How I wish upon a starfish

Made with this easy pattern for immediate download here or here

The pattern as printed was enlarged 150% to finish at 11" by 14"

You can check out last weeks post to see the basic beach scene made which is the pattern and then you can embellish as much or as little as your heart desires. With this one I fused on a mermaid cut from a novelty fabric in my stash.

Added a starfish bead for gazing

 

A fabric " rock" and yarn fibers for grass

 

Some real shells from a beach vacation.

 

Sewn on using shank buttons and glue

 

And the grasses with embroidery floss I don't really like that much but they are staying.

Life is to short to spend time trying to get perfection.

Thank you for taking the time to look - have a great week!

 

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Lotus bud

 

12"x20"

pattern/tutorial found in my Craftsy shop here or on Etsy here

The lotus has been a symbol of purity since before the time of the Buddha, and it blooms profusely in Buddhist art and literature. Its roots are in muddy water, but the lotus flower rises above the mud to bloom, clean and fragrant.

Had this background in my stash for years and finally found the right place for it.

 

This one I didn't quilt inside the bud except the bottom petals for a different look. Used sew batik's nuance line of gradient batiks in pink. Gives you all the values needed in one fabric.

 

This goes together pretty quick, using both freezer paper and fusible web.

 

We are in peak fall foliage here in Vermont and this is my backyard tree. Beautiful but I hate to see them all fall off leaving bare branches. Oh, well - such is the change of the seasons marking time.

Go outside today for a walk and enjoy the fall for winter will be here before you know it!

Next week I will be posting on Tuesday which is my day for the art on fabric blog hop - see the button on the right sidebar. I'm doing something Georgia O'keeffe like and am looking forward to seeing what the other bloggers are doing. Check it out on Tuesday!

 

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Easy beach vacation mini quilt

I wrote a pattern for this beach mini geared toward the beginner. It's on sale for download on Etsy here or Craftsy here. These little art quilts are simple and each one can be so different that I'm on my 4th one and still enjoying it. Every time I go to the beach I'm always picking up something - a shell, some driftwood and this is a way to use them.

 

Here I used jute twine to hang on the stick. Sort of looks like fishing rope but now that I've said that, why didn't I use rope? There's always next time ;-)

 

This is a night one - check out those cool beads! Those squished up things on the left is supposed to be sea grass but I squished them to much maybe? I also should have used a more solid grass like color.

Live and learn. I show how to make the sea grass in my pattern as well.

 

And an easy way to attach shells. (Thanks to an idea I saw on Cathy Perlmutter's blog) her blog is called Gefilte quilts and it is a favorite. She has an amazing sense of humor and has had me rolling a few times :-)

 

 

This one is WIP. Quilting is done and I couched on some yarn and crocheted it so some strands hang down like flowers or vines. I'm really liking this. Reminds me of my vacation in Maine last spring. There was a stone wall like that at my hotel next to the beach, so there I am all beautiful with flowing dress with the wind in my hair and a glow on my cheek. Of course in reality it was April and cold so it was more like sweatpants, jacket hat and gloves but this is my quilt, my fantasy. She was originally a fairy and I know this sounds like I am the evil wicked witch of fairyland, but I cut off her wings and now she is a mere mortal.

Any way go check out the pattern - it's only 6 bucks!

 

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Beach sand

 

I took this photo while walking on the beach at ausable point on lake Champlain a few weeks ago.

Love the colors and feel so had to try to make a quilt.

 

I sketched it out on the shiny side of freezer paper. Using a sketch and wash pencil. This kind of pencil can be used to draw on just about anything and sketching on the shiny side saved me a step of doing it on paper then tracing to the freezer paper.

 

 

Used the freezer paper as my pattern for applique pieces, clipping corners and folding under. That one piece was bigger than my fabric so had to piece it in two parts. I'm hoping it will blend in enough not to notice.

 

The pinkish piece above is #1 which is the water and I tried to break it up with some light blue tule. Not sure if I like it or not but worth a shot.

Since I wanted to add paint I wanted to sew together all the pieces before adding batting and back so sewed a straight line on the turned under edges. This was not the way to go. I should have used a buttonhole stitch or some sort of zig zag. If I were to do this again I would probablly try to piece it since the curves are not severe. It would look so much better. Note to self ;-)

 

Bouncing on some white paint with an old paint brush helps a lot. I like it. Also brushed on some sandy looking paint.

 

That's as far as I've gotten as of this morning so will hopefully show you the finish next week.

BTW - the road home row along starts this week. A whole bunch of bloggers are designing a quilt row each having something to do with where they live. There are people from all over the US and the world so should be interesting. There are also giveaways so check it out. It started this week and goes all month. I am participating and my day is Sept 29th.

 

 

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OMG quilts

There is a group of art quilters on Facebook called OMG quilts that peaked my interest. The OMG stands for organic modern graphic. So far I've not been a fan of the " modern quilts". But this group has many rules of which I like - first being no piecing. All appliqué which works for me. There are size constraints. No problem. The two rules that I find hard is it must be graphic and made with organic shapes - no pictorial designs and my brain just can't wrap around just a concept. Easier said than done.

So I went with an idea that doesn't meet the criteria of non pictorial or organic shapes technically but it works for me, was a blast to make with all the free motion quilting area to play in and well ..... That is why we make quilts isn't it?

It is 30"x20"

I used a thick red thread to quilt these words to live by

We are all girls no matter what our age after all.

 

I really like how my quilting came out - The photo isn't really showing it off very well but trust me

It's magnificent!

If you want to check out the Facebook group go here

These women really know their stuff and if you're like me and are not really into modern quilts this is a good place to start.

 

 

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Fusible tips

 

I started a rather complicated fusible appliqué project today and wanted to share the way I usually tackle a project like this.

 

 

I make a line drawing trying to keep it as simple as possible. Just basic lines and shadows. All sections are numbered.

Then I flip it over and trace again to get the pieces reversed. I then use this to trace all the pieces on fusible web. Anything that is large with no sharp cornered I do on freezer paper for less glue bulk but in this case the face #5 is the only one.

On the bigger pieces cut out the inside for less glue bulk and remember to label each piece and put an arrow so you know which way is up.

 

You can buy appliqué pressing sheets but good old kitchen parchment paper works just as good. You can build your piece on it and the glue will not stick to the paper, just on the fabric that you place under it.

 

Put the parchment paper over the right side pattern and you can see thru it to see where to put your pieces.minlike to build in chunks. Here is an ear with a eye.

 

The ears were made then the top goes on.

 

Keep your inspiration photo close by especially when choosing fabrics.

 

Bottom half

 

And we have a sheep! Ready to pick out a background then will be shaded or painted, not sure what and of course quilted. I can pick her up and move her around now.

Hopefully next week she will be done and I will tell you her story and where I found the photo of this adorable sheep.

I'm linking up with Nina's off the wall blog.

 

 

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