Combining Quilting & Embroidery

The Oreo Cheesecake recipe from The Cheesecake Factory is worth having this book — even if you never made anything else!  I’ll be cooking my way through this wonderful edition in between quilts, and I hope you want to join me!  Ron Douglas reveals copycat versions of carefully guarded secret restaurant recipes and shows family chefs how to prepare them at home, saving time and money. With these easy and mouth-watering recipes, families can enjoy a night out in their very own kitchens.

Even though I would rather be quilting than cooking, we all have to stop and eat once in a while, right? Just to give you an idea of what’s included in this book (and no drooling on your keyboard!), here’s a table of contents:

Applebee’s:
-baby back ribs
-bacon green onion mashed potatoes
-chicken quesdilla grande
-crispy orange chicken skillet
-fiesta lime chicken
-garlic mashed potatoes
-low fat grilled tilapia w/ mango salsa
-santa fe chicken
-spinach pizza
-tomato basil soup
-walnut blondie w/ maple butter sauce

Arby’s:
-apple turnovers
-barbecue sauce

Arthur Treacher’s:
-fried fish

Bahama Breeze:
-jamaican jerk grilled chicken wings

Baskin-Robbins:
-cheesecake ice cream

Benihana:
-hibachi steak
-japanese fried rice

Bennigan’s:
-broccoli bites
-honey mustard dressing
-hot dressing dressing
-linguine diablo
-onion soup

Boston Market:
-creamed spinach
-cucumber salad
-dill potato wedges
-macaroni & cheese
-meatloaf
-spicy rice
-squash casserole
-stuffing

Brooklyn Cafe:
-sun dried tomato seared scallops

Bullfish Grill:
-shrimp & cheese grits

California Pizza Kitchen:
-bbq chicken pizza
-chicken tequila fertuccine

Carrabba’s Italian Grill:
-italian butter
-meatballs

The Cheesecake Factory:
-avocado egg rolls
-banana cream cheesecake
-cajun jambalaya pasta
-chicken fettuccine
-crab cakes
-oreo cheesecake
-pumpkin cheesecake

Chi-Chi’s:
-baked chicken chimichangas
-pork tenderlion w/ bourbon sauce
-salsa verde chicken kabobs
-steak & mushroom quesdillas

Chili’s:
-baby back ribs
-beef fajitas
-chicken enchilada soup
-chocolate chip paradise pie
-margarita grilled chicken
-salsa
-southwestern chicken chili
-sounthwestern vegetable soup

Church’s:
-fried chicken

Cracker Barrel:
-baby limas
-banana pudding
-cherry chocolate cobbler
-fried apples

Dairy Queen:
-heath blizzard
-ice cream
-onion rings

Denny’s:
-country fried steak
-country gravy

Dollywood:
-dipped chocolate chip cookies

El Pollo Loco:
-beans
-pollo asada

Hard Rock Cafe:
-baked potato soup
-bbq beans
-bbq ribs
-homemade chicken noodle soup
-pulled pork
-shrimp fajitas

Hardee’s:
-cinnamon “flake” biscuits

Hooter’s:
-buffalo shrimp
-buffalo wings

Houston’s:
-buttermilk garlic dressing
-spinach & artichoke dip

IHOP:
-banana nut pancakes
-colorado omelet
-cream of wheat pancakes
-pancakes
-swedish pancakes

Joe’s Crab Shack:
-crab cakes
-etouffee
-rice pilaf
-seafood stuffed mushrooms
-seafood stuffing
-stuffed shrimp en brochette

Johnny Carino’s:
-5 cheese chicken fettuccine

Junior’s:
-famous no. 1 cheesecake

KFC:
-buttermilk biscuits
-honey barbecue wings
-original recipe fried chicken

Luby’s Cafeteria:
-spaghetti salad

Macaroni Grill:
-chocolate cake w/ fudge sauce
-focaccia
-insalata florentine
-pasta gamberetti e pinoli
-reese’s peanut butter cake
-sesame shrimp
-shrimp portofino

Olive Garden:
-angel hair & 3 onion soup
-beef fillets in balsamice sauce
-bread sticks
-brushetta al pomodoro
-chicken crostina
-chicken san marco
-chocolate lasagna
-fettuccune alfredo
-fettuccine assorito
-5 cheese lasagna
-fried mozzarella
-lemon cream cake
-oven roasted potatoes
-pasta e fagioli
-pizza bianco
-pork filettino
-salad dressing
-sangria
-tiramisu
-tuscan tea
-zuppa toscana

Outback Steakhouse:
-cyclone pasta
-honey wheat bushman bread
-key lime pie
-marinated steak
-walkabout soup

Panda Express:
-orange flavored chicken

Panera Bread:
-asian sesame chicked salad
-broccoli cheese soup

Pat’s King Of Steaks:
-philly cheesesteak

Perkins Restaurant & Bakery:
-pancakes

P.F.Changs:
-chicken lettuce wrap
-chicken w/ black bean sauce

Pizza Hut:
-cavatini

Planet Hollywood:
-cap n’ crunch chicken

Popeye’s:
-cajun rice
-dirty rice

Rainforest Cafe:
-blue mountain grilled chicken sandwich
-crab cakes
-safari sauce

Red Lobster:
-batter fried shrimp
-casear dressing
-cajun shrimp linguine
-cheddar biscuits
-clam chowder
-deep fried catfish
-dungeness crab bisque
-fried chicken tenders
-grouper siciliano
-hush puppies
-lobster fondue
-shrimp diablo
-south beach seafood paella
-trout veracruz

Roadhouse Grill:
-roast beef & mashed potatoes

Ruby Tuesday:
-chicken quesdillas
-shrimp pasta parmesan
-sonoran chicken pasta
-super salad bar pasta

Ruth Chris’s Steak House:
-barbecued shrimp

Shoney’s:
-marinated mushrooms
-pot roast
-tomato florentine soup

The Soup Nazi:
-crab bisque
-cream of sweet potato soup
-indian mulligatawny soup
-mexican chicken chili’

Starbucks:
-chocolate fudge squares w/ mocha glaze
-ginger bread n loaf

Subway:
-sweet onion sauce

Taco Bell:
-beef chalupa supreme
-burrito supreme
-enchirito
-mexican pizza

T.G.I. Friday’s:
-baked potato skins
-broccoli cheese soup
-honey mustard dressing
-jack daniels dipping sauce
-orange cream
-shrimp mainara
-sizzling chicken & cheese

Union Pacific:
-apple pancakes
-grilled white pekin duck breast

The “Song of the Heart” collection of designs from Madsen Originals really captured my imagination! These designs are exquisite, and I would never think of quilting over top of them!

I wanted to have the white background area stay nice and flat, so I couldn’t just leave it empty. I decided to record my stitches as I quilted right next to each design. Then, I echoed my stitches 13 times for each block, at one third of an inch apart. This filled the entire background of the block. I used the Trim function to remove the excess stitches that I didn’t want, which left me with just enough stitches to have everything lay nice and flat. I added a little bit of stippling freehand inside of the hearts.

Priscilla wanted all four borders around the outside to appear as if it were one border, and to be lightly quilted so it would not detarct from the embroidery designs — good choice!

Some of my favorite quilts incorporate both piecing and embroidery or applique. Having that “little bit of extra” in certain blocks can create a real challenge — and I LOVE a challenge!

This quilt features very detailed embroidery designs. Each stitch is perfect! I’m not a fan of quilting over top of embroidery, if it’s possible to avoid it. I would rather do something special in the background, especially when the design that’s quilted serves the purpose of adding to the embroidery, and not detracting from it. The design that I used is from Stitch Happy, and is called Vortex. I think it really gives a feeling of motion to these little boys (as if little boys don’t already create enough motion! LOL!).

This embroidery is from a collection named “Boys at Play”, and is available from Priscilla Madsen of Madsen Originals.

This embroidery collection from Priscilla Madsen of Madsen Originals is one of my favorites. If you look closely, you can see beautiful birds in each of the embroideries. Priscilla wanted quilting that would emphasize the gorgeous fabric she used for this quilt. Here is a screen shot of the layout that we used:

Each embroidered block has a small stipple, combined with a little bit of stitching following the embroidery to hold the layers together. If you click on each of the pictures, you can see close-ups of the designs that are included in this collection called “Calligraphy Art”. You can also see the back of the quilt, which shows the designs that were placed in the blocks that were not embroidered.

I just have to say that I love the little machine that I got for making single and double-fold bias tape. It’s made by Simplicity, and it will make 12 feet of bias tape in 60 seconds! The double-fold version is great for quilt bindings! I can cut my fabric 2 1/2 inches wide, OR 2 1/4 inches wide, and then have the machine do the folding and the pressing for me. Gotta love that!

I also bought “The Winder”. Being electric, it only take seconds to roll all of your bias tape onto a spindle. Then, you move the spindle over to the Bias Tape Maker machine, turn it on, and ***POOF*** — you’re done. Wow!

You can make your folded bias tape by feeding the fabric directly from The Winder spindle through the Tape Maker — or, and I just love this! — you can place The Winder on the other side of the Tape Maker and roll your new bias tape as onto a spindle as you are making it! That’s great if you are making a lot, and don’t want it to pool on the floor.

I made stems for appliqué flowers last night. I used the 3/8 inch bias tape tip (there are various sizes available for the machine as accessories) and they are perfect! It was a lot faster (and more fun!) than the old-fashioned way!

I just love new tools, especially when I can meet BOTH requirements — fun, and time-saving!

I have a love/hate relationship with Minkee — but mostly love! Leslie brought two quilts recently that both have Minkee involved. One of the quilts had a Minkee backing, and the other quilt featured Minkee on the front for applique fabrics.

Minkee can be tricky to work with on a longarm machine. Keeping the stretch parallel to the rollers will help to keep the stretchiness of a wild Minkee backing  tamed. Also, keeping the side clamps very loose —- so loose that you will think that the quilt top looks rather baggy —- will also help you to avoid having the backing shrink up when you remove the quilt from the machine. The most important tip I like to pass along is: REMEMBER NOT TO ROLL THE QUILT TOO TIGHTLY.  If that’s the only tip you remember, you will avoid a lot of headaches.

Backings pieced from Minkee should be avoided if possible. Because of the thickness of the Minkee, the seam on the backing can show through to the front of the quilt. Also, it’s a bit difficult to piece Minkee without having it slide around, causing a backing that looks square on the table to look like this on the machine:

If this backing had been pieced out of any other fabric but Minkee, I would have removed it from the machine and done the piecing over. As it was, I held my breath and let the extra fabric be absorbed by the dense snowflakes that would be quilted on it.

If you have any frustrations during the process of working with Minkee, just slide your hand across the wonderful fabric and you will be guaranteed to smile!

If you would like to experiment with a little touch of Minkee, but don’t want to use it for the entire quilt, consider using it for your appliqué fabric. Leslie brought over a quilt that had adorable elephants appliquéd on it, and she used various pieces of Minkee as the appliqué fabric. She used flat Minkee, striped, nubby… a little bit over everything. The elephants look so cute with the little bows on their heads!

Ellen brought this quilt in to me the other day, and she had the perfect vision of how she wanted it quilted! Her perfect piecing made my job pure pleasure. We used the stand-alone feature of Creative Studio software to plan out her vision, and then executed her ideas to reflect her wonderful choices!

I did a little research on the women of Gees Bend and found their web site, The Quilts of Gee’s Bend, Quilters Collective History, here.

According to the web site, “The women of the Gee’s Bend Quilters Collective all live in the area of Rehoboth and Boykin, Alabama.Throughout much of the twentieth century, making quilts was considered a domestic responsibility for women in Gee’s Bend. As young girls, many of the women trained or apprenticed in their craft with their mothers, female relatives, or friends; other quilters, however, have been virtually self-taught. Women with large families often made dozens upon dozens of quilts over the course of their lives.”

You can meet these amazing women here.

I look forward to seeing more of these quilts! Be sure to look at the various pictures so you can appreciate Ellen’s quilt!

Karen brought over a quilt top with a real “Go Green” theme to it.

She found the fabrics at Timeless Treasures, and I’m sure her daughter will love this one! The backing fabric needed to be pieced together, so I thought I would take pictures along the way so you could see how I used glue to make the process much easier! There were motifs and lettering on the backing fabric that had to match up perfectly, and the glue is the secret to doing this project. Here’s the process:

Fold one of your pieces of fabric under 1/2 inch, and press, being
careful not to stretch the folded area as you press. Set this piece on top of
your other fabric piece, matching the pattern on both sides.

Working in small areas, use a small line of Elmer’s School Glue on the folded portion of your fabric. Squeeze a line of glue approx. 10-12 inches long on your folded seam allowance, then set the fabric in place on top of the flat area. Press with a warm iron (no steam). This will set the glue, and keep things from sliding around. When you are sure that the glue is dry, you can turn back the edge of the fabric to check on everything. It should look like this:

If you used a little too much glue, some may have leaked through to other
layers.

Don’t worry! It’s easy to run your finger along the area, and gently pull the
glue apart.

If your seam is long, you may want to add a few pins along the area before
you carry your fabrics to the sewing machine. The glue is fairly strong, but
not enough to support a lot of weight.

After stitching the entire seam line, run your finger along the glued area to
open the seam.

As you can see, the glue did a great job of holding the layers together.

Press the seam open.

The selvage edges must be removed from both pieces of the backing fabric
before putting the quilt backing on the machine. You can do one side at a
time with a rotary cutter, or just use scissors.

Turn the backing over to the right side, and press.

The glue really helps with the process!

Square both ends of the backing, and you’re ready to quilt!

I was lucky to receive this quilt done by Lyn Christian of A Design by Lyn. The colors are amazing, and the flowers are gorgeous! She is truly and artist! If you have a chance to go to Lexington, Kentucky to take a class taught by Lyn, you will never forget it! I’m going to let her tell her story here about her thoughts and experiences making this quilt.

“This is Wildflowers by Smith Street ……

I will be teaching this class at my local shop “Q is for Quilting”, here in Lexington, Kentucky. When I was asked to teach this class, I thought WOW…this should be fun!  I looked at the pattern and I immediately remembered being a child growing up in Wisconsin. The forest floor had wonderful spots of sunlight and there were bursts of colors from the amazing
flowers and ferns.

Excitedly, I researched the flower names and what the colors would be.  The trillium was the first one I researched.  I know wild trilliums to be WHITE with just a tiny touch of pink as they start to fade.  You can look into the Wisconsin woods on a spring day and think there is fresh snow on the ground because the trilliums truly carpet the forest floor.

The colors on the quilt pattern were deep orangey reds and such.  I decided to use a bit of creative license — I wanted my version of this quilt to have what I remembered for colors of these flowers as I walked with my mom and dad.  After all, there are no quilt police that will take my pattern away if I don’t follow it word by word and color by color and fabric by fabric!  So off I went on a new adventure — choosing fabrics!

This pattern is a great one to let you bring lots of YOU into it.  I can visualize this quilt done in colors of the sky (with blues and pastels), to colors of the earth and forest (like I have done), to calico patchworks of the fields.  Let your imagination be your guide as you choose your fabrics.  In this quilt, many of the borders and sashes are different…as are the trees, and plants and foundations of the forest floor — but I think it would be as beautiful done simply, with just a few choice fabrics that are well loved. It would feel like a planned garden, peaceful and serene.

There is a method for doing applique included with the pattern. I use an alternate method for all of my applique designs, and I was certain that my method would work for these designs too. I wrote to the designer, and asked for permission to rework the designs so I could teach my method of applique to my students.The designer was great and gave me permission to do just that.  I changed the steps for marking and tack down, and this has really simplified the process for the applique.

Making small changes can really have a big impact in your quilts! This alternate applique method has brought those blooms right off the fabric!  I also took away some of the secondary fabrics on the centers and chose embroidery threads that would add dimension.  My next step is to add some very tiny crystals in matching colors –  I want it to seem as if drops of dew have formed in a few places to catch a fracture of light and draw the eye to the quilt.  I added dimension to some of the flowers using specialty fabrics like ultra suede  and dimensional fabrics for stamens and such to bring it off the flat background.

This was a fun project to do, and it really gave me the opportunity to think outside the box. This pattern is available directly from Smith Street Designs, and includes directions for multiple sizes. And if you are near the Lexington, Kentucky area stop into the shop and take a class — I guarantee you will have fun!”

Border panic? Quilting condition? Surprise hiccup?  Just what can you say when you approach a section of a wonderfully pieced quilt that has a tricky situation that you didn’t notice before mounting the quilt top on the machine? This quilt has lots of gorgeous fabrics in it, and the blocks and borders were nice and flat when I looked at the quilt laying flat on a table. After I had done a row or two, something on the left side caught my eye. What’s that?!?!?!  Oh my gosh, where did that come from? It was a pucker that appeared overnight when I wasn’t looking!

After rolling back and forth a couple of times, I noticed that there were a few of the sneaky little devils in this border. Funny thing, though…. every other border was perfect.

I decided to stabilize the entire area, because it was too late to take the quilt off of the machine and remove the borders. This is how it looked with a little stitch in the ditch to hold all of the layers in place:

Time to heat up the steam iron. It never ceases to amaze me how much excess I can remove with just a gentle shot of steam. (Hint ….. this works particularly well when the fabrics have not been steamed during the assembly process. I have been asking all of my customers if they used steam during piecing whenever I see an issue with their quilts.)After just two shots of steam, the fabric was already starting to behave better.

Since this border was on the side of the quilt, I decided to wait until the entire quilt was finished before I turned it to deal with this problem. Traveling through the rest of the quilt was easy, and I made sure that everything remained nice and square. After finishing, I turned the quilt and remounted it to work on this border. One more shot of steam now. I kept both hands near the needle as the design stitched, enabling any excess to be evenly distributed. The finished border was perfectly flat in the trouble area:

You can see that the problem did not migrate further down the border:

I would recommend this method for borders — or blocks — that are giving you trouble with puffiness!

This quilt was made with blocks chosen from Quilter’s Cache. You can see the Austin block here, and the layout for the quilt here.