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

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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

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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.

Cheers,
Kay

Jun

13

Book-A-Round 3 ~ Day 7

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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

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!

A Passion for Appliqué

Cheers,
Kay
By Kay Mackenzie

Jun

10

Book-A-Round 3 ~ Day 4

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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!

Maria’s Quilt Scraps

Cheers,
Kay

Jun

9

Book-A-Round 3 ~ Day 3

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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!

Sew Joy Creations

Cheers,
Kay
By Kay Mackenzie

Jun

8

Book–Round 3 ~ Day 2

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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.

Chatterbox Quilts Chitchat.

Cheers,
Kay
By Kay Mackenzie

Jun

7

Book-A-Round 3 ~ Day 1

Filed Under Blog hops, Book-A-Round 3, Prizes | 16 Comments

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!

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

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!

scrap-cover-250 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