Embroidery = Relaxation

It seems my fiber interests come and go in cycles.  While I love to sew, I hate to have to have to start and stop on big projects.  I don't like having to pack up what I was working on just to get it out again later and discover that I have lost my rhythm.  Therefor, sewing seems to be a summer project since I have more time off.  In the winter, I love to embroider!  For the past several winters, I have been working on a Crazy Quilt.  While the quilt was finished for am art show in December 2010, I have since decided that I really needed to embroider every seam.  I love how the quilt is beginning to look, but at time the project is overwhelming.

Recently I embroidered a set of Tea Towels for a great friend of mine.  I was worried because the pattern was for Scottie dogs and he loves Westies.  While they are both terriers there are differences, but I thought the pattern would pass a Westie Lover's test.  It was really relaxing to just cuddle up under a blanket and embroider while watching TV at night.

This one was my favorite in the set.  I don't think I need to explain why.

The towels didn't take me as long to complete as I expected they would.  I have since started on some napkins I hope to be able to list on Etsy soon.  More on this later......so stay tuned.

Batik Bags

I just love batik material.  The patterns and colors have so much life and personality to them.  In December, I made several bags and sold them.  (I know this is old news, but I just found the pictures of the bags which I thought I lost.  I guess they were just lots on my computer!)  I found several great batik materials.   Since not everyone loves batik as much as I do, I kept the batik to the minimum as the pocket material and did the rest of the bag in a solid color.  I think they turned out great and since I have a lot of extra material left over I need to start making some more.

Keeping Secrets

If you ask most of my family they will tell you that when it comes to keeping secrets (especially around the holidays) I am horrible.  I guess I get really excited and what to know if they are going to like their gifts, therefore I sometimes spill the beans.  It is never intentional, but rather something that just slips out.

This year I have to brag though.  I started on my Brother's Christmas present in August.  Years and Years ago he had asked our Grandmother to make him a Log Cabin quilt.  They could never see eye to eye on material and it never came to be.  I knew that he wanted the quilt to be a value scale in Red.  (I like the idea as well because I see so many quilts that are too busy with patterned material no one notices the craftsmanship.)  After walking into a fabric store this summer that all changed. There in front of my eyes was a huge selection just of solid fabrics, so as I started to skim over the Red section I realize that there would be enough different reds to actually make the Log Cabin Quilt.  After saying I would never make a traditional quilt again.  I gave it a shot for my Brother.  I used one of Eleanor Burn's Quilt in a Day books and the sewing went by quickly and smoothly.  The only problem was I had to get it out of the house before my Brother came back to MO to visit.  So off to the quilters it went.  I had an Amish lady do the quilting for me and just let her have the reins on the quilting pattern.  When she called at the end of Oct/early Nov. I was so excited.  The Quilt turned out beautifully and I somehow managed to keep my excitement and not spill the beans.  Below you will see the quilt proudly in use at my Brother's house.

Has it really been 3 months since my last post?

It is really sad that it has taken me 3 months to get this post up!  It is not that I don't have lots of things going on in my studio.  You might way that my plate is overflowing.  As most of you know in August, school started up and I headed back to the classroom to teach and inspire my students.  While my studio has not been as busy as it was this summer.  I am still trying to find the time to get other projects done.

In August, I finished a Christmas present and sent it off to be quilted.  I don't want to spill anymore about that project until after Christmas.  But I will tell you that every time I see it I smile.  As with most of my projects it has a long and funny story attached to why I ended up making it.

Once that project left my hands in August I went to my first Hands of Friendship Quilt Guild meeting here in Kirksville.  I was inspired by all the amazing and beautiful quilts.  So.......I ripped apart my first quilt down to the single 4 patch blocks.  ( You might remember it from when I posted before finally finishing this 17 yr old quilt.  Guess I was wrong.)  It sat around for about a month and then I was finally brave enough to give it another shot.  It means so much and has taken so long that it really needs to be perfect.  Perfectionism can be a blessing and a curse.  (This is really the last time I will redo it.  I mean it.  I think I would go nuts if I did it again.)   This time I did it Gram's way setting each block within a frame of cream fabric.  By doing this I was able to weed out some of the blocks that weren't really my favorites.  So now most of the colors in the quilts are soft blues, pinks, greens, and purples.  I also have pops of bright colors here and there to liven things up.  This is it as of now, but once I get it hand quilted (in say about.....another 17 years)  I'll post another photo.

Around this same time, I heard about a little boy, 'Iron' Will who had a severe brain tumor.  I went to school with his older sister McKay who was just a year older than I am.  I really wanted to do something for Will and the family that would provide him comfort and a sense of home while he is in the hospital.  For Will, I ended up making a Disappearing Nine Patch with a music theme.  It was a really simple pattern to follow, but has an amazing random appearance when finished.  After I finished the top and had it machine quilted, I had my Mother, who is Will's art teacher, take it to school with her to have all the students at Green City sign their names.  When it came time to deliver it, I wasn't sure whether I wanted to deliver it or just have my mother do it since I really don't know Will that well.  I finally decided that I made it and I would go take it myself.  It was amazing to see Will and strength that he has after all that he has been through.  Not only is Will amazing, but so is his family that is always there by his side.  They may not realize it, but Will gets his strength from them.  If you want to know more about will and his journey you can visit his page on Facebook.  http://www.facebook.com/pages/Prayers-for-Will/245449408830846

So I think this pretty much covers all of the projects I've completed this fall.  Off to a Quilt Guild meeting tonight and then I really need to get to work on some more Christmas presents otherwise my family may need to have Christmas in July!

One Mad Dash.....

This past week felt like I was running a race to the finish line trying to get ready for school ( which started today) with students starting on Wednesday.  I wanted to get my classroom ready, but at the same time I wanted to take the chance to finish up on some summer projects.  (Some how I managed to start new projects this summer that I hadn't expected to do and the ones I had planned to do this summer are still on the to-do list)

The first project to get finished this week was an apron for the Superintendent at my Mother's school.  He always does the grilling for the school's open houses and she felt that he needed a 'Gopher' apron to cook in.  It was really simple and didn't take too long once I finally got started.  We had an old apron that fit/ worked well that we used as a pattern.  I traced the pattern on to black cotton duct that I had purchased earlier.  After finishing the edges, I added Black and Gold plaid to act as the neck band and ties.  I wanted the apron to have 'Gopher' spirit, but not overboard so that he might get more use out of it rather than just at school.  Overall, I was really pleased with how it turned out.  (Sorry the picture isn't the best)  I still might add a pocket in plaid to add more color to the front, but need a model who is taller than me to figure out the proper placement of the pocket for a person of a more average height than myself.

The next project I finished has rather a long story, so I had better start at the beginning.....

When I was 10 my Grandmother helped me to start my very first quilt.  She selected a simple 4-square for me.  It would be an easy one to start with and I think it was also the first quilt my Great Grandmother completed when she was also 10.  We both were really excited.  At her house I had my own sewing machine and work area and she gathered up scraps to cut the pieces from for the quilt.  After sewing quite a few blocks we realized that we were running low on precut pieces and that we would need to cut more.  This is where things take a turn.  Grandma had done all the cutting so far because she was worried that I would have trouble and the pieces would end up cut wrong and in different sizes.  So once again, she cut more pieces for me and added them to the ones that I had before.  We didn't realize at that time that the pieces we different sizes.  (Notice a problem?)  Finally, I have quite a stack of quilt blocks and we are ready to put it together.  Grandma suggested that I frame out each block individually.  I didn't love this idea and school started back up and .....well the quilt didn't get finished that summer.  It wasn't until I was 13 that I really wanted to pick it up again.  I decided that I would just sew all the blocks together into one top piece for the quilt.  It looked nice in the strips, but when we put the strips together things didn't really go together.  I don't really remember what Grandma thought, but I think I she thought my sewing was the big problem.  So once again the quilt gets put away.  I feel kinda bad about never finished the quilt at this point, because Gram was so proud that I was doing a quilt, because she could never get my Mother to make one.  My Mom was always outside helping her Dad instead of working to develop her 'homemaking' skills.  Anyway, several more years pass and I am around 22.  I am determined to fix this quilt.  I can't quit on something I've started.  I want that sense of accomplishment.  I rip apart the strips so that I have just the basic blocks in front of me.  I start to wonder why Gram and I couldn't get this thing to work.  It is then that I realize that not all the blocks are the exact same size.  (It took how many years to realize that Gram cut squares of material from different sized pattern pieces?  It a little sad; I know)  Anyway, back to the story.  Overall, some of the blocks were just about 1/8"-1/4" off on one or two sides.  If I had been a better at sewing I probably could have just adjusted the seam allowance, but I didn't want to take any chances.  I was going to get it right this time around.  By this time, I was still seeking out Grandma's advice, but I was mostly flying solo to prove to her I could do it.  I found the smallest block and made a pattern.  With each block I lined up the center and trimmed all the edges down.  Once again, this is during the summer and school starts up, so.....Yes, you guessed it!  The quilt gets put away, again.  Now I am almost 27 and I dig it out for the 3rd time.  All the pieces are the same size!  I have my work cut out for me.  This time I sew 4 small blocks into 1 one large block and then frame out those blocks.  I mixed my method with the one my Grandma suggested.  The top piece is finally finished!  It just took 17years.

In the time between I started this 1st quilt and today, I have made three other large quilts (along with my other projects.)  I just have to laugh at how long this quilt project dragged out over the years.  After I had so many problems with the quilt, I vowed never to do a traditional quilt again.  (I would stick to just working on art quilts.)  But after this summer, I don't know whether that is really true anymore. We will just have to see.

Quilted Bags, Cows, and More.....

This week has been a really busy week.  The week started off with a visit from my brother, followed by a lot of cleaning and working cattle.  But as Friday rolled around, everything was settling back down to normal.  After I said good-bye to my brother on Saturday, I found some time to finish off some of the quilted bags I have been working on.

First I sandwiched batting between the exterior patterned fabric and a contrasting interior fabric.  Then it was time to free-motion quilting the fabric.  I love the texture that you get from quilting, but I really wanted the quilting to relate to the fabric.  For the Asia-inspired bag I followed the curves of the design while on the blue and pink in the batik material I mimicked the spiral design.  To get the bag pattern I followed a pattern for quilted bags, but that was all I really used it for.  I wanted to do the finishing a little different.  I hid the interior seams, added binding to cover the top of the sides, and finally finished it off with handles.  The last bag I worked on I added interior pockets!  More bags are in the future, as I have some that I am doing for friends and I hope to have some more to sell.  Keep a look out on my New Items Page for quilted bags for purchase.

A little something for my students and my classroom....

They repainted the hallways in my school this past spring and while I have a fabulous place to display the student's artwork I won't have a place for the large poster that has one of my favorite quotes.  So instead I thought I would make a 'poster' of my own that was smaller and that could hang on my classroom door.  I have been wanting to make a work of art from fabric since I started teaching, but was stumped for ideas that really got me excited and motivated.  When students ask about my artwork it is a little hard to describe to them how I make my artwork.  An art quilt seemed like a win-win situation.  So here is what I did...

First I had to cut out the basic picture of the flamingoes at work as well as the quote from fabric.  (I debated whether to do flamingoes, kids, myself, or some other sort of animal, but I finally settled on the flamingoes.  If you know me, you know that I love pink and that is what I love most about flamingoes.  They are also fun and whimsical for my K-2 students.)

After I got everything tacked down, it was time to head to the sewing machine.  Not only was I making sure everything was sewn down and wouldn't pop off; I also wanted to add more details with thread that would have been very tedious when trying to cut them out of fabric.  I have never tried thread painting (basically the machine is the brush and the thread is the paint) before and am now a little addicted.  Not only did it add the needed details, but it also added more texture.

All that was left was to add batting and a backing and I was ready to free-motion quilt the background.  And here is the final result....

I couldn't be more pleased and I am ready to see what my students think!