Welcome to the Fanciful Stitches blog tour!
If you are a fan of bright hand dyed fabrics, fusible applique and beautiful embroidered stitching, you have arrived at the right place.
Today, I am sitting down with my good friend Laura Wasilowski for a little chat about her new book
Fanciful Stitches, Colorful Quilts
11 Easy Appliqué Projects
to Embroider by Hand.
Please, pour a hot cup of tea and make yourself comfortable.
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| Laura seated in the infamous blue chair |
Judy: Laura, your pattern transfer process, where you trace the pattern piece onto the silicon release paper and then iron it to the fused side of the fabric, is brilliant!
I am guessing, that was one of those happy accidents that you discovered along the way of making fused quilts?
Laura: Yes! It’s a miracle! Discovering how to transfer a specific shape to fused fabric by drawing the shape on silicon release paper was a happy accident. I had written some numbers on release paper, then ironed fused fabric to that same paper. Voila! The numbers transferred to the fused side of the fabric. I then realized you could use release paper and a Sharpie marker to transfer pattern shapes to fabric.
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| There are so many great stitching ideas! with easy to follow stitching diagrams. |
Judy: Do you have another great tip or technique that you always recommend to your students for fusing success?
Laura: Thou shalt not kill the glue.
Go here for more fusing tips:
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Judy: What is your preferred method for hanging your small fused quilts?
Laura: My favorite method of hanging small quilts is a little loop that is sewn into place on the back in the upper center. These quilts have a wrapped binding around batting and Timtex so they are rigid and have wavy edges. They hang flat and I don’t have to deal with a stupid rod pocket!
Here are directions for the wrapped binding.
Judy: Have you come up with a theme song to go with your new book?
Laura: Of course! It is sung to the tune of the Battle Hymn of the Republic:
Leave a comment for your chance to win a copy of Laura’s new book! (sorry U.S. residents only, publishers request)
Be sure and check back Friday when the winner will be announced and in the meantime check out all these other fun stops on the tour.
The Fanciful Stitches, Colorful Quilts Blog Tour! rolls on:
April 19 Annie Smith
April 23 Melody Johnson
April 24 Jane Moxey
April 25 Lyric Kinard
April 26 Judy Coates Perez
April 29 Jane LaFazio
May 2 Susan Brubaker Knapp
May 3 Frieda Anderson
May 4 Connecting Threads
97 Responses to “Welcome to the Fanciful Stitches blog tour!”
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I love Laura’s work!
Great information, Thanks. Love the book.
Dee
dw7645@charter.net
Wow – I can’t wait to try the ink transfer using the silicon release paper! I’d LOVE to have a copy of Laura’s book! What fun!
Would love to read this book. Thanks, Laura, for sharing the the technique for a wrapped binding. Can’t wait to try it.
Kathy
kathyangellee@gmail.com
Love the song! Also love adding embroidery to quilts. Thanks for the opportunity to win the book.
Loe “happy accidents”. Your work is wonderful! Thanks for the great interview and the opportunity to win.
Wow,what a fabulous way to transfer a pattern to fabric, can’t wait to try it!
I love the interesting way she combines embroidery stitches.
Deb Thuman
debthuman@zianet.com
What a great interview and wonderful ideas. I’d love to win a copy of the book. Looks like a creative combination of quilting and embroidery.
Fun interview and thanks to Laura for sharing some techniques! Would love to have a copy of the book.
Beth
BPier12(at)aol(dot)com
I want to try this technique!
I love Laura’s style, would love to learn more, and would love to win this book! My email is: kalfarwig @ bellsouth dot net.
I’d love a chance to win Laura’s book.
Laura has always been one of my favorite art quilters. I love her style so much! Thanks for the chance to win her book.
Great tips. Book looks wonderful.
What a lovely colorful quilts Laura makes. Very inspiring!
gr. from Marjolijn
Thanks to Laura, I’ve started adding embroidery to some of my smaller works. What a difference it can make!
bsherwood(at)cox(dot)net
I love Laura’s wonderful threads so I am sure her book would be great!
Laura came to our guild once and entertained us all with her songs. Would love to win her new book!
What fun it would be to sit and chat with Laura! Ready her book would be almost as nice!!
What a great tip about transfering writing on the release paper to your fused fabrics. Oh and this interview is fantastic … so humorous!
looks like a great book that I’d love to have!
good interview and really cute stuff!
What beautiful work. I love it and am excited to try all of it. Can’t wait.
Nice interview and as always great work by Laura
What great work!
Great tips!
Sneak peek of the book is lovely. Throw me in the running for it, too.
jen.scheidt at gmail dot com
Such a nice photo of Laura. Love her colorful work. Thanks for the sneak peek of the book.
designerann@yahoo.com
I had a happy accident of my own a couple of weeks ago…they rock! Anyway, I’d love to win a copy of Laura’s book. Thanks for all the great info…cornyquilts44@yahoo.com.
The book looks great. I love your colors! Thank you for shring the book.
I’m looking forward to meeting Laura in person when she gives a workshop in Baltimore in June! Will she sing for us??
Really excited about this book!
Heather at obscure.com
love laura’s work and humor. her blog is such a great resource and the new book looks fabulous!
Though I’m older than Laura, I want to be like Laura when I grow up!
Great ideas. I’d love to win the book.
Every time I see the book cover I drool. Please throw me into the pot. thanks.
I love her work and tutorials, and want to do more fun, art pieces. I am working with a lighter weight fusible and realized that glue does act differently than on the heavier weight, need to use less heat.
Debbie
I just came back from a self redirected tour of Laura’s blog. I love it too! The book looks delightful and Laura~what a campy sense of humour you have. it is so much fun…..
Linda
I love the Battle Hymn of the Embroiderer! Laura is so much fun, I wished the two of you lived next door. Wishing you both a wonderful week.
Love your interview. It really gives you a sense of Laura. thanks.
Fun interview with a dynamite personality! New book looks super!
Laura, thank you sooo much for writing this book… you are a hero to so many of us!
Laura’s new book looks wonderful. It’s great to see how much attention this blog tour is getting–brilliant idea! Thanks for the opportunity to win the book. http://moonsilk-stitches.blogspot.com/
LOL! Love the song and the statement about “may your edges be free and forever stuck” (that was close right?) I loved reading about this process. Very cool stuff.
-Barbara Z
Sounds like so much fun! Please include me in the contest! rodeodeacon@yahoo.com
What a fun interview! And a singing stitcher to boot!
Love the colorful pieces of art. They make me happy to look at them.
Oh, I gotta break into song….
I wish I win an Wasilowski fun book
That is what I truly wish to win
cause if I win a Wasilowski fun book
everyone would be in love
oh everyone would be in love
everyone would be in love with me
Laura has such great ideas and a great sense of humor! Would love to win her new book
Laura’s work always inspires me and makes me feel happy. I would love to win her book! Very nice interview.
I love this blog hop idea. I’ve been enjoying all the different blogs and can’t wait to get a look at Laura’s book.
Laura’s book makes me smile, it’s so cheerful. If I don’t win a copy it’s gonna be added to my birthday list.
Susan jdprkr@pacbell.net
The more I see of this book the more I need to have it. Winning it would be wonderful. Thanks for the chance!
carol.claytor@yahoo.com
Love, love, love Laura’s art, not to mention her sense of humor!
sellison@berkeley.edu
I love Laura’s work and I love her quirky sense of humor. I wish I lived next door to her because she is so much fun and I could learn all of her tips and tricks first-hand. It doesn’t look like I’ll be her neighbor, but if I could win her book, I could pretend she was next door!
Every time Laura speaks I learn some technique or hit.
And now she’s wearing a wonderful tree skirt poncho. :^)
Thanks, Judy, for the great interview with Laura.
Hugs,
Gerry
I’m following.
What a great book…I love it! And love the interview. Laura is so much fun. I heard her speak not too long ago in Santa Rosa, and she is hilarious! I would love to win a copy of her book!
Good interview with good tips – thanks to you both – I do so want to win Laura’s book so can have it sit in my lap as work along on my first fusible projects. Thanks for the chance to enter.
I would love to win this book. Thanks for the opportunity.
Love Laura’s work, great songs to!
Bev
Fun blog post. I love Laura’s work and would love the book!
Really fun post. Laura is such an artist and showwoman.
Would love ot have the book. Have a great day
I had the pleasure of taking a class with Laura, she is a talented, gifted teacher, with a bit of comedian in her!!
I would love to win this book and see what other great tips Laura has for us.
I would love to win the book. Thanks for the opportunity.
Phyllis
phyllisjoconnor@gmail.com
Thank you for all the helpful information in your book and on your blog! Bright cheerful colors, embroidery and a giving heart, too!
I’d love to own this book and love even more to win it! Thanks for the chance:)
terrific interview! TFS!
I love Laura’s sense of humor and all of her fancy hand stitching.
If I don’t win this book, I am definitely going to buy it!! I am so inspired!
Nancy
Please choose me!!! I love what I’ve seen on this book from this and the other blogs. Carol, spearscarol@yahoo.com
great idea for transferring! And the book looks wonderful!
Hey there, would love this book! Looking forward to meeting you, Judy, in Winston on May 14th!
I just the colors and the playfulness of her Laura’s work!
That tune is going to rattle around in my head for awhile…a constant reminder that I must have this book!
That was a lovely interview, Judy! Fun, entertaining, and I learned a lot too! Can’t wait to take Laura’s class when she comes to St. Louis in September.
Thanks Judy, that was a fun interview. I follow Laura’s blog so I would love to win this book.
I also have seen you on television and always learn something new when you are on. Thanks for sharing your talent and ideas.
I’m currently working on a fusing project just so I can try Laura’s technique. I would love to have the book as a guide.
I love Laura’s work. I enjoyed her recent postings on her blog about this wonderful book. I have a New Jersey mailing address. Thanks for counting me in, Judy.
I love your blog banner, really neat. Must be fun interviewing your colorful friends, she seems like a really neat person and so talented.
Thanks for another chance to win this fun book!
I haven’t done much handstitching, but Laura’s book looks inspiring and I’d like to give it a try! cmj@bresnan.net
Laura is even a creative songstress! I sang it to my son who loved it. Love her book!
Carolyn
crowkeeper924@yahoo.com
What a great interview, love the song and the book looks great too.
This book looks great – I would love to win this and expand my quilting horizons!
I love the look of this book. The kind of quilts I like to think about making anyways. If I won this book I’d probably do one. If I don’t I may end up buying it.
I love the internet and the learning opportunities it affords! I can’t get enough of creative blogs like yours Judy, and now, my goodness Laura Wasilowski! Her book would be an inspiration in my library!
enjoyed your interview. love Laura’s work; looking forward to her book…looks like a very colorful one.
I LOVE Laura… a breath of fresh air, not only in her whimsical designs, but also her zany personality! She makes me giggle…
Thanks!
Carol
Fabulous interview with many great tips. I loved seeing the photo of Laura sitting in the famous “blue chair”.
Always great to get tips from The Pro. If only I could settle down and really become a master in any particular technique! But with all of you lovely inspirations, a gal just has to try them all!
Jan
jhodgman@zenjan.com
I’m dying to do some quilting, but don’t have a “modern” machine. Maybe this is my way to do it! LOVE your blog, Judy.
I took Laura’s class at Quilt in the Desert and was hooked on her techniques and sense of humor. It was the first time I tried any form of improvisation in my quilting, and I lived to tell about it! Hooray for the Chicago School of Fusing!
{Squeal!} I would *love* to win a copy of Laura’s book! And thank you so much, Judy, for participating in this blog-hop give-away and giving me a chance.
=-)
lupansgirl(at)gmail(dot)com
Thanks for this interview and the great info on the release paper — now I have a use for it.
I’d LOVE to win the book……..Linda from Lansing
i love Laura’s designs and choice of colors and her voice isn’t all that bad either! i would love her new book!
This is one of the most incredible blogs Ive read in a very long time. The amount of information in here is stunning, like you practically wrote the book on the subject.