May

4

Make Beleaf

Filed Under Blog hops, Magazines | 128 Comments

Welcome to All About Appliqué on this third day of the 100 Blocks Blog Tour!

I’m Kay Mackenzie, a designer and author in Santa Cruz, California. My website is By Kay Mackenzie, which has all of my books and patterns on it, plus select notions for the appliqué enthusiast. If this is your first time visiting my blog, I’m so glad you’re here! You’ll find a wealth of information about all kinds of appliqué here, so take your time clicking around the categories, and use the keyword search as well.

My block was inspired by the famous and beloved quilt by Susan McCord, Trailing Vines, which is in the Henry Ford Museum. Here’s a closeup of her fantastical leaves (photo courtesy of the museum). I have passionately loved and admired the inclusion of red and blue.

trailing-vines-closeup

I design my appliqué blocks in Adobe Illustrator, a vector graphics program. Usually I do not use color to fill in the shapes, because what happens is that I become attached to those colors and drive myself crazy trying to match them in fabric.

Well guess what, that’s exactly what happened this time LOL. I started playing around with color, and it was all over. Here’s my digital mockup, seeing what the leaves would look like cut out of strip sets.

illos-make-beleaf

Predictably, I couldn’t rest until I replicated what I saw on my computer screen. Most of the colors I found with ease, but I tore my stash apart looking for that just-right light tan. Finally found it! Yay!

fabrics-beleaf

The background is a light misty gray hand-dyed fabric from Always Unique. It’s gonna give it somewhat of a moderny look.

Here’s my pile o’ strips.

strips-beleaf

Laid out into two different strip sets.

strip-sets-beleaf

And here’s my finished block, Make Beleaf. I used raw-edge fusible machine appliqué.

I love combining patchwork with appliqué, so these stripped leaves are right up my alley. Of course you can use all sorts of different colors, and the leaves can be used in a million different ways. Templates and complete instructions are found in the magazine. Have fun making yours!

The editors of Quiltmaker’s 100 Blocks are sponsoring a giveaway of a copy of the magazine! If you’d like to enter to win, please leave a comment here on this post before 12:00 noon California time on Tuesday, May 10.

Good luck in the drawing, and remember that if you are subscribed to the blog by email, clicking “Reply” will not enter you in the drawing. Come to the blog on the internet (click on the title of the article) and leave your comment at the bottom of the post. :)

Thanks so much for stopping by on the blog hop!

Cheers,
Kay
By Kay Mackenzie
Kay’s Etsy Shop

Dec

14

Linda’s back-basting tutorial

Filed Under Back-basting (no-template), Hand appliqué, Photo tutorials | 2 Comments

Linda Franz is one of my most revered associates in the quilting world. When I first stuck a toe into publishing, I saw that she had produced the fabulous Quilted Diamonds on her own, and I contacted her with questions. Linda immediately became a mentor to me, answering at length and providing the most wonderful encouragement.

I’ve watched over the years as Linda has continued trail-blazing. She is the inventor of Inklingo, a system of printing on fabric that provides a myriad of benefits for both patchwork and appliqué. Recently Linda posted a tutorial on Quilting Hub about back-basting with Inklingo that you’ll just have to go and see. Among Linda’s many skills is photography, and the quality of her photo tutorials is unsurpassed. You’ll also meet Linda’s friend Monkey, who helps demonstrate during the tutorials.

Coming up: Tuesday is my birthday. I have a date with the hubby for dinner-and-a-movie, but I’m also feeling inclined to do some sort of something here on the blog to help celebrate. And, on Christmas day I post my annual Cavalcade of Kittens, so be warned if you are averse to fluffy baby felines. :)

Cheers,
Kay
By Kay Mackenzie

Nov

5

Sleep Tight

Filed Under Blog hops, Magazines, Prizes | 282 Comments

Greetings! It’s Day 1 of the 100 Blocks Volume 6 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 books and patterns on it, plus select notions for the appliqué enthusiast. 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 for one of these hops, welcome back!

This time around my block, Sleep Tight, is a whimsical combination of piecing and appliqué. An old-timey patchwork quilt is tucked into a comfy bunk just waiting for someone to snuggle in and dream away under a star-filled indigo sky.

You can click on the photo to bring up a larger version.

As you can see, the more fabrics the merrier, so this is a great chance to pull out your scrap bag. I used raw-edge fusible machine appliqué, but of course you can use any form of appliqué you like. It’s all good!

You could customize this design by making the background look like wallpaper.

Then decorate the wall with ornaments of your own choosing!

There are 99 more bottles of beer charming and delightful quilt blocks in Volume 6, something for everyone. The publishers are offering a free copy of the magazine to a lucky winner! So if you’d like to win one, leave a comment here on this post before 7:00 p.m. California time on Sunday, November 11.

Thanks a million for visiting, enjoy the hop! Be sure to start each day this week at Quilty Pleasures.

Kay
By Kay Mackenzie