YoYos

Yes, if you are a yoyo person, we can die cut circles and you can gather to your hearts content!  Our die cut equipment cuts a perfect circle every time!  We have several sizes of circles so we can die-cut just what you need!

AQS Paducah was terrific!

Our minds are reeling!  We have lots of great ideas we just need to put on paper and share with you guys and thanks to Stacy Michell of Shades Textiles, we will soon have a great need product for you guys who like to do finished edge applique by machine or hand.  It is wonderful!  She is brilliant!!  Maybe she is just plain magic!!  Thanks you Stacy, I haven't slept for two nights planning this all out!!!

Why Soft Fuse?

We exclusively use Soft Fuse fusible on all our die-cuts (Unless you order them without it for some reason) and think it is the best fusible on the market for machine applique.  There are lots of iron on fusibles on the market but many of them leave a stiff, hard, feel to the applique and tend to gum up and dull the needle as the machine applique is being done.  You will never know that Soft Fuse is on the back of your applique.  And you can layer 3 or 4 layers or more and get the same results.  This stuff is fabulous.  Find out more about it from the importer here.  If you want to trace and cut out your own appliques, you can purchase Soft Fuse from us, too!  Check out the etsy store!

Rick Rack tip

Just had a great idea!  How about using rick rack for the stems in the Bloomin' Hearts block.  We provide a 1/2" green stem in our packs of components but it would look great with rick rack, don't ya think?

Playing with shapes

Holly and I have become fascinated with the complex shapes that we can make out of simple shapes.  That is what started this whole design journey - and you can go along, too!  Look at these intricate designs out of the simplest of shapes.

Look at what Holly did with hearts and circles.  I especially like the pink star of hearts that make a star in the center.  I just love secondary shapes.  And the cornflower, half a circle and elongated hearts, is really a knock-out.

 

The raindrop and feather shape make some really cool petals.  That cornflower shape is calling to me again and the 6 pointed star for the flower centers is very nice.

 

You add a few leaves and I'll be darned if it doesn't look like Baltimore Album designs. I might just get around to doing one of those (OK, a wallhanging size, maybe. . .) since I don't have to cut out all the shapes.  That is the part that boggs me down.  

You can see how we got pretty excited.  Everywhere we go, we see shapes!!!  Don't ya just love the raindrops inside the hearts?  This is reminding me of Colorforms that I used to play with the kiddies.  I always did enjoy them just a bit more that the kids did!!! 

Downy Quilts for Comfort

We now have hearts that you can use to make a Downy Heart Quilt for donation to a children's hospital!  Go to downy, download the pattern and let us cut out the hearts for you!  This is a great charity idea!  Holly and I have made lots of donation quilts thru our quilt guild.  It is great to see this getting national attention!!!  Check out the hearts pack in our etsy store!

More double Dippin'

You can, of course, applique your fusibles block by block and before you ever think about quilting, but we like to machine applique the fusible components and quilt the design at the same time. My favorite method is a machine blanket stitch along the edges of the die cuts and when you do this after layering your batting and backing, I think it gives you a better finished project, is easier to guide as you sew and gives a pleasing design on the back of your project. Look closely at the stitching on our Bloomin' Heart block. This was appliqued thru the die cut, the background fabric, the batting and the backing.

Double Dippin'

Just saw the simplest tip on a Fons and Porter quilting show! When you use the die-cut fusibles and peel off the paper on the back, keep that paper pattern for quilting designs. So, when you are making a Bloomin' Heart block, save those peeled off papers! Then you can lay them out on your finished block and mark where you want your quilting lines. VERY SMART! I love it!!! Good idea there girls!!!

Petal Pushers

The June 2010 issue of American Patshwork & Quilting is just chocked full of ideas for kits.  My favorite one, today, is 'Petal Pushers' starting on page 82.

This is the cutest tablerunner I have seen in a while.  Maybe it just screams spring and I need to hear that.  And I will have petals for it in the etsy store in a bit!  How cute!  My mind is just racing!  How about this simple design with red, white and blue stars, or red and pink hearts.  I just love the machine quilting too!  And the binding is fabulous, too!  Oh, my!!!!  Check out their site at www.allpeoplequilt.com

Bloomin Hearts

We have just listed an original Two Star Design component kit - Bloomin' Hearts - in our Etsy store.  This packet is so versatile.  The basic component kit added to your 16 1/2" x 16 1/2" background gets you this:

I made this sample and if I was doing it again, I'd cut away the stems under the center yellow flowers.  I'm just sayin'. . .  Holly smushed her sample together a bit and got it all on a 12 x 12 background.

Now, if you arrange the components a bit differently on 2 12 1/2" x 12 1/2" background blocks, you get this:

This would make a beautiful quilt!!!!  Has lots of white space for some very cool quilting.  So, 6 kits gets you a 12 block quilt!  And, of course, you get a discount for buying more than one kit at a time!!

Some of the previous designs used raindrop shapes for leaves instead of the leaf shape.  If you like that design element, just holler and we will make you kit with raindrop leaves!! And Jan assembled this kit by putting one flower in one corner of each 12 inch block and let the small yellow flower unite them all in one corner.  Very cool!

 

Holly and Jan taught this block in Japan this past January.  Even with less than stellar abilities to speak Japanese, quilting is the universal language!

 

These Japanese ladies have such incredible skills!  Look at the quilting on this piece!

 

 

Holly designed Bloomin' Hearts after completing this beautiful quilt.  Each block has a different red and a different green.  How beautiful!!  We can also cut out the scalloped border for you!  Yes, we are just that good!

Pink and Yellow Ribbon Shapes

We have just listed some great ribbon shapes in the Etsy store. If you need quantities, just us know and we will offer you a volume discount!!