Sunday, October 3, 2010

Catching Up

As I started to prepare a post about my latest Traveling Page, I realized I did not post about July OR August!  We have to fix that!  So here they are.

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In July, my page went to Kath in Greece whose theme is Flowers.  I built a "trellis" of bias strips and meandered green yarn through to represent the vine. 

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I found these cool flower collections in the scrapbooking section of the local hobby store.  There are lots of paper and fabric flowers all in the same color range in each container.  The blue caught my eye and that's what I went with!  I attached one to three flowers together and added a beaded center.  Some were fringe beads and some simply circles.  Some green wired ribbon made nice leaves.

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I had this cool floral print in my stash for the backing.

My August page was for Maya in India, and her theme is Leaves.

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Sometime last year I took a class on free motion embroidery.  In one of the lessons we made leaves and I attempted to repeat those lessons in this page.  I should have gone back to re-read the lesson!  But the page turned out fine - if not exactly what I had in my head!

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I used a water soluble stabilizer while stitching and then just dunked it into water (seen here) to remove it. 

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Once the piece had air dried and been pressed, I layered it on top of a light fabric and added the individual leaves along with a few beads.

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I happened across this quote from Tagore which seemed to fit this page exactly!  I used a graphic frame from the Graphics Fairy and printed it onto cotton fabric, which was then fused to the  same yellow as I placed behind the leaves.

The September page is making its way to the next recipient as I type this.  Once I hear it has arrived, I'll share it with you as well.

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Wednesday WOW - September 29

The end of September and fall is in the air!

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And there's hope that I'll finish this quilt soon!  As long as I don't keep ripping out seams, that is!

Thursday, September 23, 2010

Update on Thimbleberries BOM

It's been about three months (or more!) since I showed you my Thimbleberries blocks.  Here is what I've done in the meantime.

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We have more houses . . .

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and another row of fences & flowers . . . still not doing so great with reading the directions.  LOL!

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We've also introduced stars!

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Here is one way a quilt could be laid out with the blocks I've done so far.  Of course, there are still, what? 4 more blocks?  That's one reason EQ is such a great tool!

Update:  I finished the ninth block yesterday . . . more houses!

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Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Wednesday WOW - September 22

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Stitching at the quilt shop today, which means the blue stars saw some progress!

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And my latest toy!  Very lightweight (I can lift it with one hand!!) and portable.  So easy to pack and unpack when going to classes or stitching meetings.

Some differences in how it works, though, so I may have an issue with re-learning!

Sunday, September 19, 2010

Meet Minnie

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Minnie is the doll I submitted to this year's Hoffman Challenge.  She didn't get to travel, so she's back home early. 

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Minnie is from my own pattern and her dress was inspired by a picture on the back of Threads Magazine.

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The pattern in this year's fabric was just the right size to be a focal point on Minnie's dress.  The beadwork is pretty subtle, so you do need to look close.

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It's been awhile since I finished a doll, but Minnie reminded me of how much I enjoy the process!

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Wednesday WOW - September 15




This one hasn't seen daylight for awhile, but I'm determined to finish it THIS year! The unquilted areas seem to be growing instead of shrinking, though!

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Designing Quilts

I finally finished my second EQ on-line class at Quilt University.  These classes have helped me so much.  If nothing else, they have raised my appreciation for those who design quilts - with or without EQ!

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The focus for this class was on layouts, but we also learned about some really nifty tools for using color. 

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It's really interesting how you can take a simple block and make something completely new by using color!

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One thing I really am interested in is custom layouts.  I'm seeing a lot of designers doing things like this Farm Fresh quilt by Fran Gonzalez.

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Now, the question is . . . do I actually make some of these quilts, or should I stick to virtual quilts?  To be determined.