Thursday, June 28, 2012

FM Quilt Challenge for June

Getting in just under the wire for this one!  I started by drawing some shapes and doodling in lines and designs like Cindy Needham suggested in the June SewCalGal FM quilt challenge...

Then I got a piece of hand-dyed fabric that was about 45" long and around 18" wide and divided it up into sections and started filling them in after sandwiching it with some batting and backing.  I started on Sunday morning, and worked on it about 5 hours that day, and wasn't anywhere near done by the end of the day. 

It seemed like an endless task--I think I used about 9-10 bobbins altogether in this piece.  Thank goodness I have some large spools of thread!  The thread here was Isacord, in a periwinkle color.  It's a very nice 50 wt. thread, and my machine really likes it.  I bought it at my LQS because they only carry the basics in Aurifil (black, white, beige) but carry hundreds of Isacord colors.
Some close-up pictures of the various designs I used.  Of course, they weren't too much like my original drawing, I like to change my mind while I'm sewing.  I kind of sketch them in with a chalk pencil so I have an idea what I'm going to do in each section.  Sometimes I follow the lines, sometimes I don't.
I sewed for about an hour before work every day this week, then at least 1-2 hours each evening.  Lots of stitches... 

  


This is the only picture that shows the true color of this piece, maybe because I've been taking pictures at either 5:30 in the morning or after 6:30 at night.  

I still have to trim it up, bind it, and wash it to get all of my chalk lines out of it.  Then I'll take a picture of the whole thing during the daylight this weekend.  It'll probably end up as a table runner, since it's definitely big enough.  This was fun, but I should have done a smaller piece!  

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Too many projects

This is Leo, a foster dog I got on Saturday--he's available through the Lab Rescue of NC
As far as quilty projects, it seems that lately I'm all over the map.  

Fusing: 
Sewing: 
More sewing:
Quilting: 
And more sewing--
The only thing I forgot to take pictures of is my dyeing efforts--.

I think I have so many things going on at once because I think about making things all day at work and try to get as many started as I can on weekends when I have lots of time.

Monday, June 4, 2012

Exuberant Color class

On Saturday I attended a class with instructor Wanda Hansen of Exuberant Color.  She was in Charlotte where her daughter was hosting a show for her at the Ciel Gallery.  Her work was wonderful to see in person and the whole gallery was filled with it!

Closeup of some machine stitching on this flower--
And I love the stitching and beading on this one--
 
Wanda used stitching in the ditch on most of her cobblestone quilts so the quilting didn't detract from the fabrics.



And some great value studies here:

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And look at the colors of this quilt--
Here is Wanda holding up one of her quilts and discussing the use of color--
And pointing out some tricks and techniques--
Some of the work on my table--
 

















Click here for a link to more of her pictures of the class--I'm in one of the pictures, I think the 4th one down where Wanda is describing some detail about one of her quilts on the wall.