Vagabonds Challenge 2020 - Part 4?

I have previously written posts about the Vagabonds challenge piece.  I think this is Number 4.  But I'm not sure.

After I made the test piece, I decided that I liked the technique and result, but I didn't want to wrestle a large piece around the machine.  So, I decided to make some more pieces the same size with different backgrounds and different colorways of the printed pictures.

Here are the 8 other pieces:

These pieces have been so much fun to make.  Like playing!  I was able to use a lot of threads that I had on hand that were perfect for the satin stitch highlighting - 40 weight rayon, metallic, and heavy weight variegated threads. 

I placed the pieces on my design board and now I will have to figure out how to attach them together.  Hmm.  Well, I do have a lot of time on my hands.   So maybe more testing of techniques?

What do you think so far?

Vagabonds 2020 Challenge

I wrote several previous blogs about the making of this quilt.  It is the Vagabonds 2020 Challenge.

Since I was stuck at the house for the Stay at Home order for the State of Washington, I discovered that my patience and focus was compromised.  I had the whole day and every day to complete projects instead of distinct time frames around all of my social activities.  So, I actually got bored and flitted from one thing to another.  You know, out in the yard, cleaning closets, writing in my journal, eating too many snacks, playing with the dog, calling my friends .... the typical behavior of a procrastinator.  What?  Me?  No Way!

Anyway, it took me several weeks to get back to this challenge piece.  I knew that I needed to make a smaller test piece to refine the technique I wanted to use.  So, here it is.

I started by quilting a 12" x 12" background and making more of the yarn and tulle pieces.

Then I marked several places where I wanted to place these tulle "holes".  I stitched around the marking 3 times then cut out the inside of the holes, leaving about 1/4".

I placed the tulle on top of the hole and stitched it from the backside, so that I could see the previous stitching.  Then I cut the seam allowance to a scant 1/8".

I turned the piece back over and stitched the edges twice with a zig-zag stitch, set to 4.0 mm width and .60 mm length.

I had previously printed the photo onto fabric; this was backed with fusible web and cut out into shapes.  I cut out both the large circles and sections of the smaller circles.  These were stitched with  zig zag stitching.  And here is the test piece.

I really like how it turned out!

I'm not sure if I will make more this size and join them together, or if I will use this technique on the large quilt.  More to think about.

I hope you get ideas that you can try out on a smaller scale too.

Bee on flower painted art piece

I've finished another bee on a flower fabric art piece.  There is a huge pile of pictures that I've taken over the last several years of bees on flowers.  I winnowed down the list of candidates and this one made it the final 5.   Here is my original picture:

I traced the picture onto tracing paper.  Then, I used the Susan Brubaker-Knapp method of tracing the lines onto prepared for dying (PDF) fabric, painting it with fabric paints, highlighting it with thread and finally quilting the piece.  Here is the piece all painted and ready for thread highlighting.  You can see that I use a lot of different threads and colors for this step.

And here is the piece after thread highlighting and quilting.

All that was left to do was to make the wings.  I placed a layer of organza between two layers of dissolving product; in this case I used Solvay.

After the wings were stitched and the Solvay was dissolved, I let the wings dry and attached them to the art piece.

I hope you like it!

Emily's graduation quilt - DONE

This is the final post about the making of Emily's graduation quilt.

I did a little more quilting in the borders, then added the binding.  I think she is going to like it because just a few weeks ago, she changed her bedroom scheme to make it more to her teenage liking, and added the fashionable pinkish colors.  Now, she just has to get through what's left of her junior year and her senior year and she'll be gifted her graduation quilt.

I am so glad that I have this quilt finished and have enjoyed all the steps.  I still have to wash and block it and all the blue markings will disappear.

I hope you have cherished grandchildren in your life too!

Elongated Hexagon Quilt - Final

This is the final post about the making of the elongated hexagon quilt.  I wrote 4 previous blogs while I was planning and making this quilt.

I did all the quilting in 1/2" vertical rows and I used white cotton thread.  It ended up being 38" W x 56" H.

Here it is all completed! 

And the back:

I hope you've enjoyed seeing the process of making an intuitive quilt in the modern style.

Vagabonds Challenge - 2020 - Part 2

This is a continuation of a post about the Vagabonds Challenge for 2020.

I had so many ideas in my head for this quilt, and it was very difficult to narrow them down to the quilt that I wanted to make.  My intention was to try a different technique, or a combination of techniques, to give the look of a 3 layered quilt with cut outs.  I don't know which layer will be which, so I decided that I would try to make up some sample pieces.  Then figure out what I would do for the full size quilt.

I knew that I wanted to print the picture in several colors onto printer friendly fabric.  Here's what those prints looked like.

I don't know if I will sew these together or cut them into pieces and piece them with other fabric.

Here's what I want in the three layers:
  Circular cutouts with some sheerness and some thread embellishment.
  A layer of the printed fabric.
  Some kind of stuffing to add dimension to the circles.
  A layer of painted fabric, also with circular cutouts.

I made one of the potential layers out of two layers of tulle, and many different colors of thread, yarn and ribbon.  these were stitched down and then pressed slightly.  I have no idea how I am going to use this, but it's one of my ideas and was kind of fun to just play around.

I can't wait to see how many nights I will lay awake while these ideas peculate in my head.  Stay tuned!

Emily's Graduation Quilt - Almost done?

This is a continuation of posts about the making of the graduation quilt for my granddaughter, Emily.

I quilted the white spaces with the design that I drafted up.  Then I quilted the diagonal spaces with lines interspersed with the letter "E".

The diagonal spaces going the opposite direction were quilted with the 8" x 3" oval ruler from Quilter's Apothecary.

All I had to mark were the center lines.  I love the quilting rulers from Quilters Apothecary because they have great holes to place your fingers in to hold the rulers in place, or they have wonderful stand up handles.

When that was all completed, the quilting in the white spaces looked too sparse.  So, I decided to add some background quilting to pop the designs forward.  Here are the before and after photos.

In the borders, I used the same oval ruler from Quilter's Apothecary to form the petals, and used their 1" inside circle ruler to make the circles.  I'm pretty sure that it will need a little more quilting in the background and I haven't yet determined what will look the best.  The other thing that I like about the quilting rulers from Quilters Apothecary are that there are etched lines that make it super easy to line up the rulers just where you want them.  I added tape to the rulers so that I wouldn't lose my place.

I hope you still like where this quilt is heading.  I sure do!