Colour Inspiration Tuesday – where we intentionally let real life creep into our quilts.
When we were talking about the colour red a few weeks ago, I discovered that I have not yet done a blue and red colour scheme for Colour Inspiration Tuesday. So, with Australia Day coming up on the 26th January, now seemed like a good time to fill in this gap in our quilt inspiration musings.
As you have probably gathered by now, I am proud to be Australian and call this beautiful land my home. I especially love the Australian Outback, and we travel there at least annually. And I am constantly fascinated by our wildlife and our flora – so different to much of the rest of the world. So much quilt inspiration just in my little corner of the world!
“Who are you calling strange?!! Ok…. the platypus – he is a bit odd.” Photo by Ewa Gillen on Unsplash
I was very excited when I found the picture of the red rocket sculpture on Unsplash. You will find out next week why! Actually, I couldn’t believe how well this picture lines up our next bear for the Beary Colourful BOM. Remember, we are doing the Blue Bear of High Hopes in February. So it was a cinch to choose this pic to focus my thoughts around red and blue as a quilting colour scheme. What’s more, January has been a fun month of exploring red. But I am now itching to get to February to do it all again with blue. A red and blue colour scheme seems the perfect way to celebrate this transition.
Red and Blue – such simple colours, such rich diversity
As I was musing upon red and blue, and my thoughts were turning to Australia Day and our flag, I wondered how many other flags use the same colour scheme. Flags for the USA, New Zealand, Great Britain and France come to mind in an instant, but it turns out there are so many more….. Here’s just a few that I didn’t know or didn’t know well enough to recall without help.
Slovakian FlagSamoan FlagFlag of CambodiaIcelandic Flag
BTW, If you are ever looking for flag graphics, I found a great site that has royalty free downloads of many…. including some pirate flags! 🙂 It’s called Flag Lane. Anyway….
How was I inspired by Red Rocket Blue?
Well, I know that red, white and blue quilts become very popular around July for US Americans. But where could we go with this colour scheme for the rest of the year…. or for us of other nationalities at any time? Because blue with red is a great colour scheme for a boy’s bedroom, regardless of your place of birth.
I have seen some amazing nautical-themed quilts in red, white and blue. And of course, the basic rocket shape of Red Rocket Blue would in itself make a great block. But what about flags as quilt blocks? According to Wikipedia, there are 38 countries that have flags considered to fall into this tricolour category – although some on their list have extra colour motifs. Even if you exclude these, there are a lot of options. And then there are red and white flags, and blue and white flags that would also fit right into a red, white and blue quilt.
So It wouldn’t be difficult to pick a few interesting flags and make a diverse quilt that reflects a collection of countries you are interested in.
My Blue, Red and White Flag Picks
For instance, if I was making a blue, red and white flag quilt, I would likely choose Australia, New Zealand, USA, Denmark, Thailand, Samoa, Japan, Singapore, Switzerland, Scotland and France purely on the basis of having been there or having some connection with that country that is important to me. Then I could add in a few that I think that have cool flags or I would like to visit….. Canada, Cook Islands, Iceland, Slovakia, Greenland, Nepal, Antarctica. The list could go on. As you can see, I have stretched the definition of “country” already, but you could add in states or territories or causes that mean something to you as well. I was tempted to add the Red Cross, since we work with some amazing Red Cross people through my hubby Paul’s research.
Here is my off-the-cuff design for a boy’s flag quilt that would have significant meaning for my family, with a few extra flags thrown in for visual interest.
Which countries would you put on a flag quilt to represent your family’s history or experiences? Of course, there is no need to restrict yourself to a single colour scheme for this exercise. I just chose to to stick with today’s colour discussion. As it happens, most of the countries that have special meaning to me are on the red, white and blue list. But that is purely coincidental. Germany and Vanuatu are two countries not on this quilt design that are also part of my family’s recent journey. If I was making a multi-coloured project, I would definitely add them in!
P.S. Picture Credits
The Red Rocket photo was supplied by John Baker on Unsplash.com.
From the Sewing Room – Valentine’s Heart Quilt Block and a De-Stash Challenge
Do you want ideas and motivation to use up some stash and/or scraps from your craft room? You are not alone! Come join us in the Craft Room De-Stash Challenge – a group of bloggers committed to turning some of the craft supply lovelies we have hoarded into finished items. Of course, my projects are likely to all be fabric related, but this is a diverse group of crafters. So there will be lots of ideas in this hop to deal with whatever crafty skeletons you have hiding in your closet!
Every month a group of bloggers are challenged by C’mon Get Crafty to create a new craft or project from their own stash of goodies! Check out some awesome creations you might be able to make from your own stash! #CraftRoomDestashChallenge
Really Dione, another project?!
Well, yes….. and no……
At the beginning of the year I stated that one of my goals was to reclaim my sewing space. And I have come to realise that part of that goal is going to have to be using up or moving on some of my stash. Like lots of quilters, I have a significant fabric stash, and a similarly rampant collection of scraps.So, joining in with this monthly hop (when I can) is actually one of the tools I am using to make this happen.
I suppose there are faster ways to reduce my stash…… But I bought and collected my resources because I like them. So I’d really rather take things to their intended conclusion and use them. What better way than to make some projects with the mentality of ONLY using stash?
Valentine’s Heart Quilt Block
For my first De-Stash Challenge project, I have decided to make a scrappy-heart quilt block. With Saint Valentine’s Day still a month away, you have time to make this block and turn it into a small Valentine’s Day project…. a pillow perhaps, or a lap quilt. This block with a border added would be a good size for a throw pillow. Or a dozen of these with a little sashing would make a nice lap quilt for someone you hold dear. I intend to eventually make a quilt with at least 12 of these, and probably some scrappy pieced blocks in between, so that the project uses a noticeable amount of stash! Probably not by Valentine’s Day 2018 though…..
Here’s the fabric I am using for my block background. I have just enough in my stash for 12 pieces of 11 inches square.
How to create your Scrappy Valentine’s Heart Block
Step 1
Iron your red fabric scraps. Choose two scraps with straight edges (or trim to straight edges) and sew them together with a 1/4″ seam. Press.
Trim the joined pieces so that you have at least one new straight edge. It doesn’t matter which edge. The less you think about the crazy improv piecing the better!
Step 2
Choose a third scrap of red fabric and sew to the trimmed edge of the previously joined fabrics.
Three red scraps pieced together
Again, press and trim off excess to create a new straight edge. Continue this crazy patchwork piecing until you have a piece large enough to cover the appliqué template.
The red crazy patchwork is growingThe red crazy patchwork is still growingEnough red crazy patchwork cover the Valentine’s Heart template.
Note: you can build the crazy patchwork in several smaller pieces and join these together to get the final larger piece if you wish.
Step 3
Trace the heart shape onto the paper side of the fusible adhesive. Cut out with a little to spare around the outside of the shape.
To keep your appliqué from being stiff, remove most of the fusible adhesive from the centre of the heart shape. Leave about 1 inch around the outside edge of the heart.
Step 4
Fuse the heart-shape adhesive ring to the back of your crazy patchwork as per manufacturer’s instructions. Trim your heart to the outline.
Heart appliqué with fusible adhesive around the edge of the shape but not in the middle to keep the project soft.
Remove the paper backing and fuse your Valentine’s Heart to the centre of your backing fabric square. The minimum size for the backing square is 11 inches square, but you are welcome to make your blocks larger with more negative space around the heart.
Scrappy Valentine’s Heart fused to background fabric
Step 5
Use your favourite appliqué stitch to secure the heart to the backing.
Finished Valentine’s Heart Block
One scrappy Valentine’s Heart block done.
I have enough of the butterflies batik background fabric in my stash for 12 heart blocks. I may vary the appliqué heart pattern between some of my blocks. Then, as I mentioned above, the rest of the quilt top will be scrappy squares.
The backing will also come from stash, and I also intend to use my growing pile of batting offcuts. It will be a bit of a Franken-quilt, but it should be sweet, and very usable, and require no new purchases (with the possible exception of binding, which I can probably obtain within the $10 limit).
You are invited…. Join us in De-Stashing your Craft Room.
Tips to help with the Beary Colourful BOM if you are a Beginner or don’t FMQ
This will be the last Beary Colourful post for a while (I hope). A few days ago I touched on the question of whether you can do the Beary Colourful BOM if you are a beginner.
Let’s start by saying two important things.
You can do whatever you want! Just because I wouldn’t consider the bears to be a beginner pattern, doesn’t mean that you can’t give it a crack. You won’t know what you can do until you try.
But…. don’t fall out of love with appliqué if the bear poses too much of a challenge at the moment. There are parts of the bear that call for some experience and quilting is definitely not meant to be frustrating.
So, I have come up with a short list of adjustments/tips that you can make if there are parts of the bear that might frustrate you.
Beginners Tips for the Red Bear
Use Batiks
Use batik fabrics for the applique pieces. Batiks have a tighter, finer weave than most quilting cottons and this means they are more fray resistant. They also are dyed right through, which means that any stray threads are less noticeable. Printed fabrics are usually white on the back, so frayed edges show this white and are more obvious. Using batik for raw edge appliqué is a good idea even if you are not a beginner. I have been appliquéing for much of my quilting career, and I only ever compromise on this point for one thing – if I can’t get a batik in the colour I want! Batiks reign supreme for raw edge appliqué. And I would have said this even if I had been refused for the 2018 Island Batik team!
Batiks will give you the edge….. boom, boom! 🙂
Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff
Don’t do the tiny details. Delete the butterfly’s spots, and the shine on the nose. Or add them with a few hand stitches instead.
Substitute the appliquéd eyes for felt circles or buttons. Just promise me you won’t do this if you plan to gift the quilt to a child under 3 years old. Choking hazards should always be a primary consideration if you are making quilts for young children and babies. And always sew buttons on very securely and check them periodically. Drawing the eyes on with a permanent fabric texta is a good option if the quilt is for a very young child and you wish to avoid appliquéing the eyes. I have provided a positioning guide for the eyes in the beginners’ pdf if you choose to use buttons (or safety eyes).
I don’t have any really suitable buttons on hand today, but you could explore the huge variety of buttons out there for fantastic bear eyes.
Use a Normal Sewing Stitch, not Free Motion Stitching
Sew the appliqué down with a wide sewing machine stitch such as zigzag or blanket stitch. This should be relatively straightforward if you have removed the hair spikes and eliminated the impossibly small pieces. And sew slowly.
A sample of blanket stitch around raw edge appliqué
Take a deep breath and believe you can!
I think they are all the suggestions I would like to make. If you can think of more beginner’s tips please add them in the comments – that would be very helpful. 🙂
If you haven’t done a lot of raw edge appliqué before I hope you will still give the bears a go. It’s going to be a very fun quilt.
How to put together the Red Bear of New Beginnings
One of the techniques I have done a lot since I learned to free motion quilt is raw edge free motion appliqué. Primarily because free motion appliqué is the fastest form of appliqué I know. And for me, currently, fast is good……. I have young kids and an often travelling husband…..
But there is also another reason…. I have found that free motion appliqué is a great way to improve my free motion skills for quilting. The act of tracing around a shape several times in a row. then another shape, and another shape (and so on) has definitely helped with my FMQ confidence and accuracy.
So, if you are still working on your free motion quilting skills and don’t do raw edge free motion appliqué yet, you might just want to give it a go. Here’s how to do it, using the Red Bear Block from the Beary Colourful BOM as an example.
What you will need to make the Red Bear appliqué block
Before we get started, if you haven’t got the Red Bear of New Beginnings pattern yet, you can download it here from yesterday’s blog post. Reminder: if you are a beginner and don’t want to jump in the deep end, I will share a slightly simplified pattern later this week once I have the all main instructions posted.
Here is also a brief reiteration of everything you will need to make the Red Bear block. If you require more detail, this list was covered more fully yesterday.
Background fabric 13.5″ by 17″
Thin batting for trapunto 11″ x 15″.
Fusible paper-backed fabric adhesive (for example vliesofix). 15″ x 24″
Red fabric scraps for the main sections of the bear. The whole bear requires the equivalent of 6″ x 24″ of red fabric.
White/light colour fabric scraps for the muzzle and tummy, 5″ x 8″. Or 10″ x 8″ if you would like to make the light fabrics double layered.
Various coloured small fabric scraps for eyes, nose, mouth, paws, inner ears and tummy motif appliqué shapes.
Machine embroidery or sewing threads to match your appliqué fabrics
General tools: sewing machine, iron etc, teflon ironing sheet or baking paper, small sharp scissors, pencil, chalk/washout fabric marker, quilting pins, black permanent fabric marker, curved blade embroidery snips, greaseproof paper.
Where to start
Step 1
First, print out your appliqué templates. Pay attention to the size of the check box on the printout. It is actually really important that this box is square. If it is not square, then all sorts of bad things will happen. I.e. your pieces won’t all overlap, your bear will be misshapen and rain will fall on your nearly dry washing….. just kidding about that last one, but the other two consequences are 100% true.
Step 2
Choose whether you are making the Butterfly Bear or the Beetle Bear and tape together the large outline of the entire bear. This is a placement guide to build your bear appliqué over later. Put it aside.
Step 3
Now, from the appliqué pieces pattern sheets (the first 5 pages of the Red Bear pattern) trace your appliqué shapes onto the paper side of your fusible fabric adhesive. The pieces are already reversed to give you a bear that faces the same way as my sample. The arrows indicate the top of each piece. Leave space between the tracings so that you can cut out the pieces with 1/8th inch or slightly more excess paper around them.
Step 4
Red Bear pieces fused onto my scrap of red batik
Fuse each traced piece to the back of your chosen fabric, according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Protect your iron by covering your work with an non-stick ironing sheet or baking paper – the really shiny kind that is used for lining cookie baking trays. Carefully cut out each fused shape on the traced line. Cut the centre out of the “outer tummy” shape, so you get a tummy doughnut.
Here’s the baking paper I use for appliqué. I save the cheap stuff for cooking with…… 🙂
Building the Appliqué for the Red Bear Block
Step 5
Lay your bear outline face up on your ironing board and cover it with a see-through teflon ironing sheet or baking paper, I have an ironing sheet (somewhere) but I had to use baking paper because it is lost. I did mention that taking control of my sewing space is a 2018 goal.….. Actually I like using baking paper for this step, because I can happily stick pins through the baking paper and the template into my ironing board, and nothing moves.
Step 6
Peel the paper backing off your appliqué pieces. If you can get them off in one piece, save the backing paper pieces from the left foot, both arms, the tummy, muzzle and head (otherwise you will just have to trace them again later – no biggy).
Place the arms, legs and outer ears into position and tack each down with a quick touch of the iron. If anything moves out of place carefully peel it off the baking paper and try again.
First layer of the red bear appliqué temporarily adhered to baking paper.
Step 7
Join up all the limbs by adding the outer tummy ring over the top.
Step 8
Now add the inner ears over the outer ears and lightly press. Notice that the edges of the outer ear and the inner ear pieces are slightly offset? This creates a gradual decrease in layers under the head, and prevents a pronounced bump forming on the head at the edge of the ear pieces.
Step 9
Now add the main head section and the feet, overlapping the already placed pieces.
Step 10
Add the tummy centre and muzzle. If you wish to make the white areas double layered, now is the time to do that (use fusible adhesive to stick two layers of fabric together before you cut out the white shapes).
Upper picture shows muzzle with one layer of white fabric. Lower picture has two layers of fabric on the muzzle.
Step 11
Add the whites of the eyes, the irises, the nose, mouth and paws. You most likely will not be able to see the position guidelines through your appliqué now, with the possible exception of the white areas. You can position your pieces by eye, or if you want them placed exactly, you can use the following trick:
Take the saved backing papers from your appliqué pieces (or trace new shapes on tracing paper if the originals tore during the removal process). Move your bear (still on the baking paper) off the appliqué positioning guide. Use the guide to trace the positions of the paws, facial features and tummy motif onto the backing papers.
This arm backing paper now has the paw location marked on it
Align the marked backing paper over the corresponding part of your bear appliqué. For instance, this arm backing paper now has the position of the paw marked on it. Gently slide the paw piece in under the arm backing paper until the paw piece is aligned with the paw outline on the backing paper. Press to fix the paw in place.
Align paw under backing paper and iron down
Actually, you can see this process better with an eye…..
White eye piece aligned under marked backing paper
Repeat with two remaining paws and the facial features.
Bear face all assembled
Step 12 – Butterfly motif
Add the butterfly motif. The butterfly construction follows the same method as the paws and face (step 11).
Butterfly appliqué assembled
Step12a – Beetle motif
To do the beetle, use your favourite marking method (chalk, pencil, washout pen, greaseprroof paper) to mark out the beetle’s legs. Then either: use the permanent fabric marker to draw the beetle’s legs. Or, if you are confident with FMQ, you can thread paint the legs in a later step (and go straight to step 14 now).
If you have drawn the legs on, you can now add the beetle body. If you wish to thread paint the legs, leave the beetle body off.
Step 13
Mark the pupils with the permanent fabric pen. I thread paint over these later, but you could leave them as is, or hand embroider them instead.
Add small details with permanent marker
Step 14
Once you are happy that all of your pieces are in place, give the appliqué a thorough pressing to adhere all the pieces together. Once it has cooled, your appliqué should peel off the baking paper in one large piece.
Lay the bear onto the centre of your block background fabric and iron down.
Step 15
Lay the whole block over the polyester batting and pin into place with a few quilting pins around the bear.
Pin the polyester batting under the bear. Make sure the whole bear is sitting over batting.
Step 16
Set your machine up as you would for free motion quilting.
Starting with the white areas, sew straight stitch around the edge of every piece to secure the appliqué. If your quilt is to be a wall hanging, one or two rounds of stitching around each raw edge will suffice. However, if you would like to make this as a bed quilt to be used and loved, stitch around each appliqué piece 4 or 5 times.
White appliqué areas stitched down with free motion straight stitch
Step 16a
If you are thread painting the beetle legs, do these next. I used my favourite marking method….. drawing onto greaseproof paper and stitching around the outline. You can find out more about this method here.
Marking out the beetle legs with greaseproof paperOnce the outline is stitched, remove the paper before you colour in the shapes.Thread paint in the legs and antennaeThread painting all done
Press the beetle body into place. It will hide the travel stitching between each appendage.
Press on the remaining beetle parts
Step 17
Free motion stitch around all the remaining raw edges as for the white areas in Step 16.
Don’t forget to add a few stitches of white to give his nose some shine. And of course, thread paint or embroider the pupils.
Step 18
Remove the safety pins. Turn your finished work over and carefully cut away the batting just outside the perimeter of the bear. Take care not cut your fabric or stitching, just the batting!! Curved embroidery scissors work wonderfully for this job. The result is padding left behind the bear, so that the bear will be a greater thickness than the surrounding quilt. For those who have never heard of trapunto, that is exactly what this is.
The back of your appliqué should look something like thisAll excess batting cut away.
Once the excess batting has been removed your red bear block is done! Fabulous!
If you have any trouble with the pattern please let me know. And don’t forget to link up a photo with Jen’s linky party at the end of January.
Then hold tight for the Blue Bear of February.
And to finish off, I didn’t forget that it is Tuesday…… and the first Colour Inspiration Tuesday of the year, no less! I do admit that this past week has been a bit manic getting the Beary Colourful BOM up and running, so there has been no time for my usual dose of wandering creative thoughts….. so we will simply take this opportunity to celebrate the colours of the Butterfly Bear of New Beginnings. Happy Colour Inspiration Tuesday!!
Don’t want to miss a bear in the Beary Colourful BOM? You can follow my blog directly for email updates, or through Bloglovin’. Sneak peeks of next month’s bear will also appear throughout the year at Clever Chameleon Quilting on Facebook. All your follow options can be found here.
It’s finally time to meet the Red Bear of New Beginnings! Welcome to the Beary Colourful BOM!
Happy New Year!!!! May 2018 be full of blessings and peace and success for you!
Today is the day! A new year. New goals. And the first episode in two intertwined projects that will run all year. The 2018 Monthly Color Challenge and the Beary Colourful Quilt BOM.
I have been looking forward to this day for several months. This project is all thanks to Jen Shaffer of Patterns by Jen. For each month of 2018, Jen has chosen a colour and is releasing a pattern for a pieced block in that colour. Over the 12 months there will be 12 blocks in 12 colours to produce a rainbow quilt. The first block for Jen Shaffer’s quilt is available for free at Jen’s blog right now. This is the first block that you can download from Patterns with Jen:
How the Monthly Color Challenge will work
Jen has invited a small group of bloggers to help with her 2018 Monthly Color Challenge. So at the beginning of each month, there will be a blog hop to inspire you with different projects in the allocated colour. This month, to start things off, there are six other bloggers participating in the Red Challenge Blog Hop. There is myself – I will get to what we are doing for the challenge here at Clever Chameleon in a moment. And then there are five other fabulous quilters.
Not only has Jen put together a free rainbow BOM for you, and lined up half a dozen other quilters to help inspire you, but she has organised prizes as well!!
Every month, in the last week of the month, Patterns by Jen will have a linky party especially for people who have participated in the monthly colour challenge. You can link up one project per month in the colour of the month. Your link can be Jen’s block, something you have made from one of the other Challenge Blog Hop participants or something completely original. As long as your creation is made predominantly in the nominated colour. You can participate in as many or as few of the monthly parties as you wish.
Every month there will be a prize drawn randomly from the links in the linky party. January’s linky will be open at Patterns by Jen from Jan 24 – Jan 31, and a winner will be chosen on Feb 1st. January’s prize is sponsored by Northcott and is a set of 2.5″ strips….. win this and you’ll be all set for June’s challenge! 🙂
And…. every linky party that you enter will also give you one entry for the Grand Prize. Which is to have a quilt top quilted by Jen of Dizzy Quilter! There are a few details you should know about this prize, but winning this would be a serious coup.
That’s all fantastic. But I’m here for the Red Bear!
Indeed. We should definitely get on now to what’s happening for Jen’s Monthly Color Challenge here at Clever Chameleon.
Every month of 2018 I am going to make an appliqué bear in Jen’s nominated colour. And for the duration of the Color Challenge I am also making the patterns available to you so that you can make them too. Together these 12 bears will form the blocks of a rainbow bear quilt suitable for a single (twin)-size bed.
So without further ado, I present to you, the Red Bear of New Beginnings. New Year’s Red Ted is celebrating fresh starts and the courage to try new things. He is stepping out with the intention of improving something or discovering something. 2018 is his year!
The Red Bear has a butterfly on his tummy to remind him to never fear new beginnings or be ashamed to change his path for the better.
Or he has a beetle on his tum…..
This month I have pulled out all the stops and given you two options for the motif on the Red Bear’s tummy. Most months there will only be a single pattern, but the first month is special, right? And perhaps there are children out there who would rather something less fluttery on their quilt than a butterfly. So I thought very hard, and decided that beetles start as grubs, pupate and then emerge as spectacular flying insects. So why should butterflies always get the glory as the poster child for change and renewal? Beetles do a complete metamorphosis too .
So, the other Red Bear has a beetle on his tummy, also to remind him to never fear new beginnings or be ashamed to change his path for the better.
No this is not a bugbear, despite my DH’s quick wit!
The beetle/butterfly choice is all yours. Of course, you can abandon both the butterfly and the beetle and put anything you like on your bear’s tummy if you wish.
How to get the Red Bear Appliqué Pattern?
Sorry, this free pattern download has expired…. it will be available for purchase in due course. Perhaps you would like to join the free 2019 Love with a Twist BOM here instead!
Further to the pattern file, the fabric and notion requirements for the Red Bear block are at the end of this post. The technique I used to make my bear is free motion raw edge appliqué. If you are already proficient at free motion raw edge appliqué you should need very little further guidance to create your Red Bear.
If you do need more help, I will be posting further instructions and tips to supplement the pdf pattern over the next few days (Update: done!). This current post is already mammoth enough! Also, some instructions will be applicable to every bear and will serve us better over the year if they can be accessed directly, not buried in this post.
However, there are a few things I want to discuss with you right up front.
I am going to trapunto each of my bear appliqués.
This makes the fusible appliqué less flat and dimensionless. It also means that I do not need to use a stabiliser (stabilizer) while I am stitching the appliqué. Because the trapunto layer is also my stabiliser.
Stabiliser, you say?! For some choices of machine-stitched appliqué techniques, the fusible webbing and multiple layers of fabric in raw edge appliqué are sufficient to keep your work flat. However, if you are finding that your stitching is pulling at your design and distorting your work, you will need to use a stabiliser to keep your appliqué flat. Here is a good review of stabilisers.
But may I just recommend the trapunto?
I am a beginner and/or I don’t free motion stitch. Can I do the Beary Colourful BOM?
Of course! You may want to wait a couple of days to get started though. I am preparing a blog post (update: done!) to cover some minor adjustments to the block that will make the bear simpler. These adjustments will be particularly helpful if you do not wish to use free motion straight stitching to secure your appliqué. Free motion stitching allows you to easily appliqué very small pieces and around very tight corners. Some of the corners and small pieces in the original pattern may send you balmy if you try to secure them with more traditional appliqué stitches such as zigzag or blanket stitch.
I prefer needle-turn/hand-stitched appliqué. Can I do the Beary Colourful BOM?
Certainly, if you are independent. You will need to know how to add your own seam allowances to the pattern, as this pattern is designed as a raw-edge appliqué pattern. You may also want to follow the simplification guidelines to deal with unrealistically small details. Beyond that – I don’t do hand appliqué so I can’t offer you any further knowledgeable help.
Where are we headed?
You are welcome to set your bear blocks into a quilt top however you like. But, I know some people/groups are looking at this quilt as a charity quilt option (good on you!) and I thought it may be helpful to lay out my intentions for a simple quick finish after you have laboured over all the blocks. My current intention is to finish the Beary Colourful Quilt off very simply by adding sashing between the blocks, followed by a plain border. The bear blocks will finish at 12″ by 15.5″.
If you add jelly-roll (2″ finished) strips between the blocks, 4″ wide side borders and 6″ wide top and bottom borders, the final size of this quilt will be 48″ by 80″. This will fit on top of a single (twin) bed with 5-6″ overhang on each side and at the bottom. Increasing the sashing widths a little will get more overhang.
I intend to do February’s blue bear in dark blues, which will leave light blue unrepresented in the quilt and a perfect candidate for the sashing colour.
What you will need to make the Red Bear block
Fabric for the background of the block. Each bear block will require a base fabric square of at least 13.5″ by 17″ to allow leeway for trimming. I used a light-grey tone on tone print and a similar batik for my two Red Bear blocks. You should be able to get 3 blocks across the WOF of most quilting-weight cotton fabrics.
Thin batting for the trapunto layer. I use a polyester batting of 1/8th inch loft that I buy by the yard at my local quilt shop. The red bear requires a trapunto batting square of approximately 11″ x 15″.
Fusible paper-backed fabric adhesive (for example vliesofix). 15″ x 24″ will be ample for the red bear.
Red fabric scraps for the main sections of the bear. The whole bear requires the equivalent of 6″ x 24″ of red fabric. But he is built from pieces, so you can use multiple smaller scraps if you wish.
White/light colour fabric scraps for the muzzle and tummy, 5″ x 8″. If shadowing bothers you (when fabrics show through the layer above slightly) you may wish to cut two each of the muzzle and tummy pieces and make these sections out of two layers of fabric. Then you will need 10″ x 8″ of white/light fabric.
Shadowing…. the bear on the left has two layers of white fabric on his muzzle, the bear on the right has only one layer. Some red can be seen underneath the muzzle of the bear on the right.. Honestly, kids will NOT care.
Various coloured small fabric scraps for eyes, nose, mouth, paws, inner ears and tummy motif appliqué shapes.
Machine embroidery or sewing threads to match your appliqué fabrics (I used rayons for a little shine, but cottons are prefered if you are securing with only a single round of stitching)
General tools: sewing machine, iron etc, teflon ironing sheet or baking paper, small sharp scissors, pencil, chalk/washout fabric marker, quilting pins, black permanent fabric marker
Optional but helpful: curved blade embroidery snips and a furry friend to sit on your mending pile to provide guilt-free sewing time. Thanks Mew!
P.S. Have you liked Clever Chameleon on Facebook? That is where you will get your first glimpses of the Blue Bear of High Hopes before February!
P.P.S This is the first full scale pattern I have produced for online download. Should you have issues with this pattern, I would be grateful for your assistance in reporting problems so I can correct them and learn for next time. Thanks!!
Don’t want to miss a bear in the Beary Colourful BOM? You can follow my blog directly for email updates, or through Bloglovin’. Sneak peeks of next month’s bear will also appear throughout the year at Clever Chameleon Quilting on Facebook. All your follow options can be found here.
When we were talking about the colour red a few weeks ago, I discovered that I have not yet done a blue and red colour scheme for Colour Inspiration Tuesday. So, with Australia Day coming up on the 26th January, now seemed like a good time to fill in this gap in our quilt inspiration musings.
I was very excited when I found the picture of the red rocket sculpture on Unsplash. You will find out next week why! Actually, I couldn’t believe how well this picture lines up our next bear for the Beary Colourful BOM. Remember, we are doing the Blue Bear of High Hopes in February. So it was a cinch to choose this pic to focus my thoughts around red and blue as a quilting colour scheme. What’s more, January has been a fun month of exploring red. But I am now itching to get to February to do it all again with blue. A red and blue colour scheme seems the perfect way to celebrate this transition.
This will be the last Beary Colourful post for a while (I hope). A few days ago I touched on the question of whether you can do the Beary Colourful BOM if you are a beginner.
Indeed. We should definitely get on now to what’s happening for Jen’s Monthly Color Challenge here at Clever Chameleon.
Optional but helpful: curved blade embroidery snips and a furry friend to sit on your mending pile to provide guilt-free sewing time. Thanks Mew!