No pictures for this post. On Sunday at church I was given a very faded banner used 25 years ago to celebrate our church's birthday. It was made of felt, and while I am sure it was beautiful at the time, it is not so pretty now.
I was asked to 'refresh' it, as our church is now celebrating 175 years in existance at the end of June. His idea of refreshing it was to remove the crest off the background and put it onto a new one. And that would have worked, but certainly wouldn't have looked the greatest. But much simpler than what I decided to do.
Yesterday I went online and found a small picture of the crest. It is the blue one, on the right hand side of the page, with the crown at the top of it. I then spent stolen minutes throughout the day drafting up a new pattern for the banner. In the evening I picked out material, fused and ironed. Today I did some further embellishing and sewing.
Tomorrow it should be ready to be quilted, and I would like to have it done by Sunday. As soon as it is done, I will post the picture of the old one and my new art quilt. Which of course will be given to the church.
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Perseverance
Perseverance has certainly made me express every range of emotion possible. It was 3 years in the making. Saw me through 2 babies, 2 deaths, and a few rejection letters.
The quilt is currently hanging in a quilting store, where the fabulous lady who quilted it works. She recently sent me this email:
Out of the at 100 quilters that have seen your quilt........they all think you should have gotten into the show. Still don't understand the comments that were given and I got no reply really that could answer our questions. I'm glad you liked your quilt because I sure did. Bravo again.
Saturday, May 22, 2010
Journal Cover
Each year our guild has a President's Challenge, where the President makes up a contest for all members to compete in. This year, it was to make something useful out of 'strings'.
I didn't even know what a string was, but have since learned it is your leftover fabric that is 2" or less in diameter.
I made a journal cover with my 'strings'. I just laid them directly onto the batting and quilted them down. Then I serged the edges and tacked on some ricrac for the closure. Fast and fun.
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Handwork Time
I have had to put my current quilt on hold for a short time. Life got in the way. My youngest had to have somewhat emergency surgery, all went well and is now recuperating at home. I quickly put together a little project in which I could do some handwork on, so I can be beside him. I have started with couching. Okay, I did try some glittery sparkles but took them off as it was just not working out the way I wanted. I still plan to use them, but later in the project.
Saturday, May 15, 2010
Gradation Dyeing
This week I experimented with gradation dyeing. I had never done it before this way. I had always just piled the fabric up in the dye bath. This method consisted of mixing a very strong dye bath up and adding different quantities of it with different measurements of water into several different baths.
I loved the results.
Friday, May 14, 2010
Welcome!
Just wanted to say welcome to Ela, who recently signed on as a follower. Love having new people join up.
Thursday, May 13, 2010
SOLD!
I sold my first art quilt today. Fall Leaves was purchased by a husband as a Mother's Day gift for his wife. He approached me last year and I had turned him down, and a year later I felt I was ready to sell. At the time when I was originally asked, all I could think about was all the time I had sat beading the individual oak leaves. They don't show up on the picture but there are 13 leaves surrounding the 3 big ones.
During the previous year, I read that one famous quilter says that she enjoys the quilt while making it, and then after it is done, just lets it go.
And in theory I want to sell my work, I just had no idea how hard it would be. Hopefully the next time I have a buyer, I won't take a year to decide!
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
More Dyeing
This week we learned about making mottled fabric and shibori! It was fantastic. I plan to make more shibori, as it is quite an interesting technique.
My new art quilt is coming along nicely. I created a new way to do stems, and it is just pulling the whole quilt together. I am almost ready to quilt it.... now to think of some funky patterns.
Saturday, May 8, 2010
Costumes
When you can sew, you become very popular in your community when a play is being produced on a tight budget.
I was asked to sew a child's fairy costume. It consisted of a layered skirt and a top. Being thrifty, I lengthened the top and after the play, the child can use it as a sundress. It was an easy fun pattern to do.
I got up at 6 am on Saturday to get it done before Mother's Day, so on that day, I could quilt. I am hoping my husband is going to give me some uninterrupted 'me time' on Sunday.
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Busy Busy Busy
The past week has been quilting crazy! I have been pattern testing for a friend. It takes a bit of time to rewrite any steps that needed clarification and doing the math to ensure accurate measurements.
I have also been dyeing a ton of fabric for my course. So far so good. And I am slowly working ahead on my new art quilt. The picture above is my cutting table filled with all the different possibilities for the quilt. I like to pull alot out at the beginning to remind me of the different embellishing options and try and make a good match for the particular quilt.
Sunday, May 2, 2010
Dyeing Fabric
I finished one course at Quilt University and loved it so much signed up for another one. This one is on fabric dyeing. I have been doing this for a few years now, but thought it would be beneficial to actually take some lessons on it.
Here are pictures from my first lesson. We made the 3 primary colours and then got to experiment with the rest of the dyes. I like the colours that I got to experiment with better.
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