Nov
2
Santa’s sleigh goes to Ruth’s house
Filed Under Blog hops, Prizes, Quilt shows | 2 Comments
The winner of Santa’s Loading Dock is Ruth B. of Washburn, Wisconsin. Congratulations! Ruth writes that she is very excited and can’t wait to see the book and learn new tricks.
I’m off to Lodi today to set up for the Tokay Stitch ‘n Quilt Guild show this weekend.
Then on Monday it’ll be my day on the 100 Blocks Blog Hop. The hop continues all week so be sure to check it out.
Next weekend I’ll be in Roseville, California, for the Pioneer Quilters Guild Show.
A busy little burst, all very fun!
Kay
By Kay Mackenzie
Oct
26
New 100 Blocks coming soon
Filed Under Blog hops, Magazines, Prizes | 4 Comments
Over at Quiltmaker they’re going to town with the 100 Blocks series. A new volume of this special issue comes out every six months. I was delighted to learn that I have a block in the upcoming Volume 6. It’s always so much fun!
Here’s a sneak peek of the cover.
There’ll be a blog hop to celebrate the release of Volume 6 from November 5-9. To follow the hop, start each day at the Quiltmaker blog, Quilty Pleasures, and they’ll send you off to visit the designers. There are lots of prize-winning opportunities along the way. My day is Monday, November 5, so stay tuned!
Jun
18
Book-A-Round Roundup
Filed Under Blog hops, Book-A-Round 3, Prizes | 5 Comments
Our Scrap-Appliqué Playground blog tour has concluded. Sigh. I don’t know about you, but I had blast and a half. Most of the time I had not seen what the other bloggers were up to and it was a huge thrill each day to discover the wonderful things that had arisen from their creativity.
Foster kitten Freddie is resting up from the tour.
Our winners are:
• Deb H.
• Laurie W. in Maine
• Maureen W. in Ontario, Canada
• Kathy P. in Maryland
• Sheryl W. in Missouri
• Joanna P. in Massachussetts
• Judith R. in Texas
• Kathy L. in Missouri
• Mary G. in Arizona
• Ellen P. In Pennsylvania
As you can see we had winners from up and down and across North America. Isn’t the blogosphere great? Congratulations to the winners, enjoy the book!
And a huge thank-you to those of you who followed the tour and said the most amazing things. You make me want to keep at it, and I owe you for that.
The cover quilt, Lollipop Grove
Dana and I are off to North Carolina and Virginia for a week on a long-overdue visit with my folks and his folks. We’ll probably see some of that red clay that inspired the earth in Lollipop Grove! See you in a week!
Until then,
Kay
By Kay Mackenzie
Jun
16
Book-A-Round 3 ~ Day 10
Filed Under Blog hops, Book-A-Round 3, Prizes | 68 Comments
It’s the final day of our Scrap-Appliqué Playground Book-A-Round! I’m Kay, the author of the book, and If you haven’t been here before, welcome to my blog All About Appliqué! You’ll find lots of great information about appliqué here, all kinds, so be sure to take some time to poke around the Categories and use the Key Word Search.
We end up our tour in my town of Santa Cruz, California, right on the coast between San Francisco and Monterey.
View Santa Cruz, California in a larger map
I hope you’ve been having a fabulous time on our 10-day tour. I sure did! Weren’t the other bloggers fantastic? A big shout-out to all the gals who played in the Playground to bring us such great inspiration.
Most of the other bloggers have been showcasing the piecing methods in the book, so I thought I’d give you a peek at the fusing method. I call it “Lay Down and Fuse,” because that’s what you do… lay down pre-fused scraps and stick them together to create spontaneous fabric compositions.
This is the project Imaginary Blooms from the book. My husband refers to this one as “Psycho Flowers” LOL. He’s having a hard time getting used to it, I think because it’s just so different than what he’s seen come out of my studio for the last 20 years. Personally I love it, because it’s so NOT me :). I had a blast cutting loose with these blooms from my imagination.
Since I made a blue spiral flower for Imaginary Blooms, I decided to do one in a different color. Hmmm, how about red. I dumped out my bag of red scraps and started casting about for inspiration. A pretty red-and-white floral caught my eye. That’s it! All red-and-white, all the time! I rummaged and pulled out all the scraps and strips that fit the description. I also looked through my tub of reds and pulled one more fabric. (We’re allowed to do that, you know. And besides, I love rummaging.)
Right now this looks like a hot mess.
In addition to fabric scraps, pull out those odd little pieces of leftover paper-backed fusible that you’ve been saving.
SoftFuse is my current favorite.
Now I’ve pressed and pre-fused the scraps, and given them a fresh scissor-cut all the way around.
I traced a freezer-paper template from the pattern in the book, scribbling inside it so I could more easily tell the positive space from the negative space. It will serve as both a cutting template and a sizing template.
Spontaneously and without overthinking it, lay down the pre-fused scraps slightly overlapping on a nonstick pressing sheet. The composition is large enough for the template. (And I didn’t even need that fat quarter.)
A quick flower center, and here it is, ready to fuse and stitch! So quick, and what fun! Scrap-Appliqué Playground takes you through the process in full detail.
Courtesy of Martingale, I have a copy of the book to give away. If you’d like to enter the drawing, please leave a comment here on this post before 7:00 p.m. on Sunday, June 17. Tell me what you enjoyed most about the Book-A-Round!
Heads up: If you’re subscribed by email, you can’t leave a comment by hitting the “Reply” button. Go to All About Appliqué on the internet and add your comment there, at the bottom of the post. Contest open to U.S. and Canada mailing addresses only.
Good luck, and thank you all so very kindly for coming along on this journey with me.
Cheers,
Kay
By Kay Mackenzie
Jun
15
Book-A-Round 3 ~ Day 9
Filed Under Blog hops, Book-A-Round 3, Prizes | 1 Comment
Welcome to Day 9! I hope you are enjoying all these peeks into the Scrap-Appliqué Playground. Today we’re headed down the coast of California to land in beautiful San Diego.
View San Diego in a larger map
SewCalGal is a fabulous blog for quilting, sewing, and embroidery enthusiasts alike. You’ll want to take some time and explore the wealth of information presented there.
Off we go to visit the SewCalGal to see what’s going on in the Playground!
Cheers,
Kay
By Kay Mackenzie
Jun
14
Book-A-Round 3 ~ Day 8
Filed Under Blog hops, Book-A-Round 3, Prizes | 2 Comments
It’s Day 8 of our 10-day tour, and we’re not even jet-lagged!
Today we’ll head all the way west to land in Hollister, California, a great little town not far where I live.
View Hollister, California in a larger map
There are some awesome quilters in Hollister, among them one of the most talented illustrators I’ve ever seen. Holly Mabutas of Eat Cake Graphics has a thriving rubber-stamp business in addition to being an appliqué designer with some of the cutest patterns in the business.
Holly and her gorgeous collie mix, Tucker.
Holly recently teamed up with quilting mystery writer Terri Thayer on a a unique eight-month web-based series that includes a block of the month plus a story of the month. How fun! It’s called Tales of the Quilt Shop.
Let’s go see what Holly has been up to in the Scrap-Appliqué Playground, and good luck in the drawing!
Holly’s blog Sprinkles of Thought.
Jun
13
Book-A-Round 3 ~ Day 7
Filed Under Blog hops, Book-A-Round 3, Prizes | 2 Comments
It’s the seventh day of our Scrap-Appliqué Playground blog tour. Today we fly through cyberspace westward to land in Louisville, Colorado, home of appliqué designer Erin Russek.
View Louisville, Colorado in a larger map
The subtitle of Erin’s blog is, “A large helping of appliqué with a side of piecing.” Now that’s a gal after my own heart! Erin does the most gorgeous appliqué, and offers her patterns in either downloadable or paper form. Be sure to click on her beautiful pink-and-white “Visit My Shop” button while you’re there.
Let’s go see Erin! I hear she’s playing around with the Barber-Pole Bias method. Can’t wait to see what she’s done!
Erin Russek’s One Piece at a Time.
Cheers,
Kay
By Kay Mackenzie
Jun
12
Book-A-Round 3 ~ Day 6
Filed Under Blog hops, Book-A-Round 3, Prizes | 4 Comments
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Howdy! Today we take a very short hop over to Mooresville, North Carolina, to visit with Susan Brubaker Knapp.
View Mooresville, North Carolina in a larger map
You’ll want to take a look at Susan’s beautiful work while you’re there. An accomplished art quilter, Susan is the author of Point, Click, Quilt! as well as several other books on quilt design, machine stitching, and machine quilting.
Let’s go see Susan at her blog, Blue Moon River.
Cheers,
Kay
By Kay Mackenzie
Jun
11
Book-A-Round 3 ~ Day 5
Filed Under Blog hops, Book-A-Round 3, Prizes | 7 Comments
Welcome to Day 5 of the Scrap-Appliqué Playground Book-A-Round! Are you enjoying your visits with other quilting bloggers?
Today we’re headed to my home state of North Carolina to drop in on fellow appliqué enthusiast Carrie P.
Carrie has been a regular reader here, and with a name like A Passion for Appliqué for her blog, I couldn’t wait to ask her to join the tour!
Over at A Passion for Appliqué, Carrie has some fantastic tutorials so be sure to take a look at those while you’re there.
Carrie was inspired by the Pop Beads project from the book. Off to see what Carrie P. has cooked up!
Cheers,
Kay
By Kay Mackenzie
Jun
10
Book-A-Round 3 ~ Day 4
Filed Under Blog hops, Book-A-Round 3, Prizes | 6 Comments
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This is the way to travel! Today we’re taking a relatively-speaking short hop down to Mississauga, Ontario, to check in with Maria Hrabovsky.
View Mississauga, Ontario in a larger map
Maria is editor-in-chief of the fabulous on-line Quilt Pattern Magazine. She also runs the website Quilts For Sale, so if you’d like to buy or sell a quilt, be sure to check that out.
So click on over to Mississauga, just across the border from Buffalo and Niagara Falls, for a visit with Maria, who’s been playing in the Playground! My favourite (note the Canadian spelling :) ) quote from her post is “You’ll have great fun while virtuously using your scraps.” Good luck in the drawing for a copy of Scrap-Appliqué Playground!
Jun
9
Book-A-Round 3 ~ Day 3
Filed Under Blog hops, Book-A-Round 3, Prizes | 4 Comments
It’s the third day of our virtual Book-A-Round! Today we zoom eastward across Canada to land in Espanola, Ontario, where we’ll visit the joyful Sarah Vanderburgh.
View Espanola, Ontario in a larger map
Sarah Vee, a thoroughly enthusiastic quilter and blogger, says, “Quilting is my Happy Medium!”
A little bird told me that Sarah did her own take on the Studio project from Scrap-Appliqué Playground. Let’s go see!
Cheers,
Kay
By Kay Mackenzie
Jun
8
Book–Round 3 ~ Day 2
Filed Under Blog hops, Book-A-Round 3, Prizes | 4 Comments
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Today we’re headed to Calgary, Alberta, Canada to drop in on Kim Jamieson-Hirst.
View Calgary, Alberta in a larger map
Kim designs the cutest patterns, available at her Chatterbox Quilts Etsy shop, and is also quite the video star. You’ll need to check out her two video series, Fabric Fundamentals and Studio Setup. I’ve been quilting 20 years and I learned something new the first time I watched one!
When I sent Kim her copy of Scrap-Appliqué Playground, she was immediately drawn to the Crazy Hearts project. Let’s go see how she’s put her own spin on it, and good luck in the drawing for a copy of the book!
Heads up! You’re welcome to leave a comment here, but to be in the drawing, you’ll need to leave a comment on Kim’s blog.
Cheers,
Kay
By Kay Mackenzie
Jun
7
Book-A-Round 3 ~ Day 1
Filed Under Blog hops, Book-A-Round 3, Prizes | 16 Comments
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Welcome to the first day of the Scrap-Appliqué Playground blog Book-A-Around!
For the next 10 days we’re going to have a fabulous time zipping through cyberspace to enjoy a bunch of different quilting bloggers and their own takes on the methods and projects of Scrap-Appliqué Playground.
Start here each day and I’ll send you off on your virtual trip to far-flung places. Each day there’ll be a chance to win a copy, so be sure to follow the whole tour!
Today we’re starting off in Bothell, Washington, home of the book’s publisher Martingale and its quilting imprint That Patchwork Place.
View Bothell, Washington in a larger map
Martingale does a gorgeous blog called Stitch This! that a lot of the staff members contribute to. The High Webmeister is Jenny Wilding Cardon, Martingale content editor and a successful author herself.
Today Jenny let me write a guest post at Stitch This! about how Scrap-Appliqué Playground went from idea to book. Go on over now! See you there!
| Stitch This! |
Cheers,
Kay
By Kay Mackenzie
Jun
5
Book-A-Round 3 starts Thursday!
Filed Under Blog hops, Book-A-Round 3, Prizes | 10 Comments
It was both wonderful and heartening to meet some regular readers over the weekend at the Beach Cities quilt show. It’s always a surprise and a delight when someone comes up and tells me that they enjoy the blog. It’s very validating and makes made me feel encouraged to keep on! Thank you so much.
Well, after months of delicious planning and scheming, our Scrap-Appliqué Playground blog Book-A-Round starts Thursday!
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For 10 days we’ll zoom around cyberspace, visiting bloggers throughout the U.S. and Canada. If you’d like to see who we’ll be visiting, check the tour schedule on the Book-A-Round page.
Each quilting bloggers has something fun to share about the book, so you’ll get a really good look into the Playground. Plus, there will be a chance to win signed copies throughout the trip! Start here at All About Appliqué every day through June 16 and I’ll send you on your way.
See you Thursday!
Doin’ the new-book happy dance,
Kay
May
30
200 Blocks giveaway over at Stitch This!
Filed Under Blog hops, Books, Prizes, Quilt shows | 4 Comments
You remember how I mentioned that Martingale had gotten together with Quiltmaker magazine to publish the first two issues of 100 Blocks in book form? Well right now over at Stitch This!, the Martingale blog, Quiltmaker editor-in-chief June Dudley has done a guest post talking about how the collaboration came about, and they’re teaming up for a fantastic giveaway.
Not only can you win a copy of the book, if you win you’ll get the first two 100 Blocks mugs too! I just happen to have four of these mugs and I treasure them :).
So go on over to Stitch This! and good luck!
Another item you might find of interest is the Checker Distributors blog, where Penny Haren put up a couple of posts with wonderful photos of designer booths at Kansas City. It’s another taste of Market.
A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words, Part 1
A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words, Part 2
In other news, I’m off to southern California this weekend to the Beach Cities Quilters Guild Show in Aliso Viejo. That’s in the famous O.C. don’t ya know, near Irvine. If you’re in that area, hope to see you there!
And, mark you calendars for our upcoming Scrap-Appliqué Playground blog Book-A-Round, June 7-16! I put the schedule up on the Book-A-Round page here on the blog. Each day we”ll see what the other quilting bloggers have been playing with in the Playground, and there will be prize-winning opportunities all along the way. It’s going to be a blast!
Until next time,
Kay
By Kay Mackenzie
P.S. So glad you enjoyed Fabric by the Mile!
May
3
That was way fun!
Filed Under Blog hops, Kittens Off Topic, Prizes | 6 Comments
Thank you so much to all 268 readers who entered the 100 Blocks drawing! That was a party!
I appreciate all the nice words about my cat-in-basket block, even from self-proclaimed non-cat people. Guess what? I’m really a dog person myself! However, we have the most incredible young cat right now that we are over the moon about.
Our cat Max, eight months old, giving a bath to foster kitten Priscilla, two months old.
The winner of a copy of Quiltmaker’s 100 Blocks, Volume 5, is #106, Jocelyn. The reader who won a copy of my book Growing Hearts to Appliqué is #52, Cecilia. Congratulations to the both of you!
The contests are still going on, through the end of the week. Hurry on over to Quiltmaker for all the details.
Until next time,
Kay
By Kay Mackenzie
Apr
30
Sitting Pretty
Filed Under Blog hops, Magazines | 271 Comments
Greetings! It’s Day 1 of the 100 Blocks Volume 5 blog hop!
I’m Kay Mackenzie, a designer and author in Santa Cruz, California. My website is By Kay Mackenzie, which has all of my stuff on it. If this is your first time visiting my blog All About Appliqué, you are very welcome! If you’re a regular reader or you’ve been here before, I’m glad you’re back!
It’s so much fun to have a block in these very special magazines. Here’s a little backstory for my design.
When I was a newlywed living in Ohio, three little kittens followed us home one day. They stayed for 18 years.
Maikai was the beauty of the family, a striking calico with big round eyes.
During those long years my husband and I learned a lot about cats and what they know to be true. We compiled a list of Cat Caveats, such as:
• If there is a piece of paper anywhere in a room, it must be sat upon.
• Loose objects need moving around.
• What’s on the other side of a door is not interesting until the door is closed.
There are many more, including the fact that bags, boxes, baskets, and any other type of open containers are there for the sole purpose of being climbed into by a cat.
When it came time to design a block for Volume 5 of Quiltmaker’s 100 Blocks, I started with this silhouette of Maikai…
… and sat her in a basket.
And here it is, Block #410!
I used hand appliqué for this one, but of course you can use your own favorite method.
Below is another example I stitched up using fusible web and a small machine blanket stitch. I thought it would be fun to play with feedsack-y and 30s type fabrics.
Came out pretty cute!
In the following alternate version I was going for sort of a porcelain figurine look. One of the most fun things about quilting is that you can make your block look so many different ways with just the choice of fabrics!
Be sure to follow the blog tour all week, through May 4. There are multiple bloggers participating each day, with lots of prize-winning goodness at every turn. Start out at Quiltmaker and they’ll send you on your way.
I have a copy of Volume 5 to give away! To enter my drawing, leave a comment at the bottom of this post before 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday, May 2. You don’t have to be a cat person :). There are 99 other varied and wonderful blocks to choose from!
I’ll also draw a second winner, who will receive my book Growing Hearts to Appliqué.
Best of luck to everyone!
Cheers,
Kay
By Kay Mackenzie
Apr
24
Bouquet fabric, crayons, and what’s coming up
Filed Under Blog hops, Books, Fabrics, Quilt shows | 1 Comment
I subscribe to the Checker Newsletter blog. Checker Distributors is one of the major suppliers of everything for our independent quilt shops, and Penny Haren, author of the Pieced Appliqué books, does a wonderful job of writing about all of the new and intriguing products that are coming down the pike. Lo and behold, yesterday Penny talked about a gorgeous new floral bouquet fabric that is just coming on the market! Maybe they’ll make a comeback!
On my last post, a reader asked for some help: “I saw a lady who gave a Quilting with Crayons demo, and I have lost the demo, but she really did a great job showing how to do it well, at least for me. I would love to find her again. No, I did not remember her name.”
Jeanne, could you be thinking of Creative Quilts from Your Crayon Box by Terrie Kygar?
Neat things coming up:
Quiltmaker’s 100 Blocks, Volume 5 Blog Tour is next week, April 30 through May 4. My day is April 30! The tour will continue all week with visits to lots of other designers who have a block in the magazine. Be sure to tune in for prize-winning opportunities all week long.
On Friday I’m driving down the coast to beautiful San Luis Obispo to set up for the annual Seven Sisters Quilt Show at the historic Madonna Inn. I was at this show the last two years and it has become one of my favorites.
Back soon,
Kay
By Kay Mackenzie
Mar
12
Baltimore Garden Quilt winner
Filed Under Blog hops, Blogroll, Book-A-Round 3, Prizes, Quilt shows | 4 Comments
The lucky reader who came up the winner of Barbara Burnham’s Baltimore Garden Quilt is… Nellie! Congratulations to Nellie! And thank you so much to everyone who left warm and wonderful comments about Barbara’s work. I know she greatly appreciates it and so do I.
Other bits and bobs:
New in the blogroll: Zebra Designs by Debra Gabel. Check out the totally charming Holiday Houses!
Mark your calendars for the upcoming Book-A-Round 3, June 8-15! My new book Scrap-Appliqué Playground comes out in mid-April, and during the Book-A-Round in June we’ll zoom around the blogosphere visiting seven other fabulous quilting blogs who will each feature something fun about the book.
This Thursday I’ll be headed to southern California once again for the 33rd Annual Glendale Quilt Show. The show, held at the Burbank Airport Marriott Convention Center, is Friday through Sunday, March 16-18. This is my first time as a vendor. I’ve attended the show before and had a fantastic time. In fact, once upon a time I received a Judges’ Choice ribbon for my Growing Hearts quilt and got to attend the awards banquet and everything :) So you might say I have a soft spot in my heart for the show. If you’re in SoCal I hope to see you there!
Until next time,
Kay
By Kay Mackenzie
Nov
16
Lucky Kathy H. is the winner of a copy of the brand-new 100 Blocks Volume 4. Congratulations! Kathy reports that she already has the second and third editions and just loves them, so this’ll be a great one to add to her collection.
Elizabeth came up the winner of a copy of my book Dolls & Dresses to Appliqué. The cool thing is, Elizabeth said in her comment, “Thanks so much for the opportunity to win the book Dolls and Dresses. I have wanted to get it.” How cool is that? Sometimes random.org knows what it’s doing.
Until next time, with a couple of reader questions.
Kay
By Kay Mackenzie
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