Down By the Sea Postcard quilt

Postcard size thread painted quilt swap.  The theme for this is "Down by the Sea."   At first, I had no ideas.  After some brainstorming and sketching, I came up with seashells.  Using a white background, I painted it all over with inktense sticks.   They are water soluble which blends and makes a watercolor effect.  I used pigma permanent pen for the seashells tongue twister on the right side.  The first element was the scallop shell in the center.  I used a photograph and printed it onto canvas.  The next elements were the words I tore from a magazine.  I added them to my background with diluted white glue.  Let it dry, then laid all the elements out.   I cut the top and wadding to size  and layered them for the thread painting.  Thread painting really brings the elements to life and makes everything stand out.    The beads were added after all the other elements and before it was backed and zigzag finished.

The backing looks goofy here because I erased all the info printed to protect privacy.   Just to show that this is how I drew out the back.  The backing is a tan colored cotton fused to the quilt top and wadding.

This postcard is going overseas to its recipient, so I will put it in a bubble wrap envelope to protect it.  DH really liked this one, he didn't want me to send it off.  I will make him one so he doesn't feel left out.

Moonlit Night

A nice moonlit night for inspiration.  

As the evening wore on, the moon moved near the power lines, so I couldn't resist taking some photos.  It was really beautiful and I am seeing a small piece of work here.  This would be a good subject for fabric painting and/or thread painting.   

  Years ago I started a post card series of quilted pieces I called "Postcards From the Edge", which were journal pieces of places we have been, so I'm adding this piece based on that series.    The sizes of these postcards vary.  

 The photos were printed and placed in a collage.  I also wanted to add a bird, so I drew that out as well.  

I used Inktense sticks to paint the background onto white cotton fabric.  They are water soluble and blend nicely.   I layered the background over the batting piece.  Using a pigma pen, marked where the moon was placed with a circle smaller than the actual moon piece.  Using a ruler, I marked where the power-lines went.  

Now, moving on to the shapes (moon, power lines, and bird).    The moon is an applique circle shape with slight gray colors shaded in random areas.  I drew a circle on the reverse side of the white fabric, sewed an interfacing on the drawn line and cut it out.  Cut a slit in the center of the interfacing, clipping close to the sewing line and turned right side out.  To lightly shade the moon, I used water soluble pencil in a gray color.   I ironed the shape and top-stitched it in place over the background.   Then I started thread painting over my marked lines for the power lines and bird.   

I cut a backing to cover my threads, but you could have sandwiched it in the beginning and stitched.  To finish, I zig zag stitched all the edges.  It turned out well and am happy with the colors.  

Valentine - UFO

Remember this one?  It's been lurking in my UFO basket for nearly 9 years.  Time to pull it out and work on it.  My thought when I began it years ago, was to add more borders and some wording in the border.  I called it "Conversation Hearts" as the applique heart blocks have embroidered sayings in the center.  Just like the conversation heart candies.

 I got tired of it.  Trying to think past the business of the center and bringing some elements out to the border, it was just hard to concentrate on, so it ended up on the bottom of the basket until just the other day.  I pinned it up on my design board and sat across from it and stared at it for a while.  Dug out all the bits and pieces left over, then it slowly came to me.

I knew I wanted the words, "Be My Valentine", I just wasn't sure how I would arrange so few words around the entire border.  My bits and pieces were minimal so I couldn't make more words.  Why not bring the heart shape out into the border?  There was just enough pinks to cut some hearts out.  When I applique, I use a fusible and an interfacing on the reverse so that the stitching doesn't tunnel on the top.  The "interfacing" I used are clothes dryer sheets (used and saved).  Iron them flat onto the back of your applique shape and it will "stick" to your fabric if you sew around it right away.  I didn't have to use pins to hold it in place.  After you've stitched around the shape, just trim away the dryer sheet from the reverse close to the stitching.  Since the dryer sheet is very soft and fine, you could leave some of it attached, especially if your applique shape is really small, don't worry about trying to cut out every bit of it.

So this is the layout I liked the best.  I like the effect, the white in the border was needed to rest the eye from all that is going on in the center.  The wording and hearts pull the theme out of the center.  I don't want to add anymore confusion to it so my quilting will be an invisible thread in a simple design, probably large hearts and loops, free hand/free motion of course.

I have posted a step-by-step approach to binding a quilt here.  I want to add that instead of using a piece of cardboard for your binding spool, you could use an empty heavy cardboard roll from clingfilm or foil, and a little piece of 2 sided tape to hold the end to the roll.  Using the roll, it will be easy to unroll the binding while sewing and not leave any crease marks.

Instead of the binding being a tangled mess.....Use this to roll the binding to store until you need to sew it onto the quilt top.

The binding is ready to go and the top is now completed, but this is where I have stopped for now.  The next step is sandwiching, but it will have to wait a day or two.  I am just so happy to get this far on it.  No longer stalled on the design, it's decided and done, that alone feels like a big accomplishment.  And, there's a big void in my UFO basket!  ;o)

A Birthday and A Finish

Not everyone in my age bracket is happy to celebrate another birthday.  This year, I was thrilled when my DH wonderful took a half day off work to come home and spend quality time with me on my Birthday.  He took me out to lunch and we went to two quilt shops, where I chose these items...

He offered to buy me a new Bernina 770 machine,  "at the moment, we can't afford it" was my response....while also noticing both these shops were seeking help, he mentioned to me that I could work it off.  It is something to consider.  When we returned home, I received a box from my DS which contained these goodies.....

How did he know I was interested in these things?  Making a wish list certainly helps.  I am so grateful for these two men in my life.  There's plenty here to keep me busy for a long time.

I just mailed this baby quilt off to the recipient.  The small border strip was fun to do, I did a free motion cursive stitch-writing of the alphabet and numbers 0-9 all around.    

Temperatures are on the rise, so a good reason to stay indoors and do some sewing.  ;o)

Hit the Ground Running

When I wake in the mornings, I feel like I hit the ground running from that moment until evening.  I am convinced this is true for the majority.  This can be a good thing, but not always for me.  I love those golden silent moments when they occur.  This morning, I woke very early watching the sunrise and listening to the singing birds.  Usually my mind races making mental notes and lists to fill the day, but today's golden moments have set me up for the day with a smile on my face.  Just to stop and take a deep breath, letting the mind rest which relaxes all the muscles in the body, is refreshing.   

Ok, with that said, I will get on with this post.  It's been too long since I last posted anything, but with good reason.  

We went on a three week vacation with our DS.  It was wonderful to get away and spend time with him.  
We've also been so busy with the gardening and repairing the shed.  Skunks, rabbits and snakes seem to love making holes digging under our shed making a mess along with being somewhat of a danger.  The skunk in our area have been reported as being rabid, so we had to come up with a way to deter the animals.  

DH has filled in all the holes with rock and dirt.  Then, dug a trench and buried half of the wide planks against the sides all around and replaced the dirt.  We will also put rock around all sides and hope they won't want to dig through all that.  He also removed some of the brush, tree trunks, weeds and roots from all around the sides.  It looks 100% better already. So hopefully, the animals will give up and move on.

On our walks, I have come across these flowers and couldn't resist taking some photos of these wonderful wild flowers.  In the back of my mind, I would like to make something very artful with them.  Holding on to files and files of photos for reference.  Maybe you do this as well?  

At the moment, I am working on a quilt for my cousin-in-law's daughter which is a 6' quilt.  She just graduated from Clemson University, so you can imagine this quilt is nothing but orange and purple.  What a combination.  I took the advice of some fellow quilters and just simply quilted this because she will use it for tail-gating.  So I did some quilting in the ditch and a meander pattern in the borders.  Honestly, I can't wait to be done with it so I can tackle my UFO's and start a quilt for my DS.   He has a space for a wall size quilt in his office.  I will make him a patch quilt with the Utah National parks theme.  

It is predicted to be over 90°F for the next 5 days.  That's too warm for me anytime of the year, so I plan on staying inside working on these sewing projects.   ;o)

Signs of Spring Away

I just got home from a trip to our Nation's capitol, Washington D.C., and had a wonderful time exploring the area and seeing the signs of spring. 

There are always a lot of people around, but this time of year is the annual Cherry Blossom festival and people from all over come here to take pictures of the beautiful trees and monuments. 

We had a dark gray day just before the blooms popped.   So, my pictures don't show those wonderful colors. 

On another day out, we went to the Air and Space Museum in Chantilly Virginia.  Again, a gray dull day, but their trees looked wonderful. 

 

 

Not a Cherry Blossom, but still beautiful.  And these were near our hotel. 

 

 

It was refreshing to see all the blooming trees and know that spring has sprung somewhere.
When I returned home, my neighbor told me that 20" of snow had fallen just two days before
and most of it is melted. 
Roaming through the airport shops I came across this bag.  Pretty pink color, good size, but
I felt it needed something. 

 

 

It's painted using acrylics and a freezer paper template.  I'm letting it dry and trying to decide
if I need more blooms or some branches or both....

A Walk in the Woods

Sometimes I need to just take a break from creating and clear my mind so something new will come about.  I've tried different ways to clear my mind; exercise (jogging), yoga and stretching, meditation,
hiking, photography, unplugging from all types of technology (which by the way, works very well), and simply deep breathing.  All of these are good at de-stressing and sometimes I end up with my mind racing with new ideas.  I keep a journal close at hand so I can document these new ideas.  And yet, most times if I just start on an idea or technique and let my mind wander, I can come up with a piece that is very pleasing like this one....just a few scraps, a little thread and viola! 


A Walk in the Woods

 













Crosses Baby Quilt

Here it is, finally.  It doesn't normally take me so long to make a small quilt.  However, taking my time has paid off and I'm quite happy with the outcome.   I used Rainbows varigated thread for the alphabet quilting and white Masterpiece cotton for all the rest. 

 

Now on to other things. In the evenings I like to sit and crochet.   I've started crocheting some placemats for my DS.  They are easy to do using cotton yarn with a size K (6.5) hook.  I have completed this one and have 3 more to complete.  The next one will be dark olive green with light blue. 

Cleaning up my studio today so I can move on to the next project.   I will go into my UFO basket and ressurect the oldest one to work on, maybe even complete. 

Design Digress

 

I've sewed the squares together on the diagonal as I described in an earlier post.  Yes, it looks great, however I forgot all about the fact that sewing these together on the diagonal will reduce the overall size considerably.  I would say, around 30% or better.

The problem now is to try and increase the size of this baby quilt.  This being the center now only measures around 23" X 29".  I will need to increase by about 6" to 8" all around.  I thought about a pieced border and auditioned a few different blocks....didn't like it.  It became distracting from the center.  So ultimately, I just added 3 simple borders and will do some decorative quilting stitches. 

Here, I've got it pinned and ready to start quilting.  These borders increased the size to 33" X 38", which is a good size for a baby.  Not too large or too small and can be hung on the wall.  The backing fabric is the solid blue used in the middle border and I will work on a label to add later.  ;o)

Back to the Design Board

Some of my first thought ideas get nixed almost immediately.  This is one of them.  I talked about making a "No Y seam Tumbling Block" baby quilt in my last post.  I've changed my mind to a "Scrappy X's" baby quilt so I can use up some charm squares I have on hand which are already cut into 2.5" squares.   I am not doing this up to the instructions as I am not a fan of sewing triangles for the background squares and having too many seams.  The background will be white and cut into squares of 2.5" but sewn on the diagonal so that the X's are on point like they should be. 

Today I am just planning, cutting the background squares, and laying it out on my design board.  The only picture I can share with you so far is this...

I'll share more later when I start to sew the diagonal rows together.  Have a good sewing day!  ;o)

Mid-Winter Rambling

Wow, we're looking at a lot of snow this morning, 2+ feet!  Best thing to do today is just stay in and do some sewing.  Shovel a little later.

My DH's nephew and his wife are expecting baby #2 sometime in June.  There is a way to do "tumbling block" without "Y" seams, so I may give that a go for a baby quilt.  I still have plenty of scraps to use up.   

 

I love to do quick projects that are both pretty and functional like this pear pin cushion I made.  It is made from 6 different scraps of decorator fabric samples my friend gave me and scraps of leather for the stem and leaf.  It's stuffed with scraps of batting that would have been thrown away after trimming a quilt.   It's stationed on top of my moveable design wall board, which by the way, is made from a piece of rescued thick rigid foam core and covered with white flannel-like batting.  It was "rescued" from being trashed from a local business and measures 36" X 65".   It's one of my most important tools in the studio. 

Time to do a little clean-up in the studio and get to work on the next project.  ;o)