#apliquick

Once ironed to the wrong side of the fabric, I like to cut very close to the turning edge. The piece on the right is cut to about 1/8th of an inch.

Using a fabric glue stick (I'm showing a Bohin pen here, but I've refilled it several times. This time with Sewline glue), I apply glue to small sections at a time. It's certainly helpful that the glue goes on in color.

The two main turning tools are long rods, one with a rounded flat edge meant to turn the fabric, and the other with a forked edge, meant to hold your piece in place. With the rounded edge tool I turned fabric in select places and pinched it to the glue. The result first looks like the edge of a pie crust.

I like to use the forked edge to sweep and smooth the rest of the edges to the glue until it lies flat.

The result, even with a seam, is a perfectly smooth turned edge on the curve of my split clamshells.

There are several good tutorials with video on using Apliquick on YouTube, as well as places to purchase the tools. The tools are also available at Amazon, though I always prefer to buy directly from artists and small businesses. I recommend Kathy McNeil's site, largely because she is the teacher who introduced me to Apliquick.

https://www.kathymcneilquilts.com/

Bob Ross Cherrywood Challenge Day 1.

I drew out my design for the challenge late last year, and I spent a couple of hours looking at my eight fabrics last night to decide which one was going where. Today, I start cutting up my fabrics.

One of the more useful concepts I picked up in my classes at MQX Quilt Festival New England was what I'll call a "snowflake applique" approach. When you want or need it to be identical on 2 or more sides, fold your template material (in this case, Apliquick iron on stabilizer) just like a paper snowflake and cut it out. Mine calls for a mirror image, so I drew half my pattern on a sheet folded down the middle.

I only need the outer edge, so I cut away the center of the Apliquick so I can use it later. The outer edge I trim to give myself a little more than an eighth inch seam. I'll turn those edges later in front of the TV.