{applique quilt square}

If you’re a follower on Twitter or Facebook, I’m sure you’ve heard me talking about my first sewing machine.  It was a Mother’s Day gift this year.  I read tons of reviews before deciding on the perfect machine for me, and after careful consideration I chose the Brother CS6000i.  I know I’m a newbie, but I think it’s fantastic.  It’s got 60 computerized stitches, auto threading (which I’m told is a very nice feature to have in a machine), auto-set drop in bobbin, and a wide table accessory for quilting ( I hope to learn to quilt very soon).

Over the next few weeks I’ll be sharing more and more sewing projects using this bad boy!

When my good friend Adrianne of Happy Hour Projects announced that she wanted to have a quilt square contest, I knew that was a small project that this new sewer could definitely tackle!  The only problem was that I’d never made a quilt square before!  All week Adrianne offered some fabulous tutorials for different methods the contestants could use.  After reading over all of them, I decided that her applique method sounded right up my ally!

Since she currently lives in Michigan, and I lived there for a few years (during high school and college–GO MSU), I decided that the perfect quilt square to represent me would be a state silhouette.

To make an {applique quilt square}, you’ll need:

Light-duty Heat-n-Bond (found at Hobby Lobby, used a coupon, spent only $2.57 for a yard)

fat quarters (I chose two colors from the pack of 4 I bought for $2.99)

stencil of Michigan (found an outline map online and enlarged it on my printer)

10 1/2″ square background fabric (mine was an off-white cotton fabric)

sewing machine, thread, scissors, measuring tape

iron/ironing board

Therefore, I spent a total of $5.56 on this project and have most of the fabric and Heat-n-Bond left over for future projects!

To get started I found a simple outline of the state of Michigan and enlarged it on my printer.  I then cut out the outline and used it as a stencil to trace it onto the Heat-n-Bond.  Make sure to trace the image backwards if it is not something symmetrical!

Once the state was traced, I cut it out.  Your cutting does not need to be perfect here…in fact, it’s better to leave some space so you can make a better cut once the Heat-n-Bond adheres to the fabric.

Follow the instructions on the Heat-n-Bond package specific for your chosen material.  Mine suggested ironing (with the sticky side down onto the wrong side of the fabric) for about 2 seconds.

Once the Heat-n-Bond was stuck, I carefully cut around the actual outline I had traced onto the Heat-n-Bond paper.  I now had the “mitten” part of Michigan and the upper peninsula (U.P.) ready to go!

I didn’t like the idea of having only the state on the quilt square and decided to frame it with the fabric I used for the U.P.

I cut 1 1/2″ strips, pinned them to the outer edge of my background fabric and sewed them around the entire border of the square.

After sewing and measuring the square a final time to make sure it was 12″, I peeled the Heat-n-Bond paper off the state silhouette, placed it where I wanted it to end up on the square, and ironed it right to the fabric (best invention ever, huh?).

With everything in it’s place, I wanted to fancy the entire square up just a bit with a fun zig zag stich on my sewing machine.  I used the zig zag stich along the border and the state silhouette.

Soon I had my very first applique quilt square!

Thank you so much Adrianne for your awesome tutorial (it made me feel like I could actually participate in your challenge)!  I’ll be linking up to her Quilt Block Challenge today!  The party will be open through August 24th which gives you plenty of time to participate!

Enjoy your day!

Please leave a comment, I love to hear from my readers!

I’ll be linking up at these fabulous parties!