Sweet! 16

Ok, so I finally quilted something other than circles and stipples, thanks to my HQ Sweet 16. It’s SO much easier to focus on FMQing when you’re not wrestling the quilt around a domestic sewing-machine needle. Here’s the quilt (awful pic, I know; more on that later):


And here are close-ups of the quilting:





I did an all-over leaf pattern, with a flower pattern on the borders. It was fun (ok, yes, I’m a dork).
I’m still having problems taking full-length pics of my quilts. I can get the close-ups to represent the colors just fine, but there are problems with lighting when I have to back up for the wider-angle pics. We’ve had rain in Central Texas (hallelujah! finally!) for the past few days, so no outdoor pics are possible. I’ll keep working on it, though.

Back to work now!

Return to Etsy!

I’ve been busy busy busy the last couple of weeks getting my Etsy store set up. As many of you know, I had an Etsy store called “Dreamwork” before I got sick, but during my extended illness and recovery (almost 2 years!) I couldn’t deal with it so I shut it down.

Now I’ve reopened that shop with a few items, but I’ve also opened a store under the “Textile Traveler” name. This is my all-things fabric- and fiber-related store. Right now I have a few journals, a couple of baby (or lap) quilts, and a couple of pieces of hand-dyed fabric. I’ll be adding more items as time goes by.
I’m thrilled that I’ve already sold 3 journals!

This scrappy journal is featured today; it’s got fun stitched papers made of recycled junk mail, scrapbooks papers, and other interesting things:

I’d love any feedback you might have about the store or the items I’ve listed. Also, please follow me on Twitter (http://twitter.com/TextileTraveler) and/or “Like” me on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/pages/Textile-Traveler/135028609925641).

Do you have an Etsy or other online store? I’d love to hear any tips you have or experiences you want to share. Please leave a comment and let me know how to find your store!

SWEET!

I just finished this scrappy quilt top; maybe it will be the first thing I FMQ! Woo hoo!

Roses (Not) on My Table

A while back there was a discussion on the Quiltart list about using scraps to make quilts. I’m a compulsive scrap saver, and sometimes when I’m too nervous to cut into that gorgeous fabric I bought, or when I’m not really sure what kind of quilt I want to make, it’s easier for me to start playing around with stitching scraps together.
These blocks were made in crazy-quilt fashion. I initially moved right from the red & pink of the roses into the green, but the flowers looked too blocky. I ended up stitching another layer of pink or red to the edge of each flower, then flipping it open, trimming it into a curvy shape, and stitching down the edges. I like the softer, curvy edge of the flowers better than the original “crazy-quilt” block.



I quilted each block as I went, then put them together using Fiona’s Quilt as You Go (QAYG) tutorial. I love putting quilts together this way, because I don’t have to wrestle a large one under the needle of my small machine, but I’m still having some problems with the stitching. My walking foot a,nd feed dogs don’t really “grip” the multiple layers of fabric well and move them through the machine at an even rate, so any of the stitching that shows can look very uneven. I had a lot of this bad stitching showing on the back, and unfortunately it was white thread against a pink background, so I ended up painting the thread to match the fabric. You can still see the stitching, but you have to look more closely now :-)





Not bad for a bunch of scraps, dont’cha think?

Quilt As You Go

I seem to have a never-ending supply of scraps. This comes in handy when I’m reluctant to cut into my gorgeous “new” fabrics (although yes, I am fully aware that my kids would sell my gorgeous fabrics in a garage sale for nothing were I to head for the Big Quilting Studio in the Sky).
Anyway, I kept stitching the scraps together, then joining them with other fabric, until I had 12 of these 18” squares:


Around the same time, I ran across this “quilt as you go” tutorial, so I decided that would be perfect for my blocks. I do get tired of wrestling big quilts under the needle of my machine to quilt them.
This time, I quilted these blocks individually, then attached them together according to the tutorial. It was easier than I thought it would be, and I love the result.


Next up on the agenda: finishing up some old WIPs and UFOs, and working on some surface design techniques. But the next pieced quilt I make WILL use some of those gorgeous “new” fabrics!

Catching Up

As usual, I did manage to overcome my creative drought. Even in the midst of it, I took advantage of the extra time to get some projects out of the way: a quilt I had promised to Quilts for Kids,

 

and a quilt top for my sweetie that needed to be quilted. My intention was to hand-quilt this one, but after hand-quilting a few of the blocks I threw in the towel and finished it off with machine FMQ:

And, a journal for my sister, who just retired from teaching drama to middle-schoolers; now that she’s a lady of leisure, she’ll have plenty of time for fun things like journaling:

Tomorrow, I’ll post pics of what I’ve been doing with paper, paints, markers, and my renewed creative spirit.

Catching Up

I’ve had a burst of energy after a rather draggy February. Fortunately, I know that around January/February my creativity tends to hibernate, so I’ve learned to be patient with it, confident that I can benefit from the creative “downtime.”

But the weather has turned all spring-like: warm, sunny days that make me want to tackle all those projects I’ve been thinking about but haven’t gotten around to. Of course, the problem is that the more time I spend working on projects, the less time I have to document or share them. And when I have lots of time to write blog posts, it means I’m not getting any work done, so there’s nothing to share (this is a corollary of that money/time conundrum; when there’s money for art, there’s no time, and when there’s time that usually means there’s no money).

Anyway, here are some of the things I’ve been creating/working on:

I finally got around to creating a portrait quilt, which has been on my wish list for a while. I’m using Maria Elkins’ technique here, which is a lot of fun and not nearly as hard as I thought it would be. I’m not particularly thrilled with how this turned out, but I learned a lot about both fabric and portraits that work, and those that don’t:



Btw, this is my lovely daughter, Amanda. I’ll be making more of these. I think I may make one for every member of my family, then stitch them all together.

This past weekend the weather was so gorgeous that I had to get outside. That always makes me think of dyeing/painting fabric for some reason, even though I typically end up doing it in the house. But I ended up creating some screens for deconstructed screen printing and then setting them in the sun to dry. Here is the result of my first deconstructed screen printing project:



I’m really happy with this and loved the process. I’ll be doing more of this, as well.
While I had thickened dyes mixed up, I decided to paint on some fabric:



I’m not sure what I’ll do with this yet; I may cut it up and reassemble it.
And, I finally got around to ordering some Citra Solv (and some magnesium, which my body is always low on, while I was at it) so that I could try a technique for creating cool art papers. This is a messy process and the Citra Solv has a strong odor, so it’s best done outside. Plus, a sunny day helps the papers dry quickly. Essentially, I started with a National Geographic magazine and brushed concentrated Citra Solv on the pages, then closed up the magazine and let it sit for a while. I squeezed out the extra liquid/ink, then tore out the pages and laid them out to dry (this technique was in a recent issue of, I think, Cloth, Paper, Scissors). Here are the results:



Aren’t these scrumptious?

I’m almost finished with this small (about 8x10) piece I started a very long time ago. This is silk that I painted after applying a resist. I stitched it with wonderful 30wt. Trilobal poly thread, and added a dyed silk border. I’m still debating on whether to add a binding, create an envelope finish, or stitch around the edges:



Here’s a sneak peak of a wall quilt I’m working on; you’ll just have to wait to see the whole thing when it’s finished:



Let’s see, what else? Oh, here’s a wall quilt I finished a month or so ago, but I don’t think I’ve posted it yet. This is reverse appliqué made from batik-fabric charm squares. I added some beads and hand-stitching for embellishment, but it’s hard to see them in the photos:



And a close-up:



And finally, here’s my 6x6” weekly journal square, #50:



#51 is from Valentine’s week; it’s finished, but I haven’t taken pics yet. #52 is from my birthday week, and I haven’t finished it yet. And that brings me full circle—a FULL YEAR of weekly 6x6” journal quilts! I’m excited to stitch them all together. Stay tuned for the final results of that year-long project!
And don’t forget to check out my other blog, A Year of Pleasures, to see my latest fascination with cotton yarn.

I hope the weather where you are is showing some lovely promises of Spring, as it is here in Central Texas!

Quilts for Kids

Well, A quilt for A kid:

If you don’t know about Quilts for Kids, check it out here: http://www.quiltsforkids.org/

There are a lot of quilting groups and organizations that get together and make quilts for Quilts for Kids, but you can also make them on your own. Either use your own fabric, or contact the organization (click the “Volunteer” button on the site) and they will send you the fabric and instructions for creating a child-sized quilt.

I’m trying to get my employer to add Quilts for Kids to the list of organizations eligible for matching donations and volunteer hours. My company encourages us to donate 10 volunteer hours a year to a non-profit group, so I’m half-way there, since it took about 5 hours to make this quilt.

And, if I can get 9 of my fellow employees (there are about 45,000 of us) to agree to donate their hours (or $100) to Quilts for Kids, the company will match my volunteer hours with a cash donation.

I considered volunteering for Habitat for Humanity, since I think it would be least interesting to build a house for a day or two. Once I found out, though, that I could QUILT for 10 hours instead, there was no turning back. Who knew that volunteering could be so much fun?

Full-Speed Ahead

The last several weeks have been quite challenging. First there was the week-long trip to Florida. Then, the realization that I only had two weeks left before I have to return to work (now down to less than a week—yikes!) from an 18-month medical leave (talk about scary; it’s like starting a new job!).

I have SO many projects I want to finish/start/work on before my time will once again be sucked up by my job. Plus, I’m still not completely recovered physically, so I’m trying to make sure I’m eating, resting, sleeping, and not pushing myself too hard (and with limited time and too many projects in the queue, that is REALLY difficult to do).

At any rate, I can check one item off the to-do list: this is my latest submission for the Fast Friday Fabric Challenge. I call it “After the Storm”:

You can read more about it on the Fast Friday blog.

Ok, now on to breakfast and another project . . . those minutes are ticking away!

Tattoo Quilt

I just finished this quilt top from a kit I bought at the Honey Bee Quilt Store a few weeks ago. I justified the purchase when I realized I’m probably going to have to miss the Houston quilt show this year :-(

I saw a completed “tattoo” quilt in the store, and thought it was really cute. When I realized there was a kit, I had to snatch it up. This quilt is made from a pattern called “Perfect Ten” by Swirly Girls Design, because it uses 10 fqs. It went together much more quickly than I thought it would.

I need to buy backing fabric for this one, and it may be a while until I have time to FMQ it, but I think it will be adorable!

Weekly Square #30

Here is last week’s (9/13-9/19) 6X6” weekly journal square:

And, the bare bones of a new quilt I’ve started:

This one is from a quilt kit I bought at the Honey Bee Quilt Store a few weeks ago. I justified the purchase when I realized I’m probably going to have to miss the Houston quilt show this year :-(

I saw a completed “tattoo” quilt in the store, and thought it was really cute. When I realized there was a kit, I had to snatch it up. This quilt is made from a pattern called “Perfect Ten” by Swirly Girls Design, because it uses 10 fqs. It’s been fairly easy to put together, and I should have the top finished in the next couple of days (depending on how much I energy I have!).

Stay tuned to see the finished quilt!

Oh Baby!

I finished the crib-size scrap quilt I’ve been working on. Here’s the finished quilt:





No one in the family is expecting a little one right now (pretty unusual for my HUGE family), so I’ll put this one up and save it or else check into donating it to Project Linus.
I used a REALLY cool tip to sew the binding onto this quilt. I saw this on “Sewing with Nancy.” I sewed the folded binding onto the front as usual for a double-fold french binding. Instead of hand-stitching the binding to the back (something I really enjoy doing, but just don’t have time for right now) though, I flipped the binding to the back and machine-stitched it from the FRONT:


Using invisible thread, you sew right in the ditch next to the binding (again, on the front). You’ll get a seam on the back that looks like this:



And, because this is invisible thread, you can barely see the seam. This is the best solution I’ve found so far for sewing a nice-looking binding by machine.

Odds and Ends

This is one of those “clean-up” posts; bits and pieces of things I’ve been doing, cool stuff, and WIPs.

A few weeks ago I won a blog giveaway from Lori of Laughing Girl Quilts. This was one awesome giveaway: fqs of Radiance fabric hand-dyed by Lori. And wow, are they gorgeous!

I don’t know a lot about this fabric, but it’s apparently a combination of silk and cotton. One side has a lovely sheen (the silk, I assume), the other a beautiful soft hand. Thanks again, Lori!

Here’s a piece of fabric I dyed a while back. I wasn’t crazy about this piece, and was going to use it for backing an art quilt. I went to iron it, and suddenly I saw a landscape in it, complete with trees and a stream. Can you see it? I think I’m going to experiment thread-painting this piece to enhance the landscape elements:

Here’s a piece I’m working on that involves paint, sheers, and FMQ with metallic thread:

Here’s a small patchwork quilt I’m making from the “leftovers” of the gem quilt:

In the centers of the blocks, you can really see the havoc wreaked by my 1/4” quilting foot being so far off. Anyway, it’s nice to use up those leftover blocks and scrap pieces.

And finally, more 6x6” weekly journal squares. The first one is from quite a while back; I wasn’t having much success preparing my own printable fabric, so I had to wait until I could buy some. This square is week 21, July 12-18. Influences: feeling tired, sick, and in pain. Too much heat and loneliness. On the positive side, I did start writing my morning pages again:

Week #28 was influenced by a new technique—learning to make yo-yos, and by wanting to attract a little more “color” (that is, good things) into my life. The blue braid around the edge represents my blue feelings that week:

Week #29 (last week) was influenced by my need for orderliness (and the clean craft room that brought about), along with relief that we finally got some heavy rains to cool things off and ease the drought (minutely) in Central Texas:

That’s all for now, folks!

Another Pieced Quilt

I finished the pieced patchwork quilt I’ve been working on; this one is a queen size, so I’m pretty sure I won’t be quilting it myself, at least not in the near future.

For this quilt I used a jelly roll, a layer cake, 4 fat quarters, and 2 yds. of fabric for the borders. I bought the precut fabric from the Fat Quarter Shop, and I was amazed at how quickly they shipped it to me—they really do send it out the same day! Of course, it probably helps that they’re right down the road from me in Manchaca, TX.

At any rate, here’s a pic of the fabric; this is Moda’s Objects of Desire. I’m not a shoe fan (some of the jelly roll strips and layer cake pieces have prints of high heels—presumably the “objects of desire”), so I left those out of the finished product:

I have to say that I LOVE using precut fabric. It makes creating a quilt top like this so incredibly easy. So far, I’ve only bought precut fabric (and coordinating yardage) on sale, so I don’t feel guilty about spending a little extra for the precut stuff.

I intended to use a pattern from the Jelly Roll Quilts book for this quilt, but I couldn’t find one that didn’t involve cutting up the layer cakes. What’s the use of buying precut fabric if you have to cut it again? Instead, I made up my own pattern using 10” blocks alternating with the 10” layer cakes. For each block I used 3 jelly roll strips, then cut the 4th strip larger from a fat quarter (I can’t remember how large—whatever comes out to 10” when added to 3 2-1/2” strips). Here’s a completed block:

And here’s a pic of the completed quilt top—well, sort of. This one doesn’t show the 5” inch border I added all the way around, but the top was so huge I couldn’t find any place to hang it to take another pic (this pic only shows the first 6 rows; there are 9 altogether):

Once I quilt it—or have it quilted, more likely—I’ll post additional pics of the whole thing. In the meantime, I’m off to catch up on the things that I’ve let slide—my weekly journal squares, foremost—and to straighten up the quilting room before I start another project.