Akala As featured in Quiltmaker

Learn more about Shades Soft Fuse, Shades of Baltimore Patterns, Hand-dyed Hula Hoops, 2 for 1 Hawaiian Appliques and More! These pages are also available in live and inperson classes with Stacy Michell at Quilting retreats, quilt shows or in-store - quilt shop events. In the Atlanta area Stacy can often be found teaching at Discover Sewing in Sandy Springs - or working in her studio in the Artisan Resource Center. This section of the web site is more for your knowledge then for web shopping. You will find links to the secure shopping cart, and always feel free to call in your order. If you are intrested in more than one or two items, or hand dyed color options and stock availablity, it is best to call in your order. 1-800-783-3933 Noon - 6 PM EST are best studio hours for phone calls.

Click here to purchase Soft Fuse

Click here to purchase the Akala kit

Click here to purchase Pre-Cut Blocks

Many of you have seen this quilt in Quiltmaker Magazine. The quilt now known as Akala! The hawaiian word for pink. It is made from 12 appliqué blocks arranged in a checkerboard - light dark- style. Although there are 12 blocks in the quilt, only 6 times are appliqué's cut! We use our special "2 for 1 Hula lessons" instructions for doing this by hand with scissors.

After cutting so many of these blocks with scissors, the kind of repetitive task that I find allows for great thoughts, I thought about the Accucut die cutting machine, and I thought replacing the scissors with a die cut appliqué would be a brilliant addition to my current work.

The advantage to knowing how to do it with scissors, is you can cut any shape or size of design. The advantage to cutting with Accucut is the precision and ease of use in the project, but only 4 designs in one size are currently available. By available, I mean, yes, you can buy the actual die from Accucut for use with the machine - OR - you can buy the fabric in your choice of color/style and it will be pre-fused with Soft Fuse and precut with Accucut. we have even pre washed the fabric! This precut appliqué block is exactly that! 1 Design cut from 1 piece of fabric. The paper backing is still on the block, and you will remove that, position the precut on the background of your choice, purchased individually or in kits, fuse the appliqué in to place and finish as you like.

There are a couple of fabric choices available in the "2 for 1 Pre-cut Hawaiian": Kona Cotton in solid colors, hand dyed fabric, and Hand Dyed Hula Hoops. All of this adds up to too much selection for the web site! So we will post only a few favorite color combinations in the secure shopping cart. Always call for additional color combinations availablity.

The best part of the precuts is the truly precise cut guarantees the success of "2 for 1 Hawaiian. It is cut so perfectly that you get 2 appliqués out of one piece of fabric! Both an inside cut and an outside cut!

We then use a machine quilting and appliqué technique that has been evolving here in the studio. After fusing the blocks in place, we edge stitch the appliqué - THROUGH the batting and backing - quilting the blocks as we finish the appliqué - another 2 for 1 trick! After the blocks are completed, we join the sections to make the large quilt.

Imagine this quilt in your choice of colors! Below please see the "fun with photoshop" image I made just for that purpose! That is all for now!

Stacy