Giveaway & Book Tour - Crafted Applique: New possibilities

Welcome everybody to my stop on the Crafted Applique: New Possibilities blog hop!

I am delighted to be involved in the hop and share Lara's generosity by giving away a copy of her new book!  I've been following Lara's blog BuzzinBumble for ages and last year when I was renovating our kitchen, we got chatting by email about being too far away from each other to be able to drop by for a cuppa, so we decided on a mug rug swap instead and this way have a virtual cuppa with each other.  This is what Lara made for me!

If you have been following Lara's blog hop you will have seen this mini featured on Sew Mama Sew but I had to show it again for my stop on the hop to show what you can be done with Lara's applique method!  It is perfect for tiny pieces to add detail.  Check out their perfect expressions - this little mini brings me such joy - it captures the personalities of our Charly & Wilbur perfectly!

I ordered my copy of Crafted Applique from the AQS shop as soon as I heard it was available for pre-order and got it last month ahead of the hop & just in time for an applique project I was planning.   I had the bright idea of making a glow in the dark Lego inspired Darth Vader for a Star Wars mini quilt swap on Instagram!

Lara's method is very well explained in the book and when I emailed Lara to tell her I had a copy of her book in my hands she gave me pointers to help me apply it to Vader and it made the making of this mini so much easier!  The applique parts can be re-positioned and moved if you need to and I did!  The no fray aspect allowed me to make some tiny cuts into the fabric on Vader's face to give him a bit of a scowl.  I also added some detailing on his breastplate by cutting parts away and this made the glow in the dark fabric shine through!

Being able to make small cuts and not having to worry about fraying edges got me thinking about making a second project!  I am a big fan of all things Space related and have a great fondness for things like Star Wars and Doctor Who!

Lara Buccella

Ruth

The Doctor, a Time Lord from Gallifrey has a language made up of circles and is read anti-clockwise.  The TV program is full of beautiful images using the circular language and someone even went and created an alphabet for it.  Here's my name, Ruth and Lara's full name in Gallifreyan!

Yes there is a bit of artistic licence in this one - well its a made up language for starters!  But you can move the dots and lines about a bit and change up the colours and like Lara's method for applique the possibilities are only limited by your imagination!

So I've stared cutting into fabric again trying to make something circular inspired by circular Gallifreyan.  I tried cutting shapes with a scalpel and that was tricky even with paper as a base as there is so much give in fabric.  So, out came the scissors and I just played with the shapes.   I am starting to think I need a die cutter as the only limiting factor with this one is not Lara's method but my ability to cut a curve!

I am far from finished, this is only layer 1 and 2, but I'm having a lot of fun and really enjoying the variety of things you can do with no fray applique!  From butterflies to flower gardens, mermaids to dogs on carts the possibilities really are endless!

To win a copy of Lara's book Crafted Applique:  New Possibilities please leave a comment telling me what you would like to make for your next applique project!  The giveaway is open until midnight Sunday 29th May, winner will be chosen at random next Monday, 30th May.  Good luck!

To see more amazing applique projects and more chances to win Lara's book please visit my fellow blog hoppers on the book tour below! If you just can’t wait and want to buy a copy right now, Lara has offered to refund your money if you win a copy in one of the giveaways! You can purchase a signed copy on BuzzinBumble, or from Amazon.co.uk

Crafted Appliqué… New Possibilities Blog Hop - May 1^st to June 5^th 2016

Sun	Mon	Tues	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat
1 Lara Buccella BuzzinBumble   Introduce Tour	2 Valerie Smith Pumpkin Patch Quilter	3 Dana Gaffney Stormy Days	4 Lorna McMahon Sew Fresh Quilts	5 Mary Schuberg Needled Mom	6 Heidi Kuntz Red Letter Quilts	7 Alycia Carmin Alycia Quilts
8 Amy DeCesare Amy Made That	9 Sherri McConnell A Quilting Life	10 Lara Buccella Sew Mama Sew Guest Post	11 Christina Cameli A Few Scraps	12 Melissa Corry Happy Quilting	13 Sarah Craig Confessions of a Fabric Addict	14 Soma Acharya Whims & Fancies
15 Valerie Reynolds Val’s Quilting Studio	16 Angela Pingel Cut to Pieces	17 Sandra Walker Musings of a Menopausal Melon	18 Cheryl Brickey Meadow Mist Designs	19 Judy Murphy Quilt Paradigm	20 Yvonne Fuchs Quilting Jetgirl	21 Cindy Pieters Stitchin’ at Home
22 Susie Zlogar Susie’s Sunroom	23 Connie Campbell Freemotion by the River	24 Ruth Bourke Charly & Ben’s Crafty Corner	25 Kaja Zieslar Sew Slowly	26 Ann Brooks Fret Not Yourself	27 Cynthia Brunz Quilting is More Fun Than Housework	28 Holiday
29 Holiday	30 Holiday	31 Jenn Trott-Zisserson Quarter Inch from the Edge	1 Paulette Horn The Way I Sew It	2 Sandra Jansen Studio Sew of Course	3 Christine Sherman Triangles & Squares	4 Darlene Simmons Quilt Shop Gal
5 Lara Buccella BuzzinBumble Giveaway Winners Announced!