Tag: Applique

Sticking the Land(ing)

Dear Liza,

Once I had the geography for my French map quilt designed and cut, it was time to stick it all down. I watched several YouTube videos to learn about my options, then I took the bus down to Joann Fabrics in Happy Valley (yes, there is a town called Happy Valley!)

I chose Heat n’ Bond lite sewable fabric adhesive and it worked very well so far. I will know more when I start the embroidery and see how easy it is to sew through.

Following the very basic instructions, I ironed, trimmed, peeled, and ironed again.

You need to make sure your iron is hot enough, (or it won’t stick), and avoid ironing the glue-y bits, (or it stinks and gums up your iron), but other than that, it’s easy!

I was slowed down temporarily because I failed to buy enough of the fusible interfacing, and needed to make an extra trip to Joann.

But once that was done and the Massif Central was fused down, all my geology was set!

Next: Sketching the rivers.

Love,

Grandma Judy

Rivers and Cities

Dear Liza,

I was feeling pretty good about the shape of my highlands, mountains and shorelines on my French map quilt. Auntie Bridgett admired the lay out, then asked, “Are you going to put anything else on it? Like cities?”

Oh. Yeah. Knowing that most cities in Europe are on rivers, I decided to put in the rivers first.

So, using Googlemaps and blue yarn, I began to lay out my rivers. I’m only putting in the main rivers for now, so you can see (from upper right, going clockwise) the Meuse, the Rhine, the Rhône, the Garonne, the Dordogne, the Charante, the Loire, and the Seine.

Once the rivers were laid down, I felt more confident about the placement of the cities. Paris, Vernon, Rouen and Honfleur along the Seine,


Orléans, Tours, Angers and Nantes along the Loire,

and Lyon, Avignon, Aix and Marseilles along the Rhône.

So now, everything is laid down. But NOTHING is attached yet. If I lift the green hexagon, it all falls off. That’s the next step, and it may take a few days. Be patient with me.

Love,

Grandma Judy

Progress on the Map of France

Dear Liza,

In search of fabric for my France map quilt, I took the # 75 bus to the #72 to Bolt Fabric the other day. It’s a quick trip, and nice to see new neighborhoods.

Bolt didn’t disappoint! I found the palette I had chosen in solid cottons, which will be good for appliqué-ing and embroidering as the project moves along. I got the fabric home and washed it.


And now I need to decide on the style of the map. The main body will be green, the lower mountains purple, and the peaks of the Alps and Pyrenees will be red. Coastlines will be a soft peach. Am I sure? Maybe.

With my five colors, it will not be a ‘realistic’ map. It will be modern, abstract, more …. stylized. But what style?

I’m wrestling with that, in one of my favorite stages of creation, the “creative problem”.

My goal at this point is to let each stage sit long enough, and look at it often enough, so I don’t get ahead of myself.

So far the only cutting I’ve done is to make the basic green hexagon shape. The rest will come, I’m sure.

Love,

Grandma Judy

Practice Slow Stitching

Dear Liza,

I love learning new things, and this week I have been all about Slow Stiching. This is a new name for combining old hand sewing techniques like embroidery and quilting, and I am loving it.

I have got a project set up to do on my flight to Denmark, but I want to make sure I know the ins and outs before I start it at 30,000 feet.


So I am practicing! I am making a 30 inch long, 3 inch wide strip, quilted, appliquéd and embroidered. I am not sure what I will use it for, but something will come to me. Wall decoration? Head band? Ridiculously long book mark?

Anyway, I am enjoying the act of embroidering, playing with colors and patterns, and feeling the textures grow under my fingers. There may also be buttons, beads, and other goodies as I go along.

I am learning how this sort of project works. A few things I have learned:


*** Keep about half an inch of overlap so there are no gaps between patches.

*** Use a single strand of thread of a light color to sew patches down if you plan on adding more layers of stitching, so it doesn’t distract from the patch.

This is how it is looking so far, on the front….

And on the back.


Maybe I’ll bring this one along with me, and we’ll figure out what to do with it!

Love,

Grandma Judy