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I’ve been working my larger Lily quilt-once I catch up, I’ll pass on what I’ve learned while making this quilt. I think my new tag line should be: “I make all the mistakes so you don’t have to”! I’ll post more about Lily later -enjoy!
You don’t always win. And, you have to make lots of mediocre art to make great art. This I know to be true. Case in point:This month’s FMQ Challenge over at SewCalGal’s blog gave us a choice-either learn one particular motif or do a challenge provided by Susan Brubaker Knapp that uses environmental objects to create your own motifs. That was a no brainer for me-I’ve long been interested in creating my own motifs from what I see around me. It all started out so well. Susan asked us to just take 5-10 minutes with our digital cameras on macro lens and just…
I just got back from a week at Huntington Beach, Ca. It was one of the best vacations ever! It started out slowly with a day of just DH. Then Son #2 and girlfriend joined us, followed by Son #1 from Maine and his girlfriend, as well as a Dear Friend of 35+ years and her DH. We filled our incredible house rental with family and friends. My Mommy heart runneth over. We rode bikes and ate well, walked the pier to watch surf and surfers and ate well, walked to downtown to hang out and ate well, hung out on the…
I like to build fun little projects into my schedule-projects that are quick and are easy on the mind. I’ve wanted to do this one for awhile-use my Daisy Fill to make a table topper. I started with two Kona Cottons-a gray and a pink. I used Misty Fuse to put them together, making a reversible topper about 36″ square. It’s pretty easy to make a table topper. Mark the edges of your topper and lay a line of bubbles down each side. Then randomly put down bubbles and daisies, going over all lines twice using free motion quilting and fill all your…
Sometimes you want a beautifully executed narrow rolled hem. If you have a curved hemline on a circular skirt, or if you are working with fussy, thin or silky fabrics, a narrow rolled hem will give a beautiful finish and add a little body to the hemline, producing that lovely flip of the hem. I think a narrow rolled hem gives a couture look to a garment. I learned this super easy method that does not involve one of those pesky, hard-to-use Narrow Rolled Hem Feet. In fact, all that is needed are three passes of a straight stitch plus one trimming…
While wandering the vendor offerings at IQF-Long Beach, I ran into a booth that had kits to make a shrug from Minky. The shrug was adorable. So I bought the pattern (Kwik Sew K3717) and decided I would be making one when I got home. It takes 1 yd each of 2 Minky’s or a drapey knit. Have you ever worked with Minky? There should be a Fabric Annoyance Level Rating System (FALRS): Minky might be a 10, with velvet a mere 8. In a perfect world, you would have a giant vacuum system built into your cutting table, like…
Today I’m sharing the rest of the photos of my quilt tour at IQF-Long Beach: “Tidal Pool-After the Storm” by Holly S. Altman was so intriguing. Holly used a variety of techniques to achieve this interpretation of a tide pool. Holly was a Marine Biology student (can you tell?) and she tried to portray the fragility of the tidal pool in her work. This was included in the “West Coast Wonders” section. I took many detailed shots-I could have spent an hour with this one and still found new detail. Also in “West Coast Wonders”, “Lombard Street” by Susan R. Lane (California) was gorgeous…
I’m giddy, almost vibrating from last week! I just got back from International Quilt Festival-Long Beach and it was a blast. I met all kinds of fascinating quilters, saw some amazing quilts, enjoyed the balmy beauty of Long Beach and had a spectacular time presenting at the Saturday Night Sampler. The Saturday Night Sampler where I presented was so much fun! There were 15 presenters, each with a unique subject. Participants could freely roam the room and listen to the presenter of most interest to them. My talk was on “Fast Fixes 4 Free Motion Frustrations” and I covered the…
This month’s challenge on SewCalGal’s blog is by Angela Walters, a professional long armer, author and young Modern Quilter. She showed us how to use “tiles” as background fill. I really like the concept and probably will use it in future projects-thank you Angela! I have to admit, I am currently on the cusp of being burned out, so I only did a small section. My Visible Learning Curve is present: you will see in the lower left hand corner I started out using a different motif in each tile. That looked too busy. So I started to use the…