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I’m a counter-I count things, I just can’t help it. So when I was bubble quilting away on the border of my Saw Tooth Star, I kept thinking, this is taking for-ev-er. So of course, I had to measure just how slowly it was going and sure enough, my pace was exactly 24″ an hour. Keep in mind that this is only about an inch wide! Bubbling takes awhile.It’s my not be evident from the photo, but one of the great things about the close quilting done by the bubbles is that it creates dimension in the surrounding areas-they poof…
First the “wahoo”: I will again be presenting at the Saturday Night Sampler at International Quilt Festival-Long Beach on July 28th! Last year’s Saturday Night Sampler was a blast and it was one of my favorite teaching moments of the year. I loved the crowd there, meeting people from all over the world and feeling the enthusiasm for my topic. If you get a chance to go to any of the IQF shows (Cincinnati, Long Beach, Houston), the Saturday Night Sampler is a must. There will be a room full of teachers, all doing simultaneous presentations in their area. You walk…
Wahoo-Margo Wilson sent a photo to me of our Slice Quilt assembled-thank you! I don’t have detail shots-several of us are still doing finishing work and Donna is constructing some of hers. The artists are (l to rt) Anita Marshall, myself, Margo Wilson and Donna Brennan. We are all members of the Folsom Quilt and Fiber Guild and we formed an art-oriented small group, Quartz, which offered the Slice Quilt Challenge.I can’t recall exactly all the techniques used, but Anita’s quilt is primarily machine needle felted and includes a pair of her socks (the blue fields)! Margo and Donna’s quilts include Tsukineko ink, fabric…
My Wayne Thiebaud slice quilt is done except for some final quilting and a hanging sleeve. My group met last night for the reveal-what a thrill! I forgot my camera and phone so no photos of the assembled quilt-ugh. It will show in 2 weeks and I will have photos then. My Slice Mates made me feel quite humble-I think the final assembled quilt is fabulous. I am much more pleased with what I learned than I am with my slice.I will go back and quilt in the major elements of the design to nail them to the backing, but I wanted to wait…
I temporarily abandoned my thread shredding adventure with Saw Tooth Star to work on a slice quilt that is due, gasp, next week. One of the art groups I am a part of, Quartz, is taking a Wayne Thiebaud painting (with permission) and a group of 4 of us is each doing a slice (section) of the quilt.This is the photo I am working from. I am working in an entirely different manner than any other piece I’ve done. I am going to “pillowcase” it instead of doing the traditional binding. There will be no border or binding, just a knife…
I’m writing from the depths of thread shred hell and have accumulated what I call “thread shred cred(entials)”. Right after my last post on how well my work with metallic wrapped silk thread was going, it started shredding. At that point I had put in at least 4 shred-free hours when all of a sudden the wheels fell off and I was shredding thread every 4 inches. How could that happen? It was sudden and dramatic. I have spent well over 20 hours meticulously working through this and still don’t have a solid answer. I even went to the Ultimate…
Just when I thought I had my design decisions made and I was ready for that delightful phase of feathering up the surface of the quilt, I decided I didn’t like my thread choice after all. Look:I love Aurifil 28 wt cotton thread, but I think in this case it gives the motif a “ghosty” look from afar, an almost spider webby look. I know some people like that look because I see it all the time on competition quilts that have ribboned. It’s just not my particular style. Also, it became a strong design element which competed with the…
My little 3-block Saw Tooth Star hanging is done! I’ve been waiting to put up a post, waiting to get my camera back from repair. It’s going to be a few more days, so this post has some pretty poor photos-Duct Tape Nikon and my i-phone are all I have.I finished my Saw Tooth Star 3-block hanging as a study for my larger piece. I’m glad I did the little study as I learned a lot from my choices on this one. I do like the finished product, but I see things I would have changed-I’ll incorporate this learning curve in…
Am I the only one? Why is it impossible for the Lyon’s to put on a good Christmas display? As an example, here’s the tree: Yes, I am aware it does not look like a tree-it’s one third of a pre-lighted tree. Here is the yearly drill: Stuff the tree through the tiny little munchkin door of the attic-it’s kind of like giving birth. Plug in the pre-lighted tree to see how many lights have gone out since last year. Load it into the car to have the store fix the lights. Pick up the tree and begin decorating. All of…
It’s been a long time since I have done precision piecing! This has been increasingly obvious as I have worked through my Saw Tooth Star piece. Saw Tooth Star-how hard can that be? It’s one of the easiest blocks to piece! I’ve been making new blocks for my Saw Tooth Star because I’m not happy with some of my really poorly pieced old ones-many were misshapen and, I wanted to refine my color choices a bit too. So now I have TWENTY FOUR orphan blocks, just waiting to be used….where?So here’s my confession: it is taking me 80 minutes to…