This is my unfinished quilt on God’s Grace. The stairs are white fabric that was painted increasingly darker. Strips were pieced with a blue organza fabric over the stair fabric. This would have been so much easier if I made a template or used freezer paper. I just eyeballed it and if it didn’t match my picture I unstitched and adjusted the angles. Oh well, I learned my lesson.
Now, I just can’t decide how to quilt it.
I took some pictures of a friends horse and then turned it black and white. I drew it and simply numbered the color values 1-6. Next I made 6 piles of brown fabrics for the 6 values and began to cut out all the shapes for this quilt. I tried to turn under most of the shapes. I think it looks like a paint by number.
Click thumbnails for close up of stitching.
It took only a few days to completely trash my studio with new projects.
Horse Project
Beach Quilt - tight squeeze
Design Wall overflow
My cutting table
What a mess!
I have been working hard, but seem to have little to show for it. I have been making quilted journals and giving them away to friends. I am also continuing to work on my stations of the cross series. My main endeavor is working toward having everything ready to be juried by KY Crafted next month. Wish me luck.
I am also trying to organize a portfolio of my work so I can start finding a venue for sales. I did get my business license and tax id. Now what?
Horses — With the equestrian games coming I am trying to work on some horse ideas. I have one designed, but it is very complicated and slow work.
“To accomplish great things we must not only act but also dream, not only plan but also believe.” Anatole France
Last evening instead of repainting horns made by the children in our co-op, I ended up having to remake them. (mold – yuck) One of my friends is in charge of a play and the horns are for the march around Jericho. So instead of quilting, I spent the evening on the porch covered in paper mache.
It was a beautiful spring evening in the company of my daughter and serenaded by twitterpated birds.
This is the eagle face with the thread painting for feathers. I still need to do the beak. Below is a color tryout for the round background.
I’ve started another quilt called Ezekiel’s Dream. Posted are the four faces and one of the feathers. I will be thread painting the faces and have about 100 feathers to sew. The background of the quilt is a large circle made with a 12 inch wedge.
I’ve been working on some quilted book covers. I gave several away before I thought about photographing them. Others were photographed before all the beading and extras were added and given away before I rephotographed them. Hope you enjoy!
I know a lot of people have been posting pictures of their quilt studios. My ideas may help those of you who don’t have a lot of money to spend. I have been lucky enough to take over my college son’s bedroom. Just a little bit of muscle changes my cutting table area back into a bed. I have use the headboard and two saw horses to make my cutting table. A 4ft by 7ft piece of marker board was glued to the same size piece of plywood. This makes a great top to draw on or for working with paint. For Christmas I had a mat-board custom cut to fit over this. My tools are kept on the wall on scrap pieces of peg board. I didn’t even have to throw out my son’s teddy bear collection or gymnastic medals
My storage system has just been plastic stack drawers that I try to get when I can find them on sale. I use them as the base for my pressing table. The top is again plywood with cotton batting and muslin stretched over it and stapled on the back. I removed the closet doors and added boards for shelves and more storage bins. An empty dresser and two night stands stacked serves as extra storage.
My biggest challenge was for a sewing table. I had a folding table just the right height but I wanted my machine set down in like a “real” sewing table. We went to Lowes to find some 1/2 inch wide smooth wood. We couldn’t find anything suitable, but it was suggested that we as in floor tiles because the boxes had smooth boards in the top for shipping that are thrown away. We found two that were perfect size. My husband traced my machine and cut a hole in both boards. Then we glued them with wood glue. A frame was made using 2 by 1 inch wood. Finally a notch was cut in the frame so I could load the bobin without lifting my machine. It may not be fancy but it sure works great.
My design wall was made with white flannel over fiber board.
The last wall of my studio is where my daughter’s sewing machine is and of course a few more storage boxes. You can see the corner of my pressing table on the left.
The National Quilt Museum sent the results of the Moda School block challenge Monday. My Daughter won 2nd place in the 5th-8th grade division with her block “Show and Tell” One of the 5 year olds in our sewing/quilting group won honorable mention in the preschool to 4th grade with her block “Swans.” Scroll down the page to Recent Projects to see pictures. The blocks will be on displaya the museum in Paducah from January 16th through March 10th. Winning blocks will stay up longer.
Christmas is over and it’s back to home schooling. I am working on a small quilt for the QA magazine challenge on Rock and Roll.
The quilting on the beach quilt is taking forever. I wanted the sand really densly quilted and I seem to not be getting vey far.
I have been sorting all my scraps again. I have my fabrics sorted by color in drawers that make up my ironing board stand. Then I have other drwers sorted by color for pieces smaller than fat quarters. Now I have small drawers for smaller colored scraps all sorted. I still have my snippet box as a big jumple of pieces.
