Originally Posted by merry
Thanks KasleKitty. Sounds like a great idea. Really appreciate your help. Have printed your directions & will go to paint & try it. May have to take you up on the additional help. Have only done 3 appliques & haven't tried embellishing yet. Have embellished a landscape with embroidery. what do you use to embellish?
I love to do hand embroidery on my appliques. I add glass beads, shells, pearls, stone, and sometimes sequins. I have taken apart old costume jewelry and beaded belts and used both on my work. I go to the clearance rack in Walmart and look at their belts all the time, hoping to find something that can be sewn to the front of a purse. Sometimes Goodwill and the like will have costume jewelry or belts that can be taken apart. I am working on making some "inchies" to use. I have painted and crayoned, stenciled also. You name it! I kind of like the mixed media work they are doing now, but I want my work to remain washable. Sometimes they add paper and glue and whatnot that can't make it through the washer. I stay away from that unless I want to do something that would just hang on the wall. I have made bags and pillow fronts. The pillows are really for show and not to be used to lay on. They are washable but you can't lay on them when there is all kinds of stuff sewn to it! lol It would leave an impression on your face and not be very comfortable! lol
I have pieced smaller items but never done a bed quilt. That is why I decided to join the board. A quilt is a large endeavor for me. My sewing machine is nearing its 35th birthday and does not have all the fancy embroidery stitches on it. It does not do nice freehand quilting. And I really don't think I could manage to hand quilt a top once I have it done. I like the idea of the quilt as you go method. I saw it in a magazine years ago done on a log cabin quilt. I want to try it with a pineapple pattern. I have to get my sewing room in some kind of order first. I have not really used the machine for almost 3 years and my work table has accumulated a lot of stuff. I have 10 pizza boxes that have all kinds of stuff started in them. And I need to get to work!
I was wondering if you have Picasa already downloaded? What a change in my life when I discovered it! And the Picasa website has a lot of quilt, applique, embroidery, crochet, and knitting patterns if you know how to find them. I download all kinds of pictures there for decoupage too. I use the Picasa program to make all kinds of patterns, along with Paint. I guess there are already some programs out there that will do what I do with much more speed and ease. But the ones I use are free. I understand EQ7 is really good to buy if you like applique.