Lorraine Drzymala and Yvette Lapete of Knits & Bolts~New Haven, CT

Lorraine Drzymala and Yvette Lapete of Knits & Bolts showing off
the ATC’s they made with Terry White.

Nancy Kirk & Terry White

Nancy Kirk having fun with Terry White’s “Make It – Take It” project.

Ruth Chandler, Liz Kettle & Terry White

Three of our special BFF’s, Ruth Chandler and Liz Kettle with Terry White (seated).

Sue Hausmann & CEO Patrick Carrothers

CEO Patrick Carrothers says hello to a member of royalty
and a dear friend of Havel’s, Sue Hausmann.

Did you attend the Spring Quilt Market? What was your favorite part?
Let us know, we’d love to hear from you!

Rayella Wood ~ Oregon

Havel’s Sewing is pleased to announce that Rayella Wood of Oregon has won a free Havel’s Sew Creative Scissors set.  Rayella was eligible because she subscribed to our email news during the month of April.  Her prize: one 5-1/2″ Curved Tip Embroidery Scissors, one 7″ Serrated Fabric Scissors, one 9″ Pinking Shears, one Dura-Snips on a Neck Strap.

If you want to be eligible to win, just sign up for our email news on the home page or our website. Good Luck!

This little art quilt says hello to spring. The techniques here are simple, but not quick. When making fused applique’ elements, the important thing is to take your time to cut the shapes nicely. Enjoy the process!

"Yay! It's Spring!"

14" wide x 16" high

My design began with the paisley shapes. The stem and leaves changed into a dragonfly because of my color choices…this is when serendipity show up to play! The other design elements found their places as a result of repositioning shapes until I liked the layout. I suggest you make the finished design elements and then arrange them. The process of play is enjoyable, artistic and freeing. You wil end up with a very unique arrangement and it is wonderufl to have the finished shapes to play with because when they are in the perfect arrangement, you can proceed with the next step.

The instructions and photos here go along with the video and each show different techniques used in the project.

The video demonstrates how the create the fused felt shapes, tips for fused applique’, and the novelty binding technique.

Start by choosing your design or use my design. I think using simple shapes to form the overall design is most effective with this technique.

The materials used are scraps of cotton prints and felt.

1. This photo shows the design elements laid out onto the background fabric.

2. Trace around each shape with a permanent marker. Then, set the shapes aside.

3. I use a flannel board to hold the shapes
and keep them from getting lost or flying around the studio!

4. Some of my shapes are backed with felt.
They are fused onto the quilt top before quilting.

5. The border designs are also fused before quilting. A word about the border; the design was created by combining shapes from the flower i.e. paisleys, circles and lozenge shapes. I used a blue just a little darker and in a different hue than the background. When the applique’ pieces were laid onto the quilt, I realized the borders looked like clouds.

The video shows the careful cutting with Havel’s curved scissors.

6. The work is ready to quilt. I used a lovely Legacy 100% cotton
low loft batting and a cotton fabric for the backing.

7. I used two variegated threads for the quilting, one is a spring green,
the other is a soft blue and both are 100% cotton 30 weight.

I also used the green thread to quilt around the drawn shapes.
The blue border is quilted with the blue thread.

The quilting traces around each shape about three times.
This is total fun, free machine quilting.

Here is a close-up of the quilting.

8. The final steps are to glue the fused felt shapes in their places
and to make the fun “confetti” binding.

Detail of “Blue Cloud” border and “Confetti” binding.

Design Shapes

Hi! I am in my studio with my Great Scraps. The Havel’s Scissor Art Box (behind me) is a project you will find in Studio’s Magazine blog.

Have you tried making your applique’ art quilt? What were your results?
Let us know, we’d love to hear from you!

Do you ever have those days where nothing seems to go right? Your grocery bag rips and apples go rolling everywhere, you burn a hole in our favorite fleece vest, the plumber calls with bad news…do they ever call with good news…maybe he can get the water back on next week and then someone hacks your email account and sends everyone you know a less than wholesome web link…sigh…you want to escape to the studio and stitch your troubles away but how can you focus on creation when you are stressed to the max? Thread painting to the rescue!!

NO, I am not kidding…chocolate is a close second choice but one of the most relaxing stitching tasks you can find is making thread painted embroideries and you don’t have those pesky calories to worry about later. The key is to pick a simple pattern and let the thread colors do the work…you hardly have to think at all.  The stitching becomes rhythmic and you slip in to that Zen like creative flow that melts those blues away. Best of all you will have created a pile of great one-of-a-kind embellishments. Try some of these posies, or some leaves or hearts or whatever…just get stitching and everyone will be wondering just how you stay so calm, cool and collected!

SUPPLIES

• Thread- any decorative thread. I love these delectable threads from Star Cotton…the variegated ones are perfect for thread painting but even solid colors are beautiful. You can also use rayon or polyester.
• Fine tulle or net fabric
• Heavy weight water soluble stabilizer such as Ultra Solvy or Badge Master
• Embroidery hoop designed for machine embroidery (optional but makes the job so much easier)
• Size 90 machine embroidery needle
• Havel’s 5 1/4″ Ultimate embroidery scissors and 5 1/2″ curved tip embroidery scissors

Don't worry about drawing a 'perfect' flower...there isn't any such thing.

1. To draw your flower design, trace a small circle on a piece of paper. The spool I traced is about 1 ¼” in diameter. In the center of the circle draw a small circle for your flower center. Draw 6 petals from the flower center to the perimeter of the circle.

Draw directly on the water-soluble stabilizer

2. Cut a piece of tulle and heavy weight water soluble stabilizer slightly bigger than your hoop. Place the stabilizer on top of the tulle and secure in the machine embroidery hoop. You can do this without a hoop but the hoop does help keep the stabilizer taut and is easier on your hands. Place the hooped stabilizer and tulle on top of the flower pattern. Use a sharpie marker to trace the pattern on the stabilizer. Fill the hoop with the flower pattern. I use tulle as a base to give some underlying structure to the thread embroidery. This project can be worked without the tulle but you must be a bit more careful that all your stitches interlock or your work could unravel when the stabilizer is rinsed away. Threads: The Basics and Beyond has more detail on this technique.

3. Take the hooped tulle and stabilizer to the machine. Set up for free motion stitching by dropping or covering your feed dogs and use a darning or free motion foot. To begin stitching pull the bobbin thread up and hold it to the side with the top thread. Make a few stitches and then clip off the tails as close to the stabilizer as possible.

Havel’s 5 ¼” Ultimate Machine Embroidery Scissors are the perfect tool for the job. I had my doubts that I really needed another pair of specialized scissors but I have to tell you…WOW!…the double curve of these scissors get really close to the fabric and eliminate any chance of accidently cutting into your fabric or stitching. When you are using a hoop and regular embroidery scissors it is difficult to get a close cut resulting in little stray bits of thread poking out where you don’t want them. I always opt for fewer tools to keep track of in my studio but these are on the must have list if you like to do any type of machine embroidery.

4. Stitch around your drawn flower shape on the outside lines and then inside the petal.

5. Continue stitching around the flower petals. I find it is better to stitch completely around the design as you go rather than filling in one petal at a time. Not only do you get less distortion but this method lays the variegated colors on top of each other so they mix and blend. If you fill in one petal at a time you could end up with each petal a different color. Don’t worry if you stitch outside the lines. Any stray stitches can be trimmed off later and no one will be the wiser…just one of the many reasons I love this technique.

Continue stitching around until you can’t see through the flower and your needle may start to make a thunk sound when an area is full of stitches. Without cutting your thread, move to the center of the next flower and repeat.

Here is my hoop full of posies…

6. The next step is to cut out the flowers. I find the little curved appliqué scissors are great for cutting around the small curves and getting into the points between the petals.

7. Now the flowers get a bath to rinse the water soluble stabilizer out. When working with small embroideries I usually put them in a colander so I don’t accidently lose one down the drain. I will often soak them for a bit so most of the stabilizer will rinse out. I made a hoop full of pink and orange flowers to go with my purple ones…it was a trying week!

After they are finished soaking I give them one last rinse and squeeze out as much water as possible. Then lay them on a paper towel to dry. I like to shape my flowers so that the petals are curving up. You can iron them flat later if you decide that is best for your project.

These little posies or any little embellishments you create can be used in so many ways and I find they work wonderly in a wide variety of projects.  I usually attach them with a few stitches or with beads.

Creating a  ‘stash’ of embellishments makes it easy to personalize your work. If I didn’t have these on hand I certainly wouldn’t stop to make them when I am working on a collage or other artwork. No matter how perfect they would be in a piece…I simply wouldn’t stop to do it. I spent quite a bit of studio time creating my own special ‘stash’ of bits and pieces. Not only is it relaxing when I can’t concentrate on creating a piece of art but it is also much more efficient to make a bunch at one time…as a bonus they brighten up my studio when I wonder if Spring will ever arrive.

Liz Kettle is a mixed media and textile artist living in Colorado. She is co-author of 2 books, Fabric Embellishing: The Basics and Beyond and Threads: The Basics and Beyond. Liz loves teaching and sharing the joy of making stuff in her articles, classes and at her fabulous retreat, Textile Evolution. Visit her blog and website: www.TextileEvolution.com

Cec Holmberg, December Email Winner

If you want to be eligible to win, just sign-up for our email news on the home page of our website.  Good luck!

I love sending fabric postcards to friends and family but I have gotten out of the habit in the last year as I spend more time communicating virtually. A friend posted a challenge on her blog to send out some actual physical mail and I thought I would take up that challenge and challenge all of you to consider it as well. We all love getting real mail!

Snow season is just getting started in earnest here in Colorado so I thought some snowflake postcards would be perfect. These snowflakes are created by combining and manipulating the decorative stitches on your machine. Even if you don’t have a lot of fancy stitches I know you will find a couple that can be combined to make a pretty snowflake.

Look at your programmed decorative stitches for patterns that are geometric in form; triangles, diamonds, circles, points. Consider creating a program stitch dictionary as in the photo above that shows what all those stitches you have actually look like…you will be so glad you did this! How do these stitches change when you alter the length or width? What pattern do they create when stitched back to back in mirror image? It can take a bit of play and experimentation to find ones that work well together so be sure to make some notes about the ones you like and the adjustments you make for future reference.

These snowflakes look great on winter and holiday themed quilts as well as make great postcards. Have fun playing with your different stitches!

Supplies:
 Rotary cutter, ruler and mat
Embroidery scissor with double curve
Light and dark blue fabric
Firm stabilizer (I used Pellon Peltex #72-fusible on both sides)
Threads: White rayon, silver or white metallic or hologram and a lightweight polyester bobbin thread.
Embroidery or metallic machine needle 90/14
Chalk or marking pencil in white
Ruler with a 60degree line
Ribbon for text

In nature snowflakes are created around six fold symmetry. A ruler with a 60degree line makes creating a snowflake guide easy. The 2” length described here is the length I used for the Vintage German Snowflake. To create smaller or larger flakes simply draw a shorter or longer line. Sorry about the dye on my hands in the photos…just having too much fun around here!

1. Use a ruler to draw a line 2 inches long. Place a small dot in the center.

2. Place the 60degree line on your ruler on the drawn line with the edge of the ruler at the center dot. Draw a line approximately 2” long

3. Move the 60degree line on the ruler to the new line. Place it at the intersection of the two previous lines. Draw a line approximately 2” long.

Making the snowflake postcard:

1. Use the rotary cutter, mat and ruler to cut your fabrics and stabilizer 4”x6”. The 60mm rotary cutter makes cutting through heavy stabilizers a dream!
2. Fuse the dark blue fabric to one side of the stabilizer. If you don’t have Peltex 72, use a fusible web such as Misty Fuse to adhere the fabric to the stabilizer.
3. Pick one of the snowflake designs I have given you below or experiment with your stitches to come up with new patterns. Determine the best method of stitching your chosen design. Does it look better stitched from the outside to the center, from the center out, or can it be stitched across the length of the snowflake.
4. Use a marking pencil to mark the 60degree lines on the dark blue fabric as shown above.

5. Stitch the snowflakes on the dark blue fabric and stabilizer using the directions below.

6. For the text, I printed on ribbon using my inkjet printer. This technique is in both of my books and I have a tutorial on my web site in the group forum section. Alternative methods would be to use rubber stamps or a fabric marker to write by hand. Use fusible web to secure the ribbon and stitch around the edge as desired.

7. Fuse the light blue fabric to the back of the postcard.

8. Stitch around the perimeter of the postcard. I used a zigzag stitch in silver metallic thread. I like to stitch around the perimeter twice for a full but not quite satin stitch. Straight and decorative stitches are great options as well.
9. Use a Sharpie or fabric marker to write your message and address your card. I apply a 1st class stamp rather than a postcard stamp and send it on its way.

VINTAGE GERMAN SNOWFLAKE

I used a silver metallic thread to give a vintage mercury glass feel to this snowflake. The stitches for this snowflake are two that are on my 22 year old machine that only has a total of 12 stitches. Havel’s 5” double curved scissors are the perfect tool for clipping threads during machine embroidery. They get super close to the fabric to give you a clean cut but the curve prevents that horrid moment when you realize you just cut your fabric. The double curve is great when you are using an embroidery hoop and the finger holes are the perfect size. You are going to love these scissors!!

You can see how closely the curved embroidery scissors trim the thread. No whispy fray bits of thread in sight!

1. An eyelet stitch was stitched to provide an open center. If you don’t have an eyelet stitch, simply draw a small circle and begin your stitching at the edge of the circle.

2. Next an oval satin stitch at a slightly reduced width was stitched from the edge of the eyelet stitch out for two repeats.

3. A flower chain stitch was inserted between each of the previous stitch lines to create this vintage look snowflake.

FEATHER SNOWFLAKE

This delicate snowflake uses a programmed feather stitch that looks best stitched from the outside into the center. I drew my lines 1 1/5” long.

 Begin the stitch at the outer edge of the circle then stitch towards the center. Stitch on all 6 radiating lines.

POINSETTIA SNOWFLAKE

To create this snowflake the stitch is made by slightly lengthening the stitch length on a satin stitch triangle stitch. My length setting was .80

1. Stitch the design in one direction for one repeat, pivot 180degrees and stitch back to the center.

2. Pivot again and repeat along each snowflake guide line.

3. Finally, one repeat of a circle satin stitch and a couple straight stitches are added to the tip of each point.

I have a dear friend who is leaving her frigid climate for the warm breezes of Florida next week…I will be sending her one of these so she doesn’t forget the pleasure of snow! She will be jealous of all our snow don’t you think?

Liz Kettle is a mixed media and textile artist living in snowy Colorado. She is co-author of 2 books, Fabric Embellishing: The Basics and Beyond and Threads: The Basics and Beyond. Liz loves teaching and sharing the joy of making stuff in her articles, classes and at her fabulous retreat, Textile Evolution. Visit her blog and website, www.TextileEvolution.com