Double Portrait - Part Two

This is a continuation of the post about making the double portrait of my husband.

I picked a fabric that I had in my stash for the background and played around with a light gray organza overlay for the mirror.  I also tried using 2 layers of organza on the background in the mirror and one layer over the face and body.  Previously, I had made a reflection of my granddaughter using similar techniques.  

Its fun to try different layers to get the right effect, but it is also maddening when you have a concept in your head that doesn't translate into fabric.  I thought about using clear vinyl (like what's used in making bags) but I didn't think it would work with quilting.  In the end, I picked an entirely different fabric for the background that was a black/gray/white print from Leslie Tucker Jenison produced by Robert Kaufman, and dark brown for the border on the mirror.   I didn't have enough of a light gray organza and tried a white one.  No way.  So, I had to go out shopping for organza.  I found it on an Etsy site.  I used one layer over the background in the mirror; laid on his face and body, and added a second layer on top of it all.  I think it is just the right effect of a mirror.  Anyway, here is the piece put together on the design wall.

Both my husband and I felt that the layers on the back of his head made it look like he had a mohawk hair cut.  In fact, he is bald.  So, I had to fix the light parts and make it a true shadow.  I like it a lot better.

Next up, the quilting!  I hope you like it so far.

Double Portrait - Part One

I've challenged myself to do a double portrait of my husband.  I took a picture of him looking into a mirror while we were vacationing in Yellowstone National Park.  

We've stayed at the historic lodge at Old Faithful Geyser several times and love the rustic rooms and the architecture of the building.  If I'd had my way when I was younger, I would have liked living in a log cabin in the forest somewhere.  Now that I'm older, I prefer living near the resources that old people need - like medical, social groups, family, and friends.  So, I live out my fantasy while on trips, and much prefer rustic lodges to fancy hotels.

Well, back to the topic.  I liked the picture because it reminded me of one done in 1960 by Norman Rockwell, when he was looking into a mirror and painting a self portrait. 

I used the posterizing method of taking the picture into Photoshop, where you change the image to gray scale, then blur the edges.  That image was traced and enlarged and became my pattern.  I picked blue fabrics for his shirt, and light flesh tones for his head.  Here are two sections cut and fused and ready to assemble.

I didn't trace enough accurately to do his face, and tried to draw them to scale on the pattern.  But, my drawing skills are horrible and I couldn't get his eyes and nose correctly.  If it wasn't a portrait of somebody that I know, I could have just winged it.  But it had to actually look like him and not a characterization.  So, I took the picture back into Photoshop and enlarged just his face to the same size as the pattern, then traced that and overlayed it onto the posterization to get the 4 shades placed in the right spots.  Believe me when I say that these design details stretch my brain - both during the day and at night when they keep me awake.

I have a lot of supplies to do this type of work, but ran out of Teflon coated poster boards after I had only done 2 sections.  My solution was to use parchment paper taped to a couple of other poster boards instead of buying more Teflon pressing sheets. (It's not likely that I will need more than 2 boards in the future.)  Anyway, here are the reflection parts of his shirt and his face.

I hope you like it so far!

Leftover Improv - Part Two and Final - Landscape Improv

This is a continuation of a previous post about the making of the leftover improv piece.

I kept adding hand embroidery to this piece in colored thread and in simple embroidery stitches.  They added texture and interest to this piece.  And then, I decided to do some big stitch hand quilting.  This takes so much longer than machine quilting (which can be done in a few hours).  I chose a variety of threads and after doing a few lines with pearl cotton, size 8 and very large needles, I ditched using them for quilting.  They were fine on the hand embroidery, but pulled the batting through to the front while quilting.  I liked the WonderFil spaghetti thread, size 12.  And pearl cotton, size 8 as well.

Here is a look at the work in progress.  For some reason, my camera picks up pink, but it is really black and white.

I worked on this when I needed handwork with my small quilt group, and occasionally worked on it while watching TV at night.  I wasn't in a hurry to get this piece done.  It was more about the slow stitching.  So, after many months,  it was finally done.  It was faced and left wonky.  It measures 30" W x 40" H.  I'm calling it "Landscape Improv".

I hope you like it.  It's going to be auctioned off in November at the Clark County Quilters guild meeting.

Summer Break

It's that time of the year again when I want to be outside most of the time.  I don't have any works in progress and nothing is on my design wall.  The gardening season, going for walks, appreciating nature, and taking short trips is more appealing to me than being in my studio.

Don't get me wrong.  I am passionate about quilting and I have a glorious studio.  But, I also have other passions and the summer season is calling my name.

So, I'm taking my annual summer break and will post if I start another project or have something amusing to report.

Bags - Hello Pouches - by Kaitlyn Howell

I purchased a pattern called "Hello Pouches" that was designed by Kaitlyn Howell of Knot and Thread Design.  There are 4 bag sizes in the pattern that have fabric bottoms and clear tops.  I thought that they were very cute!

There are several sources for bag supplies in the Portland area and I found just what I needed at Sharon's Attic in Hillsboro, OR.  The list included Soft and Stable by Annie, 16 gauge vinyl, and a couple of double slide zippers.  I decided to make all 4 sizes to match the colors of the zippers that I purchased.

If you've ever sewn bags like these that might be Bags by Annie, you'll know that they are not the easiest things to make and there is a LOT OF BULK.  I broke a few sewing machine needles while sewing through some of the bulkier seams, and then had to hand turn the sewing machine wheel over those areas so that I would jam up the machine and break more needles.

Anyway, they are very cute and here they are all done.

The smallest one measures5" high x 6" wide at the top, and 4-1/2" wide at the bottom

The medium size measures 7" high x 8" wide at the top, and 5-1/2" wide at the bottom

The large size measures 8" high x 10" wide at the top, and 6-1/2" wide at the bottom

And the extra-large size measures 10" high x 12-1/2" wide at the top, and 7" wide at the bottom

I hope you like them!

Here is the link to the pattern: hello-pouches

Graduation Quilt

My granddaughter graduated from High School in June and I presented her with her graduation quilt.

Oh, how amazing it is to gift a quilt to a young person full of energy and plans for her future!

Luau Torches - Part Two

This is the second post about the making of Luau Torches.  I pieced it all together and used my new roll of 80/20 batting.  It was quilted on my sit-down longarm machine.  And, instead of donating it to our charity group, as I had originally intended, I gave it straight to one of my friends who is going through chemo treatments.

It is shown unquilted in this picture.  And I hope you like seeing it anyway!

Huge print fabric and 2 charity quilts - part One

I got a large amount of a huge print fabric from a member in our Clark County Quilters group.  It's kind of nice how other members think of me when they are donating fabric, or just looking at what is already on the free table.  I've made all kinds of things over the years and just love how kind other quilters are.  

I sketched up a couple of ideas and discovered that I could make 2 quilt tops for charity with the fabric that I had.  One of the quilts will be the large squares offset with blue and yellow strips.  The other will have red and light blue strips with the large colorful squares.   

And here they are all finished and ready to donate.  They're 50" W x 60" L.

 I hope you like them!

Batting by the bolt

I used to purchase batting on the bolt at JoAnn's Fabrics when they had it on discount, or when I had a 50% off coupon.  Well, as mot of you know, JoAnn's went out of business.  So, I asked around with my friends, and it seems we are all in that space of not having local retail to source supplies.  The days of getting batting locally are over, unless you want to buy it in pre-sized packages.  

One internet site is doing a ton of advertising and I decided to give them a try.  It's Linda's Electric Quilters.  They are in Texas and ship very quickly.  Of course, there are shipping charges and taxes to pay.  Anyway, I had previously ordered Thermore batting and was pleased with how quickly it was delivered.  The roll of Hobbs 80/20 batting shipped the day after I placed the order.  Here is how it showed up at my doorstep:

It came in a big cardboard box and was wrapped in a sturdy plastic bag.

I took it out of the box and dragged it upstairs to my quilting studio, leaving it in the plastic bag.  Yes, it was heavy with 30 yards of batting on it, but I was able to carry it myself (well, dragging the lower half).   Frankly, it was easier than carrying it to my car, loading and unloading it in the garage, and then dragging it upstairs.  Not that it is an option anymore.

I can't wait to start using it... it should last a long time.

Finishing Charity quilts of Jane's stash

I picked up a couple of unfinished quilts from Audrey Prothero, who is helping to get her sister Jane's charity quilts completed.  Jane passed away a few months back, and had nearly 100 quilts that needed to be finished.  Most of the blocks were done, and some were already sewn together.  It was quick to get them sewn together.  And it was just as quick to get them quilted on my sit-down longarm.  

Here they are:

44" x 56".  The blocks were all done.  I added the black sashing, border, backing and binding.  It was quilted with red thread.

38" x 44".  The blocks were all done and were sewn into rows.  I added the sashing, borders, backing and binding.

I hope whomever gets these quilts likes them!

Luau Torches - Part one

I recently downloaded a free pattern called "Luau Torches".  It looks like it was originally a mystery quilt pattern, but it was offered free as a complete download.  It looked like just the right pattern for a quilt retreat project.  I missed out on several quilt retreats in the last year due to hip issues, hip surgery, and personal travel.  But, this time, I was able to secure a spot and put it on my calendar.

I printed off a couple of sheets of the pattern in black and white and colored them in with colored pencils.  It was no surprise to me that I selected green, turquoise and navy for my colors.   I also decided not to add the borders so that the quilt was the smaller size that our charity group likes to donate.

To make things smoother at the retreat, I precut all of the pieces and placed them in a project box. 

Can't wait for the retreat to sew this up!

Kangaroo and Joey Sewing machine cabinet

It took a while to get the sewing machine cabinet delivered, but it finally arrived at the dealer in flat fold boxes.  We picked it up, removed all the pieces from the boxes and carried them all upstairs.  No need to go the gym that day!

The assembly instructions from Arrow were very complete, with tons of drawings and tips.  They also have a YouTube video on how to install the hydraulic lift mechanism and another one on how to assemble the cabinet.  I was very impressed that they had a woman doing the assembly in the video; that appealed to my sensibility that women can be engineers (like me) and can put things together (like many of you). I love getting out my tools and doing things like this.  Here is the link to the assembly video: assembling the Kangaroo cabinet.  

I did run into a few snags along the way and asked my husband to come up and help me figure things out and hold the heavier parts when two people were needed.  He graciously volunteered to keep helping me.  After 2 days and a few sore hands and bodies, we gave up and called the shop.  Turns out, there were some manufacturing issues that  needed to be fixed before we could complete the assembly.  Our local shop decided to come to the house and complete the assembly for us to make things right.  Gotta love that customer service from the local shop.

In the meantime, we assembled the Joey cabinet.  Again, the instructions were detailed and easy to follow. 

Here is the completed set-up.  It's huge and I love it.

Sheer Class with Kathie Kerler - part two and final - Beach

I wrote a post a little while ago about taking the class with Kathie Kerler on working with sheers.  I did decide to add more quilting after letting it sit for a few weeks.

A few years ago, I quilted a fish themed quilt for my husband.  One of the motifs that I quilted was a large circle with small circles inside of it.  That seemed to fit this quilt too, so I put a few of these on this quilt.  Then, I added horizontal stitches between all of the large circles.  I liked it!  It was faced, and ended up 24" W x 26" H.  I'm calling it "Beach".

I hope you like it!

New Machine and New Layout in the Studio

I couldn't resist the sales events from the local Bernina dealers during late February and March.  Knowing that one of my machines was nearing the end of its life, I jumped on the deals and bought a new Bernina 770 QE Pro along with the embroidery module.  

The machine was so big that it didn't fit into my sewing cabinet.  So, I also had to buy a new sewing cabinet.  I bought the Arrow Kangaroo and Joey combination.  

All of this meant big changes in my studio layout.  My sister came down for a visit and helped me lay out the space and shop for the cabinet.  I'm getting used to the new layout and think that I'm going to love being able to see my design wall and have the ironing board in front of a window.  

I sold my old cabinet, my featherweight machine, and my traveling table to help offset the cost of the new cabinet.  I also plan to sell my Bernina 440 and all of its components.  Now, I just need to learn how to use my new machine and the embroidery module.  I guess that its always good to learn new things, especially at my age.  And this should be my last new machine and cabinet; so why not!

CCQ Challenge - 2026 - Red, White, Blue and Gold - Part Three - Patriotic Lady

This is a continuation of two previous posts about the making of the CCQ challenge piece, the Patriotic Lady.

I made the face, neck and hair with 4 shades of skin tone and selected black and gold for her hair.  After I finished it, I attached it all to the background with a tiny zig zag stitch.

The final item that I needed was the star wand.  I remembered that I had a 1/4" bias tape maker and 1/4" double sided fusible.  I found a nice shade of gold and made it and attached it to the top.  This was also added with a zig zag stitch.

I quilted the top in spirals and stars with gold colored thread.  AND I used my new BSR and Bernina 770 to do the quilting.  I love the new machine and especially the laser light that lets you see exactly where the needle is going to stitch.   I quilted the body with thread to match the clothes, face, and hair. 

 When that was all done, I hand stitched on the embroidered star at the top of the wand.  It was bound with blue striped fabric.

She's 24" W x 39" L.

I hope you like it!

Finishing a friend's inherited UFO projects

One of my quilting friends recently lost her sister, who was an avid quilter and made hundreds of quilts for charity.  The family went through her quilting room and found a ton of unfinished projects.  So, my friend  put the projects into baggies and has been handing them out to some of us to finish and donate to charity.

I picked up 2 of them.  The first one was made entirely of Fairy Frost, a line of shimmery fabric that was popular a few years ago.  I added 2 large borders to make it the 50" x 60" size that they used for donated quilts.  Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture before I passed it along.

The second one was so close to being finished.  There were 20 12" blocks all done and the backing was sewn together.  All it needed was to have some sashing cut and then sew it all together.  I decided to use only 16 of the 12" blocks to keep the quilt a reasonable size.  It ended up being 58" x 58".  Here is the completed top:

My friend and her family will quilt these tops and I may get them back to finish up the binding.  And I hope whomever gets these quilts likes them!

CCQ challenge 2026 - Red, White, Blue and Gold - Part One

Clark County Quilters (CCQ) issued a challenge for 2026 to celebrate both the 50th year of the guild and the 250th anniversary of the USA.  The piece had to be done in red, white and blue with stars and stripes, plus gold.  It couldn't be wider than 24", and the length was not limited.  I immediately thought about doing a lady with striped bottoms, star sunglasses, and lots of glitz.  Here are my sketches of ideas:

I found a picture in my sketch book and used that to draw my design to scale.  In order to get the face the right size, I took a picture of it and resized it in Photoshop.  I also posterized it so that I would have the 4 values that I needed to make the face realistic.  Here is the sketch and face to scale.

I started working on the pants first (shown above and detail below).  I knew that I wanted them to be red and white striped, and I used my chop and drop method to make them.  (Actually, I forgot the first step and didn't add the blobs of fabric before adding all the trim!).  I think they turned out very cute.

The next thing that I made was the top and sleeves.  I used 3 shades of blue blobs and trims to give it some kind of shading.  I also added gold thread to add that spark of shiny gold.

I hope you like it so far!

Leftover improv - Part One

I had a little bit of dark, mossy green left over from the art quilt that I made for my brother and sister-in-law, so I thought that I would randomly piece it with some other greens in my stash and see where that would lead.  I just kept adding, inserting, making straight and curved edges and tossed them up on the design wall.  Here it is after a couple of days of playing around.  I had no idea what was going to be made from these pieces.  Sometimes, just playing around with fabric is just plain fun!

Somewhere along in the process, I decided that a little bit of black and white striped fabric would add some life to the otherwise dark piece.  I cut 1" strips and inserted them to show 1/2" in some areas, and 1/4" in others.  

I have to tell you that it was a bugger to sew together.  Some of the seams were curved, some were straight, there were inset and Y seams.   I had to chop some pieces off, add some pieces here and there, and make more units to fill the large empty spots.  It was a good thing that I had an audio book to listen to so that my mind was in a calmer zone while I struggled to sew this piece together.  Even so, I did have to rewind the book a few times when I realized that my problem solving brain had overtaken my listening brain.

After it was sewn, it emerged as an aerial landscape.  So, I went with the feeling of a landscape and started adding hand embroidery stitches.  I started with white.

It is actually much darker than the photo shows.  Anyway, I hope you like it so far!

CCQ Challenge - 2026 - Red, White, Blue and Gold - Part Two - Patriotic Lady

This is a continuation of a previous post about the making of the challenge piece for the CCQ Challenge for 2026.

After making the clothes, I made the shoes.  

And next were the arms and legs.

Then it was the face, neck and hair.

The top as it looked at the end of those stages:

I hope you like it so far!