Making some progress

A three-day weekend--time to get some things accomplished at home, like basting this quilt top that I made last March/April. Finally. I started the FM quilting on it, too. It's a Judy Niemeyer quilt pattern, Total Eclipse.

The directions in the pattern are kind of overwhelming--so I took a class at Sew Original in Winston-Salem and was glad I did. Lucille Amos, a certified instructor, made the directions seem simple.

I like paper piecing a lot, and this quilt was actually pretty easy to put together.

And I finished up this little quilt, too. Here it is laying in my driveway this morning, I was taking the picture right around 7:15 a.m. so thie light isn't great, but better than inside my house.

I added striped sashing after I had completed the FM quilting because I just wasn't thrilled by the quilt. It was top-stitched on using a decorative stitch--and I used the same stripe for the border.

Free Motion Quilting Month #1

I decided to do this FM quilting challenge on something I'm already working on, instead of creating a new sampler or just working on a small sample. Free motion quilting is something I've been doing (and loving!) for a couple of years now, it's the reason I make things--so I can FM quilt them.

Here is my leaf shape, done on a piece of hand-dyed fabric so that the stitching is kind of hard to see:

I tried to take a picture offset from the side, too, as I was having trouble getting it to show up well. I used a 50-weight thread from Connecting Threads in a dark green:

One more picture--

These are other parts of the piece I'm quilting. I used more threads from Connecting Threads, as well as some other threads I had (Aurifil, Mettler, YLI Soft Touch) in matching colors.

I'm just trying out some different patterns, I like working on smaller pieces that are part of a larger one so I can practice a certain shape or pattern in a small scale.

I'll take a picture of the whole piece as soon as I get a chance to bury the thread tails and wash those chalk pencil marks off.



I think this one is my favorite design:

If you want more information on the Free Motion Challenge project, or want to join in yourself, head on over to SewCalGal's blog!

No more laziness for 2012

If I was the kind of person to make resolutions, this year's would be "no more laziness"! It's too easy to sit down in the evening after a long day of work and just think about what I want to work on, not actually do it. So, I've joined two different quilt-alongs for the new year, one called "12 For 2012", and another called the "Free Motion Quilting Project". Combining these will work out great, as I have a huge pile of Unfinished Objects, mostly quilt tops that need quilting, and I love to work on Free Motioning. Buttons for each are on the right-hand side of my blog if you want to check them out.

For the "12 in 2012", all you have to do is commit to is finishing 12 UFOs in 12 months. Hopefully I'll be able to--it sounds easy now, but we all know what happens...

Here is my first project, started yesterday! This top has been hanging around for a couple of years now, it's about 40 x 40", and will make a great beach blanket for baby Madelyn. I free motioned some big daisies on it, then filled in with leaves and other shapes. All I need to do now is bind it and it's done.

I'll sew the binding on by machine instead of hand-sewing, since it's faster, and will hold up better to lots of washing.

For Christmas, I got a gift certificate for Connecting Threads. I never ordered from them before, but they had thread sets on sale (40% off) when I checked their website Tuesday night. I ordered a set of 15 colors, plus some fabrics that were all less than $3.00/yard, and they all arrived yesterday. Hopefully, by the end of 2012, there won't be any of this thread left!

My next UFO project is all ready to be quilted--I marked it with a chalk pencil yesterday, trying to decide how to quilt it, but I'll probably change my mind and improvise as I go along.

Christmas stuff almost done

I spent all day yesterday, and most of today sewing frantically. Most are done now, just one more binding to put on a table runner. These are all gifts--(so I don't want to show more than a small portion)
Part of a table runner:

Another table runner:



Baby shower quilt (for December 26th shower):

And for baby Madelyn:

Frustration in dyeing

Yesterday before work I took some of what I thought was Cerulean Blue and Tangerine dyes that I already had mixed up a while ago and left a piece of fabric in a dye bath all day to get a yard of BROWN. This is what I ended up with:

Yes, it looks like it's khaki-colored green with some lavender in it. Not exactly what I was hoping for. So, last night, I mixed up some Black and Strong Orange dye powders and dyed two small pieces, hoping again for brown. It really looked good in the dye bath this morning, I was hopeful.

But this is what I ended up with after washing.

One piece is a grey-ish purple, the other is a light grey. It's like the orange completely left the fabric after washing. If anyone has any suggestions on what I can do to get a good brown, please leave a comment. Otherwise, I'll have to take a trip to Joann's...and waste my day off today on the road.

All over the place

I haven't posted for about 3 weeks now, kinda feeling like I'm all over the place (not focused at all). There's the little granny squares I've been crocheting for a baby afghan:

And some cute little headbands and hats. I found some directions on-line for making these flowers, so easy it was amazing.

I also have been working on these pieces, clamping plexiglass circles on fabric then discharging with bleach and re-dyeing them. Last week I took pictures of the whole process, but the pics don't seem to be on my camera this morning.

Also, have been sewing on some scrappy strips to use with the circles.

In addition, I'm working on some crib bumper pads for my niece who is having a shower the day after Christmas, finished up a quilt for my LQS challenge that had to be turned in on Saturday, and have about 6 other projects in some stage of the completion process. If I didn't have to go to work every day, I might get a few things done!

Is it any wonder that my stash never seems to get smaller?

Pumpkin farm

Madelyn visiting the pumpkin farm yesterday--

Shibori again

Friday evening I wanted to dye a cool color rainbow set, so I got out my fuchsia, yellow, and turquoise dyes. After mixing the required 12 colors, I dyed half-yard pieces using low water immersion and checked them out the following morning. No pictures, but the dye had separated in almost all the red/blue pieces and they looked awful. So I decided to shibori them all instead!

I stitched the pieces into a tube shape, and put on a pole, then dyed in navy blue.

Then I did the same with some other pieces I had, stitching them into a tube, but dyeing in a walnut brown mixture (black & rust orange mixture).

The pieces above are actually more orange/tangerine than pink, they'll make some great autumn leaves.

Over on And Then We Set It On Fire, I posted some results of my tyvek painting & melting experiments. Check it out!

Quilt Show & Cotton Fields

Took a short drive to Concord, NC this morning to go to the Cabarrus County Quilt Show. The drive was scenic, on a beautiful & warm fall day, lots of fields of cotton getting ready to harvest.

Yes, I took these from my car as there wasn't a good place to stop on the side of the road.

Lots of cotton, on each side of the road. Maybe some of this will end up as fabric at the quilt show next year.

Here's the Cabarrus County Event Center--

Some of the quilts I loved. Karen Stone New York Beauty--every time I see this, I think I should make one, too.

And circles, a theme that I seem to be very attracted to. This was done with gorgeous hand-dyed fabrics and fabulous quilting!

Interesting 3-D veggies on this one:

And 3-D sunflowers, too.

I only bought some Presencia threads and a 2-yard piece of silk dupioni. Good deals on both, it was a good morning. Now to go mow my lawn.

Granddaughter Pics

I just got back from an exhausting week at my daughter's house following the birth of Madelyn Elizabeth on September 6th.

Here she is just after birth:

Four days old:

One week old:

And 10 days old:

She is my first grandchild and she is wonderful!! It's going to be hard to be in NC while they all live in NY. Anyways, no art for me for the past week, I'll be getting back into it now that I'm home. Love you, Erin & Paul!