Betsey Langford, who writes for the American Quilter's Society's "On Point" Blog has offered a great opportunity to all the AQS authors. She's going all out to help promote our books. She will be sharing this post on Wednesday through "On Point". Thank you bunches Betsey! To help with the promotion, at the end of this post I am also running a giveaway for a free copy of my book, which is open for entries until Wednesday, December 14th.
On top of that, Wednesday, December 7th is the much awaited and totally stupendous, annual Giveaway Day linky party at Sew Mama Sew! Be sure to visit there for oodles of fun giveaways!
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| Pomegranate and Berries Table Topper |
I designed this table topper using the pomegranate appliqué motif from the Folk Art Christmas wall quilt in my book Crafted Appliqué: New Possibilities. The two projects make a wonderful, coordinated set. This pattern could also be changed up to make a lovely table runner or tree skirt. Of course I used the fray-free Crafted Applique method to sew mine, but you can also use any raw edge method you like.
There are actually 2 versions of the appliqués, each with their own pattern. You get a little bit of a different effect, depending on which pattern you use and on how you place the appliqués:
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| Pomegranate and Berries Table Topper - Mock up 1 |
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| Pomegranate and Berries Table Topper - Mock up 2 |
It helps with placement of the appliqués if you divide your background circle into even quadrants, like slices of pie. I made my topper as an 18 inch diameter circle and used chalk to mark the pie slices. That way I could do a better job of spacing the appliqués evenly around the circle.
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| Dividing the Table Topper into Even Sections |
Stitching the appliqués on was a breeze because of using the Crafted Appliqué method. I used the back coating technique from my book so that the red paisley background would not show through the white fabric of the appliqués.
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| Stitching on the Pomegranate Appliqués |
Then for fun, I designed 4 center quilting motifs and am going to share those patterns here too. They would make beautiful appliqué designs in their own right.
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| Pomegranate & Berry themed quilting patterns |
Jasmine, from Quilt Kisses, gave me a great tip on quilting a design like this. She suggested using Quilting Paper by Golden Threads. (You can get a great deal with that link to Connecting Threads and it is not an affiliate link.) I was able to tape a piece of Golden Threads to a sheet of printer paper and print the design right out on the Golden Threads paper, with no tracing required. It's easy to tear the paper away when you are done quilting.
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| Quilting using Golden Threads Quilting Paper |
One of the things I did when sewing my table topper was that I layered the quilt sandwich BEFORE sewing on the appliqués. That way, part of the quilting was already accomplished once the appliqués were sewn on. Always a plus! Just a heads up though - I should have sewn on the appliqués AFTER I quilted the center motif, because there was a bit of puckering between the two areas. It would have quilted out if I had done more quilting, such as pebbles around the motif. Pebble quilting makes me dizzy though.
The table topper looks terrific cozied up to the fireplace seating area!
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| Making the table a little more Christmassy |
The PDF files for the Pomegranate & Berry patterns are free for personal use. You can download them here:
Pomegranate & Berry Applique Pattern 1
Pomegranate & Berry Applique Pattern 2
Pomegranate & Berry Quilting Pattern 1
Pomegranate & Berry Quilting Pattern 2
Pomegranate & Berry Quilting Pattern 3
Pomegranate & Berry Quilting Pattern 4
Now.... Let's Start the Giveaway!
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| Crafted Applique: New Possibilities |
The Crafted Appliqué method really does open up new possibilities. Betsey wrote that the method is even growing into a movement. :) Wow do I like the sound of that!
How would you like a chance to win a free, signed copy of Crafted Appliqué: New Possibilities? Simply leave a comment below, telling me what you like best about winter. (Even if it's "When it's over!" LOL) Followers, both new and old, can have another chance to win the book by leaving a second comment and letting me know how they follow BuzzinBumble. If you don't want to wait and see if you won, you can also order the book through my BuzzinBumble Big Cartel shop, the AQS Book Shop, or on Amazon. If you ordered a book and then end up winning, I will happily refund your payment.
*There have been so many wonderful commenters (I LOVE the way you all write about wintertime!) that I am increasing the number of books I'm giving away. Now there will be three lucky winners of a copy of Crafted Appliqué!
The giveaway is open to international participants. Please make sure that you are not an anonymous or a "no-reply" commenter and make sure that I have a way to contact you if you win.
I'll draw the name of the 3 winners on Wednesday, December 14th, using a random number generator and announce the results shortly thereafter. It might not be possible for me to do my usual reply & reciprocate if there end up being a lot of comments, but I definitely appreciate each and every one of you.
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