Showing posts with label FMQ. Show all posts
Showing posts with label FMQ. Show all posts

Friday, June 23, 2017

Inspirational Design for the Quilter


Wynn Las Vegas

There is no greater place under one roof than Wynn Las Vegas if you are a quilter looking for design inspiration. Of course, this is my humble opinion, but allow me to show you just one small part. 

The arrangement above was in the middle of a long promenade. Notice how it was tilted slightly off center. I thought to myself, 'It eliminated that centering issue we often have with a motif, and the eye naturally adjust to saying it's skewed on purpose rather than off. I can use that.'

Another quick lesson in breaking up negative space is the ceiling: outlining, cutaways, use of color to recede and pop alternating sections, layering, and lastly illumination. All are things we think about in quilt design. 

Thursday, January 28, 2016

Quilted Heating Pad Cover


Turning Up the Style!


A heating pad is underrated in its ability to relieve pain. Amazing thing! It's my go-to remedy for pain, strains, and aches, and we shared a hand-me-down here for many years before it recently bit the dust. I bought the family a new one, but it had a polyester cover on it which I couldn't bear to touch. (You know what I mean if those bother you, too.) I was tired of using a vinyl heating pad. I knew I could make a better one, and pretty it up to boot!

Thursday, January 7, 2016

Fabric Collage Progress: Confetti



Saxifraga


Fabric collage was never on my bucket list. I admit I knew nothing about it until I came across a book explaing the techniques. You can catch up in this post. Persimmon Dreams is hosting a weekly challenge with this week's theme listed as 'confetti'.

Thursday, December 3, 2015

Day 3: Quilting & Art Journaling




This was a good exercise in art journaling for me. I listed anything that came to mind when I thought about December. All lumped together with no judgment either way. I just wrote everything down equally. When I was done, I tried to use a spray adhesive, but mine clogged. Short on time, I resorted to Elmer's, but that was tough to get where I wanted it. It turned out a wee bit over glittered. What was kind of cool about it, though, was the really over glittered words were ones I might interpret as negative. Very interesting.

Tuesday, December 1, 2015

The Delights of Winter & Improvisational Design



We are nearing the solstice, and the dark days of winter are upon us. Our circadian rhythm changes. As soon as the light fades in late afternoon, some of us are ready for bed. Some say it's depressing. It can be. It's a mindless act to turn to t.v. or the internet for entertainment, but those can be unfulfilling. Add to it a month of holidays across several religions, and it's a pretty good reason to stay in bed.

Sunday, September 13, 2015

Baby Quilt Finish with Minny Muu from Lecien Fabrics



Such a big story behind this little quilt! I'm not sure it would all fit here. Shall I give you the condensed version? 

Wednesday, August 26, 2015

Sneak-a-Peek-a Thursday with Kaffe Fassett


Kaffe Fassett 

Perhaps no other fabric designer has ever struck me so gloriously than Kaffe Fassett. The depth, color pathways, and texture the fabrics evoke make me feel extraordinarily happy. Now imagine your sister-in-law saying, "Take this, and quilt it however you want."

Seriously? Uh, I ran with it! 

It was an amazing experience to play on this with my long arm. I parsed it out for 3 days like good chocolate. It was over too soon, and Axel already has another loaded. I'll bind it this afternoon, and show you my Fassett Friday Finish tomorrow. 


 That has to be my shortest post ever, right?




Friday, May 29, 2015

Allison Glass Friday Finish




I sat down with a timer set for half an hour, determined
to finish the quilting. When the alarm rang, I had to run.
Back in the afternoon, I put on some soothing music,
and as you would have guessed, it started to be fun.
There was a moment of disappointment when I ran
out of empty space to quilt. After all that drama!


The light makes the back appear as if there is a lot of
bunching, but there's not. The are one or two little places
near the edge where it's not 'perfect'. If I was marketing 
this quilting, I would tear it out, and fix it. 

I changed my sandwiching process this time. I taped my
backing down to the concrete floor first. The ironed
batting was next, and also held with its own tape. Then 
the top, and also taped. All layers were taut. I used
large saftey pins, and not even quilter's pins at that,
to hold everything securely. I pinned about 5-6" apart.
This was much more successful than spray basting
on this size quilt, but I know I still need to use more
pins toward the edges next time.



My machine sits on top of a table, and I believe having
it countersunk would be a vast improvement in the 
ability to move the quilt around. I might have to ask 
for help with that one.

I was very happy with the stitching by the end.



 The late afternoon sun threw some heavy shadows,
but there aren't really big wrinkles there.



Two of the girls have had to break it in already. It passed.


Today I'm going to a friend's house for a fabric swap.
It reminds me of when I was little trading Barbie clothes.
I'm taking some fabrics that aren't my favorites in colors
she's looking for, and hoping she has some odd things
I'm looking for. 

Doesn't that sound like fun? That way you not only shop your own stash, but someone else's, too. Frugal and effective.

Today's Tips
Today's tips for navigating on the new Pink Doxie page. 

Use your keyboard letters j and k to move between posts. If you simply use your keyboard letter j, it will take you to a previous post. Tapping the letter k will take you to the next.

Any of the pictures are clickable, and will take you to that post.

Stop back tomorrow for the Pet Project Show. The linky will
open at midnight tonight EST, and run through midnight on
Monday night. Show us your pet project of the week.

Until then...
Come on, Doxie girls.
Let's go sew.

Thursday, May 28, 2015

Allison Glass Quilt & the Inner Brat




Friend to me: "How's the quilt going?"
Me to friend: "It's going."

That's how I'm feeling about this one. 

I'm very thankful to have it well underway, but the
tiniest displeased with the FMQ. I really wanted a 
large looping design on it, but it isn't physically
possibly with my sit-down Janome. All I can manage 
are smaller loops, and you should see how I'm 
hunched down in my chair to see under the machine 
arm. I'm spoiled by my one episode using a long arm. 
It's awful. I should be working on it. It would
only take a few hours to get the whole quilt done.


But have you ever had your Inner Child, the bratty one, 
throw a hissy fit while your logical self says to suck it
up, and get it done? My daughter say this is definitely a 
First World Problem, and she's right. Time to discipline 
that unruly voice, and to say with gratitude I'm 
sincerely thankful for all the blessings in my life. 
I am thankful.


My backing is creatively pieced, and looks a bit
like it fell out of the 80's, but most of it is excess.
There should be just the smallest border around
the edges of the backing. The center is a pale
grey in the same tightly woven fabric as the front.


You can see I've left plenty of room. I learned my 
lesson on the "Chicago, 2007" QST quilt when I 
shorted the length by an inch, and had to add fabric 
after the quilting was finished.



I quilted this with an Iris thread in a citrus green. I love
working with colored threads, and my supply is starting to 
move across the palette. Defy rules that state your thread should always be one shade darker than your background. These days, all but the most traditional quilters are comfortable saying the lines are blurred on 'what works' for them. The only area I stay away from purchasing is varigated. It's not that I haven't been happy with my quilts done in varigated thread, but once you've purchased them, they are definitely harder to match with another 
quilt top.


I'm about 1/3 or more done with this, and it would
make sense to get it finished today. The problem is
that awful Moda company sold a pattern called
Modern Building Blocks, and it's not my fault it
sucked me in. 

We will have to have a talk about 
that sometime soon--after I quiet my Inner Child.

Until then...
Come on, Doxie girls.
Let's go sew.

Linking up with~
My Quilt Infatuation
Quilting Jet Girl

Monday, May 25, 2015

Bertie's Quilt & Creative Space Tag


This little quilt is 47"x47", and has hung on my 
design wall for a few weeks. A friend of mine
pieced it last winter at a class while on vacation
somewhere sunny. She asked me to quilt it 
for her, and gave me free rein as to how.


The colors may be a little truer here.
The sashing and borders are the palest
pink, and it's really a pretty quilt top.



It was a bit of a dilemma for me to decide the 
quilting, as this is a quilt she is looking forward 
to leaving for a great-grandchild someday. 
I wanted it to be nicely done for her.

I decided it needed a little motif inside the 
blocks, and came up with this feathered 
wreath. A heart in the middle seemed to 
fit the style of the baby quilt, too.


I spray basted this one. I am finding that there 
are different situations where the spray basting 
works better for me than pinning. If I have any 
doubt about straightness of top or backing, I 
can see where to anticipate a wrinkle before 
I actually start to quilt.


Wreaths and hearts all out of the way,
I started the sashing. Simple leaves and 
vines with curling. I did use a water 
soluble marker to sketch an idea out,
and followed it loosley.  The mottling
you see in the pink is because I've
misted the top to get rid of the marking.


I do like her choice of backing. Very sweet
and appropriate. The quilting shows nicely.
I used a basic cream Aurifil in 50#.




Afterward my husband and I nabbed the Kubota
and went back on the hills for some peace and
quiet. There's nothing like being deep in the 
woods. We popped out on our way to a meadow,
and the hill was covered in blackberry blooms.
It's going to be a good year for the pie maker.


This little beauty caught my eye. I snapped
a picture so I could look it up later.
Any ideas?



Creative Space Tag is at Sew Preeti Quilts.
Preeti's post on "How Many Shades of Gray?" 
is up, and even her writing is full of energy!
I'm so happy to have her adding to our
bloggers sharing their creative spaces, and
she's already tagged Jasmine of Quilt Kisses.

For those of you who are curious, Maryse
at Maryse Makes Things came up with the 
idea after I posted about my new space,
and told me to run with the idea. We both
thought it would be fun to see where 
quilters create, and inspire each other 
with ideas about space usage. I've seen so
many great ideas, and made mental notes
for changes I should make. If you would 
like to share your space, let me know in
an email, and I'll add your name.

Until we meet again...
Come on, Doxie girls.
Let's go sew.

Linking up with~
Freemotion by the River
Quilt Story
Patchwork Times




                                                    Online Quilting Class

Saturday, May 16, 2015

Second Entry for 2015 Blogger's Quilt Festival-"Zombies, Zombies, Zombies!"



We took advantage of a quick break in the
rainstorms, and snapped a few new pictures
Another post telling the whole backstory can
be found HERE.




This quilt was made for my son, who happens
to hate zombies, so it's a little tongue-in-cheek.
Regardless, he liked his quilt I made last fall.

This marks my second entry into the
Amy's Creative Side. This is a smaller
quilt than "Chicago, 2007", which is entered in 
the large quilt category. Measuring in at "52x61", 
this will be entered in the "Home Machine Quilted" category.



Zombies is one of the first quilts I had the
chance to quilt on my Janome. I had moved
up from a 7" throat space to a whopping 11"!
I went a little crazy with the graffiti style
quilting, and the grey Aurifil thread popped 
on my black Kona backing.


The fabrics were a hoot to work with, and I
loved the fussy cutting possibilities. 



I chose a black and white hatched fabric
for the binding shown above.

I think one of the best things about doing so
much freestyle is you develop a rhythm as 
you move the quilt. 




I pieced the back with the intent for it to
look like little legs on the sides.





Since this was one of the first quilts I made
in my early blogging days last fall, it's new to
most of you. So...
"Ta Dah!"



Time to get back in the archives and put
some labels on old posts, I think. There are
some goodies hiding in there yet, if you
care to check them out.

Like this.



And, yes, Mishsa and his pasture mates are doing 
well, and loving their new barn. We'll do an
update on them soon.

If you're new to Pink Doxies, the
Pet Project Show runs Saturday-
Monday every week, and is your
opportunity to link up whatever
lovely thing you're working on.
We'd love to see you there!

Come on, Doxie girls.
Let's go to Amy's Creative Side,
and check out all the quilts today.

Linking up with~
Late Night Quilter
Please go read her 
Tuesday Tips and Tutorial today! 
You'll love it.
Blossom Heart Quilts
Freemotion by the River
Monday Makers
Show and Tell with Bambi
Cooking Up Quilts