Now the FUN begins

Last week, I shared how I set up my pattern and design board for the new baby quilt…

Baby Quilt Inspiration Board

And now, it is time to start adding fabrics, and color, and making decisions…..

YIPPEE!!

When I saw the inspiration photo, I started sondering if I had enough of those peachy colors…..

OKAY……no need to worry!!

I knew that these colors were going to be the path, so I selected a bunch and laid them out by value….

My plan was to sew these fabrics in strips, going from light to dark. To get me a feel for what I was doing, I put a piece of tracing paper over the path and divided it into parallel strips….

At this point, I got engrossed in doing the sewing and forgot to take photos, but here is the final result….

I LIKE that path!!!

Now I pulled out the greens and started finding a gradation that I liked….

I wanted to use similar strips, but didn’t want to sew them in straight lines; instead, I wanted to have some curves in there as well.

I didn’t want the curves to be raw-edged without some fusible, and I didn’t want to fuse the ENTIRE strip, so I did the next best thing…..

I cut a 1-inch strip of Wonder Under and fused it to the edge of my fabric….

I cut a gentle curve out of the strip….

…and it was ready to fuse to the previous strip….

This worked well…

Now my problem was figuring out how to attach the grass to the path with fusible on the edges.

I finally decided to cut a strip of Wonder Under in the shape of the path (REVERSED OF COURSE)….

…placing it carefully (and fearfully) on the greens….

It took a bit of finnagling, but the result was great….

Unfortunately, we are on the road for a few days, so I won’t be able to work on this until next week.

YIKES…..my deadline is August 5th!!!

MUST…..GET……BUSY!!

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Baby Quilt Inspiration Board

I had some free time this past weekend and decided to start on the forest baby quilt my daughter commissioned. If you remember, this was the “mood” photo that I was to work from…..

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She also sent these photos and said that it would be fun (and appropriate) to have animals reading books….

OKAY…..with those instructions, I was ready to plan the quilt!!

First of all, I am NOT an artist in the sense of understanding perspective and shading, so I asked for some help from Chat GPT. YES…. I am a fan and use it often to help with things that I don’t understand.

So, I described my scene…. a forest with a path running through it and a large tree on the left. After a few attempts, this is what I had….

I used two things from this design…..the tree and the pathway fading away at the back.

I traced out the design that I wanted, scanned it, and saved it as a PDF…..

This design is 8 x 10, and I want the quilt to be 40×60 (or so).

SO….. If I print this out in a 1-page print in 5×5 pages (bottom option)…..

….it will be approximately 40 by 50 (8*5) by (10*5)

When I did that, I ended up with 25 sheets of paper, each with a portion of the design….

Now it was a matter of taping those pages together to form the design

Since these two features were the only ones I was concerned with, I left the other pages out.

I also found all my inspiration photos of reading animals and printed them out….

…including a color photo of the “mood”!!

I pinned the “minimal” pattern to my wall and laid a super-fine, fusible interfacing over the top.

So, now I am ready to start adding fabrics…

….the FUN PART!!

Stay tuned as I work on this over the next few weeks!!

How do you prepare designs and turn them into full-size patterns??

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When Quilts Tell Stories

This week, I’ll be sharing a little about Harriet Powers — an extraordinary quilter whose story quilts continue to inspire generations of makers and storytellers.

Her work reminds us that quilts are more than fabric and thread. They can preserve memories, faith, family, history, and creativity in ways that last for generations.

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In this blog, I post stories about creativity, techniques, tools of the trade, and lots more about the wonderful art of quilting. If you are enjoying these posts, please subscribe to be notified of each new blog as it becomes available.

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FLYING FINGERS on a TBT

It has been a while since I had a “Throw-Back-Thursday” post, but I have wanted to show this one for a while.

And of course, there is a story behind it!

My friend Audrey and I both played piano, and for many years we organized worship for our church services. We loved doing it and enjoyed finding new music for our congregation.

At Easter and just before Christmas, we would hold one special service featuring congregational singing, solos, duets, and other musical offerings.

For this service, Audrey and I would both play keyboards and organize Guitars, Drums, Trumpets, and anything else we could come up with.

BUT, the offeratory was always just she and I playing a duet.

One particular Christmas, we were practicing at my house, and my daughter Jenny came in and said: “Ya’lls fingers are FLYING”!!

So… “Flying Fingers” was born…

Audrey had just organized a room in her house to be her “music room,” and she definitely needed this wall hanging!!

The keyboard was taken from a panel, and the staff and notes were machine-applique.

I just heard that Audrey and Mike are leaving the area soon and moving to be with one of their sons. As we texted back and forth, she assured me that “Flying Fingers” is going with her!!

It is fun to look back and remember quilts that we made and think about the people we made them for!!

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Do you have a stack of scraps that you want to use in a fun design?

Check out this pattern for a quick and easy scrap quilt that will help empty your bins and bring a smile to your face!!

Full Color pattern includes step by step instructions for blocks and border.

Click HERE for more information.

Updating my Garden

Yes, I have spent a bit of time in the yard, adding some perennials to my flower bed, but this time I am talking about my applique “Abiding Garden”!

Over the last 3 weeks, life has gotten in the way of my garden work.

Michael (my husband) was in desperate need of an updated website for his “side-hustle” business. Over the years, we have hired several people to do it, but we have never been happy with the results. So, it was time to tackle it myself!!

I spent most nights with my computer in my lap, one browser focused on the new website and another on ChatGPT… so I could ask LOTS of questions!!

It went live on Saturday night so HOPEFULLY my evening, slow stitching time can resume.

BUT….having said that, I did find a few nights to put in some stitches…..

I am loving the bright colors and fun fabrics, and can’t wait to get back to it!!

Stay tuned for more…..

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Who knew I would enjoy hand-appliqué SO much!

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