applique

Thank you Susan - that is what I am doing now.

I think today is the first time you have posted to the Group - welcome. As you can see from the original thread I started there are lots of friendly people here, and lots of good advice.

No doubt someone will shortly be offering to test your chocolate supply!

We have a website for our pictures too, and there is a FAQ section there:

Sally at the Seaside ~~~~~~~~~~ (uk)

susanm wrote:

Welcome Susan! You're right, plenty of room for creative thinking, but advice from a position of experience never hurts. Roberta in D

"susanm" schrieb im Newsbeitrag news: snipped-for-privacy@k2g2000hse.googlegroups.com...

Hello Susan Welcome to the group! Now we know you like to applique, how about telling us something about you? QI's? chocolate preferences? family? We can be a nosy bunch.

Marilyn in still dark out but it is supposed to be a beautiful chinooky day Alberta, Canada

Piggy-backing here to say welcome Susan, from me, too. If you are an appliqué, your expertise will be much in demand!! Many of us find it more testing than piecing. . In message , Sally Swindells writes

Welcome to the group Susan, pleased to 'meet' you.

To add to what Susan has said below, I have just this morning (as it happens) added a small tutorial(possibly a big word for it) on my blogspot below giving some (hopefully) simple basic instructions on hand appliqué and how I like to do it. If anyone is interested in seeing it. Like I say it's basic, there's many more methods this is just one I like to use. Please excuse the drawings you know I'm hopeless at it but hopefully you'll understand them.. Elly

Susan,

Welcome to the Land of RCTQ. We have fun here, no moderator, no rules. The only thing you really need to know is that it is very wise to have your chocolate vetted. Just send a pound or two to the Office of the Official Chocolate Taster of RCTQ, which is in my Palace here in Virginia. I will test and taste and report back via email. You don't have to thank me ... this is my unselfish volunteer duty in RCTQ. A tough job, but someone's gotta do it. :)

Thanks for your excellent reminder that by 'breaking the rules' we have opportunity to expand the art form.

Pat In Virginia/USA

That's a nice clear explanation. I think I've got that part. I still, though, want to pull out my hair when I get to an "inner corner." Those just seem so unstable and likely to pull out the first time the piece gets washed.

I made my pieced block for the Jan BOM this morn>To add to what Susan has said below, I have just this morning (as it

Sometimes you can do something about those inner corners - not always, depend how the grain sits:

When you come to an inner corner, you clip into it to get the 'sides' turned under. I assume that most people will clip into the angle so that it is bisected? Have a very close look at the corner (I use a magnifying glass). Usually, cutting into the corner cuts through both warp and weft; but sometimes you can alter the angle slightly so that you cut along one or other (doesn't matter which). This reduces the 'cut' ends a lot and reduces the risk of the corner fraying away/loose. . In message , Carole-Retired and Loving It writes

You know PAT, if you changed the nature of your Realm/Empire, you wouldn't need to go to the gym as often? . In message , Pat in Virginia writes

Somewhere, long, long ago, I learned to make a loop at an inside corner that brings the fabric under and makes a nice tidy point.

What you do is bring the needle up from the back side of the background just a few threads behind (as in the applique side not the background side) where the inner corner will be. Then loop the thread around the edge of the applique fabric and take the needle back down thru the same place you came up. As you pull the thread taut, the fabric should curl under and the thread loop should make the inner point nice and sharp. Sometimes I turn the point under first and the do the applique stitches on both sides.

It's hard to explain, but it works!

Leslie, Missy & The Furbabies in MO.

Carole D. - Retired and loving it in the foothills of NW Georgia

My quilts, crafts, QIs, and more -

Carole D. - Retired and loving it in the foothills of NW Georgia

My quilts, crafts, QIs, and more -

Mine too! but the times it works are great >g< . In message , Carole-Retired and Loving It writes

Same here- arthritis and tri-focals. I pretty much have given up all handwork.... altho I used to really love to sew challenging applique blocks by hand- like Baltimore Album blocks.

Leslie, Missy & The Furbabies in MO.

"Carole-Retired and Loving It" wrote in message news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com...

Goodness! More power to you! I don't think I'd have EVER tried Baltimore Album blocks. It's funny because I've done needlepoint, embroidery, cross-stitch, knitting, and crocheting and none of those things have stumped me like the hand appliqué. I do just fine on straight and curved parts, and fairly okay on the outer points, but those "innies" just get the best of me.

Weeellll.... Carole, sometimes it's better to bite the bullet and cut the darn applique piece in two halves than to not enjoy what you're doing and getting all stressed about it.

Like the top of a tulip- it usually has a sharp inner V in it and a rounded cup-shaped bottom. There's absolutely no reason you can't make it into two pieces and avoid that icky inner corner. It's *your* tulip and you can do any darn thing you want to do with it. Now, I wouldn't necessarily say split it right down the middle, but an angle coming off one pointy top part and running about 45 degrees to the bottom of the other side of cup part would look just like another petal, right? You can also fatten up long skinny points and all kinds of other sneaky little tricks to keep applique enjoyable and relatively stress free. Get crazy! TANQP!!!

Leslie, Missy & The Furbabies in MO.

I can see how to do that on some things, and I will sure try to "let loose" in my approach. I still can't figure how to do that with the little notches in the sides of a poinsettia petal, though.

Can you either round out the notches to avoid the inner point or skip them completely and have smooth edged leaves? I'm sure anybody would recognize a poinsettia even without it having notched leaves!

Leslie, Missy & The Furbabies in MO.