A little bit of progress...

Last week, I mentioned a new project I've been working on.  Today the last of the fabric I ordered came in, so I have my completed palette of KONA colors for making some photographic mini quilts. 



I ended up with 37 different colors.  I was lucky enough to find some of them at shops around town here for cheaper than what they are online and avoiding the 1/2 yard minimum.  All in all, it took me 4 brick and mortar stores and 2 online shops to get everything I needed.

Why KONA?  Well, I've played a bit with some other solids and have found that the KONA holds up nicely when you cut it into very tiny pieces to fuse onto other very tiny pieces.  Some of the other fabrics I've tried must have had lesser thread counts, because when you cut them nice and small, they just fray and disintegrate.  KONA seems to have a nice range of colors that I can work with and holds up to what I need it to do.  So, that's why I choose to go with KONA when I can. 

Working on something new...

Here's a little sneak peek of what I've been working on.  The sketches are of some ideas for new mini quilts similar to these I made a few months ago. 

 

This is a little snippet of my process for making these.  The images you see above are photographs that I have altered in Photoshop.  I've printed them out in black and white and used colored pencils on them to see what they'll end up looking like.  Using my KONA color card, I decide which colors I am going to use to build my images. 

Today I spent my morning refining my fabric list.  My afternoon was spent hitting a few places to pick up all the colors I can get without paying shipping or having a 1/2 yard minimum of each color.  Tonight I'll be working on ordering all my remaining colors online. 

Once I end up with all the colors in my palette, I'll start tracing my pieces onto fusible web, ironing the fabric onto the fusible web, and building up my images. 

So, why am I making a bunch of mini quilts?  Well, the KC Modern Quilt Guild has a quilt show coming up on October 1st.  I'm considering renting a table where I can sell some of my work there.  It's also something I've been thinking about putting up on my etsy shop for a while now, so if I don't make the deadline for the quilt show, I can still always sell it there. 

Watch for some more progress photos of my projects coming up before too long. 

"THE GRASS IS ALWAYS GREENER..."

Yesterday about lunchtime I saw my mailman pull up next to my mailbox.  I could see he was putting a squishy in my box, so I ran out the door to see what it held.  It was as I suspected.  I ran back inside to rip it open and was delighted with the contents!  Inside was my doll quilt for the Doll Quilt Swap 9.  It turns out that Isaacsmama was my secret partner for this swap; she knew who I was, I didn't know who she was.  She made me this beauty titled "THE GRASS IS ALWAYS GREENER..."


It's very bright and fun!



I think this purple guy is my favorite bird.  He's so cheerful!


Isn't this fish awesome?  He's got a fun fin and polka-dotted skin.  What's not to love?



I think these little guys are my favorite in the whole quilt.  The are just hangin' out swimmin' around through the polka-dotted kelp.  Love!


The back of the quilt is very pretty, too!  The quilting really sings on the back. 



See what I mean?  Love his feet & tail!



The quilted waves at the bottom are fun!


The little fishes!  :)




Thanks for the doll quilt Sudi-Laura.  It really made me smile and brightened my day!

Sewbot's Favorites - My Mini from Sewgentle

This week, my favorite thing is the July swap with the Mini Quilt Swap on flickr.

I mentioned the July swap here and here  that I joined with the Mini Quilt Swap.   I was lucky enough to be paired with sewgentle this time around.  Check out all the fun stuff she sent to me.


This is the mini I received.  Isn't she fabulous?  It's from a pattern titled "Regina del Mar".  One of Jason's pet names for me is "del Mar" which means "of the sea" in Spanish.  Regina, is also from the sea!  :)


Isn't her crazy hair fun?  I really love her french knot belly button.


Check out this embroidery!  Fantastic isn't it?


Here's the back.


Check out all the bonus stuff sewgentle sent me!


There was this magnetic grocery list.


She picked out these little squares of this robot fabric because it reminded her of my flickr buddy icon (shown below).  Jason has already mentioned that he might like a little of this fabric in his robot quilt.



Sewgentle lives close to the Liberty Bell.  She used this fabric for Regina's tail and sent me the remainder.  How fun!


She sent this fun robot panel by Cosmo Cricket.  I'm thinking it might work it's way into the Robot Quilt I'm working on for Jason. 

 
This is my favorite part of the robot panel.  It says "LOVING YOU IS IN MY CODE".  How funny!  You knew I was a nerd right?  This shouldn't come as a surprise that I love funny robot love talk.

Thanks, sewgentle for a fabulous swap.  I had a lot of fun making you the "Seaside" mini quilt.  I had even more fun receiving your "Regina del Mar" mini quilt.  I really enjoyed being your partner this time around.

Also, Happy 2nd Birthday to my nephew, Lucas!

DQS9

I've been working on this mini quilt a lot lately. This is one of the last projects I need to finish up before we pack up the studio to move. (We're moving the 21st of August if anybody is interested in relocating boxes with Jason and I.)


Jason snapped this picture of me a few nights ago working on the DQS9 quilt.  I'm trying trapunto for the first time, so I'm stitching around the circles here.  I want to quilt pretty densely around the circles to have them really pop. 


This is where the quilt is currently.  I have it waiting for pins.  I didn't have enough pins for 2 mini quilt projects, so I had to go buy a few more last night.  This is where I left off on it last night.  After I baste it, I'll be quilting it.  I has yet to be trimmed, so don't be concerned about it's irregular shape. 

The back is a little bit crazy.  I made it just like I made the orange wedges.  I used the same orange fabric on the back.  I'm thinking of using orange thread in the bobbin and in the top thread for the orange wedges to help tone it down a bit.  I'm not sure what color thread I should use in the top thread on the black wedge.  I'm not planning on quilting over the circles, but outlining them again to really bring out the trapunto.  Any suggestions on the thread color over the black?

I'm planning to use this method to bind this quilt.  I'm not sure which colors I should use.  I was thinking the same blue fabric I used for the piping separating the orange and black for the the  "piping" in the binding.  What are your thoughts?  Any suggestions?

Go here and here to look back at the progress I've been making on this project.

"Seaside" Mini Quilt

My partner, Karen, has received the mini I sent her as part of the July 2010 Mini QT Swap.  What does that mean for you?  Remember how I couldn't show you any pictures in this post?  Well, you get to see it, finally!

This month's theme was "beach/underwater". 

My approach to these minis is to get to know my partner a bit and then design something for them.  At the beginning of the month, Karen and I chatted about what we like at the beach. She said she liked to sit and listen to the waves, build sandcastles, and collect seashells. 

I used flickr to pull together some images I thought represented those things.  I added them all to my favorites and then used Big Huge Labs to make a mosaic for inspiration.  I printed the mosaic and took it fabric shopping with me.  I bought the fabric and designed the quilt in my head simultaneously.  When I got home I sketched the design. 
 
Here is the front of "Seaside".


I had plans to add a sandcastle along the shoreline off to one side, but when it came time to do it, it just didn't work for me. 

I did find this awesome seashell fabric at Joann for the back.

Remember how I discovered how to do circles recently?  (See here and here.)  Well!  I tried the same method on ovals and it works.  What do you think of my label? 

Remember the quilting website I told you about in this post?  Well, I used the Echo Shell pattern in the sky.  The water was something I came up with on my own.  The sand is just basic stippling that you can find just about anywhere.

I added a few beads to the umbrella. 

Don't you like my seagull?  I think he's pretty rockin'.

I tried a few new things with this mini quilt. 

• If you look closely at the seagull and umbrella images you can see I used clear thread.  I really liked using it.  I'll do a post talking a little bit about what I used and why I liked it soon.
• I found some fusible fleece for super cheap at the thrift store a while back.  I used it for batting on this one and really liked it.  I made my quilt sandwich like this: Fusible fleece fused to back side of quilt top; fusible web used to attach quilt back.  It worked really well!  I didn't have any puckers at all!

I'm really happy with how this turned out.  I made a second one for me because I knew I was going to love it! 

DQS9

Here's my idea for my DQS9 quilt.  The top and bottom triangles will all be pieces of the orange fabric.  The background of the middle triangle will be the black Kona Solid I have.  The circles will be the rest of the bright colors. 
 
I'm planning to use fusible web for the circles.  The orange triangles will be improvised piecing.  I'm planning on it finishing at a whopping 15"x20".

What do you think partner?  Is it everything you ever hoped for?

Note: If you don't remember what my fabric selections look like, go here.

The binding is on!

I can't show it to you yet. 

I am participating in the July Mini QT Swap.  The theme for this month is Beach & Underwater.  How could I pass up the chance to make a mini quilt in one of my favorite themes?

Before I mail it out to my partner, I need to make a label for the back.  I have a really fun idea, but I think I should keep it a secret until my partner gets it. 

I can't wait to share this one with you.  It has all sorts of machine quilting.  I think you'll love it, too. 

maggie makes

Remember these guys?





















Karen at maggie makes wrote a post about the two little quilts I made for my grandparents' birthdays a while back. 

Head on over and check out the nice things she has to say about my little quilts. 

A Five Patch?

As of September 24th, Jason and I have been an "item" for 5 years. To celebrate, he created a quilt design for me called the "Five Patch".


Note: This was something he developed all on his own with no encouragement from me. Yes, I've got that wicked cool husband who doesn't mind going to Chicago for multiple days of quilting fun. He doesn't mind wandering through the quilt shop with me and sometimes even goes willingly.

I made this mini (about 18x18) using his design. It's the Christmas Five Patch.




I'm thinking of doing a series of giveaways between Thanksgiving and Christmas. This could be one of the items. What do you think? Would you like to win this?

Fall Mini Swap

I joined my first swap with the 6-12" Mini Quilt Swapping Group on flickr in September. The theme for the month was fall. If you remember from my post a few days ago, I made a mini I titled "Wheat" for my partner.

She sent me this fall mini in return.
I love the leaves! Before making the wheat quilt, I searched and searched trying to come up with a leaf block I liked. I couldn't come up with one. They were all mis-shaped or just plain yucky. These are beautiful!

And the hand quilting! Yum!

The border on the front is from the same fabric as on the back. I love, love, love it!

See the awesome fat quarter she sent? It's the same as on the border and the back! What fun!

And the buttons are adorable! Most of them match the button on the center of the mini.

Thanks for swapping with me Claire! I had a lot of fun with you!

The Quilting Arts Book & the "Wheat" Mini

My library has a very good quilting and crafting section. Often I go there if I'm stuck in a rut and need a bit of inspiration.

I joined a little swap on flickr in September. The swap group is called the 6"-12" mini quilt trading swap. The theme for September was fall.

My head was immediately filled with all sorts of ideas. I spoke with my partner and she only requested fall colors and not Halloween. I did a lot of inspiration surfing on flickr and started adding images I liked to my favorites. I loved the detail I found in this photo titled "Golden Harvest", but couldn't figure out how to create it in a quilt.

I kept meandering from the wheat idea and started on numerous other variations on the "fall" theme. I attempted a scarecrow paper-piecing pattern and gave up. I debated a pumpkin quilt similar to this, but my heart just wasn't in it.

Eventually I gave up on my current ideas and headed to the library. I discovered a book titled The Quilting Arts Book. I brought it home thinking it would be a good inspiration for how to quilt the mini.

It turns out that I was inspired by this book for more than quilting. I went to Utrecht the next day and got 2 linoleum blocks. I went to JoAnn for some Tulip paint, fabric, and gold thread.

I came home and pulled out our printmaking supplies. I carved the blocks.
I printed the images onto the fabric.
I sliced the printed fabric into manageable rectangles around the wheat image. I developed an arrangement and determined the rotation of blocks.

I sliced the blocks to close to the proper size.

I pieced the rectangles together to create the quilt top.

I layered the top, batting, and backing together.

I quilted the mini.
I attached the binding.

I added the quilt tag.



This is what I ended up creating.


It's amazing to me that I came up with this. I was drawn to this book because of the phenomenal stitching on the cover, but ended up with such a simple quilting pattern in the end.

The inspiration for this project that I did take from The Quilting Arts Book was from the Layered Printmaking project by Lucie Summers.

Note: I'm fairly certain this blog belongs to the Lucie Summers who authored the project in the book. If I'm wrong and it actually belongs to a different Lucie Summers, it's still worth checking out. She does some wicked cool work.

I altered the project quite a lot. I used a different type of paint/ink. I actually never completely read the entire instructions (I usually don't. I read maybe 1/2 to 2/3 of the project instructions and then force myself to create from that starting block.)

This was my first stab at printing onto fabric. I've took a printmaking class in college and really enjoyed it. Printing on fabric and at home is a lot different though. I wish we had the room and expendable income to buy a printing press. Just imagine the possibilities!

I'm really digging this book. Our library lets you recheck out the same book multiple times in a row (It is actually quite ridiculous how long I can keep a book.) if nobody else has requested it. So, I think this is a book I will either hoard from the library or if they force me to... it might be one that I purchase.

What I love about Quilting Arts is that everything they write about is something fresh. I think that's what I find lacking in other quilting magazines. You can only do the nine patch so many ways that traditional quilting magazines seem to just be more of the same.

Quilting Arts touches on thread painting, fabric dyeing, embellishing, fusing, etc. It touches on so many different ways to make your quilt have a texture. (Texture is one of my favorite elements in design.)

Okay, maybe I should give this copy back to the library and buy my own. It's a great book that could get anyone out of an inspiration rut. I totally recommend you check it out (just not from my library because I'm not quite ready to forfeit this copy just yet).