In my last post, I showed how I made the little people in this quilt. (If anyone knows the actual name for those blocks, please let me know in the comments!) In this post, I'll show how I appliqued the logo and tagline.
I've made one other appliqued quilt, and learned a lot during that process. I also learned some ways to make the process a little easier. For starters, I had the logo enlarged made into two engineering prints at Staples for $3.89 each.
Next I selected bright fabrics that matched the logo. I was able to find most of the fabric from our stash, but I did need to buy a tonal black. While I was at Joann, I also found the backing fabric with handprints, which turned out to be a godsend when I started working on the handprints for the logo.
One lesson I learned is that Heat N Bond Lite works better for me than Pellon Wonder Under for applique. Not only does it work better with with my Silhouette Cameo, but the appliqued material is more flexible and less stiff than when I use Wonder Under (as I did with the previous quilt).
After ironing on the Heat N Bond and removing the white paper, I was ready to get started.
The tree trunk was the largest part of the logo, much too large for my Cameo, so I cut out the trunk from one of my engineering prints.
I used my small 28mm rotary cutter to cut out the tree trunk.
I cut out just the tree of the second print, and used it to center the tree trunk on the quilt.
Once I was happy with the placement, I ironed on the trunk. I was a little nervous about this part, because all the other little pieces would be based on the placement of the trunk.
The biggest challenge I had with the logo was finding a handprint that would work with my Silhouette. I must have tried eight or nine different handprints before I found one that worked. The logo I used from the school was too pixelated for the Silhouette. And you'd be amazed by how different handprints can look depending on how wide the fingers are spread. Finally, I had the idea to scan the handprint on the backing fabric.
All I had to do was add the circle in the middle of the palm in my Silhouette file. Of course, none of the hands were the same size so I had to keep playing around with sizes.
As each hand was cut on the Silhouette, I cut a circle around the hand on my print. I then lined the print up with the tree trunk to figure out where the hand should go. It was tedious, but it worked!
By the time all my circles were cut out, the quilt looked like this.
At this point, I was starting to feel pretty good about my progress!
When I make a quilt, I usually don't tell the recipient until it's done, just in case I mess it up. However, this time I caved and contacted the school so I could get a high resolution logo and correct font for the words. Once I knew that the tagline was in Berlin Sans FB Demi, it was easy to make the letters with my Silhouette.
I started placing letters in the center and then moved outward, using a ruler to keep them in a straight line.
I changed the font to Century Gothic and followed the same idea for the rest of the letters.
One last bit of text using the negative space. I had to be careful not to lose the little tiny pieces in the As and D.
And the applique is done!
I used two borders to finish the top. I used 1.5" strips for the black, and 2.5" for the green.
Before making my quilt sandwich, I reinforced all the applique.
I bought a new toy before I started the binding. It's a 1/4" foot with guide and I love it! I've learned that I tend to pull to the left as I'm piecing and quilting, so I think my seams are going to look much nicer now.
After some straight line quilting, I added the label and called it done!
I delivered the quilt to school the day before the annual art auction. It was really fun to see it up on the stage behind the auctioneer, and especially at the end of the night as students posted for pictures in front of it.
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