthepastquilts.com/).  They have sets of templates called Simplique and they are awesome. 

Next week I’ll talk about stitch length and width and discuss how to lay out your block.  Then we’ll move on what’s the best way to stitch around the motifs.

Until next week, May Your Quilt Yours!

Love and Stitches,

Sherri and Sam

I promised earlier this year I would have a few blogs on applique.  This is the first one.  I’m not sure how often I will post them, but I will try to group the same styles of applique together in a series of uninterrupted posts.

Before we get into applique too deeply, I realize not all quilters like to applique and you may be one of these people.  I’m not trying to win hundreds of converts over to my side Who am I kidding?  Yes, I am.  but I would like you to keep an open mind about the technique and try it out at least once.  This year’s theme is “Make your quilt, yours!” and applique is an easy way to do this.  You can throw some applique in a pieced block or a border and suddenly the quilt you made looks vastly different than the quilt on the pattern.  You’ve made the quilt uniquely yours.  So, let’s take a broad, general look at the types of applique and then we’ll discuss raw edge applique – which happens to be a personal favorite.

In my mind, applique can be divided into two categories:  hand applique and machine applique.  The kind done by hand can involve the techniques of needle turn, back basting, Apliquick, freezer paper on the right side of the fabric, and freezer paper on the wrong side of the fabric– just to name a few.  Machine applique involves a sewing machine, matching thread or monofilament thread, stabilizer, and fusibles or glue.  As long as your sewing machine can perform a straight, zig zag, buttonhole, or blind hem stitch you’re good to go.  Most machines can minimally perform a zig zag and straight stitch, so there’s no need to purchase a special sewing machine for this technique unless you want to.  Again, in broad terms, machine applique falls into two categories:  raw edge or finished edge applique.  All fabric used in applique requires some consideration, however machine applique of either type needs to have a few special qualities.  Let’s talk about the background fabric first. 

Background applique fabric is the piece of material all the applique pieces are stitched down to.  Usually, this background is a neutral, and honestly the definition of a neutral has vastly changed over the years.  When I made my first applique quilt, the neutral was generally a tan, ecru, beige, white, or black piece of fabric.  Fast forward to now and I honestly think we need to either re-define the term “neutral” or toss it out altogether.  This realization smacked me in the head about ten years ago when I went to the AQS show in Paducah and the quilt which won best machine applique used chrome yellow as the background.  It was at this point, I knew the neutral “rule” had been stood on its head.  My next applique quilt had pink background fabric.  Since then, I’ve used whatever color worked best with my desired look, including black gingham.  There are some quilts you should probably stick with the traditional neutral as a background – such as a Baltimore Album Quilt – but for most of the others, I believe the sky is literally the limit.

On a personal note, I dislike solid-colored backgrounds (except for truly traditional quilts such as a Baltimore Album where a certain historical look is desired). I like movement in my fabric and some kind of print helps with this.  Whether it’s a tone-on-tone, shirting, or small print, I think this enhances the applique, not detract from it. 

Regardless of the type of background fabric chosen, it all should have a few common characteristics.

1.  Usually, 100 percent cotton fabric works best.  I realize the exception to this is art quilts – which I’ve seen use burlap, velvet, and other fabrics as the background – but for raw edge machine applique, you may find the best bet is good quality quilting cottons. 
2. Background fabric for machine applique should have a firm weave.  I’ve tossed this term around in several blogs lately, so let me define it just in case there’s any confusion.  A firm weave is the same thing as a tight weave and when discussed in terms of quilting, it generally means a quilting cotton.  Quilting cottons are a bit different from standard cotton fabric.  Quilting cottons are thicker and have more threads per square inch and is difficult to see through.  There are other cotton fabrics with a high thread count, such as twill and some linens.  The fabric for raw edge machine applique will have to withstand some serious needle abuse.  While a more loosely woven fabric may work well for hand applique, the same fabric may fray plenty during raw edge applique.
3. Batiks are always a great choice for raw edge applique.  If you remember this blog: https://sherriquiltsalot.com/2022/01/12/sewing-with-batiks/, you may recall that due to the dying process, batiks have a much higher thread count and firmer weave than quilting cottons.  This makes them a perfect choice not only as the background but also as the fabric for the applique pieces. 
4. If you pre-wash your fabric, you will want to press some starch into the fabric to give the material a firmer hand…and now I would like to interrupt this blog with a commercial break…

If you’re a regular reader, you know the issues I have with this product:

Verses this product:

To me, regular spray starch has always been better for freezer paper applique, making bias tape, or adding stiffness back into a fabric which has been pre-washed.  The only drawback to regular spray starch is that it’s made from potatoes.  If the fabric is starched and stored, the potato factor can attract bugs which may like to either live in your fabric, or worse, eat your fabric.  Neither is a good scenario for quilters. 

Evidently, I wasn’t the only quilter who preferred spray starch over regular Best Press, because Best Press has now come out with this product:

The Other Best Press.  I purchased a bottle of it and have used it in place of my regular starch in the last five quilt projects I’ve made.  My verdict?  It lives up to everything it says it will do.  It gives fabric the same feel which regular spray starch does. It gets five out of five stars from this spray starch aficionado.  The only drawback is cost.  A 16-ounce bottle of The Other Best Press varies in price range from $12 to $15, depending on where it’s purchased.  A gallon of it can be ordered from Amazon for $47.99.

A can of Niagara Spray Starch is $2.99 at my local grocery store.

If you plan on starching and storing your fabric, the Best Press Starch Alternative may be the safest bet.  Personally, I can’t justify the cost points if I am immediately sewing the fabric into a quilt.  I’m just excited there is a starch alternative which works and feels like the real deal. 

Okay.  End of commercial break.  Now back to our regularly scheduled topic.

Before we move on from background fabrics, let me add this thought:  Try piecing your it.  Yes, it’s an extra step, but this really enhances your applique and gives your quilt some extra “zing.”  It’s easy to do.   For instance, if your quilt pattern calls for three yards of a neutral (however you decide to define your neutral), divvy that amount up.  If you decide to go with blue as your neutral, choose three blues and use one yard of each…or six blues and use a half yard of each.  You can simply cut rectangles and squares and sew them together like I did for this little quilt:

Or go completely wild, choose several colors, and sew them together randomly.

There is no rule that says background fabrics have to be boring.

Now let’s move on to the applique fabric.  And while I enjoy picking out my background fabric and am wonderfully excited to piece the background, for me the most exhilarating part is choosing the fabric for my applique pieces because the sky is literally the limit.  However, before you jump in with both feet and no life jacket, let’s go over a few ideas to keep in mind.

1. If you’re a newbie to raw edge applique, it’s more important you get used to the rhythm of your sewing machine and the way your needle forms the zig zag or buttonhole stitch than anything else.  I wouldn’t try for “special effects” on your first project.  I am most concerned you be successful with the stitching aspect of raw edge applique.  It’s a good idea to stick with firmly woven cotton fabrics for the first time.  This choice simply eliminates you having to deal with extensive fraying.  Batiks are EXCELLENT choices for raw edge applique.  They are super-tightly woven to the point fraying isn’t anywhere in the raw edge equation.  Plus, the undulating colors are gorgeous.
2. Once you’ve mastered the machine stitch, then you are more comfortable and confident about handling almost any fabric with this applique technique.  The range of fabrics you can successfully use is now wide open – from quilting cottons to tulle to ultra-suede to silk…it’s all yours for the picking.  The catch to effectively stitching them is found in the fusible you use.  If you’re interested in this applique technique and haven’t read https://sherriquiltsalot.com/2022/02/09/sticky-situations/, please read this blog before stitching out your first project.  One thing the fusible will do (besides keeping your applique patch in place), is help prevent fraying.  Your stitch will also help with this, but the fusible also plays a part.  The fusible should be compatible with the fabric chosen.  However, between the fusible and your machine stitch, you can pretty much use any fabric successfully.  I tend to run about 60/40 in fabric choice.  Nearly 60 percent of the time, I’m stitching quilting cottons or batiks.  The other 40 percent of the time, I’m reaching for fabric which will best give me the effect I want.  Fairy wings, dragonfly wings, icicles – I go for sheer fabrics.  I’ve been known to use burlap for flowerpots and bits of garment fabric for clothes.  Art quilt quilters do this all the time.  The only word of caution I would throw out here is this: Be careful about what you use if you think the quilt will be washed.  Sometimes the fabrics chosen for the effect doesn’t hold up well to even handwashing.  However, if the quilt is a wall hanging – no rules apply.

The last fabric which needs some consideration is the stabilizer.  Stabilizer is a fabric or fiber which supports the applique fabric so it will maintain the weave and grain while it’s being stitched.  It also provides a little extra body, gives a firmer hand to the fabric while appliqueing, and prevents fraying.  It’s applied only to the wrong side of the background fabric.  It is generally NOT interfacing.*  Stabilizers are usually removed after the stitching process is complete.  If you’re familiar with embroidery machines, you know there are just as many types of stabilizers as there are fusibles (maybe I need to write a blog on stabilizers?).  With both finished edge and raw edge applique, you will probably want to use a stabilizer because it maintains the fabric’s integrity, and it simply makes it easier to move the background fabric over the feed dogs.  When I first started raw-edge years ago, I used almost anything for a stabilizer  because at that point, there weren’t very many stabilizers to choose from.  I employed everything from coffee filters to paper piecing paper.  Flash forward to now, and there is a plethora to pick from. 

Stabilizers are like almost everything else with quilting – it comes down to personal preference.  My hands-down, reach-for-it-every-time is Ricky Tim’s Stable Stuff stabilizer.  It’s thick enough to protect your fabric from fraying and maintains the weave and grain, yet it tears away easily and cleanly.  If you have an embroidery machine and use stabilizer, most embroidery stabilizers can be used for machine applique. 

Over the course of your applique journey, you may hear some applique artists and teachers prefer not to use a stabilizer, but instead starch their background fabric stiff instead.  This will work for some applique projects, and I’ve been known to do this if I’ve run out of stabilizer in the middle of a project and it’s midnight and Amazon Prime can’t even get it to me in 24-hours.  In my experience, this works pretty well if the applique block doesn’t have a lot of pieces.  I’ve discovered the longer I have the unstabilized background under my needle and over the feed dogs, the more it “drags” and becomes difficult to maneuver. 

Background fabric, applique fabric, and stabilizer – those are the three fabric choices which have to be made before beginning either raw edge or finished edge applique.  In the next couple of weeks, the other notions used – such as thread and sewing machine needles – will be covered as well as how to use the fusible, stems, machine stitches, and how to get started on this applique journey.

*The exception for me to this interfacing-as-stabilizer rule is Pellon’s Easy Knit. If I’m appliqueing a triangle or any other background piece which has bias edges, I’ll use the Easy Knit on the wrong side of the background piece. It will keep the bias from stretch and act as a stabilizer. It’s also thin enough that it does not interfere with the stitching or quilting process.

Until next week, Make Your Quilt Yours!

Love and Stitches,

Sherri and Sam

PS — Disclaimer. I am not employed nor do I receive any type of compensation from any company when I mention products such as Best Press. You’re getting my complete, unadulterated opinion based on use and customer service.

For most of history, Anonymous was a woman

–Virginia Wolfe

**Be forewarned, today’s blog is a bit of a rant.

I collect quilts.  By museum standards or some individual collectors’ quilts, I am the low man on the totem pole.  I have less than 30.  The dates of these range from roughly 1840 until the 1930’s.  I collect what appeals to me, although most of the        quilts are feedsack in origin.  I love these things.  They’re literally in every room of my house.  I have a special affinity for my Sunbonnet Sue quilts because I love that adorable little Miss.  Her quilts live in my bedroom so I can see them first thing in the morning.  What can I say?  Between her and my first cup of coffee, I can muster up a good mood.

Know what I don’t like about those quilts? With the exception of one, none of them have labels. 

None.

Zip.

Nada.

One of the very first things I do when I peruse a quilt for possible purchase is ask “Who made this quilt?  What part of the country/city/state/county did it come from?”  And most of the time, the seller has no idea, because the quilt has come to him/her via third or fourth (or more) hand.  Sometimes, if the planets align and I can recognize a fabric (such as an Alamance Plaid) or a particular type of construction, I can pretty well pinpoint the area the quilt originated from.  But honestly, that’s about as far as I can take my quilts’ genealogies. 

Now for those of you who faithfully put labels on your quilts, you may sit back and enjoy the beverage of your choice while I chastise those quilters who do not label and explain why labels are so important.

For those of you who eschew sewing on a label, I must ask what makes this such an unappealing task?  I’ve heard lots of excuses:

1.  It’s an extra step.
2. It’s really not necessary.
3. It takes too much time.
4. After putting the final stitch in my binding, sewing on a label is the last thing I want to do.
5. It will only fall off.

I’m sure there are more reasons why you don’t like to label your quilts.  Your reason may not even be on the list. I know they require a few more stitches and some planning, but please allow me to give you six reasons you should put on a label.

 It’s the holder of the story.

Every quilt tells a story.  It evokes a soul-deep journey.  It may not be a tale of flashing lights and bold heroes.  The story may be as simple as “I had this pattern and a long weekend and two good bottles of wine.  I found everything I needed in my stash, so I made a quilt.”

That’s still a story.

Other quilts hold deeper tales.  I can just about tell you every prayer, tear, and thought that went into the t-shirt quilt I made my brother.  I can tell you how hard I wished Florida was closer to North Carolina when I made my son’s quilt, All Roads Lead Home.  I can explain how proud I was of my daughter when I made her quilt, You Are the Sun, the Moon, and All My Stars.

But if I didn’t put some inkling of this information on the labels, the history behind the quilt would have been lost with me.  The label may not be able to tell the whole story, but it gives a good idea of the thought behind the quilt.  It offers enough information for people to begin to ask questions about the quilt’s pedigree.

It links the quilt’s quilty DNA to other quilts.

This reason requires some explanation. Quilt collectors and historians delight when they discover with certainty who made a quilt.  What gives them an even greater thrill is being able to link the quilt maker to other quilts.  Sometimes this is possible by examining the quilts.  Quilters, like painters and other visual artists, have a certain style – whether it’s color choice, stitch preference, or pattern mastery.  The first quilter who comes to my mind for this is Judy Niemeyer.  To me, it’s apparent when a quilt is made from one of her patterns.  Her quilts simply have a certain type of style which is uniquely hers.  What’s not so apparent is the knowledge if Judy actually made the quilt or did another quilter use her pattern?  If there’s no label on the quilt, it may be hard to know. 

Quilt historians can link certain quilts to quilt makers or their families by studying the quilts and slogging their way through diaries, wills, and household inventories.  This takes time and great attention to detail.

Just think how much easier this would be if there were labels on the quilts! I realize antique quilts were made in a much different time, but even then, special quilts may have identifiers – embroidered initials or names and dates or (if we get lucky) if the occasion for which the quilt was made.  Signature quilts are a bit easier to trace due to all the names and dates on them.

If a quilter labels his/her quilts with the minimum amount of information – name, date and the location the quilt was made – this will make the work of future quilt historians so much easier.  And if you don’t think your quilt is good enough to be the subject of any quilt histories, think again.  Quilts tell us not only about the quilters, but they offer clues to the quilter’s place in society, what the home could have been like, and how they lived.  Through genealogy programs such as Ancestry.com, we now have the ability to look up names quickly and with a great deal of accuracy.  If we have the city and date, we can surmise if the maker and her family were dealing with historical traumas such as the Dust Bowl, the Depression, or the Civil War.  The label would not only tell us about the quilt, but it would also give a lot of information about the quilt in its historical context.  If the label has the location, we can trace the quilter’s life as he/she moves across the continent or is content to remain in one location.  We can track the quilter and her quilts – and this would be amazing!  We could study the quilter and see the progression of her quilt-making skills.   

It lets us know if the quilt was made to recognize or honor a special person or occasion.

This is a nice tidbit of information to know.  Not all quilts are made for these reasons, but the ones which are usually show terrific workmanship.  And many times, such quilts are made by a group instead of a lone quilter.  That’s also nice to know. 

Quilters who made quilts honoring American’s Bicentennial were encouraged to have this on their labels, grouping this collection into a special class which can be studied together.

It may contain specific words which will place the quilt in a unique place and time in history.

When major events occur, quilters will often work through their fears and inner turmoil with needle and thread.  Even with today’s “connectiveness” through online groups and Facebook pages, quilters generally ply their craft in solitude.  It’s just them, their fabric, their machine, and their rotary cutters and mats.  And this may sound lonely, but it’s really not.  The act of cutting and sewing – keeping your hands busy with a familiar task – allows the mind to sort through what just happened. Often these events are reflected in quilts.  Take for instance, 9/11.

Quilters by the hundreds sewed their thoughts, prayers, desperation, and fears into quilts.  The labels attached reflected the date, which makes these quilts not only super-easy to date, but also historically places them in a singular group.

Quilts made during the COVID pandemic were somewhat of the same.

There are some quilts which reflect what was happening – staying at home, the virus, masks.  However, not all quilts made during the pandemic suggest any of this.  Many quilters, since they had some additional time on their hands, sewed up their UFOs.  Some (like myself) made quilts for folks we love.  Some of us started quilts we always wanted to make, but never had the time.  It’s important to recognize these quilts.  All of the quilts I made in 2020-2021 have one line on them which states they were made during the COVID-19 Pandemic. 

In the next 20 or so years, this will be important to quilt historians.

So….. if by now I’ve shamed encouraged you to put labels on your quilts, do you know what information should be on the label?  Here’s a quick run-down for you.

1.  The date – It can be the day you started the quilt or finished it or both.  I generally go with the date I finished the quilt because the time between when I began the quilt and took the last stitch may be embarrassingly long. 
2.  Your full name – First, middle, maiden, and last name.  A hundred years from now, this will make life so much easier for quilt historians.  They’ll be able to trace you with a great deal of accuracy.  And if the unthinkable happens and your quilt is misplaced, lost, or stolen, it will make returning the quilt to you a simple process.
3. The name of your quilt.  Yes.  You should name your quilt.  Sometimes this is a quick process.  Other times, it takes a while.  But you can’t simply go around calling your quilts, “The Quilt,” because you probably have a lot of them.  It would get confusing.
4. The location the quilt was made.  Again, this helps quilt historians trace the history of the quilt and the quilter.  And be sure to have the both the city and the state listed.  I live in Jamestown.  Did you know there are 30 Jamestown’s in the United States?  So, it’s important I always add “North Carolina” on my label.
5. Reason for the quilt.  I admit, sometimes there is no reason.  You made someone a quilt just because you wanted to.  However, if it’s a birthday or anniversary or christening or baby shower, you may want to add that.  Honestly, this will mean more to the person receiving the quit than any quilt historian, but it’s a nice addition.
6. Name of the quilter if it’s someone other than you.  This gives the person who actually quilted the quilt credit where credit is due.  On my labels, I have “Pieced and Appliqued by Sherri Lynn Moore Fields, Quilted by ______________.”  And if I did the entire shebang, the line reads “Pieced, Appliqued, and Quilted by Sherri Lynn Moore Fields.” 
7. Any personal messages you deem appropriate.  This includes “With Love,”  “Your Mimi Loves You,” and the line I use on all the quilts I make for my family, “Love You to the Moon and Back a Thousand Times.”  My brother and I exchange horrible puns on nearly a daily basis.  The label on his quilt had a really bad one on it.

The last line on my quilt label includes some esoteric fact.  I got this idea from Tula Pink.  She includes one arcane item of interest on each of her labels.  It helps put the quilt in historical perspective.  This can be the average cost of a gallon of gas, a loaf of bread, or a leading news headline of the day.  It’s kind of fun, and I have been pleasantly surprised at how much the recipients of my quilts like this. 

You also may want to add another label to your quilt – one with care instructions.  When you gift a quilter a quilt, this isn’t needed.  But for those folks who don’t have a quilter in their life, this is really a good idea.  It should state how to wash and dry the quilt, what kind of detergent to use, and whether to use all fabric beach.  And if you wash all your quilts the same way, these labels can be made up in batches and tucked away until you need them. 

One thing this blog will not do is tell you how to make the label.  There are many different ways to make quilt labels, and honestly YouTube will be your best resource for this.  However, I will tell you how I make sure there’s a label on my quilts:  I make the label while I’m prepping my quilt.  When I cut out my fabric, I go ahead and make my label (and my binding) and add those to my project box.  I may opt to wait and ink in the date finished, but I have discovered if my label is already made and waiting on me to sew it on, it simply becomes the last step.  I pick it up and sew it on.

There is one more label issue to consider and this has to do with the quilt’s show status or if it will see the inside of a washer.  If the quilt is one which will be displayed a great deal (such as at quilt shows) or will be tumbled inside a washer and dryer a lot (such as a child’s play quilt, chemo quilt, or a baby quilt), you may want to sew the label to the quilt back before you quilt it.  The quilting stitches will keep the label secure. 

Finally, if you have family quilts in your possession and you’re certain about who made the quilt, go ahead and label those quilts.  You may not know all the details, but those you do — put it on the label.  And include your name and the date you put the label on. 

During the 1970’s and 1980’s, nearly every state had a quilt project.  This project was quite an undertaking.  Each state formed a committee of quilters.  This committee fanned out over the state and worked with local guilds to record quilt histories.  The call went out for families to bring their quilts to be photographed and documented and this information eventually became a book.  This was truly a labor of love and history and currently these pictures and the information are held at the International Quilt Museum and is accessible on their website.

The internet can truly be a wonderful thing.

However, many years have passed since then and more quilts have been made and found.  The Quilt Alliance is working to record quilt histories through this wonderful internet.  With your phone, take a video of your quilt and record the history behind it.  This recording can be three minutes or less, then upload it to the Quilt Alliance’s website history portal “Go Tell It!” They want to document as many quilts as they can regardless of when the quilt was made.  You don’t have to be in the video.

So…as you’re making your quilt yours, don’t be that Anonymous woman…be sure to put a label on it.  Future historians will thank you.

Love and Stitches,

Sherri and Sam

This color:

And this color:

And the orange in this print:

Is known as “cheddar.”  And today’s blog will examine exactly what this color is, how it came about, and what is its place in our quilting universe.  A non-quilter may call this color “orange.”  And it is.  Through the years it’s been classed as orange, gold, and occasionally, rust.  This one color has carried many names until one day it hired a full-time agent and the first thing the agent said was, “Honey, you gotta change your name.  Lots of people don’t like orange.”  Thus, the moniker “cheddar” was born.  And you have to admit, cheddar sounds homier and more appealing than orange, gold, or rust (which makes this child of the sixties think about the psychedelic colors of the seventies). 

Cheddar was birthed in the mid 1800’s – about the same time as synthetic dyes were developed for green, indigo, and Turkey red.  Then it was known as chrome orange because of the minerals used to produce the color (more on this later).  This color was directly influenced by the by the Moravian potters from Pennsylvania and North Carolina, who used an orange glaze on some of their pottery.  It also received a popularity boost from the Germanic furniture of the period which also used orange, gold, and rust in the painted design work.  In many ways, cheddar was an easy dye to work with – cloth could just as readily be dyed at home as at a manufacturing plant.  The dye came in powder form and when mixed correctly, would produce enough orange dye for several yards of fabric. 

However, also like many of the other synthetic dyes of this period, cheddar has a dark history.  It had a high lead and antimony content – both of which are poisonous over a period of time.  So much chrome antimony was used, the color was often called simply “antimony,” or “chrome orange.”  Of course, the folks using this dye then had no idea it could be lethal.  All they knew was they really liked that cheddar color – liked it so much that literally hundreds of yards of it were produced.  There was so much of it, quilters began to consider it a neutral. 

When quilt historians, collectors, and appraisers look at these older, cheddar-infused quilts, it can be noted the chrome orange can go one of two ways.  If the quilt has been carefully kept and only seldom washed, the color will remain a beautiful cheddar.  The old chrome orange dyes were color fast and resisted fading, even in direct light.  However, if the quilt was frequently washed, and depending on the acid or alkali balance in the soap, the orange would be drawn out of the fabric, leaving behind a pale yellow-green color. 

Another aspect of all of this orange-ness is that it helps historians, appraisers, and collectors date the quilt and form good hypotheses on where the quilt originated.  The majority of cheddar quilts were made from 1860 to 1880 and came primarily from Pennsylvania.  However, post-civil war, the South produced a lot of orange quilts, too. Besides being readily available, the orange dye was inexpensive, and for a part of the country in financial distress, cheddar helped to brighten up fabric quite a bit.  This orange found its way into a regional type of color:

And was used in solid and plaid fabric.

If I had to give this cheddar fabric another name, I’d call it “The Come Back Kid.”  For years its popularity waned and peaked. During the Depression Era, it was tinted with white and became a pastel – almost an orange sherbet color – and was frequently paired with lavender.

In the 1970’s, it was everywhere – from clothing to cars to interior design.  It fit the psychedelic and flower power fashion well.  As for quilts… I can tell you what I remember.  When I first started quilting seriously in the late 1990’s we were warned to use yellows and oranges sparingly.  These colors were only used to add a little “sparkle” to your quilt top but weren’t supposed to be utilized as one of the main fabrics – it would detract from the entire quilt top by drawing the viewer’s eyes to the color. 

But back then, I don’t think we had any idea what lovely shades, tints, and hues of orange the fabric manufacturers would produce.  Reproduction quilts gained popularity, and with increasing interest in this field, fabric houses had to produce cheddars, because this color was used in Civil War quilts.  When the Modern Quilt Movement emerged in the 2000’s, they embraced the color orange and soon it was showing up in large numbers of their quilts.  As a matter of fact, orange was so popular with this movement that the Modern Quilt Guild chose orange as one of the show colors for Quilt Con 2013 (the very first Quilt Con).

However, no one has done more to promote the color orange than Sandra Mitchell.  Sandra Mitchell ran the Midwest Quilt Exchange in Ohio.  Among quilt collectors, Sandra was known as a dealer’s dealer.  Her ability to spot a quilt which held not only superb workmanship, but also historical significance was amazing.  When she suddenly passed away in 2000, her huge estate was liquidated, including her hoard of orange/cheddar quilts.  The collection was extensive, and the last quilt wasn’t sold until 2002.  But from that time to the present, anytime a cheddar quilt is seen in a book or exhibition, chances are it came from the Sandra Mitchell Collection. 

So, where does cheddar play in our quilt field today?  If you’re a Modern Quilter, you may have used this orange in a number of your quilts or seen it in quilts displayed within your guild.  If you’re a Reproduction Quilt fan and your time period is the Civil War or Feedsacks, you’re also probably well-acquainted with the color in different shades and tints.  If you’re an applique fanatic like me, I know you keep oranges tucked away for flower centers, buds, blooms, sunflowers, fruit, and pumpkins.  But what about the “traditional” quilter?  Since the color cheddar shows up in prints and batiks, many times it works its way into a quilt without much thought. 

But the solid oranges out there…

Are gorgeous.  Paired with gray, blue, black, olive, or white, they’re a sumptuous quilting lot.  I’ve even seen it used with bright pinks when it was offset by white.  As you’re pondering possible future cheddar use, let me remind you one more time …

There are no quilt police.

I honestly believe quilting has moved well past any possible list of do’s and don’ts as far as color is concerned.  If you like color use it.  If it makes you happy, put it in every quilt you make.  If you look at the quilts in our quilting lineage, you’ll note our foremothers used what they had, what they could get, and what they wanted.  As a result, you’ll find quilts like this:

And this:

They abundantly used orange without a second thought.  I love the colors orange and purple together. Those colors work well in flowers and in Halloween quilts.  So the next time you find some fabric with orange in it, or better yet a gorgeous solid orange that reminds you of sherbet, go for it.  Put it in your next quilt.  Remember, everything’s better with some cheddar.

Love and Stitches,

Sherri and Sam

Evolution is defined two ways:  the process by which different kinds of living organisms are thought to have developed and diversified from earlier forms during the history of the earth; or the gradual development of something, especially from a simple to a more complex form.

For the sake of this blog, I’m talking about the second definition – how to take a quilt from its bare basic, apply creativity and techniques, and develop it into something it wasn’t.  This blog is a personal one because it tracks the way I work, which is probably different from the way you do.  However, the thought process can be similar, and I hope it creates a spark in you to think outside the box concerning your own quilts and creativity.

Everyone’s path to creativity is a bit different.  But after years of teaching high school kids and then quilters, I think creative people fall into two groups – those who passionately throw themselves into making and those who almost freeze up from fear of failure. 

Believe it or not, I fall into the second group. I cannot find the adequate vocabulary to express how terrified I was to not follow a pattern’s directions.  For years, the quilts I made looked exactly like the picture on the pattern.  The color way might have been different, but it was the only difference between my quilt and the pattern.  Looking back, I think I was completely frightened of making a mistake so unfixable the quilt would be ruined. The thought of deviating from a pattern nearly caused anxiety attacks.

Yet, I quilted with a group of quilters who were perfectly fine with tossing the pattern out the window entirely.  The directions, for the most part, were simply suggestions and they freely substituted blocks and techniques. Their end result was often so far from the pattern, most people had no idea the pattern was involved at all.  At some point – probably around 15 years ago – I decided I wanted to do that.  Throw the pattern to the wind and see where the fabric would take me.  I wasn’t able to do this overnight.  It was a process.  Sometimes I made baby steps and at other times I felt my creativity take flight and soar.  I had to start somewhere, and knowing my proclivity for patterns, it only made sense I began with those.

These were the days before I owned any Electric Quilt program.  As a matter of fact, I’m not sure I even knew EQ existed.  I came to EQ entirely by accident.  My quilt teacher was selling her EQ 4 program and I bought it.  It was clumsy and difficult to use, and I think I finally just deleted it off my computer (it was a far, far cry from today’s EQ 8).  But patterns?  I had patterns and was very comfortable with those. 

For many of us, this is the starting point of any quilt.  It may the picture of a pattern on Pinterest, Facebook, or Instagram.  It may be found during a Google search or purchased off a website or in a quilt store.  However, this picture or pattern is the springboard to change.  It’s the starting lineup for creative expression.  It’s your Genesis 1:1 or your “Once Upon a Time.” 

It’s where most of us start.  Sometimes we will alter the pattern only so much, so the bare bones of the original quilt can still be seen.  At other times, we may be inspired by the blocks or the applique or the colors and then completely deviate from the pattern for the rest of the quilting process. It varies and with me, it’s really never the same process twice.   And I’ll be honest – sometimes I know immediately what I want to change and sometimes the quilt or the fabric tells me as I journey through the process of making it.  I’m working on one of those quilts now.  As soon as I saw the pattern, I wasn’t sure what I would change, if anything. 

I loved the quilt – all the swags and quilting were simply beautiful.  Added plus – the designer was teaching the class on how to make the quilt. 

I get asked fairly frequently why I still take classes (mainly by my husband who wonders how any group can sit and talk about a quilt for hours on end…I tell him it’s the same thing as guys talking about the fish that got away).  I take classes to learn something.  I firmly believe you can come away from any class knowing something new.  In this case, the designer – Kathy Delaney– was teaching some needle turn applique tricks I didn’t know.  But the other thing which immediately drew my attention was the applique.  It was fruit.  My applique quilts are overwhelmingly floral in their subject matter.  This quilt was different.  I wanted to make it, and in the beginning, I assumed I would follow the pattern closely.  But let me show you what happened long before I put needle to fabric.  This is one of those times where the quilt evolved more and more as I made each block.  The changes began as soon as I chose my background fabric.

Let me go on the record here as saying I don’t like solid backgrounds for applique. Those are dull, uninteresting, and don’t do anything to enhance the applique pieces.  So, I knew going into the project, my background would be some kind of print – either a low-volume white or a tone-on-tone.  Let me also  tell you, I am a big fan of P&B Textiles.  Big fan.  Huuuggggeee fan. They are generally my go-to fabric house when I’m searching for a background fabric for either piecing or applique.  They did not disappoint me.  I found this:

At my very favorite quilt shop, Pineapple Fabrics.  This is actually quilt backing fabric.  But for me, the color was warm and inviting and the undulating pattern would not overwhelm the applique.  I thought it would simply enhance it.  The backing fabric also made another fabric decision for me.  When compared with a light background fabric:

This background fabric shows up as a medium.   I immediately knew whatever fabric I chose to make my fruit with, it needed to be saturated with color in order to contrast fully against the background.  I raided my batiks and super-saturated quilting cottons to pull for my produce applique.

And the process began.

The pattern suggested cutting the unfinished squares at 13 ½-inches, and even though I was still uncertain exactly how I would construct the quilt top, I thought this was a great place to start.  After the fruit was centered in the middle of each square, I still had plenty of “breathing” room around it to either leave it as is or trim the square down a little.  However, this brought me to the next decision.  Kathy had beautiful crosshatching behind her fruit.  I could either deviate from that type of quilting and quilt small pebbles or tight meandering around the fruit or go with the crosshatch – which I really liked.  The only problem is, I hate to quilt crosshatching.  No matter if I am working with my longarm or my Janome M7, I am really not a fan of the actual work involved with crosshatching.  It’s a stop and start, circle around, backtrack, and go forward process. 

Still, I really wanted the fruit to be star of the quilt – not so much the quilting.  So… I made another creative decision.

I would pre-quilt my squares before I appliqued them.  Word of warning, this will not work for every applique quilt you want crosshatched, but I can make it work for this one.  The process is pretty simple, and I’ve explained it before.  I marked the 1-inch interval crosshatching on my square of fabric and then traced the fruit layout.  I backed the square with a thin layer of 80/20 silky blend batting, and using my M7, stitched the crosshatching.  Added bonus:  I found the pre-cut batting squares online at the Fat Quarter Shop.

Next, I had to consider the applique.  At this point in my quilting journey, I’ve used needle turn, back basting, freezer paper, reverse applique, and Apliquick.  Whenever I undertake an applique quilt, one of the first decisions I make is what type of applique technique will I use.  And often that’s not the same  technique the pattern designer calls for.  For me, the fabric, my timetable, and personal preference usually dictates which procedure I use. The original pattern used needle turn.  This would be difficult now.  The added bulk of the pre-quilted squares would make needle turn harder. Back basting wouldn’t be any easier.  I finally decided on Apliquick.  This was as much personal preference — this is my favorite applique technique – as it was practicality.  The Apliquick interface would effectively prevent any of the background fabric from shadowing through to the fruit.  It also would play nicely with the added bulk from the pre-quilted fabric.

With those decisions made, I began the applique process.  I tend to “assembly line” my work.  I traced the pattern and graphed out the crosshatching, quilted the background square, and prepped all the applique.  I worked through the first three squares following the directions (for the most part).  Then all of that changed when I found this fabric:

Which, in my opinion, happens to be the very thing I needed to pull my quilt together.  Now I had to make some more decisions – do I use the fruit fabric for the swags, or do I want to make some changes to the construction?  And believe it or not, this took some time, some contemplation, a few glasses of wine, some quality time on EQ, and some research.

If you look back at Kathy Delaney’s original Horn of Plenty for a New Generation   pattern, you note it’s a square quilt, comprised of 18 appliqued blocks and 17 alternate blocks.  The applique blocks are trimmed to 12 ½-inches and in between the applique blocks are 9 ½ x 12 ½-inch alternate blocks which are quilted with a cornucopia design.  The border is scalloped.  I could complete my quilt this way except for two things:

1.  Kathy’s quilt was quilted by hand, making the cornucopia easy to trace and quilt. I plan on long arming my quilt, which means I would have to digitize the cornucopia and let the long arm’s computer do the work.
2. I really wanted more room to show off my fruity fabric.

So…the answer to these two predicaments was to add sashing to the quilt.  While this would definitely show off my wonderful material, it did propose its own set of issues.  It would leave me with only the 18 applique blocks.  While 18 is an even number, making it a bit easier to work with, the math would show that:

I could have two rows of nine blocks

Nine rows of two blocks

Three rows of six blocks or

Six rows of three blocks

And none of these make for an attractive layout.  I didn’t necessarily want the alternative blocks with the cornucopia, so I threw everything into EQ8 and came up with this:

Five rows, with four blocks in each row.  Which meant I needed 20 applique blocks and the pattern only produced 18…

Which meant I would have to come up with two more fruity blocks on my own.

After poking around the produce aisle at Publix, trying to seek inspiration and groceries, I decided to limit my search to fruits native to North Carolina.  This would definitely add a creative twist to my quilt and make it a bit unique.  I came up with this:

The persimmon.  I know it grows in other states, and there are wild persimmon trees (which used to be so abundant here) as well as cultivated ones.  As a child I remember my paternal grandmother would get these and make the best persimmon pudding.  This “pudding” wasn’t a pudding like you may be thinking – it looked nothing like a Jello pudding cup.  It was more like a really moist brownie in texture, but it had a cinnamon-y, ginger-y taste and went excellently with a dab of whipped cream.  The internet yielded lots of pictures of persimmons, making my search quick and easy.

The next fruit I decided to add was the paw-paw.  I don’t mean this kind of paw-paw…

I mean this kind of paw-paw.

This fruit is also called the Appalachian banana.  It grew wild here for years until development and deforestation made the tree scarce.  The fruit is green, small, and pear-shaped.  It’s sweet and has a creamy texture kind of like a banana.  Fortunately, biologists and botanists and all different kinds of plant lovers have come to the paw-paw’s rescue. Now we have cultivated the plants to the point you can purchase paw-paw trees and have your own personal crop.  This fruit was a little more elusive in the internet searches.  The world-wide web kept giving me pictures of papayas – which are also a wonderful fruit, but not native to North Carolina.

Let me drop in a helpful hint at this point.  If you a searching for a picture of something for an applique project on the internet, you can get hundreds of color images.  But for applique, we need a picture which isn’t as detailed. Let’s use the persimmon as an example.  When I asked Google to show me an image of persimmons, I was inundated with photos and drawings.  But what I really wanted was a simple line drawing of the fruit to make my applique pattern from. 

If you ask Google for a coloring book image of whatever you’re looking for, it will return line drawings.  In this case, I Googled “persimmons coloring book images” and this is what I got:

Which allowed me to easily create the persimmon applique block.

Likewise, there is an app for your phone called Adobe Capture.  This allows you to use a picture from your phone and create a line drawing.  You can load the picture to Capture and it will turn it into a black and white sketch.  So, all those pretty pictures you have in your phone?  Now they all have the possibility of becoming an applique quilt. 

These are some of the applique blocks I have completed, next to the pictures of the originals.  As you can see, I stayed true to the pattern for the first several blocks, and then began to stray.  The block with the blue berries was originally currants.  I looked at all the blocks and decided the quilt needed some additional blues, since there was only one other block with that hue.  The pattern has some yellow apples, but I will make these green. Yellow really fights to be seen on this background.  I struggled with the bananas (which pretty much must be yellow) and am still not happy with the contrast.  I didn’t want to go through the same struggle again, so I changed the Golden Delicious to Granny Apple.  Another block contained Logan Berries, which to be honest, I had never heard of until this quilt.  The pattern called for reverse applique with tiny slits in it for black fabric to peek through to give the illusion of berries.  While I can perform reverse applique with Apliquick, those tiny, tiny slits weren’t anything I wanted to deal with no matter what technique I used.  I nearly completely disregarded this block altogether and began to earnestly look for substitutes.  Then I found this fabric…

Which did all the work for me.  The print gives the illusion of circles, which when placed with a vine and leaves makes you immediately believe they are berries.  So, the Logan Berries stayed put. 

This quilt is not complete.  There is sashing to be dealt with and I’m still unsure of the borders.  However, every time I work on this quilt, it tells me something new to do.  It lets me know where to go and what to use.  I realize this sounds like some kind of mystical experience, but most quilters who have worked their art for a number of years will tell you, “The quilt wants what it wants…and it will tell you what it wants. Just give it time.”

How do you begin this process for yourself?  It varies from quilter to quilter.  Some quilters jump in with both feet and do things like this from day one.  Others, like me, will stick a toe in the water and take their time before approaching the deep end of completely tossing the pattern.  I can give you a few helpful hints, but your quilt journey is your own.  You know your own comfort level.  Go as slowly or as quickly as you want.

1.  Take a picture of the pattern with your phone.  With the editing tools, change the picture to black and white.  Toss the colored picture of the quilt and use the black and white image to find your lights, darks, and medium fabrics.  This is often the first step towards individual creativity quilters make.  Believe it or not, it’s hard to mess up a quilt with fabric choices. 
2. With this, make some not-so-obvious fabric choices.  I think this is easier to do in applique quilts.  Just like the fabric I found for my Logan Berries, sometimes odd fabric prints work great for grass or flower petals.  This is a bit more challenging for pieced quilts.  One of the first suggestions I would offer is to make a quilt which is not in your normal comfortable color range.  For instance, brown isn’t my “go-to” in pieced quilts.  However, I made a brown and blue quilt a few years ago and it did open my eyes to all the brown options available.  While it still isn’t my favorite color, I do use it more liberally. 
3. Think outside the box.  If you can, don’t even be in the same room with box.  By this, I mean forego the obvious. For instance, let’s think about a floral applique block, such as this:

It’s easy to just to go for all the greens in your stash when making the leaves.  But what would happen if you threw in some blues?  Or pinks and reds in those leaves?  The block would change character.  Those blue, red, and pink leaves could be interpreted as either leaves or buds. 

What if you wanted to make a classic red and green quilt? 

That particular color combination can mentally set your teeth on edge because within those two colors there is a lot of shades, tones, and tints.  Sometimes they clash.  So, ponder this question – does it really matter if it clashes?  Sticking with two absolute colors in a two-color quilt can be kind of, well… flat.  Look what happens when you open the fabric field up to lots of greens and reds.

Remember, the pattern and its directions are just a starting point.  Unless you’re in a situation where the fabric is limited (such as a kit), this is just the beginning.  If the pattern calls for two different kinds of 10-inch blocks, this doesn’t mean you have to make their suggested blocks.  Use the blocks you love.  The only caveat is they need to finish at 10-inches. 

Finding your creative quilt voice takes time and patience.  Some quilters are like free-flowing rivers.  They seem to easily grasp what works for them and a quilt and move along with the process.  Other quilters are like me.  It takes longer to become more self-assured in your process and your journey.  Whichever type you are, it’s important to for you to go as fast or as slowly as you feel comfortable with.  There is no right or wrong.  Let the quilt speak to you and use this voice in the process.  In doing this, the quilt and the quilter will evolve.

Until Next Week, Make Your Quilt Yours!

Love and Stitches,

Sherri and Sam