The applique class at Smith & Owen is 2/3 over and I've had a month of making "whimsical" garden blocks (Piece O' Cake design). I think that for quilters "whimsical" is a code word for nothing having to match. I'm imagining that having these blocks will one day save my bacon when I need a baby quilt to come together fast.
The method we are using can be traced to
Pearl Pereira. It involves freezer paper, starch, stilletos, etc. Must say that it does produce sharply pointed leaves that I have a hard time with by other means. Good tips include using thread a bit darker and duller than the applique, using a starch alternative rather than flacky real starch, and using a travel size iron that gets good and hot.
On another note, I recently bought some Spot fabric. Not fabric with dots, but rather fabric printed with the character from children's books by Eric Hill. My son is almost 13, but when he was very little, Spot was
very important. So I thought I better get some of this fabric now, lest I repent at leisure some day.
Another Piece of Cake design turned up in a magazine while all the applique supplies are still out in the studio, so I used some fabrics that went into a recent quilt (that one I designed a few years back but they are similar in some respects). Might turn into a table topper.
