An eagle is born

Inspiration

Roadmap, then tracing on freezer paper

Turned under puzzle pieces

Background chosen

Sewn in place ( looks like I need to cut out the dark background or cover up those turned under bits)

Inktense pencils for the eye - still wet

Softening things up a bit

We have an eagle! Now to quilt :-)

I think just a meander for the background?

Any suggestions? I want the background to recede.

 

Posted with Blogsy

Chickadee in progress

 

This mornng I quilted the background.

 

Pine needles

Later will quilt the chickadee. Have to decide on the thread though. Detailed fusible lighter fabrics especially really shows up the needle holes. I suppose I should take the time to change the thread color to match every little piece which would mean white, black and grey. 3 color changes for one little bird BUT I don't think I'll be happy unless I do it.

 

Anyone have any tips on how to avoid needle holes showing for a lazy quilter?

;-)

Posted with Blogsy

Forget me not

One a month Angela over at soscrappy blog does a challenge where she throws out a color and you make a block or two or three with that color out of your scraps and at the end of the year end up with a rainbow quilt and an empty scap bin. It's very loose and fun by the looks and you can do as much or as little as you want. It's all about the sharing and doing. There is a link up every Saturday so you can see what others are doing.

Click on the button on the right side of my blog to check it out.

I thought I would do my favorite block each month which is the mariners compass. There are endless variations and for the first one I did the easiest. I like doing small art quilts so this finishes at 20” square.

I'm not that great at piecing as you can see my points aren't that great. (Notice the flower button strategically placed over where the points meet) lol! But perfect points are not the point here. (Pun intended)

I used the template method in this one from Judy Matheisons book that my mom gave to me back in 1987. I've kept it all these years because it not only taught me how to make my first compass. It is a great book even though it is now considered a “classic” - kind of like me ;-)

The forget me nots were added with inktense pencils. The blue matches the island batik scraps perfectly! I really like how the white on white quilting looks. I happened to be watching Leah Days sampler craftsy class while quilting this and she showed how to do echo paisley which worked great in these corners.

I need a name for this quilt though - any ideas?

 

Posted with Blogsy

eco bundling

My friend Glen over at Quilts and Dogs posted about eco bundling - dying fabric out of natural stuff.

It sounded like a great idea so last night I played around alittle. 

So I took a piece of cotton that had once been a white coverlet - washed many times, and another couple of muslin pieces that looked washed and a small piece of cotton batting. I soaked them all in a little bit of soda ash and water, then laid them out flat. Then I threw on coffee (not the grounds, I figured the not yet brewed stuff would have more punch), some onion skins and a package of goya sazon seasoning.I think the sazon has tumeric in it. that's all I had in my cupboard that looked good so that's what I used. 

Then I wrapped it up in a ball and secured it with hair tyes and put it in a bin that I have in the basement to catch the slow drop from the hundred year old faucet down there. I figure a slow drip might do something cool. By the sounds of it you should leave these things for weeks so the slow drip can leach the stuff inside into the fabric. 

I want to try some more - what the heck. Now on my walks I can look for berries or anything that might transfer some color into fabric and rusty stuff!

have you ever tried this kind of thing?

I feel like a mad scientist - Ha! Ha!

Nepal quilt

While this isn't the best quilt I've ever made I think it came out pretty good. It lacks a wow factor but has nice quilting and a lot of interest. So when I put it up in my office a few days ago and not one person even commented on it (including the person I was going to give it to) I was a bit disappointed.

But that's ok - I like it so will not give it away (the person I was going to give it to will now be deemed not "quilt worthy" and I will keep it hung in my office and admire it myself :-) a lot of people just don't appreciate hand made and would rather admire a poster or print that 500,000 other people also have hanging in their homes. But that's ok too. Different strokes for different folks.

Have you ever spent a lot of time making something for someone who didn't really appreciate it?

 

Posted with Blogsy

Ausable point

This was inspired by a morning walk at sunrise this past summer. It's been on my design wall for months almost finished. I had a hard time with the light and shadows. You can check out the early stages of Ausable Point here. I've changed it up a lot but I am done looking at it. This morning I added the "real" shell and am calling it done and putting it in my Etsy shop.

 

Here is a closeup of the rocks and seaweed. Sometimes I like to keep a quilt on my design wall after it's done or almost done before I do a final iron and lint roll, just so I can look at it and enjoy it. After all. Am making these first for my enjoyment and when I m done they get listed on etsy and put away on a hanger under plastic to stay clean.

I'm ready to let this one go ;-)

Now as for the Nepal quilt - it's on the wall in the enjoying and still need to add a couple things but not sure what yet stage. I've added this fence / stairs

 

 

And a couple of beads next to the house.

Do you leave your quilts hanging up for awhile?

How do you decide when ""it's done"?

Linking up to Nina's off the wall blog

 

 

Posted with Blogsy

Simplicity

Simplicity is the state or quality of being simple. Something which is easy to understand or explain. In some uses, simplicity can be used to imply beauty, purity, or clarity.

I was listening to Quilting for the rest of us (podcast) today and she talked about picking a word for the New Year to strive for, to try to be ........ And do. In our quilting lives.

I tend to overthink everything. I worry, I fret, I obsess. While a lot of details can be good and yes very fun, in some cases to much can clutter up a quilt. So my word to live by in 2015 will be Simplicity.

Strong, clean lines make the best images and I'm not saying I will now make art quilts with just clean strong lines - no that just would not be me. I will just try to incorporate simplicity onto the chaos.

She also talked about picking something that you have wanted to do ( this is a quilting podcast so she and I are talking about something related to quilting) and make a goal for 2015 to do it. I normally hate resolutions because I never follow thru but she has a quarterly check in type of thing , plus stating it here on my blog, well maybe this will help keep me accountable and give me a push.

Ever since I read about the prayer flag project I have wanted to make some. I love the idea of making a "flag" with a meaning behind it and then hanging it outside to let the wind scatter that thought, prayer or meaning around.

So making my first prayer flag. Trying to keep it simple . The ones I've seen don't have batting but since part of the reason for making these is to practice techniques including quilting and I always use a thin batting - that's how I will make them. Maybe if I hang this up in my sewing room the air will blow the meaning and feeling of simplicity and clarity into my brain ;-)

Keeping with the simplistic theme, I finished this last night with just zig zagging around the edges and adding acorns on the top and called it done.

Ok, simple is one thing but this is better - just had to add some stuff this morning ;-)

And for my non quilty life, the word of 2015 is listen. I need to listen more and talk less.

This mug rug for my work desk will remind me.

What would your word be for 2015?

 

Posted with Blogsy