Monday, March 18, 2024

Garden Lady #6 - Part Five - Final- "Spring At Last!"

This is  a continuation of 4 previous posts about the making of Garden Lady #6.

The flowers were made next, and then all of the components were stitched down to the top.

I added black binding to frame the simple art quilt.

Here is the completed quilt.  It measures 37" W x 49" H.  I named it "Spring At Last!"


I hope you like it. 

Monday, March 11, 2024

Garden Lady #6 - Part Four

This is a continuation of 3 previous posts about the making of Garden Lady #6.  After I appliqued the lady and the bird, I quilted the background and the lady.  The background fabric was so busy that I chose to quilt it with light gray thread in a horizontal wave style.

I made the nest with layers of yarn and thread sandwiched between 2 layers of Solvay, stitching through them, and soaking away the Solvay.  This picture shows the sketch and the completed nest.


The birdcage was made by layering Aquamesh, an off-white organza, the nest, and the top layer of Solvay.  I traced the bird cage pattern in permanent marker on the Solvay, then stitched through the layers with thread.  After that was completed, I couched down a layer of black perle cotton with a thick zig-zag stitch set at 2.5 width and 0.40 length.  




The bottom of the bird cage was several layers of zig zag stitching with the black perle cotton couched down.  The stitch width was widened to 4.0 and several passes were made to really thicken it up.  Here it is before soaking:


And after soaking:


I hope you like it so far.

Friday, March 8, 2024

Bog Coat

I recently took a class from Kathy Powell on how to make a reversible bog coat.  It was so different and so fun!

I used some gorgeous material from Marcia Derse as the outer layer and a gray and white batik for the inner layer.  I had a ton of lime green ombre fabric that I used for the 3" finishes around the neck, the sleeves and the bottom.  This loose fitting jacket was so different than any other pattern that I have sewn.  For sure, I was skeptical that it would turn out looking like something wearable.  But it was fun and entertaining to stretch my brain to make this coat.





I really like it and hope you do too!


Monday, March 4, 2024

Garden Lady #6 - Part Three

This is a continuation of two previous posts about the making of Garden Lady #6.

I made the apron over skirt out of lime green organza and red thread.  The layers that I used to make it were Aquamesh (dissolving product for stability) on the bottom, the organza, Solvay (dissolving clear product to use as a pattern and to keep the thread from sinking into the organza) on top with the pattern written in permanent marker.   I set the zig zag stitch for a tight stitch (.40 length and 3.0 width) and stitched over the lines twice for the top apron and once for the bottom apron.



After rinsing out the product, drying and ironing it, I pinned it in place.


While I didn't want to add tons of floral details on this quilt, it was obviously too plain the way it was.  So, I sketched up a birdcage with a nest, a pot of tulips, and some muscari for a spring feel.  Here were my ideas.


I didn't like the look of the original birdcage that I drew, so I sketched up a second one and will use that for this quilt.  


I think that this was enough and I went forward with these ideas.

I hope you still like where this art quilt is heading.


Friday, March 1, 2024

Charity quilts 2024 - 2nd batch

These two quilts were made with left over fabrics in mostly blue and purple.  I used the same pattern as the first two and donated all four of them to our comfort quilts group.  They were all 54" W x 66" L and were made with 6-1/2" (unfinished) blocks.  They look so much like the first two because I used the same stack of blue and purple fabrics that were sitting in my stash.



I hope you like these two as well.  

Monday, February 26, 2024

Garden Lady #6 - part Two

This is a continuation of a previous post about the making of Garden Lady #6.

I wanted to pick the background before I made the clothes for this Garden Lady.  My Garden Lady quilts need 54" or so in length (to end up 50" L), and a lot of the material that I buy and save is one yard.  I did find a couple fabrics that fit the bill, and ended up with a fairly plain, neutral background.    I also had a lovely black mottled fabric designed by Marcia Derse.  I used this for the bottom of the background.  In order to get the right curve, I traced the shape onto freezer paper, ironed this to the back, painted the seam allowance with starch, and pressed it into place.  This was appliqued to the upper background with invisible thread and a small zig zag stitch.


I decided to collage the dress, since I've used that method for all of the other quilts in either the clothes or the background.  I drew the outline of the dress onto tear-away stabilizer and started with a hand painted fabric.  I pulled out a pile of things to add to the top and stopped for the night when most of it was covered.


                                    Yarn, Angelina fibers, antique trims, hand dyed fabric.


When I was satisfied with the toppings, I added a layer of tulle and quilted the dress in 2 shades of green rayon thread.  I like how pretty it is and am now not so sure I want to cover it up with an organza over-slip.  


What do you think?

Monday, February 19, 2024

Garden Lady #6 - Part One

I started making Garden Lady #6.  It was based on one of Aurika Piliponiene's paintings. She lives and works in Lithuania and I found this picture and many others on Pinterest.  I love her whimsical ideas for ladies in nature. She has a distinctive style of face and skinny arms and legs.

Here is the original inspiration.



My favorite blue print shop (used to be Rose City Blueprint) has changed names, but thankfully is still in business!  Their new name is Crisp Imaging (part of a chain) and they are in the same location near the Portland airport.  I love taking my things there - they are prompt and cheap.

I traced over the drawing to widen the shoulders and increase the legs and arms a bit.  I also sketched a different face.

Here are the face and arms cut and fused; all ready to add details.




The next component that I worked on was the bird.  I had some marbled fabric in my stash and used this to make the bird.


Then I made the legs.  For the red stripes, I started with 1" wide red hand dyed fabric.  I folded this over twice, pressed it, and applied a 1/4" double sided fusible tape.  These strips were pressed onto the brown fabric, then stitched down with invisible thread and a very narrow zig-zag (1.2 width, 1.05 length). 
If you use this very narrow setting, you can still use your single hole throat plate.  I love doing that because the wide slot in the regular throat plate tends to eat things and pull the down into the machine.  


After the red stripes were sewn down, I darkened the heels and soles with Derwent Inktense sticks.  I tried out a few colors before picking the one that I wanted, and used clear aloe gel and a paintbrush to apply the color.  Here, you can see one of the legs painted, and the other one before the painting.


Testing the colors.


Derwent Inktense Blocks - the whole set


Stay tuned for more progress on this Garden Lady #6.