Quilting onward....

After finishing up two quilts and sending them off to their new owners, I found myself with nothing really ready to keep me busy. 

So I started laying out a new house block....

And then as I dug through my stash and happened across a charm pack I decided to try out the pattern "Crazy for Plaid" by Allison Aller's in her book Quilting...Just a Little Bit Crazy. 

The pre-cut fabric in the charm pack is 5" squares, the pattern calls for a bit larger, so first thing I had to draft a smaller version of the black scallop applique.

And with a few rainy days I had the whole charm pack appliqued up....

ready for some embellishment.  I stared with a feather stitch on the main seams.

With the main seams progressing, I tried to find something to put in the center of the circles.  Did I mention I challenged myself to use only what is in my stash.  I dug through my laces, but nothing spoke to me, I look through my beads, nope nothing.  I found some buttons that could have been a good choice, but did not have nearly enough that the quilt required.  So I started thinking about creating an applique flower or something and came up with this....

I like where this is headed.

Teaching on National Quilt Day

I will be teaching a class at the National Quilt Day celebration here in Bismarck.  It will be at the Frances Leach High Prairie Arts & Science Complex on March 9, 2013.  

I knew what I wanted to do and proposed the class with out a sample. Well they needed a few pictures of what I planned to teach by this past Monday so I spent most of the weekend free time designing and sewing.  I call it Cut Away Applique using fleece.  I came up with the idea about a year ago when I was making all of the Angry Birds for the kids.  Quick and easy technique with some really stunning results.  Class participants with be able to create either a spring or a winter wall hanging. 

Applique

Another pair of boys shorts that I added a bit of applique to make them more to Abby's liking.  I have had these 1930s leafs cut out sitting in a pile for years.  They were supposed to become a border for a 1930s quilt the never quite materialized.  But I think they are the perfect addition to the shorts.  At Abby's request I added a little bumble bee. 

 

The next is a tee shirt that I picked up at Hobby Lobby.  The flowers around the collar really turned out great and I experimented with a bit of machine embroidery.  

I have a few ideas on using this applique technique in a quilt so stay tuned.  

Weekend....

It was the weekend to deck the halls and gear up for Christmas through out the house.  We have two trees this year,  a big one in the family room and a table top one in the dining/kitchen area.  I particularly like how the mantle turned out this year. 

The small tree has all of my favorite ornaments that I have collected over the years,  many handmade by friends and family.   I even dug through my stash of table linens for a touch of embroidery around the small tree....

I have been experimenting with a bit of applique. 

A wall hanging for Abby's room......

and a 6 inch machine applique block....

I like the results of the block with the seasonal colors, the crisp look to the applique and it was the fasted applique block I ever completed...I have a wall quilt brewing in my head.


Happy holidays everyone.

New toy

This year I told my husband exactly what I wanted for my birthday, an embellisher. I chose the Baby Lock and here she is all unpacked and ready to go...



For my first project, I completed the adding of fibers to a postcard. I am trying to work out a few new flower designs...


This postcard, I added the fringe border using the embellisher.

I moved on to creating a crazy quilt postcard, using various scraps of silk and some fussy cut roses.....
Before attaching the rose.....

After running through the embellisher. As you can see the Dupioni silk really snags when punched with the needles. The plan is to add some hand stitching and practice some SRE stitches.

And here is the back of the post card.

The Guardian

I finished the elephant quilt (using Sharon Malec's Pattern) last week and just got around to taking a photo. Such a stunning result. It has found it's home in my son's room, guarding over him while he sleeps..........
I decided on an all over pattern for the quilting and used a monofilament thread in a smoke color. It was the first time I used the monofilament and not sure if I would quilt with it again, it has a bit of a sheen if the light hits it just right.

Wool Name Tag

I think name tags are great fun to make. I like ones where the name is easy to read. This one measures about 4" square and was made for the Missouri Valley Quilters Guild. Here is one I did with felted wool. For the name, I printed a font off the computer, traced it on to wonder under and then fused it to the wool. When I fused the letters to the tag, I though they may pull off, so I added some stitches to tack down.

Past Project - Geese in a Pond

I am continuing to share some of my past quilting projects. Partly because I havent been up to much recently. Mostly getting ready to have a baby in early June.
This quilt was made in 2002 and was my first to incoporate the 3-D flowers in the border. The leaves are also 3-D and the in the center of some of the blocks is a bit of trapunto leaves.

Past Project - Orchids and Stars

I recently finished this wall quilt. Although this photo was taken prior to machine quilting. It was a guild challenge to make and complete last fall. Needless to say I was a bit late in finishing. It is based on a free pattern from P&B Textiles, Summer Stars:

I decided to add an additional challenge to myself and use only fabrics from my scrap bin. I also added the 3-D flower border based on the orchid pattern from Kumiko Sudo's book Fantasies and Flowers. Each flower is also beaded in the centers.