The most popular post I have written is about how I do my blanket stitch applique. That post deals mostly with the actual sewing of the block and as I have been working hard on prepping blocks for Roseville Album I thought I would add a few details about the prepping process of the blocks that will be blanket stitch appliqued.*if your pattern is not reversed you must put it face down on your light box and trace the applique fusible from the back. My favorite fusible web is Lite Steam A Seam 2 (there is a regular Steam a Seam 2 that is much heavier), it is double stick fusible web and very light weight, it is lighter weight than light Heat and Bond.
*I number the applique pieces on the back of the pattern and on the inside edge of the traced applique pieces, I frequently will even put a arrow point up so it is easier to place flowers and other round applique shapes. 
*I do not feel the need to window - leaving just ¼ inch of fusible on the inside edge of the applique shape - when I use the Lite Steam A Seam 2 (SAS2 from here on in this post)- it is that light weight that it does not really add bulk to the applique pieces. I do however window so I can use the inside of some large pieces for other applique shapes-SAS2 is expensive and it helps to use those spaces.
*Bias stems are so quick and easy! I iron a square of the fusible on the back of the fabric on a 45 degree angle and than just rotary cut scant ¼ inch strips as I need them for stems.
They bend and curve with the fusible on the back of the fabric just as a sewn bias stem will. 
*Multiple layer applique shapes I build (iron the shapes together) on an applique pressing sheet and then move to the background fabric.
Did you know that you can make an applique pressing sheet by removing the fusible web material from the paper on either SAS2 or Heat and Bond? You can iron your applique shapes onto that paper and it will peel off just like a more expensive pressing sheet.*I pin my background fabric to the pattern and place it back on the light box to start adding the applique pieces to the block.
I lay out all of the pieces that have been cut out in numerical order and start building the block. 
*Because SAS2 is double stick fusible it allow the pieces to be moved around but has the applique pieces stay where placed until the final pressing with a hot iron. This allows me to hang up a block and look at it from a distance and make sure I like all of the fabrics I have chosen for the block. I like to pin blocks to a quilt that hangs in my great room and see the block in the normal light of my home.
* I frequently spray starch my assembled block before I start blanket stitching, it gives it a little body and cuts down on little eyelash fraying (which can be trimmed with a fine scissors or even a fingernail clipper).
I have several Roseville Album blocks prepped and ready to blanket stitch. I like having the blocks ready for when I can find a few minutes here and there to sit and sew.
I like hand applique and machine blanket stitch applique equally as well and I really can’t say why I choose to do one quilt by hand and another by machine but I generally have one of each going. Happy Stitching
Camp Wannamakeablankie quilt retreat is next month and a member of my small group heard of jelly roll races and thought it would be a fun evening group project. Check out this You Tube video from Heirloom Creations of Souix Falls, South Dakota. www.heirloomcreations.net
I am working hard on prepping the whole Roseville Album quilt. I am up to the two side borders and have the long trees traced and ready to cut.
I am machine appliqueing RA and have been plodding along one block at a time and decided I want to get all of the blocks assembled and then I can maybe do better snatching out a few minutes here or there to do some blanket stitching. There is an alternative motive also, I want to get into the Kaffe stash and start using it for other projects (but did not want to use a fabric needed for RA) Like maybe some 2 1/2 inch strips for a jelly roll race : )
A little piecing, a little applique, a little embroidery, this quilt has it all.
I have also been doing a little work on (drum roll please)
Roseville Album. I have had so many quilts I am working on for others I have not done an album block in a looooong time. This block is just prepped for machine applique, but it is a little progess none the less. 
I finished two fall table runners:
The pumpkin quilt is made from batiks, really fast and easy. It is a pattern called Pumpkin Party by Pearl Louise Designs.
The local vineyards around Omaha hosted a wine tasting and balloon glow last weekend. I attended with a few THOUSAND of my fellow Nebraska residents.
At dusk the balloons returned and lit their gas burners for the glow, just beautiful. 
Happy Stitching!
My sister in law saw a recent post about a customer quilt I quilted that used the fabric line Ghastlie Manor from Alexander Henry. She wanted to know where to get the main fabric because my nephew currently loves creepy, scary, eerie things (much to her chagrin because he is a preacher's kid, : ) don't you know PKs are always the worst ones in the bunch). Anyway, I sent her the info about the fabric line and a couple websites of where to order it but I also went right to my local quilt store and got a little so I could 
make a couple pillowcases. There are lots of pillowcase patterns on line but I used the instructions from 
I also have had a couple quilts on the long arm
machine lately, love this Plummage pantograph by Willow Tree. This quilt belongs to Donna, she is making it 
for her granddaughter. I also quilted this lovely little musical quilt that Donna made for a friend, very pretty.
Happy Stitching All 
I am very fond of T shirt quilts. They are so personal, a collection of a hobby, such as car shows in the quilt above, high school memories, vacations, or sports. 
Wasn’t it just natural to make these collections of clothing into a quilt, just like our great grandmothers used precious scraps of clothing while piecing quilts in prior generations? The T shirt quilt is so well known to
even non crafty people, a gift enjoyed equally by males and females, young and old.
choosing or finding just the perfect coordinating fabric like the car fabric for the car show quilt, or the dog paw print fabric
for the high school bulldogs team shirts, 
or bicycles on the bike ride shirts.
I have made a t shirt quilt for my daughter with pictures from her senior year in 
high school scanned and transferred onto fabric and added as the corner stones and stars in the quilt.
They are the bread and butter of my little long arm quilting business and I love seeing the different T shirt collections that come under my needle.