Misfits « Bellebooks' Blog

Still Here!

Posted on June 3, 2011 by bellebooks

Hi Ladies and Gentlemen,

I’ve been toying with the idea of changing my blog, but for now, I have something to share so I’ll pop it on here. Maybe I’ll work out what I need to do while I’m on here.

I’ve joined a couple of Flickr groups recently. One is The Misfit Quilters Swap (http://www.flickr.com/groups/misfitquiltersswap/) and the other is The Farmer’s Wife Quilt-a-long (http://www.flickr.com/groups/1678802@N20/).

The first swap of The Misfit Quilters is a doll quilt. I’ve all but finished the applique on this and then to the task of quilting it. The original is from Sarah Fielke’s latest book – Quilting from little things. My version is a little different and I’m not promising to hand quilt it, but I certainly worked on my needleturn applique technique.

Spring

The next group are working on a project I had already started. The Farmers Wife Sampler Quilt is from a book I sell into Tasmanian Stores for the Aussie Distributor Capricorn-Link Aust. As a book person and a quilter – Do not photocopy this book, the templates or ‘borrow/share’ it. This is a breach of copyright and I really don’t want to have to call out the book police. Go and buy it. It’s not expensive, it’s useful and an interesting read to boot.

Besides the awesome book and the stories contained within it; there is a CD which has the templates for the blocks. You take the CD, load it into your computer and print the templates. No Muss, No Fuss!! How cool is that??

Now since some of the templates are used several times throughout the process of making the blocks I decided to make them a little more durable by glueing them onto template plastic. I get it from Spotlight, but I’m sure you can get it at your LQS or chain craft store. I use a gluestick to marry the two. Just make sure it works for paper and plastic, obviously!

I also decided to share a sort of mini tutorial for people who haven’t done this sort of stuff before. So here you go…

Print and Trim

Firstly print the templates from the CD. You can either print as you go or print them all at once. Be warned there is only one template per page, so be prepared with plenty of paper. Then roughly cut around the template just outside the dashed line.

: Flip and Glue

Flip the template over and apply your gluestick all over the back, being sure to go right to the outside edges.

Next flip it back and apply it carefully to the template plastic. Gently smooth out any bubbles. When you apply the pieces, sit ‘em close. Be frugal, tight, whatever you want to call it. Plastic doesn’t grow on trees you know!

Glue Drying

When you’ve glued all the pieces in place. Leave it! Go have a cuppa, mow the lawn, read a book, whatever. If you cut it now, you’ll just make a mess. Let it dry. The amount of time this takes all depends on the gluestick. Be patient.

When the pieces are dry, cut carefully on the dash line. You can use NON SEWING SCISSORS!! Scissors you use to cut paper, or chickens, whatever. You can use a blade, and if you do – At this point I will stress – BE VERY CAREFUL!!! This tutorial doesnt have public liability, accident and injury insurance. So again, for the cheap seats – BE VERY CAREFUL!!