It’s a Beautiful Day for a Blog Tour!

If you’ve been participating in the Quiltmaker’s 100 Blocks Blog Tour this week then I know you have seen some amazing blocks and you are just “itching to get stitching”! I hope you will find my design Tea for Tulips equally appealing and that you will rush right out to purchase your copy of Vol. 11, 100 Blocks magazine, it’s on sale now where all the best magazines are sold!

Applique is my favorite way to design. I love coming up with a concept, sketching it out, and then creating a pattern from the sketch. Once I have the pattern complete, it’s just a matter of tracing the pieces with my favorite fusible, Heat ‘n Bond Lite, cutting them out and fusing them to the backside of the appropriate fabric. Once I have all the pieces fused, I cut them out on the drawn line and fuse the final design to the background fabric. Then I use either a blanket stitch, a satin stitch or if I’m feeling really adventurous, I may use some of the decorative stitches on my machine to appliqué the design to the background.

I’ve come up with some ideas of how you can use my Tea for Tulips design on page 35. Of course you can always make a  few blocks for a tablerunner just by stitching three blocks together.

But how about something a little different! This block can be appliquéd to anything you choose. How about creating an apron to wear while preparing for your next summer picnic? Or, stitch this little beauty onto a tote bag. I know you all have tote bag patterns, you can add a little pizzazz to any pattern that you currently own with a little appliqué design on the flap or directly onto the bag!

Now for the prizes….

I will be randomly selecting five winners!

Two people will receive free issues of Quiltmaker’s 100 Blocks magazine, Vol 11., one mailed to you from Quiltmaker and one mailed  from me.

Three other people will receive a pattern of their choice from my website. All you have to do to enter to win one of these five prizes is tell me which pattern you would like to win. You can go to my website here to have a look at the patterns to choose from. Then come back here and comment below with the name of the pattern you would like to win. Be sure to leave me your email address as well, so that I can contact you when you win.

As an additional free gift for you, check out my previous blog post from May 5th to receive your free Stitch it Up pattern. All you have to do to receive this fun pattern is sign up for my newsletter here. 

Have a great time on the rest of the tour and I hope you are a winner!