New Journals - Leather

Wondering what I did with that leather I bought a few weeks ago?
I used them for journal covers.


This one came out kind of interesting ... The scrap of leather was too small to make a regular sized one, so I folded it down on itself and made a 1/2-size journal.


As usual, the signatures are sewn in.


2 run-of-the-mill journals with leather covers.


This one has a wrap-around cover.
I used a polymer clay bead (purple and gold) I made a while back.

4-Patch Posey Quilt Top

I finished the 4-patch posey quilt top I've been working on for eons.

This was supposed to be a quilt for my mother-in-law. She'd been living with cancer for the past few years. This was intended to keep her cozy and warm during chemo-treatments (if that's possible). However, she died in May of this year--never telling any of us how sick she really was.

Any ideas on how to quilt it?

Little Gardener is Complete!

I finished the Little Gardener Quilt started in March at the Wendy Bulter Berns Workshop.
Quilted the background and bound it this afternoon.


I spent a long time trying to figure out the best way to thread paint her face in order to make it look three-dimensional. This is what I came up with.
The thread-painting is done before the top is layered with batting and backing. So the face piece has stitching, but it puffs up from the quilt.


Same thing with her arm. Again, the thread-painting is done before the quilting, so it puffs up from the background.



Here is one of the heavily thread-painted flowers, along with the edge treatment : a little fancy yarn at the binding edge. I laid it on to test it, and it really did seem to be missing something when I pulled it away.

Feels good to have another project done!

New Books on Free Motion Quilting Patterns

I bought Sally Terry's Hooked on Feathers book.
At the FVTC Sewing Expo in March, Renee Shedivy (who first taught me to do free-motion quilting) was raving about this book. This past weekend, the local quilt shop invited Sally Terry to Oshkosh for a weekend of workshops. I was unable to attend, but I heard it was a blast!

Sally Terry is a long-arm quilter, but these patterns could easily be adapted for a regular standard size sewing machine without a quilt frame. The beauty of her feathers is that they are free-form. No tracing them out for hours beforehand. You just do it! And they look fabulous!


I also bought Dijanne Ceval's 72 More Ways not to Stipple or Meander.
Tip : She lives in Australia, so you might want to order the CD to save on shipping, then print and bind it locally. While you're at it, order the first CD/Book : 72 Ways Not to Stipple or Meander. More great ideas for free-motion quilt backgrounds.

I admit it, I get bored to pieces with stippling and meandering. So I'm always looking for other ideas. This CD/Book is packed with them.

Peas-in-a-Pod Post Cards

In PA last week, pea pods were in season in my father-in-law's garden.
We ate all the pea pods he brought up from the garden.


Version 1 is done with a reverse applique technique.
I layered a pull "page" of the green over-top the background.
On top of that, the outlines of the peapods were drawn on quilt paper (like tracing paper).
Then I stitched through it all, followung the outlines.
Tore off the quilting paper, and picked the bits that remained.
Then I cut away the green to the edge of the pea pods.

Quilting paper has become my favorite way to mark fabric for quilting.



Here;s version 2 done with fusible applique.
The end result doesn't seem all that different, proving there's more than one way to "skin a cat."
Here I used a different color green for the inner pea pod walls. I didn't bother to reverse the design, so it's a mirror image of the one above.
This method is more familiar to me, but sometimes I worry about the longevity of the fusibles. Will it turn yellow as it ages?
This method is easy and flexible, but may not be advised for heirloom pieces--or that great piece I'll want to have hanging in the Smithsonian someday ;-)

Chickadee

Here's the full quiltie (again, it's square ; my design wall is warped.) This was a class project from a few years ago in threadpainting. The teacher was a painter, so she had a wonderful sense of color and how to mix the threads to get the desired effects. You can see an example of the pine bow behind the bird.

This was also quite an exercise in marking and quilting the quilt.
* The background was echo-quilted freehand with clear thread (no marking needed).
* The pinecones and acorns in the corners were drawn on quilting paper, pinned to the quilt, and stitched through. Afterwards, I pulled the paper off. The stitching perforates the paper so it comes off pretty easily. This is a great technique where precision is needed. See a little more about the technique here.
* On the borders, I used a sliver of soap to and a ruler to mark the grids. The great part about using soap to mark is that is comes off with just a spritz of water. (Lever 2000 is a great one to use as it's hard. And it comes in blue and white.)

Maple Sap Soap

Last weekend, I was able to make 2 batches of soap, now that the wet studio is in better shape to allow working on new projects. I used a strong tea (Tazo Passion Fruit and Honey Bush Peach) made with Maple Sap, instead of plain water. As with the goat-milk and honey soaps, I'm hoping the sugars in the sap will carmelize in the saponification process. I'm not sure how much of the tea scent (I didn't use any fragrance or essential oils) will be left at the end of the curing process, but it sure smelled good in the making! This batch will be ready in another 5 weeks.

A few years ago, I went to a craft show and purchased soap from a remarkable soap-maker at Century Farmhouse. Her soaps had unusual combinations of scents and ingredients. The scents were not over-powering, just really pleasant ... I bought a bar of her maple sap and walnut soap--and I've been savoring it ever since. The Wake-Me Up Rosemary was also very nice. Do check out her site, and her soap! She is a real Wisconsin Artisan!

Salmon

I finished the Salmon wall hanging!

It is actually nice and square. It's my design wall that is a little warped, falling over a bookshelf behind it. I don't have the hanging pocket on it yet.

The pattern is from Quilts with a Twist in Alaska. When I ordered it last summer, they sent a nice note along with it. I live in Oshkosh, WI, and dream of going to Alaska one day ... They live in Alaska, and remembered coming to Oshkosh for the EAA Air Show one year, when they used to fly.


Here's a detail of the quilting. The quilting in the center was a free-form wave that went very quickly. The border is a wave pattern. I drew the pattern on quilting (tissue) paper to make sure the design fit the space. Then I laid the paper on top and stitched right through it. The stitching perforates the tissue paper, and you can pull it off afterwards. This technique works well where precision is important.

You can also see where I did a little thread-painting on the fish tail.

Whenever I have to do a machine binding, I like to watch this video by Bonnie McCaffrey, just to remind me of the specifics. If I don't, I invariably get something backwards and wind up ripping. She also suggests adding some couched yarn or special threads to embellish the binding edge. So I added some of that yarn I often use to edge postcards.

Wet Studio 5S'ed

One of the reasons I haven't produced much lately is because my work areas are such complete and utter disasters, that it's a tangible hindrance to creativity. For work this week, I'm learning all about LEAN, including 5S. The 5S-es are :
1) Sort
2) Straighten
3) Sweep / Shine
4) Standardize
5) Sustain

Here is a BEFORE shot of my basement Wet Studio :

The counter is so cluttered with stuff that I haven't been able to do anything new ...

After 4 hours of 5S-ing, the above mess became this tidy and LEAN version (Ahhh!):
Doesn't it just say, "Make something here!" now?

Things left on the counter are stirrers, measuring spoons, measuring cups, water pitcher, sop cloths (for those serendipitous clean-ups).

BEFORE : This is the cabinet under that cluttered counter. Things are shoved in wherever they will fit with no real rhyme or reason.


Here's the AFTER shot :

It might not look all that different, but things are in an order that makes much more sense now (ie, epty containers (dye pots) are on one shelf. Lesser used items are on the bottom shelf. Also note that the shelf spaces are labeled, so I'll know where to put things away again.


BEFORE shot of the sink area. Those are actually CLEAN dishes there in the sink. I do usually manage to do dishes after a day of mess-making, but getting back down here to put them away may be weeks later.


AFTER : The sink is empty, clean and shiny -- well, as shiny as it gets.


BEFORE : There's an old Library Card Catalog behind all that stuff. I've never gotten around to actually using it--until today.


AFTER 4 hours : I cleared away the stuff sitting in front of the Card catalog. The drawers now have labels. I decided to keep my paints in the drawers. The rod for the Library cards actually keeps the paints standing a at a slight slant, which makes them less likely to leak. [Sorry for the blurry pictures.]


In the Sort and Sweep stages, I discovered this chair that I'd forgotten about, along with 2 (count 'em) dust-pans with brush sets. I gave one to my husband for his side of the basement, to encourage him to sweep up his sawdust. ;-)

Although there's more work to be done, more piles to go through, this is a pretty good start. Maybe I'll actually make some soap this weekend??? or Dye something ... I have many more possibilities now that I have a usable work space again. Now the trick it to maintain it!

Everyday Inspiration ; Oyster with Pearl, Mid-West Style

I saw this little gem on the sidewalk the other day ... I had to do a double take because at first I thought it was a pearl in an oyster shell.

"I do not weep at the world. I am too busy sharpening my oyster knife ..." --Zora Neale Hurston

I think it might be spider eggs on a piece of bark? Anyone out there recognize the critter?

I live near a lake, but we don't have pearl oysters--just little zebra mussels.

Wrapped Quilts

Wrapped Quilts returned from the Public Museum

Since this was new to me, I thought it would be worth a blog post ... The museum quilt show closed after Mother's Day last weekend. The curator contacted all the artists to pick up our "wrapped" quilts. I didn't quite know what she meant by that ... but I had an idea.

Museum curators have a real reverence for "stuff." They know how to take care of artifacts with an eye towards preserving them through the ages. My quilts were returned carefully wrapped in a cotton sheet, tied with cotton string. Protected from dust and light ...

Far cry from how I turned them in in February!

Baby Quilt mailed to Japan

I finished the quilt for my sister's new baby, due any day now. Mailed it off to Japan yesterday.

Wow! That riot of color is a bit much for me, but Oliver liked it, so I suspect the new baby boy will also like it.


I made a little tassle for one of the corners. I thought this would be a good "handle" for little hands.