Saturday, March 28, 2009

Crazy Goose

I decided to spruce up some of the blocks for the quilt I'm making. I chopped up the panda block and inserted this 'crazy goose' I paper-pieced. It was pretty easy. I started by drawing a layout with Sharpie on tracing paper:
Here is the finished block:

Saturday, March 14, 2009

Lisa Call; fabric card; cookies

An ACEO by Lisa Call (Lisa's blog):

A card I made:
Double chocolate cookies (Martha Stewart recipe). I rolled the balls of dough in granulated sugar. I think they turn out better that way.

Fabric Postcard Tutorial

Making fabric postcards is fun and easy. This tutorial shows how to create a quilted surface to adhere to a 4"x6" postcard, and embellish the fabric surface.

First, start with a 4"x6" blank postcard (you can buy them at the art store, but you can also just cut white cardstock to size). You can also use blank greeting cards or anything else you want.

Then, pick a fabric and some batting. I like Warm and Natural batting because it doesn't pill and is smooth and flat.

Cut a 6"x 8" piece of each (or a little bigger if you want - it can always be trimmed down to size):
I use the Bernina 440QE with the BSR foot (stitch regulator). I used red/purple/gray variegated thread.
Do some FMS (free-motion stitch) on it or whatever you like:
This is the finished FMS: Cut down to size. Since I was doing a 4"x6" postcard, I cut it to 3.75"x5.75" but if you want more 'border' on the outside (ie postcard showing on the edges), then cut it smaller.
Here are the paints I used. I like Golden Fluid Acrylics Iridescent Gold (Fine), it flows and is easy to work with. The stuff in the tubes is also very pretty, but thicker and harder to manipulate. If you don't want to paint your postcard, skip this step. Alternatively, you could sew on buttons or beads or put on glitter or whatever you want.
I painted a copper color around the edge of the card since I didn't want any white showing.
Then, I stitched the fabric rectangle to the postcard, using a simple stitch: Then, I painted the surface of the fabric.
The finished product:


Thursday, March 12, 2009

Hopscotch - EQ6


Here is what I'm thinking about doing next, using a nice white-on-white I have. The color on the outside will be from the binding - otherwise the borders will just be the white-on-white. I'll quilt it with white thread. I'm thinking about calling it 'Hopscotch' since it reminds me of my nieces drawing hopscotch outlines in colorful chalk on their back porch.

A possible variation is white lines on a colored background (above).

Saturday, March 7, 2009

Mighty Stripes, ATCs, Project Improv, & BWQC

M's Mighty Stripes is finished. Also, I finished the four Project Improv blocks. It inspired me to do my Black and White Challenge in the same type of blocks. Here is my first B/W/Blue log-cabin block:


Here are my next batch of ATCs. I started with some pretty blue fabric and tried to use gold metallic thread to FMS but I broke two metallic needles trying to do it.So I ended up using cream thread, and I painted in the circles with gold paint and gold and silver paint pens. I really like the result:The gold paint is so lovely and vibrant, I got it at Utrecht Art, and some copper colored paint.And I've been thinking about these Indian Orange Peel pieces again: