Crazy Quilting Mini

I finished up the crazy quilt mini quilt for AAQI. It is 8.5" x 10.5". It is the first crazy quilt that I have made with such bright fabrics - very tropical.

I decided to just embroider the seams, add buttons and beads, but not to add other little bits of embroidery - the fabric was bold enough. I used #11 seed beads, and think that they compliment the Lola by Edmar thread better.

There was a great response to the tatting (thanks for the ideas too), which surprised me. Someone once said to me, when she saw my work, that her grandmother used to make doilies and she didn't think people did that anymore - made me feel like I was 100 years old! Nice to see that people are still interested!

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!❤

More Mini Quilts

 

Today I made a couple more mini quilts for the Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative. These are so quick and fun to make, plus a great way to practice free motion quilting.

This is a close up of the "Diane-shiko". I used a Hera marker for the lines.

This mini whole cloth is 11.5"  x 8".

This basket pattern is from the Blessings quilt. It is 12" x 6.5" (I had to cut some of the ends off to get the quilt to be within the measurements that AAQI asks for - oh well).

I really appreciate all the kind comments people are leaving, sorry I haven't been getting back - I try. It is just that I have been limiting my time on the computer lately trying to accomplish other things. A huge thank-you though.❤

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!❤

Fourth Blessing Block

Today I made this little 4" block from the Temecula Quilt Co.

It is the fourth block of their "Blessings" quilt along.

I also finally assembled these Easter Egg ornaments. I cross stitched them a few years ago and just never got around to cutting out layers of cardboard and putting them all together.

They were so easy to finish, I don't know why I waited so long! They are 4+1/2" tall.
The "Dresden Plates" behind are on an old clock that belonged to my great grandparents in Nova Scotia.

Here are a couple of things I forgot to show you -

I added some ribbons and bows to the tin cup and lace pincushion, so it is all finished and being used.

Plus, this is a little wall hanging that my mother made for the Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative, using fabric that Wendy (Inky Threads) gave me. My Mom used her new Rose of Sharon die for the GO! cutter.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!♥

Three More Art Quilts

I worked on three more art quilts this weekend.

They all have fabric painting on them, and are all about 8" x 10".

This one is one of the butterflies that I stamped on white fabric that I painted the background of first. I tried some thread painting (through all the quilt layers).

For this butterfly I traced around the stamp so that it would be the same size as the painted one.

I tried out some Metallic thread by Wonderfil. It worked very well (I tried both free motion and walking foot quilting). I found that it worked better with an Embroidery needle (#90) than with a Metallic needle (#80), and I sewed slower than I normally do.
Diane Gaudynski recently mentioned that when sewing with metallic thread the stitch length should be longer than normal to show off the shine of the thread (not a direct quote) and you can tell the difference.

This is the other painted butterfly with strips of fabric added log cabin style. I stitched on the butterfly with Invisafil thread by Wonderfil, and added some accents with the metallic thread. I also added some beads to both of the butterfly mini quilts.

I did some decorative stitching on the seams (all the stitching was done through all the layers) with Sulky Blendables 30 WT thread. It is such a beautiful thread, it has random colour changes and is perfect for machine embroidery and free motion quilting (it is a heavier thread and I like it for a simple all over quilting design).

This one is similar to the one I made last week.

I couched down different types of thread and yarn. I used Invisafil thread for most of the couching, but also the Metallic and Iris (the one with the decorative stitching) thread for a couple. The fabric has a heavy stabilizer added before couching.

More circles for the quilting (in Metallic, Iris and Aurifil).

I plan on making three more ini quilts (I will then have 10) before I send them all off to the Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!♥

Machine Quilting

I machine quilted a table runner that my Mom made - 

the pattern is Cabin in the Woods.

I did an all over leaf and loop design with variegated Aurifil 50WT thread.

My practice on the white board before I got started.

Here is another art quilt for the Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative (I hand stitched the binding down this morning while Skype-ing with Wendy and Joan - amazing world).
This one is 8" x 10". I painted the square, couched thread on it, pieced it and quilted it. I used Aurifil 50 WT red thread and the gold thread is a thicker rayon thread (Iris thread from Mexico).

I tried out a Frixion pen - it wrote beautifully on the fabric (I used a Staedtler circle template to mark the circle - thanks for the tip Wendy),

but when I ironed the quilt to get the lines out, you could still see a faint white line. I even tried water, and the eraser on the pen to try to remove the lines. I wouldn't use this pen on an heirloom quilt. It probably didn't help that the fabric is dark.

I finally got around to making this month's EQ BOM - November Novelty, just one month to go.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!♥

Playing with Fabric Paint

Today I was playing with fabric paints.

For these ones I used watercolour paints (my children's old school paint) with textile medium on wet fabric. For each one I only used two different colours, but as they sat drying, different colours appeared. I heat set them. The butterflies are stamped with fabric paint after.

This one is painted with fabric paint on dry fabric.

I then couched embroidery threads down (with a special sewing machine foot) using different types of sewing threads, and zig-zag or decorative stitches. It is the first time that I have used this foot and it worked very well.

All ready for  quilting. This will be a quilt for the Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!♥

Finished Art Quilts

I finished up the three art quilts I made for the Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative (Michele has a great little video and pictures on her blog of the AAQI booth at the Houston quilt festival this year - they sold over 1000 art quilts this year!)

This is the one from yesterday.

This one has a picture that was made with Photoshop Elements (I copied a postcard from my Grandmother from the early 1900's and added some other photos) and printed it on fabric. I free motion quilted "Love" on the side - first try at writing in FMQ. It is 8" x 10+1/2"

This one is my favourite - I love the colours and I had so much fun with the free motion quilting. I used Invisafil thread for most of it and

I tried some rayon thread as an accent (this one is by Gutermann). I think I will be buying more rayon thread!
This little quilt is 8" x 10".

I finished stitching the binding this afternoon and I thought the spools of Aurifil thread were so beautiful - such pretty colours.

I have really enjoyed making these quilts and will be making more - they are a great way to try new techniques and are so quick to make (they have to be no larger than 9" x 12"). Great way to use up little leftovers too.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!♥