Applique is a "piece o' cake"

Becky Goldsmith of  Piece O' Cake Designs came to my guild for a lecture and class. She had a wonderful presentation about color and fabric.

Quilt is copyright of Piece O'Cake Designs

Her slides were very educational, especially when she showed the same quilt pattern done two different ways. One had a rich brown background, and the other was white, with identical appliques. They barely looked alike!
Becky shared an important (for me) message to say goodbye to fabrics that are taking up space. She is obviously a neater person than I, but it's still true! She uses "excess fabric" to make the backs for her quilts....often wild large prints (think Kaffe Fassett).
The day after the lecture I attended Becky's needle-turn applique class. I love it when teachers use a camera and projector to demo their techniques, especially hand stitching.

Becky Goldsmith (standing)

When people like Becky and her Piece O'Cake partner Linda Jenkins are so well known it's because they are good at what they do. These ladies have great designs, and Becky is a terrific teacher. She did a wonderful job of explaining each step and was especially helpful in describing hand positions.
Take a class from her....buy one of the books or DVDs...you'll enjoy them, even if you never take a stitch!
The Piece O' Cake method involves tracing the pattern onto upholstery vinyl for placement:

On my design wall back at home

This was a much better process than I thought it would be. I am not going to tell you all about it, because it's Becky's class....so again, sign up for one when you can (if you are at all interested in "the A word")!


Here's another view of part of the quilt, so you don't have to scroll up..

Still copyrighted by Piece O' Cake!

Just look at that border...it's really several fabrics! And the leaves are similar values but not all the same.

Just a couple of things to consider when you are choosing fabrics. Loosen up some and take a few chances!

I may never do a lot of needle-turn applique, but I truly enjoyed learning the Piece O'Cake way!