What I’m working on now.

Projects: 2 quilts for my son’s who graduate from Morehead State University in May.  The youngest is getting a quilt of 12 inch star blocks and a larger mariners compass in the middle.   The older is getting 12 house blocks decorated for the seasons. The applique on this set is all hand stitched.

Next I am working to complete my praying the passion series.  I have four quilts of 13 planned quilts finished.  Prayers and scripture verses will be added as standing plaques.

Finally I want to work on quilted journals,  and a variety of  small art quilts. (less than 15″)

My newest studio arrangement is working great.  It is once again a complete disaster, but my tools are always where they are suppose to be. Yeah!

Do Not Weep for Me

My daughter has posed for my bible women.  Below is one of the poses.  Each pose has been posterized and then put in gray scale.  Each of the five women will use 5-6 values of a color.  Other faces have been put on the images so all 5 women look different.  I have drawn enlarged copies on news print and now will begin transferring this to freezer paper.

Flynn Quilting Frame

Here are some pictures of the set up I used to quilt my triple Irish chain.  I had to pull my table out to have room for the longer rods.  On the right side it worked great because the frame could rest on my cutting and work table.  When the frame went to the left side however it was a bit trickier because I didn’t have anything to balance it on and it gets heavy.  I finally stacked some books and a box on my storage cubicles.  This was not perfect, but worked in a pinch.

I think I will stick to smaller quilts because towards the end I had to adjust the frame at the end of each row.  Earlier I was able to quilt three one  inch rows.  When the quilt was pushed all the way to the right side, I put the machine in reverse and went back the other way.  Over all I was please with the quilting and it was pretty easy.

If I was doing a quilt this large with other that straight lines it would not have worked.  Over all I like the Flynn frame best for quilts up to 48″.

Studio rearrangement

Was cleaning my studio and my small peg board fell off the wall.  This lead to a major overhaul of the entire room.  The last picture is of the treat box and pocket that my daughter made for me to check each day.

Flynn frame

My husband purchased some new rods for my Flynn frame so I can work on different size quilys.  Need to finish adding the muslin to the rods and marking it.  Only ran into one snag, my studio.  I got distracted and started sorting scraps and the got out my UFO’s.  Then decided to organize my quilts and tools.  Now the studio is a disaster and I decided to rearrange the furniture and storage units.  Ahhhhh!!!!!

So much for making Christmas presents this weekend.

Some Rust Dying Results

These are some of my results from my rusted object fine.   I wet the fabric in vinegar and water and covered it with clear plastic.  The gray fabrics were then tea-dyed.

Objects for Rust Dyeing

I was very lucky this morning.  I found all the objects in these pictures at a yard sale this morning for about 6 dollars.  They had so much stuff, it was hard to choose.  I can’t wait until I have some time to dye again.

Betrayal

I finally finished the thread painting on the faces and hands. I also added rope for a border. This was a new white nylon rope. It was tea dyes, scuffed up on trees and then burned over a candle to look old.

Flynn Quilt Frame

I apologize to those of you who were wanting to know more about  how the frame worked.  It’s been a busy summer and then lots of computer issues.

Here is a picture of my quilt in the frame at the machine.

Flynn Quilt set up

This piece is still unfinished.   I must continue thread painting on the faces and hands.  But with the other quilting done it is making in very easy to work with.

The Betrayal

The background circles for this piece were quilted on the Flynn frame.  Most machines have between the have from 6 – 9 inches of space between the needle and the back post of the machine.   Although my machine has a smaller amount of room and I only had about 4-41/2″ of quilting space it still worked quite well.  I was able to quilt small circles across the width of my quilt and then roll it to the next section and keep going.

I found the frame very easy to adjust and easy to control.   I was very pleased with how flat and nice the back of the quilt was, not puckers at all.

One thing you need to make sure is that your batting is at least two inches more than the quilt top all the way around and that your backing is also around 6 inches longer on each end of the quilt to fit in the frame.

This was definitely a great buy for those of us who are on a low budget.

More Rust Dyes

The following rust dyed pieces were done on PFD fabric. I wrapped the cloth around old horse shoes. Then covered in vinegar and water and let set for a week. I also learned a very important lesson with this set. Never use an aluminum foil tray with this. We were gone for the week and when I came back my tub was coated in black sludge and rust because it had eaten through the pan.