Lunchtime tutorial - applique heart - supply list

Fabric for block
Fabric for heart
Lightweight fusible interfacing
Rotary mat and cutter
61/2" quilt block template
5" heart template
scissors (yes they are Fiskars kids AND they are VERY sharp), embroidery scissors would also work well.
pencil and/or pen for marking lines
needle and thread (to match the heart fabric)
sewing machine and point turner.

Why am I doing this mini tutorial. Because Barbara at the Lady of Steeles Hand Embroidery Group asked me how to do it and I'm also making an Easter quiltie so I'm "killing two birds with one stone" so to speak :) AND all the spring cleaning I'm doing is starting to bring on my allergies (now you know why I have dust bunnies.) AND I needed a break from revising beginner Spanish. Excuses, excuses I just wanted to sew something !!!!!

Book Corner - Beginning Applique - because enquiring minds have been asking :)

I absolutely love these two books and one of these days I will buy my own copies instead of borrowing them from our local library on a fairly regular basis :)

Hand Applique by Mimi Dietrich and Machine Applique by Sue Nickels.

Book Corner - My favorite Quilting Book

"Grandma's Best Full-Size Quilt Blocks. Pieces of the Past for Today's Quilter" by Better Homes and Garden. A very long title for my favorite quilt book.

It splits some of the history of quilting up into 4 chapters 1830-1860, 1860-1890, 1890-1920 and 1920-1950. Chapter 5 is devoted to borders. Each time period looks at what was relevent for then and gives full size blocks (minus seam allowance) to try. The writing is concise and there are loooooots of pictures :)

I've already done a number of the blocks from the book. The pink butterfly I posted about recently is a modified pattern from it.

Once I have finished some of the wall hangings I am working on I plan to re-visit the patterns in the book and sew my way through them :)

My mother-in-law has the same book and she is currently hand sewing a number of the blocks. They look very nice and have a kind of "oldy worldy" feel to them. I prefer to machine my blocks together then hand quilt the tops.

Finding my book again (it was buried in the back of my bedroom closet) has given me the extra incentive I need to finish off a number of wall-hangings that are sitting in a drawer. I'm going to pull them all out, thread baste them, and get all the hand sewing done.

P.S. I think this book works under the assumption that you already have a working knowledge of how to do many of the quilting techniques mentioned.