A Quiet Week

April 24, 20137 Comments

This week has been relatively quiet and I am glad. Nice to have a little break after such a big project.

I did manage to finish the top of a tie quilt that I am doing for someone. I would like her permission,though, before I post any photos.

Mabye next week, I will have some photos for you.

Art quilts will have to suffice for this post. I am catching up with the ones I completed last year.

I may have to begin creating more when I run out of ones to show you. The next two feature the style of Karen Eckmeier.

She likes to layer fabric in order to create a landscape or picture quilt.

The first one show a farmer’s field and some wheat or weeds, whichever you prefer growing in the bottom of the quilt.

Jaquard paint was used to color the fabric and create the picture.This paint is pretty thick so it is easy to use.

Heat setting is done when the paint has dried. This ensures that no paint will wash off later on.

Karen Eckmeier style art quilt.

Some of the lines in the field are not very appealing to me but it was a learning experience for me.

The next one show more of a green field. It is ok but I would not do this one again. Too green for me.

A green field.

Again, another learning experience.

This is a short post but I am hoping to have more to show you next week.

Have a great week and try something new.

Ruth

Feather Overboard

April 16, 2013April 17, 20137 Comments

I am happy to say that the Charity Quilt I was working on last week, is done. Yeah!! I think that I put over 60 hours into that baby.

I wanted to do something special for the Guild and give back something ,so hopefully, they will like it.

Here are some more of the completed blocks:

Cube-with feathers.

Again, more feathers. They fill a space so easily and look so good.

Less feathers this time.

I tried to mix up the stitching a little but still keep the designs the same over all the quilt.

One of my favorite blocks

Just a few more blocks to go.

This one reminded me of a picture frame.

More feathers.

And finally, we come to the inside border. To be quite honest, I didn’t know what to stitch in this area. I felt all my creative juices were stretched already so….

guess what I put in that area?

You got it…. more feathers!!

Inside border-yes, feathers!

I know, I have a serious problem.

inside border area

I really hope that the person who wins this quilt really likes feathers.

Whew! Life seems a little boring after being so engrossed in completing this quilt on time. I feel a littel deflated but yet excited, all at the same time.

Now, I can actually work on something for ME. What a novel thought.

To change up this “feather” update, I will show you an art quilt that I created after taking a class, last year, with Elizabeth Alexander. She is an amazing art quilter!

My piece is of trillums growing in the pine forest near my house.

The photo is one that I took and Elizabeth helped me with everything: placement and size of the Trillums,

color of fabrics to use, and how to lay out the whole design.

It was quite a challenging class but I learned alot. I think it turned out ok.

What do you think?

Trillum art quilt.

A few more close up photos of the Trillum art quilt.

Flanges made to resemble fallen pine branches.

Originally I had made flanges out of grey fabric but they were ugly so I had to rip them off and make new ones-alot better!

Large Trilum

The Trillums were made different sizes, just to add interest to the piece. Tulle was used to create the shadow behind the flower.

If you look closely, you can see that there are pine needles stitched in, hanging down from the flanges.

And beads were added to represent the sunlight glimmering in the trees and on the pine needles on the ground.

Maybe my artistic side will grow a little from this exercise. Here’s hoping!

Have a good week!

Ruth

Afraid of feathers?

April 9, 2013April 9, 20139 Comments

For two years now, I have been practicing feathers on paper but I never had the courage to quilt them on customers’ quilts.

Well… that changed this past week.

The local Guild has a charity quilt that needs to be done by mid April. There are approximately 50 blocks in this quilt-it is massive!

Charity Quilt made by Local Guild

I decided that I would try feathers and if I messed it up, I could always pick out the stitches later on. Here goes….

Applique block with feathers

The feathers turned out ok, I think. What about you?

Another feathered applique block

Once I got started, I couldn’t stop. Is there such a thing as “feather overboard?” Maybe it could be a new quilting term.

Feathers once again

more feathers

The lighting wasn’t the greatest in these last 2 photos-I do apologize for that.

On a different note, I did finish two small panel quilts for the local school fundraiser in June.

I couldn’t quilt one for a baby boy and not one for a baby girl. These are what I bought and quilted up.

Panel boy quilt

This panel is so cute..who could pass it up and not quilt it?

Panel girl’s quilt

Once again, who can pass up this panel? I love the colors and the motifs on it.

My words of encouragement to you is “Try something you are afraid of”- you may be pleasantly surprised at what the results may be.

Ruth

Getting back into the groove.

April 2, 20136 Comments

Holidays, family gatherings, March Break and just being sick with a cold has really taken a bite out of my schedule. Usually I try to hit the gym three times a week but the past three weeks, I didn’t even get there once! So, now I am getting back into the groove and going to the gym. I feel so much better when I take time for myself and exercise a little.

Here are several of my finished customers’ quilts.

Here we have Liz’s quilt. She made it for her grandson and I love the bright,bold Batik colors and fabric that she used for the top.

We decided to do a pantograph called “Happy Times.” It looks like waves, which is perfect for her grandson because he loves water.

Variegated thread was used for the top and backing. It blends in perfectly and adds a nice touch to the top of the quilt. I love variegated thread!

Liz’s quilt for her grandson

Here is a quilt that Donna made for a lady who is giving this quilt to her grandson as well. Do you think we have a theme here? I stitched in the ditch around all the Churn Dash and a criss cross design was stitched into the sashing too.

It almost looks like cross hatching to me.

Donna’s Quilt

Here is another art quilt in the series that I am showing you.

Once again Susan Brubaker Knapp is the designer. A seashell and foamy waves are stitched into the blue background. Can you see it?

Seashell and foamy waves

The next three art quilts were inspired by a farmer’s field close to my house. I tried two different techniques to create the quilts.

Each one looks totally different from the previous one. Which one is your favorite?

Farmer’s Field #1

This piece was created using Watercolor pencils. The white background was colored in using the pencils. When the whole piece was completed, I used water to blend the colors and give it that mottled look.

Heat was applied to set the colors and then stitching was added to create the lines.

Farmer’s Field #2

Here is the second field. The colors are a bit more appealing to me in this piece. I love how blue the sky is.

Jaquard paints were used to create the colors. After the paints dried, they were heat set with an iron. Then the stitching was

added in the field and sky. Later, I decided I didn’t like the stitching in the sky and picked the stitches out. That is when I discovered that the thickness of the paint is not very forgiving.

You can still see the holes in the fabric. Lesson learned for next time.

Farmer’s Field #3

My last field. This one is my favorite. I think that the colors of the snow and sky is what attracts me to it.

Again, Jaquard Paints were used to paint in the field and I decided to do minimal stitching. The lines in the field is what drew me in the first place so thus the reason for not much stitching.

What do you think?

Have a great week. Happy stitching.

Ruth

Stitching Impressions

All aspects of longarm quilting

Month: April 2013

A Quiet Week

Feather Overboard

Afraid of feathers?

Getting back into the groove.