Monday, May 25, 2020

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?

Monday, May 18, 2020

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.




Monday, May 11, 2020

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!

Monday, May 4, 2020

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!