July already

  June ended with a couple of finishes, and now they are washed and fluffed.   The classic 9 patch, Timeless, already looks loved and worn.   The 9 patch quilt in contrast with the small wall hanging reveals the variation in neutrals used in the string blocks.

  The raw edge appliques washed up nice on this one.  They fluffed and frayed nicely, which is what this technique is all about.   Lots of dimension  begs to be touched.  The meandering quilting produces a soft crinkly looking background for the forgotten blooms.









For July.....I decided we needed a small table topper to use when we have lunch or snacks on the back patio.  Sir Old Man usually pulls out one of the small folding tables  to use.    Its rectangular  about 20'' by 30'' and all my small  toppers are just that....too small.   I ran across the Crossroads pattern from Connie at Freemotion by the River and tried a few blocks to see if it worked.    Here is her tutorial for a table runner.  

  I used the 9'' block and then added  an inner strip border.  Still not big enough, so I am adding a couple of rounds of florals for the outer border.


  July plans

• Finish up the small topper--Crossroads in florals
• Pin and quilt the Rail Fence top 
• Prepare for the second  water color workshop for the Busy Bee Guild
• Prepare for the Trunk Show and talk for the Loose Threads Guild in Clinton

 Once again....I am keeping the plans on the light side for this month.  I know the workshop and trunk show will take a lot of strength and I will need recovery time.


    One more thing to share.  I had an email from Nicki, who was my right hand and devoted organizer for the Mrs. Claus project.  She sent me a photo of her recent block made for The Covered in Love project.

This is her Hunter's Star block (gorgeous!) with added flange in red!  Outstanding block!  I think she did a beautiful job---look at those points----and I love the accent flange.   It's a perfect July block.  And before I get those questions......Nicki sent me the link for the Tutorial  by Roolen.     She added the flange and border to achieve a 12'' block.

   I get very inspired and motivated when I see others take on a new technique, venture outside their box, and see things in a new light.  And I love it that they will share those things with others.  Thanks, Nicki, for sharing this and for all those you help!
Happy stitching.

Repeating the binding

   I loved the flange binding so much that I did on the 9 patch quilt that I wanted to try it again.  So the small  wall hanging of raw edge roses with string blocks was ready to quilt.   Easy  meandering quilting over most of the quilt.








  The corner areas were wide open and I filled those with some feathers.  The flange binding frames it so cute!











    The only thing left to add is a label and give this a good wash to fluff it up and fray those edges.

  The report from the ophthalmologist was good!  With my old glass the left eye has 20/20 vision and 20/30 today in the right eye.....if I shifted and moved my head to find a clear visual spot.   He was very impressed with the improvement and progress, and we talked about the increased B-12 injections, and other co-factors I am taking.  So things are on the right track.....big sigh of relief.
Yesterday was one year since I was diagnosed and any  treatment began.   Thanks to all for the support and positive encouragement.
Happy stitching.

Small projects and an addition

  This week  I worked on putting together 2 small projects that were unearthed recently.
   I found a huge pile of 3 1/2'' squares and it made sense to make wonky stars to go along with them.   Star points are long, or fat, match or not.....that is the fun part of this technique.  I thought I had 12 stars but only 9 were found.  That is fine....just add more squares to get a nice lap size.   If I add a border it will make a good donation size single quilt.

   String blocks in two sizes were used to up-size the raw edge flower blocks.  The inner blocks were 6 1/2'' to match the flower block size.    Then I added an insert border strip of 1 1/2'' in purple :)  The outer border is 4'' string blocks that were left over from some long ago project.  I did not have enough to go all the way around----and even if I did the sizing would have been off.     So rather than have to cut something off and make it awkward,  I centered the strings and added enough neutral fabric to finish each side.    I love the soft effect the string blocks add to it.




  We made a day trip to see our daughter who was in Charlotte for the weekend.  We met at an antique mall in Belmont, NC.    I had not intended to look for anything special but this small china cabinet jumped up, hooted and hollered, and hitched a ride in our van!  Of course it is re-purposed and not used for china, but for place mats, table runners, and my stack of mug rugs!  A candle and a few cookbooks found a spot too.
   Oh, yeah....the visit with Deana was great!  Actually, she wanted the cabinet, but she must wait her turn for ownership.  We enjoyed the browsing and time together.  Lunch at a BBQ place across the street was a good thing too.




She gifted me with more fabrics....from her estate sale ventures.   Fat quarter packs--one of batiks,  a charm pack, along with some yardage pieces for backings.  Always fun to see what she discovers.



  The high heat and humidity seem to have moved in for the month.....it  feels like August and makes me so draggy.    Therefore, I have not been too productive.  Plus, my brother and nephew arrived for a week.  It is always good to enjoy Remy's antics and energy!   Today, we are off to do some errands before the heat causes me to melt.
Happy stitching.

Lots of small things

  No great finds this week.....blogland seems to in the middle of summer vapors, and things are slow.  If you discover any good finds, let me know and I will share them next week.

I have been working on small things...snack mats and mug rugs all week.  I worked with everything from strings to hunks, threw in some appliques and leftovers.  These are practical ones, not necessarily beauties.

 I did a pair using this fabric for Remy.   While he was helping his Dad sort through boxes of stored items, he discovered "treasures"......a bag of fishing lures that were my Dad's.  So when I had 2 hunks of this fabric left from pillowcases, I knew exactly what to do with it......a couple of snack mats for him.  He will drive his dad crazy talking about the ones on this!

   The diagonal strings go together quickly but ended up a little plain.  So I did some raw edge appliques using simple plume shapes.

  Moving things around, I ran across one more embroidered hankie.  I love turning  these into mug rugs for gifts....they are so delicate.

  One more......leftover floral band, another bit of raw edge applique and a couple of chunks for balance.  In all I finished 10  items, for a nice start to gifts for later this year.











   While I was fresh this morning, I machine quilted the floral bargello.   I had planned to finish it up yesterday after my dental check up.  Well, that was a snake in the grass.  I have a cracked crown  that must be replaced....I will spare notating the details.  Let's just say I had a splitting headache the rest of the day.  And there won't be any fabric purchases for a while.    Not that I need any, mind you.  It's more the inspiration from new fabric that I enjoy and want.  I  will just use this time to clear out and use up some of my 20 year old stash.   But then I have said that before.....enjoy the weekend, stay cool, and happy stitching.

Just odds and ends

    I have made a little headway on my to-do list.  The second donation project  is ready for binding  now.  Two quilts are pinned and ready to go.....time to uncover Hot Legs.   Some strips sewn and sub-cuts un-sewn for the Many Trips in florals.  And I discovered the unfinished French Roses blocks......they have been added to my to-do list.  

   And we added a little something to our stable.....Hi-Ho Silver.  Sir Old Man got the one he wanted.  It even has a plug in for the Featherweight.....that's a standing joke around here.  He drives and I can sit in the back and sew. Anyway, we will be ready for the road trip this fall to Michigan.
   On a fun and funny note......do you follow Connie at Free Motion by the River?  If not, hop over there for a sweet story and saga that is going on with her and a pelican.  The story begins around July 5th after the storms.  The young pelican got lost and now considers them family.  She shares some touching photos and funny videos.  It now seems the entire town is following the story.
  Heading to the sewing room for some therapy.....happy stitching.

Let's Book It for March

   Let's Book It is an idea from Sharon at Vroomans Quilts.   Each month select a project from a book, magazine or such and do it.  Then post a finish and link up at the Linky Party.  So I jumped on her bandwagon this month.....From Stratavarious Quilts I selected this wall hanging project.  I liked the visual impact and thought it would be good to try thread painting again.
   As per my usual, I ended up not following their directions completely, and found that string piecing the background was an easier and less wasteful method.

I cut the foundation for the string piecing from telephone book pages.
  Tip:  Be sure to cover your pressing surface to prevent the ink from being transferred to your cover.....I use an old pillowcase that slips right over my ironing board end.
  Note the crease in the paper page.....that is the correct angle that I wanted to maintain for the background blocks.  It is not corner to corner, rather  the angle runs a little off kilter but still on a diagonal.
   The book project was larger than I wanted....so I reduced the size to approximately 24 by 30 inches.  And that meant less leaves to applique down.  The stems and leaves were cut from batiks and glued to the background with glue stick.....not fused. This was to be raw-edge applique.

   Here's a close up of the raw edge stitching......and the thread painted blossom.  The thread painting was done onto tulle and cut out.  Then a few more stitches were added to hold it in place.  I used wavy lines for the quilting in the background.

    And it is done.    Glad I got it out of my system and onto the wall. The colors are slightly washed out in this photo....it is really a dramatic contrast in the dark background and the light leaves.

    I have no idea what I might try next month.....I need to look for a small project to attack!  Be sure to check out the other blogger's projects at the linky party.....Here.

 


  

Quilted February

   That was my major objective for February....quilting a lot.  I actually got more done than I expected. I had 4 quilt tops waiting to be quilted, and two of them are done.  

  Something old:   
   It's not really old, but it has been hanging around a few months. The Buzz Saw quilt, aka The Whopper. All the quilting is done, and thread tails hidden.  Binding is cut and ready to attach.

Something new:
Frosty Morn is quilted as of last night...just under the wire.

    I was a little undecided on how to quilt this one.  It ended up with feathers through the light area, and wavy lines in the frosty color area.  The border portion was quilted with "jester's hat" swirls.....the border print made that an easy choice.
   Using the three different motifs on this worked better than expected really.  And now I have a good quilting motif sample for classes.....so I am keeping this one.

Frayed edge technique......
   Finally washed and fluffed.  These are the 2 samples for the technique demo for guild in March.










March is here.  So a few plans are needed.

• Bind the Buzz Saw.
• Bind Frosty Morn.
• Pin the Floral string quilt.
• Add borders to Mid-winter Dreams.
• McTavishing lessons at Freemotion Quilting Adventures   This starts on Monday.
• Bite the bullet....since the bug bit me to join the Book It! at Vroom's Quilts  This will be my something for the month. 

     I put off jumping in on  Let's Book It! sew along, but this book kept falling on the floor.  I figured it was telling me  it was time to join the fray and pick a project.  So I cut some strips this morning that hopefully will get sewn this month. More on this one later.  

   I think I filled my plate up again.....so what's on your plate?

  Happy stitching.

Linking to Something Old, Something New at Never to Hot to Stitch.  

Unbound Buzz Saw

  The harder I try, the "behinder"  I get.  That means my plate is very full right now with small bits of progress on several things.   The second Free Motion class was finished up on Saturday.  This was probably the best group I have had to date, and they worked really hard at the lessons.  So we may add a feathers class for the summer.  The shop also wants a Tiara tips and hints class, so I am working that info up this week.   And throw in a demo, and tax time and you can see why I have a full plate.

   The Buzz Saw---Whopper quilt---is quilted, unbound, but quilted!  I have more thread tails to hide, and binding to cut and add  before I can call it done.


  This one is so big and heavy that I had to get Sir Old Man to lug it outside for me this morning. He is quite happy with his choice of pattern and is actually working on the bed!  I am elated that he is motivated to build that bed....now that the quilt is almost done.  :)

    His close up photo of the quilting..... note only a few straight lines through the batiks to hold them  in place.  I love how their colors stand out!  All the background is fully quilted...not quite hyper quilting, but plenty of thread was used.  I used 2 full bobbins on the border alone.












    We also re-arranged the sewing room.  It was time for a change, as I was feeling cramped. So we---really Sir Old Man did the lifting---shifted the machines around and moved the cutting table to the center of the room.    With the Tiara on the side wall, I have room for the extra support tables when I need them.  Or one of them can be moved beside the sewing machine if needed.

   And I am prepping for a demo at guild next month.  Kerri wants to feature flower blocks.  Ummm....does that sound like me?   This is the frayed edge technique that uses 4 layers of fabrics.
   I thought I would make up one block completely finished as a mug rug, and have the various stages of blocks to show.  Then I can turn the remaining blocks into a table runner.  I hope to get the sewing done on these Saturday while Sir Old Man is at a wood finishing seminar.



   And in case that is not enough......
This starts up the first Monday in March.....McTavishing we go!!!!
 I ran across this new FMQ stitch along/challenge that starts soon.  I have tried McTavishing before, with so-so results.  Not bad, just not the beautiful designs she does.  So this little adventure will be a good challenge for me this year.  Details are at Amy's Free Motion Quilting Adventures.  This sew along type challenge will include linky parties for showing progress.  Hope to see some of you there!

  It is 70 degrees here today.....and last week we were snow bound.  So I need a little time outside in the sun before I tackle the bow flex or anything else.  Happy stitching.

Favorites at the quilt show....photo heavy

Notice:   I had written this post for today on Friday night.  Saturday we went to Charlotte to help Deana do some yard work.  I managed to step into a hole ,caught my foot, and did a header.  Result is a broken nose, and a broken humerus--left arm bone--at the shoulder.  We are home now and managed to get thru the night ok.  Thankful that it was not worse, but Sir Old Man has his hands full for 6 weeks, as I can do almost nothing by myself.  
  Please understand if I am slow at getting to emails to reply.  I will be following your blogs.....likely few posts of my own for now.  One hand makes for slow going.  

I had great plans to be really good and not spend too much at the vendors at the local quilt show.  I am sure you know the feeling.  We all have our weaknesses.
   But first just a few quilts that  gave me some inspiration. When I go to a quilt show, I look for color, design, or technique elements that  evoke a feeling or just plain make me stop.   There were wonderful traditional quilts, but these are the ones that gave me inspiration.

 
This one was a zinger!  The colors were so bright and cheerful, and lots of small details to delight the eye.
And the quilting was full of feathers and swirls.  I loved it.

Here's the detail shot of the technique.....raw edge applique!  Layer upon layer stitched down, much like the technique used in the French Roses quilt.  

Of course this caught my eye....color and movement in this one and a story.  The flowers represent the flowers the quilter transplanted to her new garden here from Mississippi.  I really like the pieced background she used.    Since I have a love of day lilies, I looked a little closer.

The flowers are stitched by machine with a tight satin stitch that gives a raised appearance to the edge. Very nicely done. 

Striking and graphic background done in batiks in this one.  I liked the shimmering effect  of the color arrangement.    I have a stack of fabrics that I have been saving/hording/holding on to for a while waiting for an idea to find me. This one just may be it.

This small landscape was glorious.  A very beautiful sunrise over the mountains.  So how did she achieve that effect?

Lots of strips and lots of values blended together.  This detail shot shows how the reflection of the sun on the water was created with raw edge (again!) appliqued shapes.  It was also densely quilted with wavy lines.

Another landscape---but this is heavily thread painted.  I was over the top studying it!

This is just one of the detail shots I took.  I felt like I could just walk right into the woods.  Oh, boy......I may need to spend just a bit more than planned at the vendors.

This just took me by surprise.  Jean is one of my very favorite people and I was blown away with this wall hanging.  She grows  700 or so named iris, and some historical ones, too.  She did a beautiful job at color selection.  I so love the off set layout.  

So exactly how bad was I?  Pretty bad....considering I only had needles and thread on my planned list to purchase. Ha!!!  Batiks....3 yards...."But, honey, they were on show special."  And 3 books....applique and thread painting.   "But the applique book was used and has great ideas in it."
   I sense a change is coming in what I have been doing.  You can count on a whole lot more thread painting and applique.    I have been inspired.
Happy stitching.  

Using negative space

    I mean we all need or want more space.  But exactly....What is negative space?   Think in-between space.  The space that fills in and around applique for instance.  The applique would be the positive space and the background would be the negative space.   We need both positive and negative space.  And as a quilter, negative space could be filled with quilting,  or it could be the sashing between the blocks.  Or it could be a  space that unifies and makes the color jump out.

  These 2 doll quilts--I told you I was inspired by them--are great examples of negative space of white.  The ticker tape quilt, from a Mrs. Claus at HGTV Message Board for South Carolina, has a lots of negative white space in the background and in the ticker tape bits of fabric she selected.  It works so wonderfully because the eye is fooled and sees the bright colors instead of  only seeing the bits of fabric sewn down.
Note:  Ticker tape quilt is done raw-edge applique style.  The background is one piece.  The top is layered with the batting and backing.  Then the selected fabrics are arranged and stitched down with a straight stitch or a zig-zag stitch through all three layers.
  And the  little bow tie quilt ...wow.  What a great idea to do bow ties in pinks.  Mrs. Claus in Iowa created a precious quilt that lets the bow ties take center stage on the white background of negative space.
 

 So where would I find negative space in a watercolor quilt?   I mean the entire project is filled with fabric that is loaded with color and prints with lots of values.  There is no negative space........or is there?
   I was sorting through my cut squares  and realized that I had a lot of dark squares with negative space.  Why?  They tend to be harder to place in a watercolor quilt when you are trying to blend square to square.  I needed to figure out how to reduce their presence in my stash.



 This is in the beginning stage.  I decided to use the squares with all the black negative space  to create a dark--very dark--area at the base of this banner.  And since black to black is boring, I am trying to cluster like color edge to like color edge and create very large blooms here.

This close up photo shows what I mean better than the words.  Once this is sewn and finished the large flowers should pop out against the negative space of the black.

   Fabric selection is probably the hardest part of beginning a watercolor quilt.  You need fabrics with different values and different scale prints.  Here are 2 examples of fabric with negative space of black that I have used in this project.
  So what I have just said and shown about the black negative space is also true for the fabrics with the light or white negative space.   But that will have to wait until I reach that point in this project.

Report on the star struck variation:  I cleaned off a mini-bolt of fabric--yea, stash reduction--- for the sashings and binding.  The top is together and ready to be batted and quilted.   Just in time too.  I heard today that Amanda got a very nice job promotion this week.  This quilt was promised to her and Barry--OK,  to Barry really because he begged---for their next "life event".   I think the promotion qualifies and I think  the quilt  will be called "Life's Events".
Have a very special and blessed Easter weekend.  Happy stitching.  

'Tis the season

  I really felt the need to create, to try something new this morning after cleaning up the mess in the sewing room.  I still have the last 2 doll quilts from Mrs. Claus in Indiana---thank you---to finish up.  But a little play time beckoned.

  Scraps of deep reds and greens on white.....a little bit of "bottled" Christmas to make a candle mat.  I am sure you have seen the bottled rainbow quilts around blog land....with just random scraps grouped by colorway set in  mosaic style on a bordered background.   They are usually done in the quilt as you go style by stitching directly on to the batting for each block and then joining them.  Since this one was to be small, I just created 3 panels, stitching the scraps--raw edge covered with a zig zag stitch-- to the white. Then I added borders in the usual way.  I even got to use my new Sewline glue pen....yes, I do like it a lot, not messy and easy to hold. 

  I decided to trying some pebbling for the quilting in the border.  Tiny pebbling......I love the texture it gives, but my circles are all different sizes and uneven, and boy,  does it take a ton of thread to do.  This requires practice.  I think I will leave that for another day.   Happy stitching.