DARE TO BE CREATIVE!

Tuesday, September 16, 2014

Owls in the dining room


I will be sharing a few of my summer projects over the next few days.  The owl placemats were one of them.  I attended a quilt show in Pine, Arizona with my sister.  One of the booths had this delightful owl tablerunner on display.  I bought the pattern - "Hoot, Hoot, Hooray!" by Trouble & Boo Designs.  I actually enlarger the pattern for the placemats so my new Fiestaware dishes would fit perfectly.  The fabrics are from my stash.

I machine appliqued the wings, beak, and eyes with monofilament thread.  Batting is a fusible fleece.  I'm very pleased with these little guys.  They are a perfect fit with my brightly colored leather dining room chairs and Danish Modern table.  Later I will do a post of table top with Fiestaware. 

Tuesday, September 9, 2014

My Quilt is Up on the Website!!!!!!!!!

My quilt is one of the featured quilts for today.  Here is the link to the page.

Since the quilt is now official, I will continue my "Sew Along".  See previous post for cutting instructions.

 
 


Here are the squares and rectangles ready to sew.  I used Superior Thread's Masterpiece thread for both bobbin thread and top thread.  I use Schmitz needles.




My Janome 15000 is shown here.  It did a wonderful job stitching the blocks.  So easy to set up the machine using the built in patchwork setting.

 
Blocks are finished and now it's time to sew rows and assemble the quilt top.
 
Tomorrow I will share the quilting techniques recommended by QuiltMaker.

QuiltMaker's Back to School Quilting Party - Getting Ready to Sew



Imagine my delight when a box arrived from QuiltMaker with these beautiful Robert Kaufman fabrics.  I just love the bright colors.  Now the process begins.

The quilt is made from 2 1/2" strips.  I decided to use my GO to cut the strips.  With the GO,  I know that each strip will be the perfect width.
 
Once the fabric strips were cut, it was time to cut each strip into the correct number of smaller sections.
 
 
Now the fun began.  It was extremely helpful to have QuiltMaker staff include a color copy of the quilt design.  They also labeled each fabric. 
 
Check back later for more info.

Monday, September 8, 2014

Quiltmaker Magazine's Back to School Party Team Member


I was selected to participate in QuiltMaker's Back to School Party.  It was quite an honor to be selected as one of 8 quilters to make a quilt following the pattern provided.  They provided all the fabric, backing, and batting.  We made the quilt, returned it to the magazine, and they are featuring our quilts this week.  Click here for day one's quilts.


This is my sample quilt that I made prior to receiving Quiltmaker's fabric.  You may recognize the fabric as the same fabric I used on the tote in my previous post.  I thought I needed to make sure I understood the pattern before I cut the fabric provided.  I had just the right amount of this fabric to complete the quilt.  I didn't completely follow the quilting suggestions on this quilt but I love it.



I'm told my quilt will be featured tomorrow.  Check back tomorrow to see my post on making the Back to School Quilt.

Friday, July 11, 2014

Tote-ally Tote-able Tote




This was my project last weekend.  It is Anita Goodesign's "Tote-ally Tote-able" Tote.  I just love the way this project turned out.  Don't you love those leather handles with the leather flowers and buttons.  I purchased the handles at the Arizona Quilt Guild Show in March.  I knew I'd find a place to use them and they were perfect for this project.

 
Here is a close up of the fabrics and the embroidery design on each block.  The entire tote is made in the hoop of the embroidery machine.  The fabric is from Granny's Attic.  I purchased it when Karen had her shop in Campbellsville, Kentucky but now she has an online shop.  The ribbon was also purchased from Granny's.  The instructions don't call for a lining in the tote but I wanted a lining and pockets.  So I designed and constructed a lining with pockets.  Now it's perfect.  Now I working on an embroidered pillow top in bright colors.

Thursday, July 10, 2014

New Baby Quilt




I recently completed this quilt.  The inspiration was the fabric below.

 
I decided to use some orange fabric my sister had given me for the quilt background.  I used my Go to cut tumbler shaped pieces.  I then added the frog.  It is an embroidery design from Anita Goodesigns. 
 
 
Next I cut out green plants following the design on the fabric.  I used green dot ribbon for the stems. 
 
 I added the name with my Janome 15000 embroidery machine.  Last I added the border and black rick rack.  I'm pleased with the results.  It is bright and colorful for baby Zain.
 
 
 

Tuesday, June 24, 2014

Late Swap Photos

I'm more than a little late posting my card and tag for last month's swap on A Swap for All Seasons.  The theme was masculine card and black destash items.  I'm not participating in this month's swap because we were out of town during sign ups the first of the month.  Maybe next month.

 
Western themed tag

Black destash.

There is a link the this wonderful swap at the top of my blog.  Linda does an excellent job with her swaps.

Monday, June 23, 2014

Baby Quilt


 While we were in Kentucky my hubby asked if I could make a baby quilt for him to give as a gift.  He volunteers each week at an eye clinic in Mesa and one of the doctors and his new wife are expecting a baby boy.  I have a friend in Kentucky that runs an online fabric shop.  I quickly selected the fabric and made arrangements to meet her in town to pick up the fabric.  I finished the top while we were in Kentucky.

I quilted and bound the quilt last week.  You can see some of the details below. 

Aren't those animals so cute.  Love that owl with the blue and green eyes!
 
I used my Janome 15000 AciFil Quilt program to add these little curls in the center of each green diamond.  They are difficult to see in the photo.


I find it interesting that baby colors are no longer pastels or just blue, pink, and yellow.  A friend recently painted her nursery bold gray, green, and blue and it looks lovely.


Saturday, June 21, 2014

A Mystery Quilt Solved


I'm finally at home for a few months.  Time for blogging (I hope).  We have been busy since March.  First a cruise through the Panama Canal (gone almost 3 weeks).  Next we were home for a few weeks and then spent five weeks in Kentucky.  We were home for a week and then it was off to Seattle and a cruise to Alaska with our son and his family.  I'll try to post photos later in the summer.

While in Kentucky I attended a quilt retreat and met the chair of their local quilt guild (Martha).  She invited me to their May meeting.  They were going to be making a mystery quilt.  I got the instructions and went shopping for my fabric.  Most were using fabric strips from their stash but my stash was in Arizona.  Once I had my fabric for the strips, I decided on gray as the background fabric.   It was difficult to choose fabric not knowing how the finished quilt was going to look.  But I think I did a pretty good job of selecting the fabrics.  The pattern is called Bento Box.

We did two blocks at the meeting under the direction of Denise.  I brought it home and finished it a few weeks ago.  I really like it and it will become a graduation quilt when I get it quilted.

Friday, April 25, 2014

May Swap for All Seasons

The theme for this month's Swap for All Seasons was Wedding.  Color was Ivory/White.  I decided to feature black also.  This month I send my swap items to Jayne.  Her favorite card style is vintage.  The image below is from a vintage shower invitation.  I used it on this month's tag.




 Below is the card I designed using a vintage image from the web.  I decided to add lace, flowers and scrabble letters.




We also send de-stash items  in the month's colors.  I decided to include this photo from an album I purchased on Ebay a number of years ago.  I cut the page from the album.  The words "newly wed" are written to the side. Also  names of the bride and groom.   The photo is 1940's.  Thought this would add a special vintage look to the package.


Here are the remaining de-stash items.   Lots of black/white/ivory.


To continue the vintage theme, I decided to use a vintage scarf as my packaging this month.  You can see the before and ready for mailing below.  I did cheat a little because the scarf also has pink in addition to the black and white.  I hope Jayne doesn't mind!





If you would like to participate in a Swap for Seasons, click on the link above.  Sign-ups are the first of each month and mail by the end of the month.  Looking forward to June's swap.



Sunday, April 13, 2014

Honorable Mention Arizona Quilt Guild 2014


I recently entered my quilt in the 2014 Arizona Quilt Show.  This was the first time I had entered a quilt in competition.  Imagine my surprise when I received a call that my quilt had won an award.  I was invited to bring a friend to the awards ceremony prior to the opening of the show.  How exciting!

I won Honorable Mention in the Embroidery Category.  I posted about this quilt previously.  The design is Anita Goodesign's Great Outdoors.  Borders are Mix and Match Quilting.  Also by Anita Goodesigns.  I'm considering entering the quilt in another show this summer but haven't decided yet.

It was nice to see that other's appreciate the work I do.  My sister has told me for years that I should enter my quilts in competition but this was the first time I listened to her. 

If you haven't attended a Quilt Show, I encourage you to go.  There are many wonderful "works of art" to see.  Many of today's quilts are designed and quilted using the latest in technology.  Digitized designs are very popular today in  both machine embroidery and long arm quilting.  As a friend and new quilter commented after the show "the designs are very simple but it's the quilting that takes it to another level".  If you are a traditionalist, you will see beautiful traditional quilts also.


Saturday, April 5, 2014

Sudoku Quilt Finished


I finished this Sudoku Quilt this week.  It is for a granddaughter who is graduating from high school.  I began the quilt last fall and waited until this spring to do the quilting.  We delivered the quilt yesterday and she was thrilled.


You can see one of the squares above.  I decided to use my Janome 15000 to do the decorative quilting.  I used Coats and Clark Multicolor Thread.


 
You can see a closeup of the design above.
 
 
I used one of the decorative stitched on the 15000 to stitch two lines of quilting along the border.
This was a fun quilt to make and I'm very pleased with the results.
 
I have a new computer and photo program.  Please excuse the photos.  Hopefully I'll get better at this.
 
 
 
 


Friday, February 21, 2014

Spring Swap for All Seasons



 
The theme for our March Swap was Spring and the color yellow.  I recently sent my swap to partner Debbie of Kitten Creates in Ohio.  The image above is a vintage flash card from a reading program.  I added the Happy Spring stamp.
 
Here is the card I made for Debbie.  The image is copied from a vintage Easter card.  The background is lace from my stash and hand stitched on to the card.  I added flowers and butterfly as embellishments.  Added a strip of coordinating paper to the envelop and added Happy Spring stamp.
 
Here is the tag.
 
The images are from my vintage pattern collection.  The is no date on the pattern but the envelope is very small and gray paper with the color images attached with glue.  The seam allowances are 3/8" instead of the standard 5/8".   Wish I knew the exact date.  I'm sure some research on my part would solve the mystery!
 
 
Here are Yellow stash items I included in the package.  The fabrics are 30s repo fabrics.  Debbie is currently working on a couple of quilt projects and I wanted to include some fabric for her.  The flower in the upper right is a Japanese Kanzashi Fabric Flower that I made in a class a few years ago.  Perfect to include in my yellow stash items.
 


 
Ready for packing into the package I made from the flash card above and a folder.
 
I cut the top from a yellow folder, added the flash card, and sewed ribbon around the two sides for a handle.  All the items fit perfectly into the pocket. 
 
Thanks for Linda for another wonderful swap.  You can sign up for the April Swap on April 1st by following the link at the top of my blog. 
 
Happy Spring.  I will be taking a blog break and will be back in a month or so.  Exciting things happening here and there!!!!
 
 
 

Saturday, February 1, 2014

Valentines for Marie

 
This month's Swap for All Season's theme was Valentines and the color was red.  Here is the card I
made for Marie.  The old photo is from my collection, I downloaded the Bingo card and added the embellishments (buttons, lace, tag, and hand dyed ribbon from Debbie).  I stamped an image on a brown envelope to complete the card.
 
 
I stamped small hearts on a hand dyed tag from Debbie.  (Debbie was my partner in an earlier swap and I received the tag and ribbon as a part of the destash).  The image is a vintage Valentine card from my collection.  The original was a teacher's card and I removed the teacher part.
 
 
These are my red destash items.  I again used vintage Valentine image from my collection on the note pad. 
 
Packaged and ready to mail.
 
 
 
 
I decided to use a brown paper bag as my packaging.  I remembered using paper bags in grade school for Valentine exchanges and thought I would continue this theme into my packaging.   Marie received the package yesterday and was pleased.  This was a fun swap.  You too can join in the fun by clicking on the Swap for All Seasons link at the top of the blog.
 
 
 
 

Thursday, January 23, 2014

Vintage Fabric Pillows



I found this vintage fabric stashed on a shelf while putting away Christmas.  I had completely forgotten about this wonderful fabric.  I immediately knew what I wanted to do with it.  Throw pillows for the love seat.  It has the perfect colors.


Looks great with the walnut Pottery Barn canvas slip covers.  I love those vibrant colors.  They are a perfect compliment to the dining area leather chairs.



I already had this feed sack table runner on the table.  Isn't that pear great.  I found it at Home Goods.  I won the feed sacks in a blog give away a few years ago.  I made them into this table runner.  It is perfect for the dining room table and it too compliments the leather dining chairs.

I'm linking to Vintage Thingie Thursday. What's It Wednesday.