After taking a break for a couple of issues, I have a block once again in the newest issue of Quiltmaker’s 100 Blocks.

A bunch of the designers are participating in a blog hop to celebrate this very lucky 13th issue!


My day is Wednesday, May 4, but you should follow the hop all week long! Beginning Monday, start each day at the Quiltmaker blog Quilty Pleasures for links to the designers and chances to win prizes all along the way.

Fun!!

See you next week,

Kay
By Kay Mackenzie
Kay’s Etsy Shop

Studio

Filed Under Patterns | 1 Comment

In my booth at shows, one of the most universally popular and pattern-requested quilts has been “Studio.”

studio-image

I always say that any sewing room or little nook can be a studio, if you only hang up a sign!

Studio was one of the projects from my book Scrap-Appliqué Playground. If you have that book, then you have this pattern. If not, and you’ve admired the quilt at shows, the pattern is finally here!

studio-front-cover

This is such a fun one. Putting scraps together and then cutting shapes out of them adds a little twinkle to appliqué. And, gentle quilter, you may just have scraps… I mean just possibly… I venture to say it’s not out of the realm of probability… but even if you want to use fabric that has never been cut into, it’s okay! You have permission!

The Studio pattern is available over on my website, or if you like, from my Etsy Shop.

Cheers,
Kay
By Kay Mackenzie
Kay’s Etsy Shop

Lovely Hearts

Filed Under Patterns | Comments Off on Lovely Hearts

Two of my books with Martingale have gone out of print. That’s bittersweet. Sad face, there aren’t any more copies of the books. Glad face, the rights have reverted to me and I can now develop and offer patterns using the designs! :)

The very first pattern that I worked on was the “Love” block from Easy Appliqué Blocks. It’s one of my favorite blocks from the book so it was an easy choice to go first.

Here’s the new pattern, Lovely Hearts.

lh-cover-website

It’s a 16 x 16 mini-quilt that can go up on any little wall space, proclaiming your affection for the world’s best emotion. I used raw-edge fusible machine appliqué, but of course you can use your own favorite method.

Until next time, with more!
Kay
By Kay Mackenzie
Kay’s Etsy Shop

No, not that lamp that turns itself on or off when you clap your hands. This is a gadget that you probably know about, but somehow I didn’t, despite the fact that I have been sewing and pressing like mad as a quilter for 25 years.

The tailor’s clapper! It’s my new favorite thing!

clapper

A tailor’s clapper is a wooden implement that is unfinished on the bottom. “Clapping” it over a freshly steamed seam will give an extra press and also absorb the moisture, so that seam lies very flat and crisp.

After I first heard about it, I was making a label for a new quilt. I always add strips around the sides to make a frame, then turn under the edges so that I can easily blind-stitch the label to the backing. These turned-under edges do NOT want to stay. I looked around my studio to see if I had anything that I could pretend was a clapper, and spied a wooden pencil box. Sure enough, even though the wood was varnished, it worked! The edges of that label stayed turned!! So exciting! (Sometimes it’s the little things.)

I got on Etsy and looked for a real clapper. I found one easily at Jackson Woodworks and ordered the small one, in oak.

Then came the acid test… the label situation. I sewed up a couple of blank, pseudo-labels for the test.

labels-clapper

Which one do you think is “with clapper” and which one “no clapper?”

That’s right, the upper one was pressed just the way I have always done it, no clapper. The lower one was clappered. Another question… which one do you think you’d like to work with more? :)

And BTW… no clapping required. I did not clap the clapper down, just pressed it down as soon as I removed the iron. Easy peasy! I am now probably addicted to using the clapper and won’t be able to press a seam without it.

Until next time,
Kay
By Kay Mackenzie
Kay’s Etsy Shop