My details–Your opinions

I’ve been painting and playing with the canvases that I want to mount my small pieces on. I’m not sure I’m totally convinced on some of them and nothing is fastened down, yet! I took some quick pics of the pieces as I think they might be finished…well, they’re leaning against stuff and crooked, but you can get the idea.

I’m pretty sure about these first ones, but I always love suggestions!

   

These 3 are all small…8 x 10 canvas and the next two will be 16 x 20.

I thought I wanted the plain background shown here on this one

but I have more of the cording I used to edge the piece and tried adding it to that background. I kind of like it, but straight lines and glue….whew! I’m not too steady!

Maybe I should make wavy lines…really wavy like the edges inside the piece.

I painted a background that I hated for this one, tried overpainting it and ended up tossing it aside. It may be right for something else someday. Anyway, I thought I might like to adhere this fabric to the canvas as a background and then add the piece. If I paint it on/over with texture medium, I think it will give it a crisp look. Any experienced advice from fabric painters?

And then I took a second look at a piece I thought was long done…like in March, already! I’m not sure I like it the way it is or if I want to expand the background to make the work a little bigger and more important feeling. It’s 16 x 20 right now. What do you think?

  

All in all, I feel like I’m making good progress. Even if these change a bit, I think I’m close to final decisions. It’s just those finishing details again, then…I am not in love with screw eyes and hanging wire and I’m horrible at the brown paper dust covers in the back. Do these need them? Yeah, probably. Don’t skimp out now. Finish things professionally!

Instant Gratification

We all need a little instant happiness and that’s not always easy to come by when you live in a one-stitch-at-a-time world or you have to wait for a dye pot or a kiln!

My instant is being able to take two hunks of fabric, make a simple slice or two, sew them back together and start embellishing. Simple, easy, ready…

I opted for the simplest of quilting designs, straight lines

and the simplest of beading options, follow the print on the fabric.

You know that simple embellishment is not really my style. But some of my favorite pieces have come from the desire for instant results and uncomplicated design. As long as I’m using commercial prints, I should take advantage of the actual printing. Makes my brain happy…no hard thinking involved!

And why, you ask, should I expose my laziest side to you? As a way to advise you about learning and practicing.

If you are just learning free motion quilting or beading, one of the easiest ways to practice is to follow the lines and shapes already printed on the fabrics you are using. It frees the brain from trying to create free motion designs at the same time you are trying to master the mechanics of quilting-moving fabric-thread tension-speed all at the same time.

And follow-the-line-beading gives you a ready made place to emphasize design on fabric.

See…instant gratification! No rocket science involved at all…only quick and easy fun.

And the Grid Goes On!

Nothing has changed my mind about the grid for my latest project. I’ve quilted a grid with several colors of thread and large stitches that I hope will show up. Today I dug around in my bead box–admittedly not much of a stash there, yet!–but I knew I had some beads that I picked up in the bargain box at a gem show that I thought would work well. Yay! I found them and they are working great…larger than the ones I’ve been using and different materials, but so much fun to have the variety.

Of course, I needed a few more from the bead store…so all I have for you today are a few detail shots of some of my beading. Sometimes I feel that beading goes so slowly and sometimes I can’t believe how quickly I can get some beads on. I had both of those feelings as I worked today!

Here’s what I have to show you

I’m not sure they all look like they are on the same piece, but it will all come together in the end. And if it doesn’t, it isn’t the end!!!!

Which Way To Go?

Just heading down to my studio every day with no expectations is a wonderful feeling. I never have issues with what to create, because I can get myself started with any scrap from the scrap basket. What stalls me, though, is working on something just for fun when I know that I have upcoming comittments that are not 100% ready to go. Do I take time to play or do I take care of the obligations first so that there is no last minute panic? Can I handle the lingering undercurrent of guilt if I play instead of putting work first? But my work is also a lot of fun!

Guess what? I think I can cover both bases. I have a piece that I’ve been dragging around for a sample for over a year. It could continue to be a sample, but if I put it together it can graduate to a different kind of sample! Or even a finished piece. And I can play at being creative. Then maybe tomorrow I can organize my stuff for the library night and DesMoines.

This definitely needs some work!

Promoting myself reminders:

Spontaneous Quilt Adventures, Tecumseh District Library, Tuesday, Sept. 13, 7 PM.

Flower Circle Play 21 x 21

American Quilters Society, DesMoines IA, Sept. 28-Oct. 1

Basic Beading on Quilts, The Quilt Patch, Oct. 15, 10:30-4:00

All right–decision made. I’m going to work on the sample first and then organize my work stuff! Fun keeps me happy and wanting to work more!

Admiration and Envy!

I took a free motion quilting class from one of my long time idols, Patsy Thompson. Her videos are a big part of what I learned free motion quilting from. (Boy, the grammar in that sentence is awful!) Anyway, her work is absolutely  wonderful and I was so happy to be able to take a free motion feathers class from her. I learned sooooooooo much!

I’m always amazed when teachers I have had analyze what they do and how they do it. I don’t analyze; I just do it! I envy those that have that ability because they really have figured out the best way to do what they do and why they do it that way. We spent quite a bit of class time thinking about what we were doing, and my free motion quilting past has not had much thinking involved. We made lots and lots of little quilt samples to learn each aspect of making feathers. Her book explains what we were doing, but it was so much better to hear it, see it and do it all with the expert’s advice.

I keep forgetting to take before and after pictures, but my friends let me take pictures of their quilting about half-way throught the day. This one is from someone who had never quilted feathers before.

I’m sorry I didn’t get an after because the improvement was so dramatic!

Unlearning is often difficult, but having learned feathers previously and now learning a different method, I’d say this is an awesome job. And that analysis of how and why that I mentioned earlier is why she was making the change! It works better to do it Patsy’s way.

Here are a couple of pictures comparing Patsy’s samples to what I was doing! I thought this made a good joke!

I think you’ll see that no matter how fancy I try to make my little swirls and squiggles, I still need lots more practice! But it was so much fun to try all the different styles, that now I don’t want to do anything BUT practice, practice, practice. Feathers are so beautiful and it’s so nice to be able to do them…and with a little planning of the layout, the finished product is even more beautiful. Thanks for a good class, Patsy!

Christmas On My Mind…

Working on projects to teach before Christmas time, but they have to be about Christmas so people are interested in taking them. Also simple enough so that there is time to get them done for gifts before Christmas! I’m usually a day late and a dollar short, but I think I can hit the window of opportunity for this one.

The extent of my bead stash can be seen right here…not too far into the addiction, yet!!!

However, I have managed to pick up a few more strands–just enough to finish my project samples. Yeah, yeah, that’s my story!

This wreath, though, has become my nemesis. I have started beading three times and have not been happy with anything so far. I’m going to try only red beads, finish the darn thing, add red ribbon and it will be done! If I still don’t like it, I just won’t offer a wreath as a project or a kit! But the challenge of it has got me hooked.

On a happy note, I am loving my other samples.

Traditional colors, mostly, on a traditional tree shape-

And the newly popular black Christmas and a little wonky shape-

Then this lime colored bit of fantasy is waiting for all the colors in the rainbow!

I have been sticking to mostly round glass beads with an occasional cube thrown in, but I couldn’t resist using these turquoise beauties on this striped tree.

Since the Christmas ideas have been going so well, I’m wondering if I have time to develop a couple of quick Halloween ideas. There won’t be much time for that if I teach this class in October, but if I keep it simple, I could offer that choice. None of these projects take very long, so it’s a real possibility. But WHAT Halloween image to use? There are so many….Oh, wait, isn’t that exactly what I said when I started my search for Christmas images? Only one answer…research. Some people might have a different answer, like draw or sketch, but that’s my least favorite choice. Not too good at it, but that may be my only option in order to stay free of copyright violations.

Halloween here I come!

Can I Teach It Now?

Since I am now totally addicted to beading on quilts, I want to lure everyone over to doing it! My normal pattern of action is to learn something new and then want to teach it to others…so, of course, that’s what I’m going to do. I always figure if I stay one step ahead of my students, then I’m good!

Kits seem to be the way to go but as I’m working on my samples, it’s getting harder to figure out the logistics. Here’s where I’m at with the first sample.

Huge variety of beads on this one, which I made from my meager collection and a variety of beads that people who were cleaning things out gave me! A kit would be a lot more controlled, but how many beads do you put in? That’s the part I’m trying to figure out. I have 3 other samples ready for beading and about 50 other ideas for projects! I’m starting with Christmas, but can Halloween be far behind?

My other big bunch of fun is my new felting machine. Here’s the new baby…

And here are a couple of shots of my first playing. I used a wool base and attached various yarns and then some cotton fabric. This is going to be tons of fun!

However, when you’re retired, fun is often interrupted by more fun! We are off to see a movie and I’m loving the idea of a big tub of buttered popcorn! Mmmmmmm…

Fusible Thread

Yesterday’s project seemed like a perfect place to try out a new (to me) product, fusible thread.

The first use I heard of it was for foiling…just throw random pieces of thread onto your fabric and iron on the foil. That may happen yet today, but I’m not sure. Then I heard that it’s a great way to raw edge applique without a whole applique piece being stiffened by fusible, maybe better for multiple layers.

The way I used the thread was demonstrated on the Superior Threads website. I followed the directions pretty closely. First step is to know what way is up…or which side of the fabric you need your fusible to be on. My project is simply to fuse/applique the circles on the top, so the fusible needs to be on the wrong side of the circle fabric, just as if I were fusing the entire circle. Fusible in the bobbin, smooth thread on top–cotton thread on top would result in ‘stuck’ fibers and the thread would not be removable.

Here’s what I did. Traced around a circle template, on the right side of the fabric, since I planned on cutting on or inside the line.

I used my open toe foot and kept the right side of the opening on my line in order to keep that ‘perfect’ circle.

 Whenever basting around a circle like this, the thread pulls the fabric a little tighter than perfectly flat. That’s perfect if you plan on turning an edge under, but I want this to be very flat, so I ‘ungather’ the edge just by smoothing the fabric towards where I started/finished. Then I cut as close to the thread as possible and it’s ready to be fused down.

I positioned my circles and ironed them down, just as if I was using my regular Steam-a-Seam or Misty Fuse. The thread fuses the circle to the background and then the top thread is able to be pulled off…or not! I used white thread because I knew I was going to see what happened when I pulled it off and I wanted to see it clearly (old eyes, you know!).

  I found that I could definitely see the little holes that remained. For this project, that doesn’t matter, because there will be an edge treatment of some type around each circle. And if I had used a monofilament or matching color thread, it wouldn’t even have to be removed. I just needed to see those thread pulling results for future reference. I may not use this method if I plan on having truly raw edges.

Here’s what I liked: easy to use, fuses as well as regular fusibles, leaves fabrics soft for quilting or beading, fabric behind appliques is easy to remove for bulk or shadowing, applique really doesn’t move, need pins or further basting after this fusing

And I’m not sure of: my fusible often does double duty as a stabilizer since it gives the fabric that little extra stiffness. This won’t do that, so I may need to use stabilizers more. That’s yet to be seen…

Also yet to be seen is whether or not this piece needs a border. That’s what I’d like to hear from you! And if you have used fusible thread, I’d love to know what you think and how you used it.

Procrastination Ploys

Yes, I have been procrastinating. Using everything at hand to be too busy to do work on Jolynn’s quilt. I finally figured out why…when I put my first few blocks on the wall and saw how big I would need to make it, I just shut it out of my mind for a while. I said I needed to get a few more fabric choices. I said I needed a large amount of dedicated time before I could get anything accomplished. I said I was too busy getting shows and classes organized. Baloney! I’m just lazy and didn’t want to make color decisions and sit down and sew. Lazy, lazy, lazy and today I faced my little procrastinating lies and sewed up some blocks.

Some cute little whacky nine-patches.

And a few larger blocks with curves.

And some simple diagonal cuts…just a quick mention to those of you who aren’t used to sewing without patterns and rules…usually your seams will not be exactly even when you start or when you end with this style of designing. You can trim at any time to give yourself straight lines and square blocks! But it really doesn’t matter if you start with crooked seam fabric or straight, your block will look the same from the top!

Procrastination leads me astray often, so I’m not going to set a deadline for finishing this quilt, but let’s just say I sure would like to have it done before the actual start of summer!

And to make myself feel even better, I sewed sleeves on two finished projects and got my leaf quilt washed and ready for a sleeve. I don’t know if I showed you how I finished the appliqued leaves with the cording, but here are a couple of pics for that.

Tomorrow I have to pick up the KEQ quilts from the Sauder show and then I really do have some classes and shows that have to get organized. No more procrastination!

Machine Topstitched…yep, that’s it!

It’s lovely to be able to spend an entire day in the studio. I’m often asked how I go about designing a finished piece, so I thought I’d show you.

I’ve been working on this bright tropical piece off and on for a while now. I pieced my leaves and put the large chunks of fabric that I wanted to use up on the design wall. I decided that I wanted to use both green and black fabrics behind the leaves. Here’s a shot of it, partially assembled.

Haven't quite finished the background piecing.

I showed you the leaf with the new piping fusible and you can see how I plan on using that. First, though, I had to decide how I was going to finish the edges and apply all the rest of my leaves. Internal debate: satin stitch? raw edge? hand applique? no, no, no! decorative machine applique? AHA–turned under edges, machine topstitched, simple and done!

I honestly don’t like doing invisible machine applique with monfilament thread. I just have never liked the finished look. So here’s what I do for my machine topstitched applique.

My leaf shapes were free form cut and then placed on fusible interfacing, with the fusible side down. Stitch all the way around and cut a slit in the center of the interfacing for turning. After turning, the fusible part of the interfacing will be inside.

Ready to turn.

Turn and poke out those pointy ends with a knitting needle or skewer. Finger press the edges, making sure that a tiny bit of the front shows on the back. That way you won’t have any ugly interfacing hanging out when you turn it over to use it!

Press all around the edges first, just keeping your iron tip within the seam allowance. Take your time…it pays off in the end. I finish pressing from the fabric side because that’s the side that has to look good!

Turned, pressed, ready to use!

I took all my leaves back to the design wall and moved them around on the background a few times, just to make sure I liked them the way I had them originally. Here’s another tip—take photos when you are playing on the design wall. You may like something really well but not be able to duplicate it if you play too long. The picture will help you get back to the layout you love best.

Ready to spray baste and get it quilted.

For the machine topstitching, I pinned each leaf (you may prefer to thread baste or glue baste) to the background and sewed them down. I used a straight stitch, very close to the edge, and black thread. If I’m going to get decorative, it’s going to be with my quilting. That’s the absolute most fun part for me! I don’t pre-plan my quilting–maybe someday I will, or some special piece may dictate that to me. I think on this one I will start within the leaves and large floral background pieces and maybe just have leaf shapes. That’s kinda where the ‘quirks’ part of my life kicks in….we’ll just see what happens as it happens!