All About Marcia
Marcia
Harmening is the talented designer behind Happy Stash Quilts
and Queen of All Things Applique! Marcia
says she fell in love with quilting many years ago as a means of
staving off insanity during the long, dark Alaska winters. What
better way to beat the long, snowy season than by surrounding
yourself with colorful fabric! In 2010, after 23 years in Alaska,
Marcia, her husband and their three children relocated to Reno,
Nevada. We are lucky to have Marcia as a frequent visitor to our
shop! She has commemorated our local are in The Tahoe Collection of
“Flip & Fuse” Fun, which includes 4 quilt patterns and a
table runner. You can keep up with all of the exciting things Marcia
dreams up on Facebook
and her blog at www.happystashquilts.com. |
| Marcia's design from Sew Red |
Marcia and Sew Red
Marcia
and Sew
Red
are a match made in the stars! Marcia came into our shop to browse
fabric shortly after moving to Reno,
and it happened to be the very day we were looking for designers to
be a part of Sew Red. Talk about being in the right place at
the right time! Little did we know that when Marcia's father was
just 50, he suffered his first heart attack; 10 years later he
underwent quadruple bypass open-heart surgery. Watching her father's
health drastically improve through exercise, dietary changes, and
weight loss has been a major motivating factor for Marcia! We're so
glad she chose to be part of Sew Red. We were simply blown
away by her Queen of Hearts mini quilt for the Sew Red book—it is
pure elegance in applique form!
Marcia's block for the Mystery Sew Red Sew-a-long
If
you love Marcia's Queen of Hearts quilt as much as we do, you will be
blown away by her block for the Sew Red Sew-a-long. It is a
beautiful hand-appliqued heart motif that would make a staggering
visual centerpiece for the quilt top. If needle-turn hand-applique
isn't quite your thing, consider raw-edge fusible applique as an
alternative!
To get started, check out Marcia's blog (http://www.happystashquilts.com/blogs/news) for her tips and tricks, as well as a tutorial for making perfect circles! You'll also need to download the heart block template from the Jimmy Beans Wool website.
Ready,
set, applique!
Heart Block from Happy Stash Quilts
Materials:
1
Fat Quarter of Red Fabric
1
Fat Quarter of Cream Fabric
Cut
Red Background
Fabric 7” x 17”.
(This
will be trimmed to 6 ½” x 16 ½” after the block is appliquéd
and pressed.)
White
Appliqué Pieces
A Make
1
B Make
1
C Make
1
D Make
1
E Make
6
F Make
6
G Make
37
Needle-turn
Hand Appliqué Technique
1.
Trace all shapes from the Appliqué Diagram onto the matte side of
freezer paper. Make sure to write the identifying letter of each
piece on the freezer paper templates. Only one freezer paper template
is needed for each shape.
2.
Cut freezer paper templates out along the lines using paper scissors.
3.
Place the shiny side of the freezer paper template on the right side
of appliqué fabric and press with an iron.
4.
Draw a line on the appliqué fabric around the freezer paper template
using a water-soluble pen or chalk pencil. For dark fabrics, Clover
makes a water-soluble pen with white ink.
5.
Peel off freezer paper template and cut out appliqué shape a scant
¼” beyond the marked lines. (Templates can be used multiple
times.)
6.
Tape the Appliqué Diagram in a brightly lit window. Center the
background fabric over the diagram and tape to window. With the
window as your light box, use a water-soluble pen to mark the
appliqué placement.
7.
Appliqué pieces onto the background in alphabetical order using
matching colors of light-weight thread. Start with piece A and finish
with the G circles.
8.
To appliqué, select a long edge on the appliqué piece to begin your
stitching. Avoid beginning at an inner V or outer point. Finger press
the appliqué piece along the drawn line. Bring your needle up
through the edge of the appliqué piece where it has been turned
under. Then make a downward stitch into the background right next to
the turned-under edge of the appliqué. The thread travels on the
back and the upward stitch comes up to catch the turned edge of the
appliqué piece. Pull your thread taut enough to sink the stitches,
but not so hard that puckering occurs.
9.
Hand-stitch the edges of the appliqué pieces, turning the edge to
the marked line as you go.
10.
Continue in this manner until all of the appliqué is complete.
Stem
Stitching
Now
that the appliqué is complete, use DMC or other brand of embroidery
floss to sew a stem stitch to create the stems to the little heart
flowers. Refer to the Appliqué Diagram for dashed stitching lines.
Cut an 18” segment of embroidery floss and separate out 3 strands
of thread. Thread needle and make a small knot on one end.
To
sew a stem stitch, work from left to right in ¼” or smaller
increments. Bring the threaded needle up at point A and take it down
at point B along the stitching line. Bring the needle up at C –
halfway between A and B. For the second stitch, insert at D and pull
up at E. Continue in this manner until the stem is created. Keep the
thread either above or below the stitching line while sewing.
Happy stitching everyone!
Happy stitching everyone!
