Design Wall Monday 9-10-12

Christmas!  This project actually started out innocently enough. I bought a few cross-stitch/bead ornaments kits by Mill Hill Designs from Weaver's Web yarn shop in New Bern. They were fun to do. So then I decided it would be a good idea to think of a way to display them together since individually they might get "lost" on the tree, and considering how much time goes in to stitching and beading each one, I want them to be noticeable.

Then I saw this lovely tone-on-tone Christmas fabric at Cotton Fields Quilt Shop .... well, one thing led to another ... and I decided to make a small Christmas wall hanging onto which these ornaments will be appliqued.

The center ornament, though, is not finished because rather than cross-stitching it, I'm going to use the pattern as a bead loom design (see photo of my new handy-dandy bead loom!) and it will be the focal point of this piece. I'm not married to this exact placement of the ornaments ... still mulling it over but so far I'm okay with it. A lot of time has gone in to this small wall hanging! And a lot of beads.

Other than assembling the September blocks for the Craftsy.com's block of the month club, I haven't done any other sewing.

For Needle Nite this week Ruth, Lori and I are going to venture into the world of polymer clay and try our hand at making some unique buttons. At the ArtRageous Quilters meeting last weekend one of the members brought for show-n-tell some buttons she had made from polymer clay and I fell in love with them! By the way, our meeting was so interesting and inspiring. Christine Zoeller, a professor of textile art at East Carolina University, demonstrated to us some techniques for working with tulle, silk organza, and other transparents fabrics. Fascinating!

Patchwork Times is hosting Design Wall Monday today. Check it out!

Design Wall Monday 8-27-12

This was a fun week. Man oh man, but I've enjoyed having my sewing studio back! This week I finished this little lighthouse piece that I talked about in last week's post - I've named it The Way Home. It's about 16" by 26" and the techniques used were raw edge applique, embroidery, quilting.

Then I did this little piece - it's about 9" square. The idea is from a photo I saw on the internet and unfortunately I don't know to whom to give the photo credit. I'm calling it Country Church. Techniques used were raw edge applique, crayon dying, embroidery, quilting.

Visit Patchwork Times for Design Wall Monday - it's always inspiring to see what others are up to.

Design Wall Monday 8/20/12

Last week's projects are finished - The Fishing Cottage and The Rose. Both were a pleasure to finish. I really enjoyed the crayon technique in The Fishing Cottage and plan to do another project soon using that technique. In fact, the next project is a country church in a night setting and I'm planning to use applique, crayon, and embroidery embellishments in addition to quilting and thread painting - it's a small piece so that's a lot of techniques crammed into a small space.

The completion of these projects obviously means the A/C in the studio was repaired. Whew! I sure missed my sewing machine. In addition to finishing these two projects I also did the August blocks for the Craftsy.com block of the month project and made two ereader pouches. I'm really trying to catch up on lost time. I believe for the Craftsy.com block of the month project there will be blocks for September and October for a total of 20 blocks, and then we'll put the quilt top together. I've used only red, white, and black fabrics in mine. It's pretty wild looking!

Another project I started Sunday and will finish Monday night is this whimsical lighthouse which I've titled The Way Home. The lighthouse design in the book Fanciful Stitches Colorful Quilts by Laura Wasilowski was the jumping off point for this project. I really enjoyed her book - it's a quick read and she has a different way of approaching the applique technique. All that's left to do is the quilting and binding.

Stop by Patchwork Times for Design Wall Monday to see some amazing projects.

Design Wall Monday 8-13-12

Work has been crazy-busy. The the air conditioner in the sewing studio quit working. All of that has affected the amount of time I have had for sewing, especially the broken A/C because in the late afternoon the temperature in that room pushes 100. Pooh!

Anyway, enough whining - the A/C will be repaired this week. In the meantime I've tried to work on projects that didn't require sewing (yet). This is a crayon dyed piece - I took the original photo of a little fishing cottage in my coastal home town. It's a precious little place I simply adore. Using Picasa I had the photo translated to a line art drawing. Believe it or not, I simplified that line art drawing even more to come up with this version. Using a crayon technique I learned from mamacjt's blog, I have colored the piece and have ironed it to permanently dye the fabric. What's left to do is ... a lot! I have to stitch over all the black lines with black thread. I intend to embellish it with embroidery - flowers, crab pots, and other details. Then it will be quilted.

Another project I've been able to work on outside of the sewing studio is this yellow rose wall hanging. The pattern is a Ruth Blanchet Creation distributed by Arbee Designs Ltd. - it's actually a quilt, but I simply do not need another bed size quilt nor is there anyone I need to make a bed size quilt for, so I elected to do just the center motif from the pattern of the rose.

My A/C should be repaired this week, then I'll start catching up on some projects that have been put on hold, like these two pieces, a couple of other art quilt patterns I drew up in my down time, two e-reader pouches, etc. Later this week Lori, Ruth, and I are going to play with sun paints.

Please take a few moments to visit Design Wall Monday at Patchwork Times to see projects other creative quilters are working on.

Design Wall Monday 7-30-12

Wish I had more to show for Design Wall Monday, but this is all. I downloaded a course from craftsy.com called Thread Painting by Lola Jenkins. She uses line art, color pencils and stitching for her pieces. This is my first attempt. I took the original photo of this squirrel in my backyard and using picasa transferred it to a line art drawing. The line art was transferred to a piece of plain off-white fabric. All the color on this piece was added by me either with color pencils or stitching. I don't think it's awful for my first attempt. I have a lot to learn. But it was fun. It's about 8x10 and is called, "You Look At Me?"

Visit Design Wall Monday at Patchwork Times today to see what others are up to.

Design Wall Monday 7-16-12

Thread painting - that is what is on my wall at the moment. I took this photo of an iris in my garden this spring. Using Picasa I tweaked the photo a bit to make the iris the focal point. Then I printed it on fabric - twice. This is my first thread painting attempt and it has been quite a learning experience. First I learned that within minutes I stopped looking at the image and was focusing on the colors. I also learned that the piece looks quite different from a distance and to get a true picture of what the mind is going to see, you simply have to step away from it. At the moment, I've used various colors to outline what I see as the major components of the flower. Now I'm going to mull it over and see what I want to do next. On Quilting Arts I had seen one of Pokey's guests demonstrate thread painting and she set the machine to zig-zag as well as free-motion. I tried that first and did not like the result I got. Even with a heavy-weight stabilizer on the back the piece was puckering badly. At that moment I was quite glad I had the foresight to print the photo twice because I tossed the first attempt in the trash and tried again with my machine set to straight stitch.

I can see where even if I never develop the talent of thread painting, the exercise itself would certainly help me develop better control of my sewing machine for free-motion quilting. Anyway, I'm having fun with it. I don't know what else I will do to the flower but I will do more. I plan to densely quilt the background with green thread. Then I'll simply bind it and it will be a wall hanging and a nice reminder of this lovely flower.

Another Journey is finished. I'm happy with it. I have another idea for a wall hanging noodling around in my head, but a hectic work schedule and a few days of vacation following that will take me off the sewing trail for a short while.

Have you seen these adorable basket kits from Clover? My friend, Lori, at Cotton Fields Quilt Shop sells them. Ruth and I saw them at the sewing expo in Raleigh a few weeks ago and, wanting to support our local quilt shop, asked Lori if she could order them. She did and we've been experimenting. Lori made the bowl and I made the rectangular basket. At the show the sample bowls were made from yarn and from fabric. Haven't tackled one out of fabric yet. But I'm happy with the way this turned out. It doesn't take long to do.This one is about 5 x 7 x 2.5.

Take a few moments to visit Design Wall Monday at Patchwork Times to see what others have on their designs wall.

Design Wall Monday 7-9-12

At the Sewing Expo in Raleigh a couple of weeks ago, I bought a pattern called Talulah by BJ Designs. I was drawn in by the tortoise but because I live along the coast I decided it would better fit in with the ocean-themed art quilts I typically do if it was a sea turtle instead of a tortoise, and by the ocean instead of a lake, and on the beach instead of a desert. So the pattern was my jumping off point.

There is still a lot to do on it. All the tiny pieces of fabrics need to be stitched down, then of course the piece will need to be quilted, and I have some lovely seashells that are size-appropriate for this piece that will find their way onto it. So this is currently on my design table. BJ Designs had a number of really fun animal patterns in bright, happy, and unexpected colors. Worth checking out.



I also picked up a pattern called Hampton's Handbag by Pink Sand Beach Designs and made it this past week. I typically carry a very small purse or pouch, but this bag is a good size and is easy to carry so I'm enjoying using it. I'm making it again using a single summery batik fabric for the outside, pockets and straps, and coordinating fabric for the interior, bag ties, and accents. Lori at Cotton Fields has received a beautiful supply of batiks recently that I positively drool over every time I go to her shop.

At the Expo I also picked up a pattern called The Cross Town Carry Regan's Bag by Marlous Designs that uses fat quarters for assembly and am working on that, as well.

But the highlight of my crafting weekend was Saturday's Artrageous Quilters meeting where a professor of textile art at the local university, Christine Zoller, taught us about loom bead weaving. Wow! Wow! Wow! Her pieces are spectacular. She uses intricately designed and bead woven pieces that are 6 to 7" square in her art quilts. I so enjoyed learning the technique and definitely plan to continue it. This little piece took me every bit of 2 hours to do and is 20 beads wide by 20 rows, so 400 beads in that little piece! Next I think I'll attempt one of the amulet purses that hangs around your neck.

As always, visit Patchwork Times for Design Wall Monday to see what other awesome quilters are working on.