Just a Few New Things to Show

Ya'll know how popular Fleur d' lis' are in Louisiana and how remarkably few there are to be found in fabric.....? Well, take a look at these four new fabrics Pearl just got in and in these unusual and fashionable colors....

"Plume" by Moda


This is one of those images you need to click to enlarge to really appreciate the patterns. The colors remind me of a cup of neapolitan and chocolate mint chip ice cream! (great, now I'm getting a craving...) The quilts' pattern is "3-6-9" which goes Fast, Fast, Fast. and the fabric is lusciously soft!

"Nicey Jane" by Heather Bailey

This is one of new quilt samples using the pattern, "Flora" and new fabric from Heather Bailey called Nicey Jane, by Free Spirit. Again, the fabric is very soft and these colors bring to mind gentle breezes of summer. What a sweet quilt for a young girl.

Last month I posted about a new fabric line designed by sight-impaired artists. We have made a sample using these fabrics and the "5 & Dime" pattern:

This quilt is larger than what you can see here....which showcases these vibrant fabrics rather well.

Yesterday was Applique Society meeting day at Bright Hopes Quilting, which brings to mind the following: I am so bad at applique, darn near hopeless. Yet at the same time, I really appreciate the look and artistry of applique and do try it on the odd occasion. Like now.

I am working a mostly pieced quilt-top that calls for a, thankfully, small amount of applique and have been stressing over how to actually DO it. I can't needle-turn to save my life and yes, I have tried and tried. I didn't want to have rough edge, machine-applique on this one so that left, as far as I know, traditional technique. But I don't want to use freezer paper because I don't want to cut the back to remove it. I know... picky picky picky.

I spied at the shop a product that intrigued me, bought a pack and scurried home to see if this might be what I need:

Wash-Away Applique Sheets by C & T Publishing

The idea is you can run these sheets through your ink jet printer, or draw directly on it, iron the shiny side to the back of your fabric, cut leaving a 1/4" seam allowance and sew to the background, using the sheet as the edge to needle-turn against. Then, it washes away with warm water. And here is a neat feature! It's so soft that you can just LEAVE it in the quilt and it will soften in time!

Now I like Steam A Seam; it's great for machine applique but it does leave a stiff layer in the quilt. It has it's place in sewing, to be sure.

I know what you're thinking. You're thinking, "Well. Does it work?"

YES! It washes right out in warm water! I let the block soak for less than a minute and could feel it disappear.

!!!!!!!!!! THIS IS IMPORTANT !!!!!!!!!

If you do use an ink jet printer to make your templates, any ink will transfer to the fabric in the water bath! This happened to me and I was able to wash THAT out with detergent. I would advise you to white out any labels, marks, unnecessary lines you have on pre-printed patterns prior to copying and printing them on that applique sheet.

It will save you from a panic attack like I just had. You really don't want one of those!