Applique Tutorial for Turtle Quilt

Hello friends!

I'm beginning to think I should have THREE blogs:

One for just talking.

 One for sewing and pattern-fitting.

One for quilts and quilting.

I can't do it though, so you will have to just TURN OFF the posts you're not interested in.

HEY!!!!!

Guess What?!

My daughter, Tammy, is turning more and more into her Mother!

Someone should notify the authorities!

She texted me today that she has started her own BLOG!  I'm sure her blog will be very interesting to anyone who loves yarns and loves to knit.  She says she wants to have her own Yarn Shop after she quits nursing.  I think that is a GREAT idea!

When I'm 85 and 90 years old, I can sit in a rocking chair in her shop and talk to all the customers.  MAYBE, I could even learn to knit.  Don't hold your breath on that, however.  I have tried and tried.  I really prefer crochet, but I could sure crochet in a yarn store, couldn't I?

Customers will walk in the store and say, "Who is the old lady in the rocker with a cup of coffee and two big black dogs????"

Actually, I couldn't take the dogs in there.  Josie would EAT all the yarn and try to go home with all the customers!

I can't direct you to her blog yet because it isn't working right.  I will when it is lookupable.

And NOW I will tell you all about my latest project, the turtle quilt with Tommy, his wife, Terry, and his daughter, Tammy.  Yes, I named the turtles.  I had to to keep track of all their parts.

Here is a loooooooooooooooooooooooong video I put on Youtube which is actually 3 or 4 little videos stuck together.  It was made two days ago.  I made it for those who ASKED ME to talk more about quilting and how I do it.

And here is a follow-up video from yesterday with more applique information.  (Yes, my red blouse is way too big for me.  I have to wear SOMETHING until I get a bunch more smaller tops made.)

I mentioned in one of the videos that I would SHOW YOU where I want to hang this quilt when I get it done.  How FUN is Photoshop that it looks like the quilt (missing Tommy Turtle) is already hanging up there!?  That is Tammy Turtle on top and her Mom, Terry Turtle.  I'll get Tommy done tomorrow.

And for you newbies to quilting who asked me for tips, here are a few still pictures of my applique process.

First:  You really will want to get a light box.  You almost always have to turn the picture UPSIDE DOWN to trace it, and it is hard to see.  I used a colored pencil to trace some of the shapes because I could not make them out even with the light box.

After you have DRAWN your shapes, you lightly iron them onto the BACK SIDE of your fabric.  Hold the iron down for 3 to 5 seconds.  If you hold it longer, the paper won't come off!

Then, you cut out your shapes.  I used this tiny rotary cutter for a lot of the pieces.  Little pieces require little, VERY SHARP scissors.

A lot of the pieces for these turtles were SO SMALL, I put them in this dish with numbers up.  I did a section at a time:  a leg -- the head -- the eyes -- another leg -- the shell -- etc.

To start, you put the picture of your project UNDERNEATH a sheet of silicone that you can see through.  You can put the pic directly under your Steam-a-Seam cut-outs but DO NOT iron it, or you will have to start over.  Remember, the pieces are all covered with glue that melts under an iron.

You can see the beak still uncovered by fabric.  All the pieces you see here were placed with the drawing showing underneath.  After this part, I could no longer see the picture underneath.  

Here is the sequence:  Cut out the shape.  Remove the paper.  Apply to the silicone over the picture as long as you can see the picture.

Here I have added all the "scales" to the turtle's back and ironed them down.  the white sheet and the brown sheet are silicone pressing sheets that the glue will NOT stick to.  The turtles back feet hanging OVER the white paper would iron to the ironing board if I pressed them.  I used the extra brown sheet as needed for all the parts that hung over the white one.

AS LONG AS you have the silicone under your glued fabric, you can iron the pieces to each other. When I was done with each turtle, I picked them up as an entire, glued-together whole turtle.  

Someone asked me:  What do you do AFTER you have it all glued to the quilt?

Depends on what you are going to do with the quilt.  This will hang on the wall.  You can take the quilt to the sewing machine and sew around every single piece with a satin stitch or straight stitch.  I have done that.  I did it on Kissed by the Sun.  I used a tiny zig-zag stitch around the flower petals, stems and leaves.  It doesn't really show here.

You already saw above how the turtles look and how the coral looks when all done.  Very exciting.  Hope I can figure out how to quilt all of it because it will be on the longarm very soon.

Hugs, Joy

Strange New Vogue Top and Turtles

I told you I would show you my new top, so here it is.

This is Vogue 9004.

My husband said it looks VERY STRANGE -- like something is tucked IN that should be OUT.  I'm sure this won't be my favorite top, but I will wear it.  I may wear it tomorrow to go shopping with Terry for fabric and a hamburger in McKinney, TX.

Here is a little video I made a few days ago before I got on the subject of abused children.  I notice I lost two followers.  I think they were expecting a quilting blog and were probably shocked when they stopped by the last few days and found me on my Soap Box.

Here is a still of Vogue 9004.

It really is strange.

Depending on what time Terry and I get back from our trip tomorrow, I'll be back either tomorrow or the next day with an update on the turtles.

I noticed on the pattern of Follow Me there was a website for the designer.  It is www.ocaroldesigns.com.  I found my turtle quilt there, and I found this darling quilt too.  I think I have seen this one made up somewhere.  It is called Standing Room Only.  I've got to find some fabric that looks like snow and ice tomorrow.  Notice how one of the penguin wings goes OUTSIDE the border.  So cute!

Oh!  Here is Follow Me.  Wish I could see the quilting on top.

This quilt is SO MUCH PRETTIER in person.  (How can a quilt be a "person"?)



Hugs, Joy

Thanks for the Comments and Terry's Opinion

Thank you for all of your answers to my question yesterday.

It seems everyone pretty much agrees that nothing is anyone's business.

My interpretation, lol.

I can't help putting myself in the shoes of that little boy that has to live his entire life with only one arm and one leg due to his Mother's GROSS NEGLIGENCE.  WHAT IF a neigbor had thought enough of that child to go over and say something to the Mother?

What if the neighbor had offered to watch the child?

I don't really care one whit about what the parent would think of me.  I just think MAYBE -- JUST MAYBE -- I could tell the parent something the parent didn't realize, and MAYBE it would save the child's agony, pain and life-long deformity.

I think it is so sad that
#1:  people can't take advice anymore,
and
#2:  people are too afraid to offer it.

Terry came over today, and I told her about this discussion.  She told me she totally agrees with me.  She said that she and her first husband were walking through a Walmart parking lot one time, and Terry noticed a child in a car seat alone in a hot car with the window cracked just a few inches.  She tried to walk over to the car to see about the child.  Her husband GRABBED HER ARM and drug her away and told her to mind her own business.

That reminded me that the same thing happened to me one time.  I was alone though when I saw the toddler strapped inside a hot car in a Walmart parking lot.  I was FURIOUS!  I ran into the Walmart and asked for security or management or SOMEBODY.  I was told that someone else had reported the incident, and the police were on their way.  I went back out to check the car, and the police had arrived.

I ask God every time I hear about a child being abused or harmed, "WHERE was that child's guardian angel?"  I don't understand about guardian angels if they aren't for protection of these innocent little children, including those in the womb!


Yes, I know, we have free will.

I realize that any hood, criminal, murderer, or drug addict can make a baby.  But all the more reason for a caring neighbor to TRY to provide some kind of protection, if as one friend said, only a prayer.

Remember the girl and her children LOCKED in a backyard for years and years and years?  I promise you, if I had been next door to that, I would have called the police or CPS or something.

It is all so sad for the children.

When I was growing up, I dreamed of building a huge home that could be a refuge for abused or unwanted children, and I could take care of all of them according to Bible principles and instruction.  That sure can't happen.  Our government is so messed up, they would call ME the unfit parent!

Now, that I have thoroughly depressed myself, I will let you go.  So many sad pictures and stories come to my mind.  I need to go work on a quilt and fill my mind with a new picture!

Dear God, PLEASE protect the children and give their parents wisdom to keep them safe.

Hugs, Joy

Can I Ask You Something?

I want to ask your honest opinion about something.  It has to do with my personality and people's opinion of it.  As I have hinted to, it has to do with children, and what I consider as me trying to protect them.  Let me give you a couple of "for instances".

Here is instance #1:

One day, Jerry and I were driving out of our neighborhood.  We passed a house that is a little ways from our house.  It did not have a fence at that time, and there was one of those giant trampolines in the back yard.  I noticed a young little girl (under 6) jumping up and down on it, and I didn't see anyone else around.  I couldn't see the whole trampoline, so someone else might have been there.  The trampoline did NOT have any protective sides on it -- just the flat trampoline part.

I IMMEDIATELY thought of the paraplegic young woman that Jerry had been treating.  She was paralized from the neck down.  HOW did she get that way?  She had fallen off a trampoline and broken her neck when she was a child.

I told Jerry to STOP THE CAR.  He said, "Why?"  I said I need to go find that little girl's mother and tell her how dangerous it is to let that little girl jump on that giant trampoline without protective side curtains!"

Jerry said, "You need to mind your own business!!!", and he kept on driving.

Here is instance #2:

Today we were at a restaurant being waited on by a lady with only one arm.  Her other arm was gone below the elbow.  I asked her about her arm and told her I was amazed she could wait tables.  She told Jerry and me about how she also teaches special needs children.  She said there was a little boy in her class that had only one arm and one leg.  He was only 6 years old.  I asked her what had happened.

She told me that when the child was only 18 months old, his mother was mowing the lawn on a riding mower with him in her lap.  She dropped him, and she ran over him with the mower, cutting off his arm and his leg!

I GUARANTEE YOU if I had seen that happening, I wouldn't care WHAT Jerry or anybody else said to me, I would have run over to that woman, and I would have BEGGED her to PLEASE get that baby off that mower!

Here is my question:

Does my wanting to protect those children -- to the point of bringing it up to the parent(s) -- make me pious and self-righteous?

I can promise you that if YOU came up to me and told me that something I was doing could harm my children, I would LISTEN TO YOU.  I actually did it when my daughter was young.  A teacher at her Day Care when she was 3 years old came out to the parking lot to talk to me one evening after I had picked Tammy up.

Tammy had not been there very long, and she didn't like it.  She had stayed with my Mother prior to that.  When she saw me coming every evening, she would start crying.  She would RUN to me, and I would RUN to her and grab her up in my arms and hug and kiss her.

The teacher explained to me that I was REINFORCING her behavior and her feeling that she was being deserted and tortured every day.  She told me that I needed to just walk up to her -- take her by the hand very calmly -- and walk out to the car.

I THANKED the lady for her advice.  I did NOT rebuke her or tell her it was none of her business.  I did exactly what she asked me to do, and Tammy changed her behaviour immediately as well.  She was right!

I was NOT the type to defend my children's bad behaviour either.  If a neighbor complained that my child had done something wrong, and I found out they were right about it, I made my children apologize or fix whatever it was.  My daughter broke into a neighbor's little lawnmower shed one time with a neighborhood boy.  We made her completely clean out that shed and APOLOGIZE to the parents, and we offered to pay for any damage.  As I recall, the other kid's parents did nothing.

I have a new NON-wadder blouse to show you.  Jerry doesn't like it.  I may wear it once or twice anyway.  I'll come back tomorrow and show it to you because it doesn't really go with my questionnaire today, lol.

Hugs, Joy

Happy Thoughts

I am so touched by the many very sweet comments I have received about my simple little blog.  Most of my own family thinks nothing of it, and I doubt that any of them ever even glance at it.  I know if any of my family members had a blog, I wouldn't be able to wait to read it.  Of course, I love reading and learning and getting to know people who do all the things I wish I could do.

My daughter, Tammy, reads my blog once in awhile, and once in awhile she is in it,  to my great delight.  She and her husband are vacationing in Santa Fe right now.  Tammy knits all the time and makes the most intricate, beautiful pieces.  She heard that there was a lot of yarn in Santa Fe, and her husband went with her to check it out.  She told me they were exploring a mountain today and playing with the groundhogs.  Tammy loves animals of all kinds.  She is the female Dr. Doolittle.


My sister, Janice, checks my blog once in awhile too.  She can out-sew me with her eyes shut, so I sure can't teach her anything about sewing.  I would love to spend a weekend with her in my sewing room, but I don't know if that will ever happen.  She doesn't drive very far from home these days, and she lives in Tulsa which is 3 1/2 hours from my house.  She HATES for me to take her picture, so I wouldn't be able to record the fun via photos or video.

Terry called me today.  I could NOT believe what she asked me if she could do.  I actually had thought about asking her to do it many months ago, but I was afraid she would tell me to take a flying leap into Lake Texoma!
Terry is a professional photographer.  She used to have her own business and did that for a living.  Hence, she has a REALLY NICE camera.  My little point and shoot camera will probably be embarrassed to be in the same room with her camera.

ANYWAY,

She asked me if she could bring her camera over and photograph each of our many pantographs and then make a catalog of them.

YES, YES, YES!  She certainly can.  I think I will run upstairs RIGHT NOW and take a snapshot of how we keep track of the pantographs now.

I'm sitting on my bed with a laptop on my lap.  Hold on.....................................

I'm baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack!  Here is the picture showing my current storage system for the pantographs:

If I pulled the basket of thread out, you would see a whole bunch more pantographs behind it.

Terry is coming over later to introduce me to a grandchild I haven't met yet.  I have WARNED HER of how I am with children, but she STILL wants to bring them over.  Her adorable little granddaughter, McKinley, drew me a picture when she was here one day.

I have it on my refrigerator, and I LOVE IT!

Cheryl asked me if she had to buy a Longarm in order to quilt.  The answer to that question is:

ABSOLUTELY NOT!!!!

Terry and I both started quilting on our regular sewing machines.  Terry bought a Flynn Frame (?) to quilt with but decided she might as well use my longarm machine since it is right here just begging to be used.  You can also PAY someone to quilt for you.  I bet Terry would do it.  It is a whole lot cheaper than buying a $21,000 longarm machine!

Note to Beth P:  Thank you SO MUCH for your lovely email and the information about the doctor.  You cheered my heart today, and I am so thankful.  I will certainly tell my friend about that doctor, although we are believing for a miracle that she won't have to see any doctor about it.

I've got to go back downstairs and make my dinner shake, but I'll be back soon.

Hugs, Joy

Terry Time

Hi Everyone!

I posted a loooooooooooooooooooooong post to this blog this morning, but after a few moments, I decided it was way too depressing, and I deleted it.  Sometimes, no matter how hard your heart tries to explain something to somebody you love, it just cannot do it.  I have to just accept that, and as Terry advised me:

LET GO, AND LET GOD!

Yes, that is definitely the answer.  Wish someone would tell my heart to quit hurting over it though.

So let's talk about something HAPPY and FUN!

Check out our maiden voyage on the AccuQuilt:

It was AMAZING,
and FUN,
and EXCITING,
and NOW, we want more, more, more dies to play with.

We are waiting for a sale at AccuQuilt, and it better be a BIG sale because we need want a lot more dies.

AND NOT ONLY THAT!

Terry actually sent a pattern of her own for them to MAKE A CUSTOM DIE out of.  She said it will probably be $300, and she won't pay that, but we will see.

Look at all the strips we cut yesterday in about 45 minutes.  If the fabric had already been pressed, it would have taken even less time.

And following is a set she has sewn together to sew into a tube.

Terry chose the colors from a decorator platter her sister has in her Florida home.

And this is the Bargello quilt pattern she is making for her sister as a hostess gift.

Remind me to have her and Doug over so I can get a hostess gift like this!!!

Oh yeah.  Her sister has a house on the ocean in Florida that they stay in for over a week at a time.  Guess just dinner wouldn't really compare.  )-:

I'm going to look around on the web to see if I want to make a Bargello or something else.  Probably something else.  I'm afraid I couldn't choose the colors right to come up with a good Bargello.  My platters are all solid white, so no help there, lol.

This one is really nice.  It might be my favorite.  The colors are fabulous!, and I love the curly ques.  Some ladies are amazingly talented!


LOOK AT THIS BARGELLO!  How on Earth does a person make that????

Here is another one.  WOW!

This one looks easy, and I can do that quilting on top easily with the longarm.

This one is really something.

I think this last one is my favorite.  Wonder if there is a pattern or instructions for it.

Be back soon.

Hugs, Joy

Happy Hearts

If you could see my face, you would see a big, happy smile on it because my heart is so happy.

My husband and my grandson have been doing guy things all day.  Jerry actually took the whole day off just to enjoy it with John.  He never takes days off unless it is for medical reasons, such as chemotherapy or to have braces put on his teeth.

John and his Papa have been in the front yard shooting guns for hours.  I went out and shot mine for about five minutes.  They worked on Jerry's dozer.  They went fishing and caught so many fish they got bored. They polished some scratches out of John's truck.

I have enjoyed watching them both play outside with their toys all day.  I got invited to lunch and had a great cheeseburger.  They are eating leftover roast beef, mashed potatoes, gravy, green beans and salad WITHOUT ME tonight because I eat only one meal a day.  I had my Herbalife shake about an hour ago.

I did pinch off one bite of roast beef.  YUM!

John is sitting at my usual place, and the two pills you see there are my vitamins.  Guess I better go swallow them!

Now, they want to go down to our pond and fish some more.  Jerry wants me to go, so I have to put on some anti-chigger socks and shoes and spray them with OFF.  The bugs LOVE my skin.  I think I'll take the dogs -- or not.  They love to go, but they don't love to mind!

Be back soon.

And here I am -- BACK ALREADY!  Had to show you this picture:

Charlotte:  "Anti-chigger" socks are socks that I can put tennis shoes over and then spray myself from knees down with OFF.  If I don't, they crawl right up my pant legs and into my underwear and it is HORRIBLE!  It happened only one time when we first moved down here.  I had over a hundred bites.  Chiggers love to crawl under elastic bands.  Never again!

Hugs, Joy