Book Review - An Apple A Day

One of the most talented and prolific members of HMQG is Sally.  Seriously, every time I see her, she pulls several newly-finished projects out of her bag and tells us all about them.  So none of us were surprised to hear that she has been published!!

Sally is a frequent contributor over at Riley Blake, and she was recently tapped to be part of the Creative Consultants Design Team by the Quilted Fish.  An Apple a Day is the product of that collaboration.  Sally generously donated one copy to give away as a door prize at our most recent sew-in, and another copy for the guild library.  I quickly volunteered to do a review so that I could be one of the first to check out this fantastic book!

The book has something to appeal to everyone: quilts of course, but also fabric boxes, necklaces, totes, etc!  One of my favorite projects in the book is the "Pack and Press" by another fabulous quilter, Julie Duek of the Intrepid Thread.  Julie made the infamous "fish pillow" that I received in my first ever swap, so I love her!

Initially, I planned to make Sally's mini quilt from the book (which of course has her signature embroidery!), but then Sally herself spoke to me through the book and gave me a better idea (turning a single block into a notecard)!

I have recently completed several quilts to give as gifts, and spent an afternoon carefully folding and packing them to be mailed.  When I went to write a note to include in the packages, I realized that I don't have any notecards!!  I have 'thank you' cards and Christmas cards, but nothing appropriate to include with a gift.  So this idea was perfect for me right now.

First I made the Friendship Stars according to the instructions in the book.  Then I used my pinking rotary cutter to trim the blocks so that they would not fray.  

I cut card stock slightly larger than the finished size of the block and then used various punches and scissors to create decorative edges on the card stock.  A quick dab from a glue stick kept each of the stars in place while I did a light stitch about 1/8" from the edge of the blocks to attach the block to the card stock.

Since these blocks were relatively large (6.5") and I planned to include them in packages with my quilts, I didn't worry about making them a "standard" size that would fit in an envelope.  I also didn't make them foldover cards, instead, I will just write inside the stitchy border on the back!

Thank you, Sally for a great book, and a fantastic idea!  I love my new "set of four" notecards!

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Meanwhile, I absolutely love this block and a quilt made entirely of these is now on my to-do list!  What projects will you be making from this book?