Aug

27

Creatures great and small!

Filed Under Patterns | 5 Comments

I’ve got a couple new patterns!

These were so much fun to work on. I used fusible appliqué to tell these little stories, but of course you can use whatever method you like. They’re are up on my website now, along with all the others, on the Patterns page.


Something wonderful coming soon to the blog from the inestimable Darcy Ashton!

Until then,
Kay
By Kay Mackenzie
Kay’s Etsy Shop

Mar

22

My Little Orange Kitten

Filed Under Patterns | 2 Comments

No, I did not get another kitten LOL (though kitten season is beginning and I should have new fosters soon).

No, the fabulous Darcy Ashton got a new kitten, and made the most amazing pattern!

Pumpkin Jr., side-by-side with his fabric rendition.

Darcy is famous for her blanket-stitched appliqués, and this is an example of her more realistic work. I’m blown away.

“My Little Orange Kitten” is available as an instant download at Darcy’s Etsy Shop.

Until next time,
Kay
By Kay Mackenzie

Apr

8

Furry Sweetness

Filed Under Patterns, Prizes | 4 Comments

The winner of Sew Embellished is No. 9, Gail! Congratulations! Gail says that her guild is just starting a splinter group for art quilters this month and the timing is great. Very cool.

I have show and tell! At the recent Desert Guilds show in Palm Springs, the show committee asked the vendors to award ribbons for their favorites. I wandered the show looking here and looking there. I saw one that was entirely to my delight, walked up to it, and hung my ribbon. Then I read the description. No wonder I loved the pattern… it’s one of Holly’s!

Holly Mabutas is a gifted artist and quiltmaker who has THE most delightful patterns over at Eat Cake Graphics. Here’s the quilt from the show, Furry Sweetness by Judy Price, quilted by Lynette Harlan. Love it, gals!

my Vendor's Choice ribbon

Furry Sweetness at Eat Cake Graphics.

Until next time,
Kay
By Kay Mackenzie

May

7

Hybrid cats

Filed Under Back-basting (no-template), Hand appliqué, Quilt shows | 3 Comments

More felines!

Our PVQA guild member Mickey Beebe, designer of the world famous BB Bag, is coordinating our opportunity quilt for 2014.

At our last guild meeting she doled out dozens of a cute little cat block that she had designed to those members not afraid of hand appliqué. I took three.

Mickey had already traced the cats with a silver pencil and had provided a measurement-based placement system. I put on my thinking cap and came up with a method that slops into back-basting, except that it’s front-basting! That’s why I call them hybrid cats.

I positioned the cats on the background as directed, pinned in a couple places, then front-basted along the silver marked line. Take out the pins, and voilà! it’s ready to stitch, just as if I had used my favorite back-basting method.

Trimmed to shape, leaving the turning allowance, and a little reverse appliqué to delineate the legs.

Stitching away, removing the basting a little ahead.

Three cats all done and ready to go back to Mickey! I feel like there are more in my future, since there are a whole lotta cats in Mickey’s quilt!

Notes:

Cat block is © Mickey Beebe. Mickey is a natural-born quiltmaking soul. You can see two of her Road to California ribbon-winning quilts, #6711 and #6712, at the R2CA site.

When I looked at the webpage I was tickled to see one of my quilts on there too! We had a good year!

If you didn’t win a copy of Quiltmaker’s 100 Blocks, Volume 5 in last week’s blog hop, I now have it available on my website, on the Patterns page.

Also, if you can’t wait until the Book-A-Round June 7-16 to see if you win one, you can order your signed copy of Scrap-Appliqué Playground now! It’s on the Bookshop page.

Cheers,
Kay
By Kay Mackenzie