PUP’s and Memphis

Last Friday we arrived in Memphis.  I would be teaching the quilters at Pickin Up the Pieces Quilt Guild on Saturday.  We decided to hit Rendezvous for a few ribs and then head over to Beale street.  (Ribs photos can be found on Facebook and Instagram!)

I will be back in Memphis at the end of September as the featured teacher for this quilt guild.  If you would like more information about this guild or the retreat, please send me a note and I will forward it to their guild!

I think if you click on a photo you will get more information about each photo!  For all the quilts seen from the workshop I have kits available!

I hope you enjoy this sneak peak into the life of a Judy Niemeyer Certified Instructor.  We get to meet so many amazing quilters and along the way make some great friends!

Dee

 

One – Applique of the Leaf

You’ve been asking for it and here it finally is!  A tutorial for how I like to appliqué vines and similar quilt elements.  I am using the pattern “One” by Quiltworx for my example.

The first thing you need to do is determine how wide you want your vein.  I have 2 samples here.  Captains Wheel is the first one, it has a very thin “rope”.  The next is ONE and I used a wider cut strip for this one.  I make a sample out of scrap fabric and just do the steps to see what I will like.  Be sure to use contrasting fabrics for your sample.

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This is “rope” on my Captain’s Wheel quilt. I have placed the dime so you can see how small this one finishes. This strip was cut 1″
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Here it is folded in half and stitched down
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This one is 1 1/2″. Press wrong sides together, like a binding strip
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Here it is pressed
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Stitch down with a straight stitch. All raw edges together. I used 1/4″ seam here
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Stitched – ready to iron
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Now iron!
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Do NOT trim before ironing!  In this sample I did trim before ironing – OOPS!
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In this photo I trimmed the end before I ironed – DO NOT DO THIS! IRON FIRST!
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See what happened, after I pressed?  The angle is wrong!  Now I have 2 options, I can take the whole thing off and restitch — or – I can just trim the end of the leaf a little bit?  What do you think I did?
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Now place the second side, leave each end a little long so you can fold it over for a nice finish.  If you are comparing my sample to the pattern you will notice I switched sides for the long/short edges.  It’s your quilt!

 

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Stitch using approximately 1/4″ seam allowance, all raw edges lined up
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PRESS – this is the top of the leaf.  See how much length I left?
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Pressed – determine how long you want the stem at the bottom
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Carefully trim and fold the end over for a nice finish
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The stem at the bottom of the leaf  after I have folded the end for a nice finish.  I did take this back to machine and finish stitching to the end at the top and bottom.
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Choose your thread colors, I wanted mine to blend, you may want them to accent. You may also want to use your favorite invisible thread
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I used a button-hole stitch on this one, sometimes I use a tiny zig-zag
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This is what the back looks like. The white straight stitch is from the first line of stitching I did. Then you see the yellow button-hole stitch
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And ONE is DONE!

I hope you find this tutorial helpful.  I plan to do a few more so if you have any gentle critiques please post them in the comments.

Remember I am available to teach at your local quilt shop or your quilt guild.  You can find my schedule here.