2011 Quilt Project Challenge

A small group of friends have gotten together to bust our stashes! Quilt stashes that is! 2011 is going to be the year of more sewing and less shopping. Well....that's the premise of the challenge. I might even be able to see the floor of my sewing room by years end. I sew in the formal living room and cut/iron in the dining room. The end of this year saw my projects/supplies moving into the family room and then I knew I had to do something about all the projects! Between teaching embroidery and sewing classes and quilting for myself, I've acquired quite a stack of fabrics. So I guess this is the New Year's Resolution: Finish those projects and also have handmade gifts ready!

Christmas is almost here and the projects aren't going to be finished!

I think we always try to squeeze in more than time allows! I have so many ideas for Christmas and all the supplies stacked up. My husband is even making the cookies this year. I just think that those projects will have to go on the back burner and saved for 2011. So this is goodbye to pajama bottoms and a pillowcase for my son and a purse and makeup brush holder for my daughter. Hopefully to be resurrected next year. LOL!

Houston was a Blast!

This show is like a textile art museum of the finest quality workmanship across the globe. I took over 3oo pictures! Only a few had people in them. LOL! Sharon Schamber won the Handi Quilter Best of Show for her quilt titled Mystique. It was an astounding quilt done in 9 separate pieces and connected with looped piping. It is hard to see that the piping is see-thru, but it was definitely a work of art. One of the women showing the quilt said that it took 4 years to complete and I could surely believe it. The background was white with black stitching. It had a tiny herringbone pattern that was unbelievable. The Viewers Choice went to Hollis Chatelain from Hillsborough, NC for her quilt named Innocence. It was the most awe inspiring and moving quilt that I have ever seen. I went back at least 5 times and still felt that I could have looked at it all day. The portrait of the young boy was wonderful in itself, but when I walked closer, I realized that it was quilted with pictures of children from across the globe. Some on trikes, washing laundry, holding a machine gun. From the best to the worst our humanity has wrought. If you get a chance, go to www.quilts.org/winners.html to see all the winners. These were my top two that I will never forget, but there was so much to choose from.

Ice Skate Stocking

My stocking turned out much better than I envisioned. A little differently too. I wanted fur on the top and embroidered that but was unhappy with the look. I then embroidered on the satin and was very happy with the shine at the top. I took a pattern online that was made for felt and reworked it to use the cotton. The felt was used flat with raw edges, so this took a little time. This stocking was donated at the Charlotte Quilt Guild and took first prize. The prize was a pair of Gingher scissors! We stuffed the stockings with dollars for your favorite and then the money was used to fill the stockings for the USO. I was wonderful to see all the beautiful stockings hung there. I am new to the guild and need to remember to put my camera in my purse! The embroidery design is from www.ArtisticThreadworks.com and the pattern was from the Family Fun website. (You will definitely need to rework this pattern, but it was worth it)

It's Back!

The Boondoggle is back! I'm so excited. Mom quilted my quilt and sent it back. So now I can show the border. It goes around three sides and I added just enough to cover the queen bed. I chose a King Tut variegated thread for the quilting. Mom struggled with it shredding and breaking, so I will probably go back to the other threads. The variegated was beautiful though and now I have to make some bias binding for the edges. This will probably be put up intill the new year. I have 4 quilts now that need binding and need to sew on the binding so that I can bring them to my stitching group to work on. I find that I enjoy handstitching the binding on when I'm with my group. I get more done and feel like I can do it without thinking too much about it. Thanks Mom!

T-Shirt Dress

T-Shirt dresses are so fun and easy to make! I used to make them all the time for my daughter and nieces and decided to teach the No-Pattern skirt class with a few extra projects thrown in. This is basically a ruffle that is sewn to the bottom of the shirt. Measure the best place for the ruffle/skirt to start and cut straight across the bottom of the t-shirt. Gather your fabric as you would for a skirt and pin it to the bottom of the t-shirt. If you have a serger the next step is your last! Serge the skirt to the t-shirt. If you have a sewing machine, sew the skirt on and then zig zag the edges.

The diamond in the middle of the t-shirt is a idea I had from reverse applique. The matching fabric goes under the drawn design on the t-shirt. Sew the inside lines with a straight stitch and zig zag around the edges to finish the shape. Clip the center of each sections, making an X and after washing a couple of times the edges will curl up and show the underlying fabric.

Quick Gifts for the Holidays

A Tea Towel and Wine Bag are quick and easy gifts for the holidays. The designs are from OESD and the lettering is from my Brother 4000D. I always figure why pay for letters if you can use what you have in your machine! I think my Brother has quite a few options. I buy the letters that are unique and add something to the design or theme. These designs sewed out quickly. I also used the directions on you tube to finish the edge of the towel and top of wine bag. The directions were originally for pillowcases but I used them for these gifts and was very happy with the results. They look so finished inside that I wish I would have taken a photo of that too. Here is the link to the you tube video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MrYWCma9wgM

Fall Banner

Fall is my favorite time of year! I couldn't resist using it in a embroidered project. The designs are from Anita Goodesign and the fabric patches are from a church banner I made years ago. My friend Nadine offered the linen for the embroidery and away I went. I love coming up with my own layouts.

Fall Candle Ring

WOW! It's been 3 months since my last post! I've been working on classes for the fall and am posting a photo of the Fall Candle Ring class. It is embroidered leaves with heirloom stitching on the cloth base. I had a great time coming up with the idea and it is a wonderful addition to the fall classes. I have to admit that I love the fall season and am especially looking forward to the cool weather.

The Quilt That Just Won't Quit

I finally finished the Boondoggle quilt top. It's traveled with me to WI twice and finally got to stay there. I've been working on the border and decided to do a variation of a grandmother's fan. I used all of the leftover fabric pieces that I was told to throw away and added 19 more wedges and the centers to make the circular border. I decided to just have the border on three sides, since this will be a bed quilt, and thought it might not be as comfortable for sleeping. I would love to show you a picture of this, but am unable too because it's STILL in WI. My mother and I loaded the quilt and then her machine started acting up. She has graciously offered to quilt it for me after she gets her machine fixed and I have to tell you, I was so relieved! I was going to take it home and put it away for awhile. I might have to call it my patience quilt! I will post a pic when I get it back.

Northern Wisconsin

One of the classes I enjoy teaching very much is the Photo Quilt. My quilt is of Northern Wisconsin at the mouth of one lake from another. It's such a beautiful area and we enjoyed our stay there. It measures approx. 18"x24". My friend Diane took the picture to the right and we had a good time working with using a photo with a person instead of a landscape. It changed the areas that were cut and fabric added to it. I've always enjoyed Ricky Tims' convergence quilts and thought it would be lovely to try it with a picture printed on fabric. The big tip to this quilt it to ALWAYS print your photo first on fabric and then find the fabric for the strips. The fabric absorbs the ink and mutes it a little. My quilt was made with Printed Treasures fabric for an inkjet printer and batiks. I used cotton batting and the binding was made from both colors of batik. The free motion quilting was done with clear thread in a long curved line along the blue fabric to mimic the motion of the water.

Artist!?

Sometimes I feel like a lot of different people and no, for those who are interested, not like Sybil! I'm wife, mother, daughter, friend, etc. The list seems endless and yet I'm trying to embrace a new title, artist. It's not as easy as I thought it would be. Everyone wants to know what that is, while I'm still learning myself. I think I've narrowed it down to textile artist, as evidenced in my blog title. But I still don't want that to limit me either. I have so many interests. I love to teach my craft and will go wherever that will lead me. Right now it's sewing but I have so many ideas it's hard to contain them all. Hopefully you'll want to follow along as I stretch my wings and see where they will take me. I'm sure there will be disappointments as well as joy and laughter. But goofs are opportunities in disguise and I've had a lot of opportunities! But they usually turn out better than the original.

This piece of fabric was layered with cut out fabric leaves, ribbon and yarn, sandwiched between wash away stabilizer and quilted with a long arm. I used clear monofilament thread. It could very easily by done on a home machine. Just remember to pin the layers ALL over before moving it.

Boondoggle Again!

This quilt has been quite an experience. The first lesson is that if the largest measurements on the pattern is for a lap quilt, there might be a reason! This layout took up the entire wall in my dining room and fabric was still hanging off the edges. I use a tablecloth for a design wall so that it is movable. I had to buy another tablecloth and pin that up also. This photo is the lower right of the quilt. The rows are going together fairly quickly and will have to come up with something unique for the border. It still won't be big enough for my guest bed.

What a Beautiful Day!

The week has just zipped by after Memorial Day weekend. I was able to finish the elastic skirt and take it into the shop. The directions are written and I'll be adding a little twist to this class. A gore skirt with elastic waist, a plain elastic skirt without a ruffle, a skirt with a kick pleat and an example of a t-shirt with attached skirt will all be shown in class with the instructions. It's always nice to get a little extra info!

I spent Saturday at a wonderful quilt show in Charlotte and came away with a lot of ideas and, of course, bags of goodies. YLI was there with some of their threads and I found a wonderful thread called Brilliance, Metallic Luminous Thread, White. Hopefully this will work for my 4 season quilt on the white fabric to create the look of snow. That's been the sticking point. It might just jumpstart me on the project again.

We then spent Sunday spreading mulch and a little yard work. It's extremely hot and muggy today, which I certainly don't enjoy, but there was a nice breeze that helped. I grabbed my camera to take photos of some of our flowers. They are sooo beautiful and I decided to try shooting from the bottom up and am extremely pleased with the look.

Enjoy your day and keep stitching and creating!

2 New Classes

I slipped in 2 extra classes for the early summer. Got Questions? and a No-Pattern Elastic Skirt. The students in my beginning sewing classes always want a class to follow. The Got Questions? will be a wonderful time to answer any questions that occur after class or with the start of a new project. I'm opening it up to anyone with questions. Can't wait to see what kind of projects show up. I've taught beginning sewing, machine embroidery and some project classes. You never know where they will lead. The next class will be an elastic skirt for summer. Made with fun and flirty cotton fabric and a cute ruffle. They are easy to whip up and can be made to fit anyone. Will post pic when I have it done. I just found www.mydesertcottage.blogspot.com and can't wait to see Where Bloggers Create II. Go to the website June 19, 2010 to catch all the lastest studios!

Oops, not enough fabric!

Laying out this quilt has been an adventure! Never take a class for a lap quilt and turn it into a king without counting your squares twice. I was told to bring approx 40 fabrics cut into 8 - 5" squares. Definitely not enough for a king. I should have had a total of either 60 fabrics or 40 but cut 12 squares of each color. Oh well, sometimes we have to relearn lessons. But I'm much further along now and will post when I can. Keep stitching!

A Wallet Purse by Favorite Things

This purse was fun to make! Once you cut it out it goes together very quickly. I only needed a little bit of fabric and fusible fleece. The class is next month, so I cut out fabric for a second one for show and tell in different stages. I'm planning on taking this purse to Houston this fall. It will work wonderfully at the quilt show. I'll be able to carry more purchases without having to lug my purse around! Watch out VISA, here I come! I'm so excited. My mother and I booked a hotel room with a skywalk to the convention center. We have never been to the International Quilt Show and can't wait to go. I'm sure we'll overbook classes and try to power through the vendors but the best will be the actual quilts on display. The closest I've come to them, is the magazines and I'm sure it will be a wonderful experience. I enjoy the local quilt shows and have a hard time keeping them straight! I need to get back to my quilt on the dining room wall so we can have Easter dinner in there!

Keep Stitching!

Sewing Machine Cut-Out

Here's my sewing table! It's great for piecing and quilting. None of the fabric hangs over and the insert pops out to change your bobbin or to use the free arm on the machine. If you're interested in making your own, I drew a template of my machine with the acrylic table from Nancy's Notions and my husband and I taped the template to the table and cut out the top of the table. Just make sure that you have avoided all the hardware for the legs below. If you have a different style table you can move the template more to the left, which would have been ideal, but this is the table I had. I measured the legs on the acrylic table and that's how we determined the depth of the board that holds the machine. It's flat with the table top and is wonderful to use. The velcro on the front of the table holds a couple of pockets for scissors and a seam ripper so that I always have them handy. I think the whole project cost $15 plus the table.

My Purse is in Haute Handbags!

I am so excited! I went to the mailbox and found my copy of Haute Handbags, Spring 2010, with my purse in it! In the gallery section, it's called Paris in the Rain on page 130. This pic is the back of the purse. It's really cool to have it published. That purse idea came out of left field for me and I'm hoping to continue coming up with art that incorporates objects that I have around the house. I don't think I'm done with the hotel key cards yet!

What a busy 2 months! We celebrated our 25th anniversary at Disney! and I started teaching classes. The vintage heart pillow for machine embroidery class, a beginning sewing class and a pillow topper class. They've all been going so well. Now I'm starting a new quilt, the pattern is from Bella Nonna called Charisma and I'm using leftover batiks that I had from a block of the month quilt last year. I hung my design wall on the only full wall I have in the dining room. What a hoot! I certainly can't ignore this quilt. I see it everytime I go in the front of the house and upstairs. This wall might stay while I'm working on a project! It certainly gives me an incentive to finish, I'm sure the neighbors think it's a little odd when they look in the front window! After this top is done, the next project will be my 4 season tree quilt. The photos that I have should give me enough info to get started.

New to Blogging

This is going to be an adventure for me! I have never had a blog before and am sure I will learn a lot along the way. My life is busy now. I'm currently making samples for classes that I teach at Creative Sewing. I have an embroidery sample left and two handbags. My son is back to college and my daughter is working. Christmas and New Years are over and I'm trying to get back my creative juice. It's taking longer than I thought but I'm striving for patience this year. I have so many interests. Quilting, sewing, scrapbooking and rubberstamping are the main ones. I'm leaning more to art quilts lately.