Maywood Makers 2022

I am thrilled to announce that I am a Maywood Maker for 2022.  I am joining a fabulous group of makers–scroll to the end of this post for links to their websites and follow them/us on Instagram.

Maywood Studio has the Gelato Ombres line of fabrics that I have loved and used in many quilts for years and years. So, I am very happy that they are now a sponsor and partner.

The Prompt!

Every few weeks, Maywood will send us a challenge prompt and some of their fabric. The prompt for February 2022 was a letter.  I was assigned the letter D.  We could use any technique to make a 12-1/2″ block and create a personal meaning for the letter.

The letter D stands for Dare to Dream!

Here’s a short tutorial on how I made this block.

One fabric we received was a lovely yellow/green/blue ombre. Yes, Gelato!!!

I also had a tone-on-tone white fabric–Solitaire White Geometric.

I decided to cut and piece the ombre fabric into strips with a bit of the white fabric, and then pieced the curved part of the letter D with the inside of the curve cut from the white.  I used the techniques that I teach in my curved piecing classes.  No templates or measuring–all curves cut freehand with my rotary cutter.

Then, I created the left line of the D from the rest of the strip piece and sewed both sections together.

I created a pieced background from the ombre and the white fabric.  I added the pieced D onto the background using MistyFuse fusible.

 

Then I decided to use a decorative stitch to sew down the D to the block. I auditioned these threads in the photo above and decided to do two lines of stitiching.  First, I used a straight stitch in a 50 weight yellow thread (Superior Threads).  Then I went back and added a decorative stitch using the blue Isacord thread (50 wt).

Before I added the applique stitches, I fused a piece of fusible sew-in interfacing to the background.  I’m not sure what brand–it was in a bag in my fabric closet.  It’s probably a Pellon product–it has fusible glue on just one side.  This interfacing stabilizes the block and reduces the amount of shrinkage or missed stitches when using a decorative stitch. This interfacing stays in the block and is washable.

Here is the finished block.  It measures 12-1/2″ square.  I had a lot of fun making this block and I’m really looking forward to the next Maywood Challenge!