My Simple Folk Applique Quilt

It's been a long time coming!  Started January 2018, finished September 2020  my Simple Folk quilt from Sarah Fielke's Block of the month 2018 is now complete.  We had a delayed weekend away in late September so I took it with us to get some pretty pictures...

It has been quite a journey working my way through all the blocks, then the lengthy assembly process but I've loved it.  I chose this block of the month because I wanted to improve my appliqué skills- all the picture motifs are needle turn appliqué and I loved how Sarah's design made the whole quilt sing rather than focusing on a centre and working outwards.  I had a clear vision for this when I started but it is so much more impactful than I ever imagined!  It was quilted by Trudi Wood and she painstakingly freehand quilted around every animal and motif and added some gentle geometric shapes around the framing shapes.  She understood exactly what I wanted when I didn't truly know what I wanted!

It was a long time coming but definitely worth it.  Sarah Fielke's block of the month combines written instructions and photos with video tutorials. She's just started trailing picture hints of her 2021 BOM on her Instagram if any of you are tempted!

Simple Folk Sun

I'm still plodding away on my Simple Folk quilt (Sarah Fielke's Block of the month 2018) and the end is most definitely in sight, although on the journey I do make the odd error...

This is the correct sun, the one below was the wrong way up on the background!  Fortunately, all the facial features were sewn to the text fabric only so a quick unpick, reposition and the mistake was remedied.  

I changed the face on this design, the rays are Sarah's original pattern.  The appliqué features are all lawn fabric- they had to be for my sanity, those skinny seams!  I'm now using Aurifil 80wt thread for all my appliqué now that I've got a good range of colours, the stitches really do disappear.  I have two more animal border blocks and the corners to complete before all the blocks are sewn.  I've started joining some sections so I can see it coming together!  I'm aiming for a January finish...I'm just searching out a longarmer!

Simple Folk Quilt: Rabbit & Horse

I've been trying to keep up with my Simple Folk quilt (Sarah Fielke's Block of the month 2018) whilst returning to my term-time work schedule, sorting out family stuff like the daughter returning to Uni and a new role doing some social media work for Clothspot, a gem of an online garment-making fabric shop.  Much of my sewing for this has been rather repetitive (the centre circles and leaves of the spacer blocks) as well as the eight leaf garland border blocks, but for a treat, I work on the animals as well!

Sarah's drafting of the animals really is excellent and I just love finding fabrics for them all. I'm digging deep into my lawn scraps and I was recently given a lovely lawn bundle of pieces by Valerie from my local Modern Quilt Guild which I'll be using wherever I can on the remaining animals.  Lawn really does make a huge difference in reducing fraying and bulk and making the little zigs and zags of the horse's mane and the rabbit's tail.   The end is some way off but definitely in view!

Applique Thread: what a difference 80wt makes...

I've been steadily progressing with my Sarah Fielke Simple Folk quilt.  The animals are so enjoyable to sew.  I usually use Aurifil 50wt for applique; I have so many colours that I can nearly always colour match and I found the stitches were hardly visible.  I do have one or two reels of 80wt thread from retreat goodie bags and although I've tried this lighter weight for piecing (which didn't work out), I hadn't tried it for applique and the grey seemed like a good match.  It was amazing, invisible stitches even at the V areas around the feet where there are many extra stitches to compensate for fraying fabric.

It's hard to see the difference but you can feel it as you stitch.  For hand piecing, I found the thread just didn't hold up to the pulling, especially loading several stitches onto a needle at once.  But, for applique it's a game changer for me.  I only have three colours of 80wt so I'm planning some future additions.  As it's so lightweight, there's so much thread on each bobbin (274 metres) that it would take forever to finish one so it seems like a soound investment for future applique!   I used it with a size 11 Jeana Kimball straw needle, very fine, and it flowed through the fabric with no knots or tangles.

Sunday Selection

Welcome to another Sunday Selection.  Before I start with some interesting sewing and quilting links that I've come across over the last couple of weeks, these two fine creatures are the latest additions to my Simple Folk quilt (Sarah Fielke's BOM 2018).  The fox was a pleasure to sew - apart from the fiendish paws - the little zigs and zags were tricky, to say the least, and thank goodness black fabric hides the millions of stitching holding the fraying in place!  The bird was a breeze compared to the black paws and I am searching out Liberty lawn scraps for as many small pieces as possible as the lawn is the easiest fabric to work with for small pieces.  On the bird, the comb, beak, eye and legs are all Liberty lawn.

Blog Read
Handmade by Carolyn, Kelly's Wedding Dress
Carolyn makes her own clothes, not just dresses, tops, trousers etc. but undies, clothes for other people, refashioning old garments and even making shoes.  Her account of sewing her daughter-in-law's wedding dress is both a touching read and an insight into the detail needed to create an incredible dress and someone else's vision.  Even if you are not a garment sewer, take a peek, the photos and writing are a treat!

Podcast 
Abby Glassenberg interviewing Denyse Schmidt on Whilst She Naps
For anyone who enjoys and admires Denyse Schmidt's work, this is a fascinating listen.  Her graphic design background comes over strongly- she talks about fabrics as a paint colour palette especially in her early quilts.

Instagram
Cloudcraft is a UK embroidery supplies shop and owner Nicole shares products, patterns and more on her Instagram @cloud.craft and is running a free Summer stitch-along with videos posted each weekend which I thought would appeal to anyone looking to learn or brush up their embroidery skills.

Picture from cloudcraft.co.uk

The free sampler pattern is available by signing up to Nicole's newsletters or by downloading from this page.  I followed Nicole's 'Stitchmas' videos on Instagram last December and really enjoyed picking up new ideas and techniques.  You can go your own way on colours and fabric or, order a summer stitching bundle in her shop with all the items Nicole used to create the original embroidery.   Read more here.

Tomorrow, I've got a bonus recommendation to share with you...I'm especially excited about this one!

Sunday Selection: A Catch-up & Some Stitchy Things to Discover

There's been too much stuff going on for my liking.  I like a quiet life, no drama and lately, we've had a family member's newly diagnosed health issues to deal with and my work commitments have been intense during the same period so a usually calm little house has been hectic.  It's settled down now, said family member is doing well.  In between events,  I've recently found some wonderful sewing links, reads and listens that I wanted to share and I thought this could be a regular thing every other Sunday?

Podcast

So starting with the links, Love to Sew is a sewing community podcast run by Helen Wilkinson of Helen's Closet clothing Patterns and Caroline Somos of Blackbird Fabrics which usually focuses on garment making, but a recent episode featured Alexa Abegg of Ruby Star Society and formerly Cotton+Steel fabrics and creative collaborations.  It is a fascinating listen, especially for quilters who are so familiar with Alexa's work.  She shares her journey as a fabric designer, how she became a part of Cotton+Steel at RJR fabrics and how she and the other designers moved into being Ruby Star Societ, her artistic work as a collaborator both long distance and closer to home, plus a lot more- Listen here.

Blog Read

I've been following Lizzie Bramlett (Fuzzylizzie) At Vintage Traveller blog for years.  She's a dedicated vintage clothing collector and former teacher who shares her finds and nuggets of fashion history information.  This post on the Dress and Home Workbook is a gem.

Instagram

Jeana Kimball is a quilt maker and teacher.  I first came across her work through her amazing needles when I was piecing the Jen Kingwell Bring Me Flowers quilt.  I use her Straw needles for hand piecing and applique sizes 10 and 11.  She has an Instagram account @jeanakimball where as well as her amazing work, she often shares wonderful hand piecing tips, well worth a follow, especially if you like to sew by hand.  I'm enjoying her current posts on back basting applique. 

The block pics are my latest Sarah Fielke 2018 BOM, Simple Folk.  I'm slowly working my way through the outer border blocks...

Simple Folk Block of the Month Catch up

It's been a while since I blogged about my Sarah Fielke Simple Folk quilt.  It was one of her 2018 BOM and I was making good progress until around July when a mix of family commitments and a long work project took me away from regular sewing and it's taken a while for me to get going with it again.  I do sew sections of the quilt at the South West Modern Quilt Guild monthly meetings and I've just finished machine sewing border backgrounds which is dull but necessary canvas prep for the applique designs.  The bird is my final central picture block and is in part progress.  Choosing and prepping the fabrics for these blocks takes a long time and sometimes my choices change part way through if the colour or print isn't working; even the fabric texture can impact on the block.  In the bird block below, the legs were appliqued from some Japanese cotton lawn- anything thicker would've added to much bulk and frayed.  They are each about 1/8" in width. The tail fabric is a Denyse Schmidt print and is coarser than many of the other quilting cottons.  It was tricky to work with but I think I got away with it, despite the thick points.

This block has been tweaked a little from Sarah's original design- the top flower was redrafted.  I love the double leaves on this one, and the vase handles which I find much more pleasurable to sew than I first thought, curves are so satisfying, inner angles and points less so.

I am steadily working my way through all the tutorials.  That's the beauty of Sarah's BOMs, the tutorials and videos remain even though she's moved on to another quilt.  My aim is to complete the quilt top and have it professionally quilted before the year is out.

Meanwhile, Happy Easter!  We are having beautiful weather in the UK and I've been getting outside walking Joni, planting Alpines into pots to prettify my courtyard and spending time with my family.   It doesn't get better than that...I'm feeling very lucky.

Simple Folk BOM Month 5

Month five of Sarah Fielke's Simple Folk BOM and there's only one applique block to complete.  The rest was the spacer blocks around the edge and the centre.  I've had a heavy work schedule over the last couple of months so I'm a little behind on my monthly progress and I intend to make up over summer.  The 'Heart in Hand' motif is one of my favourite folk art references although I'm not sure I'm totally smitten with my finished block.  It reminds me a little of a fancy washing-up glove with a contrast cuff (probably the colours I chose nudging my imagination in that direction!).

I did end up making a change to the heart motif.  I shrunk it down a little- the original seemed a bit large to place centrally, although I'm not sure I've done a better job with the second one.  I also changed the colour from my first choice.  I'm trying to balance colours out across the whole quilt and sometimes I can't see the effect of a colour choice until after I've sewn it up.  I loved hand sewing the tiny squares on.  I wasn't so keen on the zig zags, but they are pretty neat.  The fingers were undeniably tricky but I got there!  

Here's the first version:

I really liked the fabric (Suzuko Koseki) and the colour but the coral red has more impact and I've saved the heart just in case it might come in handy elsewhere!

I'm having a short break from online activities.   I have a small operation to get over and lots of family events so I'll be dipping in-and-out of social media more briefly than usual.  

See you in a few weeks x

Simple Folk BOM - Month 4

Month four of Sarah Fielke's Simple Folk BOM completed and I'm just about managing to keep up as the next month's email and resources arrive.  The flower block was a delight to sew.  I used a bias tape maker, Clover 1/4" and that worked really well for me.  I also used Perfect Circles as I have been doing all the way through.  I thought the handles would be a nightmare but I really enjoyed them!  I'm now finding where my preferences lie with applique, I love curves- zig zags, chevrons and internal point of a heart shape, not so much

The second block, 'birds' (with a hint of marine creature) were hard going, maybe the hardest so far.  Symmetrical blocks are always tricky and I found I was glueing and repositioning many, many times as I kept finding parts which weren't covering other sections sufficiently.  The tail was made in three pieces which worked well for fabric pattern placement but it would've been easier as one piece with the centre piece on top.  The neck accents were very fiddly, the top is narrow and there's a lot of seam allowance to cram into the point.  I'm tenacious when I'm faced with challenges so I'll keep working at it until I get the finish that I'm hoping for.  It's all a learning experience and I am learning a lot. 

 Here's the reverse and now that there's been more guidance, I'm feeling more confident cutting away  the back fabric.

This is how all the blocks are looking so far spread out on white boards.  I still have a lot of the spacer blocks to make. Time is short this month, there's a lot on with work and family and I have other demands that are taking up all my spare sewing moments. I'll carve out a day somewhere, I like keeping up, it drives me onwards!

Simple Folk BOM - Month 3

Three months into Sarah Fielke's Simple Folk block of the month and I'm keeping up. Each month seems to have a different challenge- be it a different aspect of appliqué or working out the spacer blocks that go in between, there's always something new to learn or a skill to improve.  The instructions are generally very detailed and the videos are a supportive visual security blanket, but  I do have moments of uncertainty.  With this block, I got a bit doubtful about how much to cut away on the reverse.  There is a porthole style element in the centre of the star shape so that was all explained and worked well but general cutting away for applique, that's not been covered so far. 

For the rest of the block, I followed my instincts and trimmed the larger layers back to a 1/4" seam allowance to reduce bulk.  I'm going to take a look at my finished blocks and do the same, they do feel rather thick untrimmed!

As always, fabric choice takes time on these blocks. I'm aware that there's lots of yellow from the corner triangles and in the spacer blocks (see below).  I'm also allowing for the scrappy pink fabrics in the mini 9-patch squares so it's a balancing act.  I haven't bought the acrylic template sets that Sarah sells for this BOM- they would make the process a lot easier, especially cutting, but the cost with overseas postage is against me at the moment, so I used template plastic and made sure I cut accurately and transferred all the seam points so I can pencil them on the fabric pieces- essential for aligning those tricky shapes and with patient construction the block came together well. I made a test block out of scraps before committing to the good stuff and that was definitely worth doing! 

 The other element in my fabric choice considerations is the tiny circles that punctuate many of the appliqué blocks.  I did end up auditioning a lot of colours and motifs in my search for the Goldilocks effect!  These are my rejects, saved for potential future use.

Here's a little layout of what will be the top left corner of this quilt. The cobalt blue will be bordering these blocks, framing the grey backgrounds and as a canvas for lots of animal-themed appliqué around the edges. I am enjoying seeing the variety of blocks from BOM participants all over the world. Observing the choices and dilemmas of so many other quilters, all working on the same pattern in such a variety of fabrics is fascinating!

Simple Folk Month 2

I completed the second month of Simple Folk, Sarah Fielke's block of the month for 2018.  You can see my first month's blocks here. The swan block was straightforward; the hardest element was choosing the right balance of fabrics and I'm not totally happy with my choices but they're ok and in the whole quilt, I'm sure they'll be fine.
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I've been following the directions pretty much to the letter so those tiny eyes are turned by hand.  I do use Karen Kay Buckley's perfect circles for any circles that fit the sizes I have but the eyes are too small for that.

The second block was a bit more challenging and I panicked a bit getting it all to fit and ended up trimming the odd leaf and tweaking the placement.  I'm happy overall but the top pollen circles were a bit of a squeeze and the vase is a little wobbly.  The fabric layers certainly build up and guidance about cutting away has only just come up via Facebook group discussions so I'll incorporate that more into future blocks and go back and trim on what I've sewn so far where possible. 

Meanwhile, I'm storing my blocks in a block book, made from a free tutorial included in the BOM.  The block is from 500 Quilt Blocks, I still have some of my favourite blocks from the book! 

I'm happy with my blocks so far and I'm feeling more confident with the applique techniques as it progresses. 

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