Goin' to a quilt show...Whohooo!

No pics for today, but maybe a whole bunch in a couple more days. I and two of my sisters are going down to Seymour, Ct to a big show and I am looking very much forward to it.

I have learned so many techniques since a couple years ago when I first visited this large show. Therefore, I am itching to see more fabric-art types of quilts, maybe some postcards, and to buy all kinds of threads, embellishments, and the obvious great fabrics that I usually find at a show that never seem to be at my local stores. Hopefully, they might even have some demos with the new stuff that is out there and I have held off from trying because I don't quite know what to do with it.

A Quilt Window...

...in my small bath that has no window.
I got this idea and inspiration from a quilt made for the alzheimers cause. I added my own touch with shelves, bottles and a plant. The Window also has sheer curtains and the edging is a color that looks like the wall color in the bath.












This gives you a closer look at the detail.

Fiery Sunset...

...another photo turned quilt.This was great fun, as I used a lot more free motion machine quilting than ever before. Just got these great variegated threads that seem a tiny bit thicker than ordinary sewing thread. Show up much better when you 'draw' with them.
Here is the pic I used to guide me. We took this going at least 65 mph(probably more...lol) It wasn't convenient to stop on the highway, so I just shot from the open window. Hence the soft blur of all details!
A closer shot of the sky painting, and the tree silouettes. This quilt also incorporates the wavy edging idea. I thought it made a good contrast frame against the reds and oranges and yellow brightness and picks up that small dark cloud coming in at the left.

Using real photos helps make the quilts look real...

I found the pic I used as a guide for the last blog entry. I put the barn on the opposite side in the quilt, but I only intended for the picture to be a guide, so it worked out well.

New Scenic quilt

This one was actually all cut out from our last quilt camp get together. But by now I was improved on the machine quilting and I think this one came out better than my first ones.




Don't know if it can be seen but this is a closer look at the sewing.













This also comes from a pic I took on another trip we had made to Vermont. I figure if I use my pics, there will be more reality and balance when I try to put the fabric ideas together. I hope to try some more complicated angles now that I am getting the idea.

One more of my older scenic quilts...

This one uses lace to accent 'waves' which I thought was a very clever idea. All of these use a curvy edge border idea, too. And it was encouraged to make the borders and edging wider and very noticeable, like in art work with a big mat surrounding it that made you want to look closer to the small picture within.
Hopefully you can see the lace poking up as surf and a spurt against the rock.

From the attic.....

....I managed to find my scenic quilts I had worked on a couple years ago. I had seen them at a quilt show, and bought a pattern for this one, but typically, I still did it in my own way. I did need the directions to get me started in the basics, but I let my imagination take over once I got those directions in place. This dunes scene is my fav' of the ones I did that year, but I want to do even better in the details and aspects of view, now that I have a better sewing machine, and a lot more learning under my belt. I learned how to open up my thinking a great deal in the making of these 25 different postcards. So now it is time to put that new info to work in a field I had only barely touched on a couple years ago.


Here you can see a bit closer the machine sewing I was newly learning.

The sailboats are somewhat three dimensional in that there is only the black 'mast' holding it to the quilt. I learned how to do the two-sided material in a class called 'Petal-Play' which taught how to make three dimensional flowers etc. Super idea that I have tacked on to this quilt- and a few others. I didn't particularly like how the quilting came out on this one. I think I can do better..sure hope so.


In this close-up you can see what I mean. The shapes are a little more 'blocky' than they should have been.

My first postcard swap all finished...

...with my favorite subject the big cats, and a neat idea I saw on another quilt. Each piece of 'fur' is folded and has an actual edge you can tuck your finger under. The outside edging holds them in place, with the accent cat pic in the middle.


I loved how this color combo turned out. I think it may be my favorite of the whole 25 cards. I did an extra edging with a fancy stitch, and it looks good on the back as well as the front.


This last one is "Victorian" inspired. Deep greens, pinks, and burgandy with that gold sparkle touch - great color combo in my book.



Now that I am finished with the cards, I'm dying to sign up for another swap. They were so much fun to make. But I'm going to hold off and work on my twin bed quilt for my guest bed.

And I wanted to share my 'scenic' quilts with you all, and finish the ones that are still in parts. Went to a small sewing center up in Glastonbury with my sister and got some neat 'grass' material. Have a goodly amount of scenic parts to play with and want to try using my skills that were honed on the great variety I tackled with the postcards. They definately helped me to stretch my imagination.

It also helped that I searched the sites for postcard inspiration and found so many other types of fiber art. So many talented people out there that I am somewhat stopped from trying, and yet encouraged when I read their accounts of how they felt at the beginning and some still do even now. Many humble and hardworking folks who just express themselves in a medium that is fun and beautiful and unbelievably varied.

Now to get back to work...

Almost at the finish line...

Three more fun cards finished for the Postcard swap. This one has my first attemp at using cotton tatting thread on the edging. It broke more than once till I got the tension just right, and the bobbin rewound.(of course it ran out right in the middle of the trip around the edge!!!)


I called this one hot spot for the obvious reason. I had fun doing the free-motion embroidery on the little pink spot. I'm not sure I'm pleased with the black and whites, though. I think maybe I would have liked the round pieces to be exact circles, instead of freeform. And I'm thinking I would have liked it better if the quilting was grey or even black rather than the white. I'll have to try a second version and see if it improves.


This one was my first try at using different yarn and ribbon fibers with the machine embroidery holding them in place. There is a black netting with red dots covering it all, and I left the edge of the linen hanging off for a new effect.

"Fiberart For a Cause" postcards

Took a bit of time out from the 'swap' cards to do some for a great cause. (http://www.virginiaspiegel.com/NewFiles/ACSMakingFFACPostcards.html) This seemed a wonderful way to express myself and to show concern for a terrible disease at the same time. These postcards we donate are actually sold at the "International Quilt Festival" in Chicago! They sold over 350 of them last year. Cancer hasn't got a chance if we all pitch in and fight it. So I am going to try to give it a couple punches of my own.


My favorite purples with a fish missing the net. I even added a few red beads to the net edging.


This speaks for itself in it's title -"Gone Wild" The fuzz of the yarn shows off the edge of the card as well. I even took a tiny crochet hook and pulled some of the fuzz looser from under the net.


This came out so cool. I loved the shear white material with the striping and couldn't think what to do with it to make the transparency work. One of the other scraps had a cloud-like shape and the bell went off. "Sunshine on a Cloudy Day" was born.

More lovely colors for postcard art!

I'm happily back at it with the postcards....


Here is a fav combo of mine. Black and White designs with a little bit of red to punch it up.



Lots of red in this one. Every heart design I could find in my stash to give a strong impression of Kitty Love.


Can never work enough with my favorite color purple. Again went into little scraps of my stash and found all the purps I could that would be used up in this little fan.



This one kinda represents my own blue dish collection I used to have in my dining room. Changed the color scheme many times since then, and the dishes are gone, sold on eBay or given away.

Love that EBay! Just went looking for rubber stamp colors. I has bought some garden theme stamps last year and promptly forgot them. I was so busy in other directions that when they finally arrived, I didn't follow through. Re-discovered them today and thought what fun they would be on my postcards so I was off to find some ink. I have never scrapbooked or any thing similar. These rubber stamps are beautiful and I am looking forward to trying them on material. I hope it works.

Another quilt for the Alzeheimers challenge

"GIRL TALK"
Would you believe that first one came out tooooo big by one lousy inch. I'm not at all a mathematician, and have no patience. Most of the time that is not a problem. But this challenge had rules--9x12 max size. Darn thing came out 10x11 1/2, cause I didn't do the math right!!! So here is a second one, definately under the max size. I took the basic idea from the first postcard quilt I had made. I love my big cats and I had these great textures in these materials. I thought these big cats looked like they were enjoying a chat session in the shade.


Here in this close-up you can tell I added gold beads and did a bunch of fun machine embroidery. There is even a little hand quilting around the 'girls' to make them stand out.

Now I get to make some more postcards. Well, maybe I better take some time to catch up on my bookkeeping and pay our bills. Uggggh! But somebody's gotta do it!

Three more going out!

This was a fun one. I had a small scrap of these funny-looking creatures and a square of patch from a quilt and put them together with the red/purple scrap. Voila! Clowns in space!!

Then I went into my purples stash and got 'petals' picked out for the big flowers in this. Similar technique in the sunflower postcard. Love my purples.....


Last, but certainly not least, is more purples-only fishy. And that cool teal print that reminded me of seaweed. There is a lady in the postcard swap who likes fishes, and she inspired me to think in this direction.


So these three are off in the mail this morning. I had a small wall quilt to mail for the Fund-raiser for breast cancer, and a box of knitted squares for "Close-Knit Hugs", so I had to stop at the P.O. While I was doing that, I asked her about those three postcards and she didn't see they would have any trouble going through--and she liked them! That made my day, and I am off to make some more...

Postcards starting to fly!

Got a second one finished with the apple theme. I actually have a 'series' going. That feels real professional--LOL! I'm always impressed with the talented folk who have a wonderful theme going in a whole group of cards.

Speaking of groups---Ta Dah...I sent my first NINE postcards off in the mail. One of them is going as far away as England. Rather nervous about all of them making it in one piece. I'm trusting reports from many swappers that they all do.

Keeping this short, as I have a couple more ideas for continuing some more 'series' cards.

Allzheimers Quilt

Took a break from the postcards to make a slightly larger (9"x12")one for the Allzheimers fund raiser at this nice site...
http://store.yahoo.com/mallerypressllc/index.html
At my age, it is something that worries me just a bit most of the time, and quite a lot when I do something really forgetful and dumb!!
This was a fun try with free-motion quilting on my machine. Had to change colors quite a few times and could probably do it in my sleep now. It's kinda semi-abstract and I had fun doing it. I can only hope it raises a bit of money for the nice folks who are going through all the trouble to do this great thing for the research.




Here is a close up of "The Chase"



Now back to my postcards. I have so many ideas my fingers can't keep up with my brain. Think maybe I better start writing myself some notes.

Tea for Two postcard

Got another one finished. These are parts left over from a neat set of placemats and coasters I put together from a kit. I loved the materials.
As I am a totally tea drinker (truly don't like coffee, not even in icecream!!!) I thought it was a great theme for a postcard for someone with the same liking.

Today the list came through for the postcard swap from Art2Mail. I'm so excited. We even have some folks from Austrailia and New Zealand. And my Timtex I ordered from Ebay arrived this morning too. I'm ready to get stitchin'!!

The Timtex folks suggested the use of a glue stick instead of fusible webbing. They mentioned the best was the one that goes on purple and then disapears. I have been using my spray for larger quilts, as I didn't have any Wonder-under on hand. The spray does and okay job, but you have to protect the area and hope you don't get the glue where you don't want it to be. I like the idea of the glue stick, and intend to get some tomorrow when I go grocery shopping. Stop & Shop has a mini department store in it, and a good selection of stationery goods, and crayons, pencils and stuff like that, so I hope they have the glue sticks.

Now the only thing left to arrive is the pigma pen set I ordered. Then the postcards will be flying and the post office won't know what hit them!!!!!!!!!!

Sister postcards

So of course after I succeeded in sending and getting back my first postcard, I had to make some for my sisters to keep.
This Teddy bear dancer is for my sis Carolyn who loves her bears. I don't know if you can tell, but there is a sparkly yarn around the edge that gives a very delicate fringe to the card. Hope the post office can handle it!

Apples are the collectors item of my sister Sheila's eye. And she has a very tiny apartment so will appreciate the smallness of her new piece of art, I hope!The dragonfly is a close-up to the full size below...

You can also see I am having a fun time using those fancy stitches on the sewing machine. Thought those little round circles kinda looked like apples in the tree.

Sister Barbara loves yellow and has sunflowers as the kitchen theme in her home. So of course I had to give them a try. I really like this one. It was fun doing the freehand stitching on my machine. I always wanted to try, but haven't been that brave about it. This makes it easy as the project is only 4"by 6", so if I blow it, I can just throw it!!
In the close up, I hope you can tell I used different material for the petals of the flower and had fun trying that blanket stitch on the deep brown middle circle of it. I am really liking these threads of 100% cotton I got from Connecting Threads (www.connectingthreads.com) Went to buy some more and found everybody else loved their new line too. You can't get more til July, and a big apology, (and probably very happy faces doing way big orders to the thread makers behind the scenes.--thread makers doing the happy dance!!!)

There we go for today, and more to come tomorrow.

Postcard Quilt Art

Well, I finally got one done! Have been hearing about them, and then saw some great examples, then actually got a blogger account of how to make one. So here is my first try at little postcard-sized quilting.



I love big cats and all animals jungle... so I went for the lion on my first card. I picked up remnants for the fancy materials used. Stuff I could never use in a bed type quilt. A gold shear, a satin with small bits of glitter, and gold threads for accent. That is the fun of these great cards. I sent it to my sister in a nearby town so that she can give it back to me, and I can check out how well it traveled.


The second in my jungle "series"--a zebra and great black and whites. The red is on a very fine black mesh netting I put over the entire card. And the red stitches are a chance to find out what my Janome sewing machine can do with all those fancy settings.

This close-up may show the mesh, but my 63-year old hands aren't as steady as they used to be.
Here is a scenic abstract- kinda!

Anyone out there that wants to swap, please comment and put your email address in the comment. I will get back to you and give you my snail mail addy for a swap. Looking to get one from every state--I'm Connecticut.

Softness

Here is the softest throw I ever made. It is flannel on the pieced side and regular cloth on the backing. That white flannel is the softest flannel I have ever purchased.

Just loved the whole results... Had a hard time giving it away. But hopefully, the folks in Biloxi, Mi will love it, too. This month I gave our lady in our quilt guild three twin size quilts, and this nice soft throw to send to the survivors of the hurricane. She got wonderful pics and letters from the people who received the first packages. It made us all feel so great for the time and energy we put into making them.
This is a closer look at the quilt.

Stained-glass look in quilt

Here is a twin size that is a great way to get rid of all those left-over strips of material from years of other projects with edges, sashs, etc. I grouped them in color piles and then sewed them together into a square and diagonal cut the finished square. Add a black diagonal cut square to the other half and you are on your way to a quilt that has a stained glass look. Can you see my error in the layout of the squares???