Joy in a time of Uncertainty

   Where does this story begin? 

I'll start with Project Quilting. It's a fun challenge oriented event, scheduled in the early winter, by Kim Lapacek. I think I stumbled across this challenge two or three years ago. It mostly corresponded with my time off from work, so it was something that kept me focused on quilting to a theme and I enjoy it very much. If you complete the challenge, your name gets put in a drawing. There's weekly drawings and then a final grand prize drawing. I've been lucky enough to win a few times and lucky enough to get to try out new products and be gifted with some fabric as well. Such is the case of the layer cake I used to make this quilt. 

  I'm not a modern quilter (for the most part) but I tried some of the predominant traits I see in them. Namely, Larger blocks more focused on the fabric than the piecing and More negative space. 

  So, I made this top and shared it with Project Quilting folks.  Joy@The Joyful Quilter  contacted me. I missed the email. She contacted me again. Joy offered to quilt this piece for me for free. ( WHAT!!!) Joy explained that someone did something nice for her earlier and she wanted to continue in that vein... sharing it forward. At the time, I was still in lock down from Covid and couldn't go out shopping. I explained I didn't have backing fabric that large here. (Remember, I'm mostly an art quilter) So Joy said," Nevermind, I'll do the backing fabric too." So, I mailed it to her. 

  Meanwhile, Covid continued, then my husband when back to work. Then I did as well... at severely reduced hours. I'm not going to say everything is back to normal at this point because it's not. I am not an essential worker but I go out among the public every day and try to make people happy, with all the precautions of mask wearing, temp checks, sanitizing, etc.. We just hope everyone plays along and remembers to keep their masks on. Some just don't. 

  Anyway, a package arrived and in it held a beautifully quilted quilt back from Joy. I just had to bind it and it would be finished. So, I jumped onto that as soon as I could. Hours at work changed from day to evening, so some was done in the evenings after work and some in the morning before. It's done! And here it is!   I dreamed of doing a better photo shoot for this, but at the moment, this is the best I can do.  

I never would have thought to do swirls on this. Let's be honest, I never would have made it this wonderful. It's quilted with a  light turquoise colored thread. I never would have thought of that either.  

I recently listened to a YouTube called "Karen's Quilt Circle with Anita Zorbens". It's a new off shoot of "Just get it done Quilts" You Tube channel. Anyway, it was about thread and needles. One thing Anita was saying is quilting with "in between" colors or pastels would read as white on white fabrics and blend nicely with others. I had an ah ha moment because I had Joy's example right before me. The thread reads white and gives dimension on the whites while blends nicely with all the other colors. So, Joy taught me a wonderful lesson. Thank you again for that, Joy! 

 

Now a brief word about generosity and making connections. I'm a introverted artist. I observe and I'm not particularly good at socializing. I'm not saying I glower in the corner of all gatherings, but my first instinct is to sit in the corner and watch everything rather than wear the lampshade. Communicating on the computer is easier for me, even though I keep having to learn all sorts of technical things and still type with two fingers. 

I've spent a lifetime now in the arts. Quilters tend to say we are the most generous group of people.  I've seen, over the years, just how generous quilters can be in making quilts for those in need. Veterans. Hurricane survivors. Children at risk. All the masks quilters made for Covid. Quilters are generous people, no doubt about it. People who receive these gifts have no idea how valuable they are. The money involved, certainly, but also the time involved. 

For me to have received this gift from Joy, it's a bit different. I'm not in need and I know full well the value of this gift. Her final response was:

Thank you, again, for trusting me with your quilt. It was an honor to do this for you. I hope you will remember the experience fondly as one of the GOOD things that happened during the pandemic and "pay it forward" at some point in the future.

I certainly will, Joy. Thank You again. 

the End of PQ Quarantine

I think people are just getting tired of this challenge, frankly. Many people have been able to go on with their jobs and life, therefore, this challenge is not so much fun as a burden. I totally understand it. I see all sorts of people going about their business and ignoring the Virus. 

I am still waiting for my job to open and I think they are waiting to see how other theme parks go about opening and what the outcomes are. I get it. I think there's going to be a point where we just can't do it safely and we'll just have to throw our hands up and do it. 

In the meantime, I'm still sheltering at home and just made a trip to the grocery store yesterday. I think that was my trip for the week. 

People are not exactly following simple rules anymore. 

It is crazy how many items are out of stock at the store, most notably meat, but odd things as well. Every time I go, it's an adventure that I've never experienced before. 

  Anyway, here's my latest piece, because I'm still in  self- quarantine and still quilting. But, my quilting has slowed down as the garden takes my focus and, frankly, I'm not very inspired to quilt this week. I am still making a house a day. I'm on week 11. 

Quarantine Challenge- Spots

Spots

Quarantine 

13.5" X 12.75"

This week's theme is spots. I used the opportunity to try a technique using my Cricut to cut out shapes in the fabric. In this case, I cut out the "holes" in the black fabric and backed it with a patterned Batik. I chose an irregular circle pattern and, to me it ended up looking like cells. 

 I decided to commit to my first piece  addressing the Covid-19 Virus. I found a picture of a Corona Virus and manipulated it to be cut on my cricut from green fabric. I fused that to some black fabric to give it more definition and then Cut this shape with scissors.I decided to go ahead and cut out the words in the Batik and fuse it onto a black border. 

Because this is a small piece, I decided to do some simple  Quilting stitching using clear thread on top and black thread on the bottom to hold all the pieces down. 

 I like how it all turned out. It reminds me of a poster presentation of this subject. The entire project went quickly. I started this morning and finished the piece by early afternoon. 

 I am emotionally struggling this week and doing my best to evaluate why and address issues as they come up. I think it's important to keep a welfare check going for myself at this point. Generally, I'm still in good shape. 

  I've been spending a lot of time (on my 9th week now) sheltering in place and, at first, I was keeping myself so busy making quilts I barely looked up from it. I could not separate my anxiety of the news from any sort of artistic processing. Last week, I just made a list of things, phrases, and touch words to begin to deal with it. I continue to make a house every morning to record the time I've been in shelter-in-place. Now, I've made this piece, just naming it. 

  

Slowing Down

 Most of my posts here are an easy way to post my Project Quilting entries, but this time, I'm taking a moment to self- evaluate how I'm doing in the time of Quarantine.

The good news first:

•   My husband finally gave up on having our spatially challenged son to rebuild the stairs and did it himself. While it's still not safe enough for me to walk them, the structure is there and son can finish them. 
•   We have a plan for the house issues.
• The weather is nice enough for us to enjoy working in the yard, although I am struggling to reclaim certain planting areas and I need to make decisions soon regarding gardening. 
•  I have a new great-nephew, born this month and he's cute as a button. 
• I have enjoyed connecting with family on the phone or via zoom. 

 My concerns:

• I still don't know how my job can restart. While I am lucky enough to be getting unemployment, I am concerned that it will end before my job can restart. 
•  I believe that our government has given up on having a better plan for a response to the Virus and have decided that the deaths are viewed as "acceptable losses" rather than seeing them as US citizens dying needlessly. It will speak to their morals and our morals as a nation forever. 
•  My family has done a good job of social distancing, but as soon as we open up, we are all at risk. 

 So, while the bigger concerns have been swirling around, my day to day activities are how I deal with them. My days generally look like this: I wake up at 4:30 or 5:00 and make coffee, drink coffee and listen to the news while I wake up. I make my house for the day. I've had big quilt projects that I have been meaning to do but never seemed to have the time to do. At first, I was working extremely hard on them, often until 2 in the afternoon. Now that I've had 2 months home, I've done most of those and I'm slowly working on other things. Like, I've collected patriotic fabrics for a few years, so now I'll do one of those. Never high on my list, but here we are. 

 I work on those until 12 or 1 now and then I eat lunch and watch tv. I take a nap. I wake up in time for decide on what dinner will be (with wavering enthusiasm) and then we settle in for a movie of some sort which I may or may not sleep through. Then bed. 

  My hours are so messed up and my enthusiasm for projects have waned somewhat. I'm trying to keep myself busy with projects that are not all that important. I get a level of satisfaction when I've completed a quilt top, especially one I liked designing.

    But, I feel like speaking of the Virus needs to be said in an art quilt and I'm just not there yet. Perhaps because the story isn't finished and I've yet to come to terms with all of what it means. Who made good choices and bad ones? Who did ridiculous things during it and how did it affect us all? Can I live with the choices I've made? What will my choices be going forward? How do I represent my feeling on the insanity I witness? At some point, it will come about. I'm just now starting to allow my thoughts to come. 

  I've gone through so much of my fabric stash, which is a good thing. After this patriotic one, perhaps I'll work on a Fall and then a Halloween one. I have quite a bit of fabric collected for those. I just have to decide what patterns to try for those. I'm just keeping on keeping on. 

   

   

 

Vintage

Totally Vintage

 Project Quilting (quarantine edition) them is " Vintage" this week. 

Most quilters never turn down fabric, even if it's not their style. Especially in the beginning when you aren't sure what kind of quilts you really like to make. As such, you end up with some fabric you aren't sure why you have it. 

 So, this was a chance for me to use some of the reproduction fabrics and some "real" vintage pieces. I think it makes a cute baby quilt with a star pattern I saw online. Some of the fabric included were given to me by a woman in her 80's and she told me the fabric was given to her by her Mother-in-law from dresses she made her daughters. I wasn't clear if she meant her husband's sisters or that Mom made dresses for her granddaughters. Either way makes those pieces older than me.  It feels good to have them find a home in a new piece. 

My nod to the situation is I'm not finishing this piece for now. I want to think about the sorts of backing fabric to use instead of using anything I have at hand. 

I wanted to share a picture of the most vintage toy I own that has a connection to my childhood. 

This was given to my sister, Ann, when she was young by the neighbors whose kids had outgrown it. 

Not only did it survive her childhood, but made it all the way to me, born 14 years later, and a large influx of kids. I have no idea how my of us this guy comforted in the family, but I do remember my brother and I fighting over ownership and Grandma sewing the buttons on for his eyes. I guess I won ownership since I have it and I'll be 60 this year. I'm going to post his picture on my facebook page and ask who remembers him. It will be interested to hear what my siblings will say. 

Floral Challenge

Floral Art Sketch

The Project Quilting Quarantine Challenge this week is Floral.

I've been meaning to try this technique for awhile so this was a great week to try it. I used A light colored Cherrywood fat quarter as my top fabric. It's a fabulous fabric to sew with and to paint on. I looked at several photos I took of a messy garden and sketched several elements from those photos into a composition. I used a frixion pen on the fabric. I sandwiched it with some black batting pieces I had and black backing fabric. I used black thread and free motion quilted the sketch onto the fabric. I ended up with this.

I used fabric medium and watercolor paint to color the piece. It got very intense and bled quite a bit. I liked the effect but I wasn't sure how to control the edges. I sprayed some water to encourage the spread. Then I added salt to the whole piece and let it dry. I used pink Himalayan Salt, cause I had a bag of it handy, but you can use any salt. It pulls the water towards it and thus, the paint, so the end result is a mottled look I really like. 

 After it dried and I brushed all the salt off,(Outside and with a good brush) I realized I wanted a few more flowers but lighter, so I used a lighter thread, instead of black, to sketch in a few more. I used Inktense pencils with fabric medium to bring out some more spots of color that I lost from bleeding before. I've never actually made a quilt with a rounded top , but always wanted to try it. It's roughly 13 x 20.  

Overall, I liked this project. I got to do some techniques I had wanted to try and I like the overall feel of the piece, like it's a watercolor sketch. I'd forgotten just how much I like the effects of salt. I really liked the whole piece as a great little project. 

Small escapes during Coronavirus-19

Social Distancing

It's been a bit more than 3 weeks of social distancing for me. At first, the days were moving so slowly and I kept thinking I needed to be highly productive every day. Now, I'm settling into a pattern of life and I'm not quite as driven. I can spend a week at a time indoors but then I need to step out a bit. I am sheltering in a rural area and can easily spend some outdoor time without encountering anyone. I celebrated the super moon by spending quite a bit of time at the lake. 

 I've been waking up very early  and taking pictures of the dawn. I don't know why I am waking up so early every day. 

 I enjoy watching dawn every day. 

 Just for variety, I went to the lake for sunset. The sky was mostly cloudless, but also fewer contrails. It's Spring, which means lots of rain and the lake is flooded. I miss being able to walk along the shore. 

I've been enjoying the wild life out my window. Some are quicker than others. I've missed photos of the groundhog and fox, but this little guy is a frequent visitor.

 I am not sure how long we'll be social distancing and unable to go to work. It sounds bleak. I understand the social distancing means we don't overwhelm the hospitals, but at some point, are we supposed to get it? Are we just delaying the day? Can we really survive like this long enough to get a vaccine?That's over a year. If we do get it, and survive, are we immune? The jury is still out on that. Not sure if our government even knows or has some sort of overall plan. 

Life after Project Quilting- Think Big

Social Distancing

   I sit at home, day after day, listening to the news from New York which is so far away from my location. I hear it's bad there and here cases are slowly creeping up, one here and there in towns nearby and finally, one in our county. I'm trying to do my best by staying home and keeping away from anyone but my husband and son. 

  All three of us are out of work and have applied for unemployment. For many people who are trying to navigate unemployment for the first time, it's maddening. There is a disconnect between what the news is saying is coming and reality. No money is coming. We are all just waiting through the filing week, the waiting week, the week we should be getting money (but it could be 10 days?) and none of it shows the increased amount the congress spoke about. No big cash amount, no unemployment and no paychecks. None of it reflects the years of loyalty to a company and how often the job came first. It's been shockingly easy for employers to just drop you to save themselves. The lifeline for small businesses is just as chaotic and will be weeks before it all shakes out, if ever. The wheels are turning very slowly, folks. 

  Our state hasn't even declared a state-wide emergency, despite a marked increase in cases. While my family is  social distancing, we do have to shop occasionally and no one is distancing themselves there. I don't feel like enough people are taking it seriously and ever time we go out to shop, we are in danger. 

 

I have been trying to keep myself occupied with quilting. I have been making one small house block a day. My husband likens it to a prisoner making hash marks on the wall. He's not wrong. It's a diary entry of sorts. 

I've been finishing some ongoing quilts and quilt tops. Finished the Cherrywood Challenge, finished a quilt about bees. I made this one for the challenge, "Big". I do not have any batting or backing fabrics, nor do I have a longarm, so I'm not in a position to finish this one.  Even though the "rules" are to finish it, that's my concession to the Social distancing of the moment. This was a layer cake I won last year from PQ. I added a lot of white (and a few darker pieces) to make it more modern, which is not the sort of quilting I normally do. 

I just don't feel up to my normal quilting. Mindlessly sewing pieces is the best I can do right now. I'm just trying to keep going without adding to my husband's feelings and I'm sure he's doing the same for me. 

 I've been trying to just keep busy and upbeat, but it's getting harder. Be well, people. 

Project Quilting 11-6

Vibrant and Vivacious

This is the last challenge for Project Quilting this year and I'm going to miss it. Things have gotten so scary in the world since even our last challenge because of the Corona Virus that has become a global epidemic. The United States has become so complacent about other epidemics that have not quite reached our shores that, now that one has, it is just rippling through our country with dire warnings and one cold stark reality after another. 

  My husband's job is threatened. My job is threatened and we are not even in a risky area. We do, however, depend on the tourist dollar and while his job can withstand a disaster in one or another part of the country, this all encompassing nation-wide shut down does threaten it. My job depends heavily on the tourists coming. We all have so much fear, because of the uncertainty of getting sick, meeting our bills and feeding ourselves. Luckily, I don't have school age children. 

  Being an introvert, I would be fine staying at home. I feel like I have plenty of projects I could do while I sheltered at home. Speaking of Projects...

 It's been a year since I made this top. I have a quilt guild friend who has a long arm and, since I wasn't in a hurry to get it back, she could take her time and do it when she was in the mood. She has finished it and we need to make arrangements for me to get it from her. I'm excited to see what she did, since she had fun doing her own thing. I used years worth of scraps on this quilt top and I was really sick and tired of seeing them all here hanging around so, after I finished this quilt, I donated all the scraps I had left to the guild. OOPS!
I thought maybe for this challenge, I could make a pillow to go along with that quilt, but I had already gotten rid of any similar fabrics. Not to say I don't have other choices of fabrics that are just as bright. So, I made a Dresden Plate flower pillow from other bright fabrics. Some of it came from PQ and some from my husband buying me fabric as he drove by Handcock's in Paducah without really knowing what he was doing. (He did great!) and some pieces I bought in Houston.   I did have the same background fabric  I used on the quilt and the same center, so it should work ok with the Quilt when I get it back. I have a lot of binding in my future if I have to shelter in place ever.

Listening to the news is so scary and yet, so many of us just aren't getting clear answers. Things are changing every day and it's hard to make plans when things are changing so swiftly. For now, I continue to go to work and clean the stores in anticipation for opening (last we heard) March 28. After that, we are unclear if we are unable to open. 

 I am a quilter and an artist and I have many, many more ideas than I can ever do with the time I have. I can keep myself occupied easily with all my projects. I know you can too. As long as we have a sense of wonder and exploration to try new things, to wonder, "what if".. to experiment and plan and dream. We will get through this and be wiser for it. Good Luck!

    

Project Quilting 11-5

Give it Away

This in National Quilting Month and so many quilting groups around the country are celebrating the event in many different ways. Quilters, as a whole, are such generous people. My own small guild have groups who focus on Quilts of Valor and My Very Own. Then, of course, we have people who do so many quilts for family and friends, and many sew for Quilt Day boutique, which benefits the guild. I have done a bit for Quilt day, but many of mine got to friends and family. I especially love making baby quilts. BUT...

This week, I am back to work and I am exhausted every night. I knew I couldn't make a bigger project. I've been playing around with making these bags made with the ruler closings. I've made a larger one for the last challenge, but I wanted to try a smaller one. 

 I had this interesting fabric I picked up from Market several years ago with the alarm clocks. I liked the gear fabrics to go with the clocks. I've been holding onto some iron on vinyl coating for some time and I thought it would be a good time to try using that. 

 

I felt like it really didn't adhere to the fabric as well as I thought it would. I applied it with my iron, but I wonder if using a heat press would have been a better choice. I'll try that another time. 

I forgot to put the small triangle of fabric for a pull handle, so I added these decorative buttons instead. One says , "Sun rise" the other says, "sun set". 

Because I've been waking up early, I have been enjoying the sunrise from my home. Every morning it's been a beautiful show, but some more brilliant than others. This one had such soft pinks and a brilliant yellow on a cloudless morning where the colors just blended from one to the next. 

I like giving gifts randomly. In that vein, I gave my little bag to a co-worker. She was funny. Her first comment was, "you're so crafty". She has a great laugh and loves little gifts like this. It's fun to work with her. I am the second youngest person in my shop at 59. It's been a real blessing to work with a variety of older people every day. 

Project Quilting 11-4

Birds in Flight

Last week, I had stumbled across a video about making snap bags. 

snap bag tutorial

I thought it would make a good project for Project Quilting but, when the theme was announced, I wasn't so sure. 

I don't tend to do patchwork quilts so I wasn't very excited about the old patchwork pattern by the same name. I DO like birds, however and I have enjoyed seeing so many birds at my feeder this winter. I also knew I wanted to force a print in each one , because I'm often literal in my fabric choices.  

 I drew up patterns for many birds on Sunday night. Finches, Cardinals, Robins, Chickadees, Blue Jays and Black Birds. I thought about making a bigger piece with a feeder and all of these birds coming in for a taste, but time started getting away from me.

 Quilt Guild meeting and workshop pretty much took Monday. Eye Exam and lunch with a dear friend took Tuesday. Tuesday evening had me ask, "Why not make a bigger travel bag using the snap bag idea after all?" 

I appliqued the birds onto the background fabric. I added Puns on each side, having to do with birds and travel, using my cricut and iron on vinyl. Then I basically followed all the directions in the tutorial but clipped the bottom corners So it can sit up when filled. 

One side features a cardinal and the saying" On the Fly".

The other side features a Robin and the saying, "Just Wing it".

Sitting inside this Bag for the Photo is two full sized hairspray cans, which fits easily in this bag that is roughly 12" square. (Not that I use Hairspray, they were just handy and left here by my daughter) 

What I will use it for is some bigger items I do need to travel with (like my hairbrush) that doesn't fit in other travel bags I own. 

While the snap bag does work on this larger format, I imagine it would be tighter and snappier on a smaller bag. 

 So all in all, a good project to try for PQ and Something I would try again. Maybe try iron on Vinyl for the lining. Maybe try a beautiful Print combo. I still have all the other Bird Patterns I worked up so eventually, I could have a bird Quilt in the future. 

project quilting 11-3

Hearts!!!

It's February, Valentine's Day is coming, and the theme is Hearts. 

Sunday was when the Challenge dropped and it was Super Bowl Sunday. 

I'm not a fan (see the prior challenge) but I think the entire State of MISSOURI (not Kansas, although I'm sure they were excited too) practically HAD to watch the game. (Kansas City Chiefs were playing.)  

 I watched some while I was cooking/ eating and then left the room, although my house is small enough that I could still hear it. 

 Hey, did you see the Facebook commercial about the groups that ROCK? The first group they featured was Tablerock Lake Group- my LAKE! Just remember the lake is in MISSOURI, not Kansas! 

Super Bowl Sunday morning

Since I've been off work, I've been cleaning and sorting and finding stuff I've had for years. So, I found a pile of squares of vintage fabrics. Then I looked at all my Valentine fabrics, Which might be considered vintage, but I see them as older, probably late 90's. 

 Hearts

 approx 40"x40"

This is a generally good size for a baby quilt (in my experience)
It works great for naps, tucking into strollers, tucking around a car seat, not too big for them to drag around themselves later, still use for naps, still use for dolls, stuffed animals and real pets. My kids wore theirs out people!

Close-up view of some of the smaller vintage squares. 

This is not that creative, but it's a solid utilitarian baby quilt and I'm very excited to have found a home for these vintage and old fabrics. 

 I also got more experience using a walking foot for the basic quilting. I used a pretty lofty batting, something I rarely use, (I don't even know how I got this, honestly.) SO, I did not quilt it heavily, so it could be very soft and fluffy after it's washed. 

Project quilting 11-2

TEAMS

   My initial response to this challenge was quite negative. I hate sports teams. It might be because I never found a sport I was even moderately good at, with the exceptions of ping pong and deck tennis. Since no one has ever heard of deck tennis, and only China (and Forrest Gump) seem interested in Ping Pong, I was out of luck for any Hall of Fame.  My family generally wasn't interested in sports either. My father was more of the fishing, hunting, big garden type and so most of my younger and teenage years were spent either doing chores or reading and drawing. Things I could do at home because home was where my father wanted me to be...doing Chores. 

  Any team endeavors were along the lines of school assignments. You know, working on a project in a group. There were always the ones who did the part they were assigned and then had to do the parts the others didn't do, or every one's grades were at risk. Guess which one I was? I always ended up having to do most of the work. I'm by no means alone in this. Watching the changes as my kids went through school, team work has become the primary focus of most classroom work. Even in elementary school, there were multiple opportunities for large and small group work, but seldom individual work. It was my understanding that this change was requested by the business sector, in response to their emphasis on teams of workers who were assigned to complete a certain task. I am concerned about the lack of accountability and excellence in our society.

  My town was situated between two major cities with universities with football teams. The town was divided in their loyalties and I knew I couldn't care less about attending either one. I decided to attend the local Jr. College and, despite earning an art scholarship, I had to work nights at the local meat packing plant, slicing bologna, packaging sausages, and occasionally, being a weenie thumper until midnight. I would go home, do my homework, write my papers and get up to attend classes...wash and repeat. 

 Meanwhile, the terrible basketball team had a full ride (including meals and housing) because they could handle a ball instead of a pencil or brush. Clearly, my resentment grew. When I graduated (with honors) I could have transferred to either university, but in our state, there were two universities that were just Junior/ Senior years (and masters). Better yet, there were no teams! Yes, I chose that! 

  And so I packed my bags for the University of West Florida in Pensacola and spent some wonderful years there.

new logo

  Of course now it's a 4 year University and has sports teams, but back then, it only had a shell and, while I'm sure a hungry Nautilus can be scary if you are prey, on the surface it just doesn't scream ferocious. Still, it's not often that your University doesn't have a team, but does has a sailing club and University owned beaches. 

  I was lucky enough to win a prize last week from Project Quilting. It was the little twister template from the Twister Sisters. So I decided to try it using my school's colors. I just followed the general directions that came with the template. It was easy to follow and fairly easy to cut.

 When it came to quilting the piece, I wanted to acknowledge UWF's Shell (old logo). I used tracing paper and made several shell line drawings on it. I pinned it to the top of my quilt and free motion quilted over them. I wet the paper and removed it from the quilt then filled in the rest of the space with some bubbles and curving lines to represent water.

 I've never done quilting like this before and I'm still not great at free motion quilting, but I'm thankful for the practice.

Twisting at the Beach

26.5" x 20.5"

Challenge quilt 11-1

Notably Numeric

   Project Quilting challenges have begun! What a great way of stretching your imagination, test out techniques, and see what other people can create with the same theme ( maybe even win some goodies too!) 

   I concidered both words in this challenge. "Notably" and "Numeric". For some reason, my mind went to "songs" when I concidered the word "notably". Ok, it might be a bit punny, but there it is.

  I settled on "Love Potion #9". It's an old, kinda campy movie song from the 60's. 

  It fit what I wanted to work on quilt wise as well. Small framed piece with some dimention with a feel of primative (untrained) art. 

  I had some small (8 in, square) shadow box frames I wanted to use. I Liked this fabric too. The colorful pieces are a digital print that looks like watercolor bleeding one color into another. I liked how I could use 3 different parts of the same fabric strip to make this. I liked how it looks like the potion is mysterious. 

 Love Potion #9

8"x 8" 

This is with the frame under glass. I ran around the house trying to find somewhere to take a picture without reflections. I wasn't successful.  In reality, I like how it looks in the frame. 

I appliqued the black pieces over select pieces of fabric (3 different colors from the same fabric) I fused it to the fabric and fused that fabric to 1 layer of wool. Sewed it all down, and then cut it out. I sewed around the outside edge twice. (two layers of wool) 

 The background was made as a sandwiched batting turned it right side out and then stitched the purfume bottle down. I free motion quilted around the bottle. 

 I like the dimention I achieved with the bottle. 

 This is an extremely small piece but, with several other things on my plate at the moment (work and still have Christmas decorations up) This was a good warm up Piece.