Handwork at QuiltCon

If you have been reading this blog for any length of time, you know that I am NOT known for my handwork!!! So, when I walked into the handwork area, I wasn’t expecting much!!

But, as usual, I was surprised!!

First of all, I had to change my definition of what a “handwork” quilt was!! You see, I think of something completely pieced and quilted by hand. But, the QuiltCon definition was this….

The first quilt that caught my eye was this one…..

It took me a while to figure out what the handwork was, but I finally got close enough to see the seed stitches…..

….that made up the shadows.

The really interesting thing about this was the fact that it was quilted in 1/8-inch lines BEFORE the seed stitches were added. But, the stitches didn’t show thru to the back!!

That meant that she had to run the stitches thru the batting rather than “stab-stitching” them thru the entire quilt sandwich. That would have been SO hard to do!!! Well done Diana!!

Next was this piece……

“The Sun Goes Down Alone” by Jennifer Broemel

This is a great exercise in how threads can change fabrics. Have a closer look…..

That is a LOT of cross-stitches!!

It was interesting to take a peek at the back of the quilt…..

…..where you can see that tulle was also used. this gives a great view of ALL of the machine stitching that went into the quilt!!

This next one was simple, but SO effective……

In 2021, I attempted something like this but fused the fabrics and wasn’t happy with the fraying that occurred along the edges. You can read more about the attempt HERE.

It looks as if these are pieced together which would solve that problem and I REALLY like the idea of adding movement with the stitching. Maybe THIS will be my new “slow stitching” project???

Finally, I was drawn to this quilt…..

“Crowned With Care” by Uzoma Samuel Anyanwu

lt reminded me greatly of a photo that I took when we were in Mozambique……

If you want to read more about our lunchtime with Zak’s family, check out this post…..

Portrait of a Mozambique bush family

But I have digressed……

Back to the quilt….. I loved the machine work on this quilt but couldn’t figure out why it was in the handwork category. Then I noticed the headscarf on this one woman…..

It is a magnificent beaded piece and DEFINITELY belongs in the handwork arena!!

Once again, these quilts were great examples of a new way to think about handwork.

Maybe I can try some soon!!!

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No machines allowed….

Today we are looking at the “Hand-Made” category at the International Quilt Festival….again…a category that I would NEVER be able to enter. But I can enjoy the quilts anyway!!

Zena Thorpe entered this fun quilt……

The applique is immaculate but LOOK at the hand stippling……

Zena said it gave her a spark of joy every time she picked it up to work on it!!

This quilt from Aiko Yokoyama is a feast of fascinating details……

Just look at these embroidery accents….

….and the roof on this house is perfect!!

The quilt “Clematis — Hope” from Taeka Kozuka……

….has wonderful applique, but to me, the star of the show is the quilting in the background…..

This quilt by Aiko Saito and a plethora of her quilting friends…..

She apparently worked with a group from a quilting class and, from the quality displayed, I assume that it was an “Advanced Class!!

Kyoko Someya made “Temptation of the Breeze”…..

….is another quilt that brought a smile, and the quilting made that smile even broader….

The Blue-ribbon winner was from Isako Wada…..

“In the Square Where the Refreshing Breeze Is Blowing”

The piecing is mind-boggling, but the border treatment adds so much to the quilt…..

And speaking of

…..come back tomorrow for “MICRO-piecing”. Some of these quilts are insane!!!

Lots of Handwork….

You should know by now that, if I am posting about a LOT of handwork, it is someone else’s quilt!!

I have mentioned before that my Mom LOVED doing things with her hands. She seldom sat at night without a needle in her hand……….and stuck in the padded armrest….but that is another story!!

One of her favorite crafts was embroidery and she KNEW how to do it.

I thought she was crazy when she started this quilt…..

There are 50 blocks with each state and its bird and flower……

Look at all of these French Knots…..

And of course, her beloved Texas…..

Now the AMAZING thing here is that not only did she make this quilt, but she also went on to make TWO more of them!!!

I love that I have this quilt and when I look at it, I can see her bent over her needle and smiling!!

Kantha Cloth Update

Several weeks back, I posted about my idea for a trip project and left with this piece to work on…..

As fate would have it, we ended up being super busy and I had VERY little time available to work on it, although I did manage to add a few stitches…..

I found it fun and relaxing to work on BUT I am not happy with the shredding that is occurring along the edges of the fabrics…..

I hadn’t wanted to fuse the fabrics down completely because I am afraid that it will make it too stiff and hard to get the needle through, but I think that will be the only way to stop the threads from pulling out.

Most likely I will not finish this piece but will certainly try again soon!!!

Have you ever done this technique? How did you solve this problem????

Handwork for the trip…..

As I have mentioned before, Michael and I are heading back to Mozambique on Thursday and will be in camp for 2 more weeks. We are getting excited about returning to the friends that we made back in May!!

On previous trips, I have always taken some sort of creative project with me, but as we went on more and more trips, I realized that I seldom had time to work on them. So, I didn’t take ANYTHING on the trip earlier this summer. But, the weather was not conducive to being out and about and I ended up desperately wanting something to work on!!

So, I am NOT leaving this time without something to keep my hands busy!!

The question was exactly what to take??? Lighting is not great so I knew that I couldn’t take any fine work like applique.

As I scratched my brain trying to come up with an idea, my mind kept coming back to Indian Kantha cloth, like the covering for this box…..

I also kept remembering the amazing wall art that I saw in the Mumbai airport….

Click HERE to read more about the Mumbai Airport “art gallery”!!!

After procrastinating as long as I could, I finally pulled some fabrics and threads……

Add started cutting squares, strips, and rectangles……

I finally moved the design to lightweight fusible interfacing and, when I was happy with the design, I ironed it all in place. I glued down any strips or pieces that weren’t being held in place with the fusing.

Then I started worrying about how the edges would handle all of the manipulation, so I sewed strips of fabric over the top to give it some stability…..

You can see the first little bit of stitching that I did to see how it was going to work….

When I put everything together I started to get excited about this project…..it might actually work!!!

The final step was to put together all of the supplies that I would need, including needles, threaders, scissors (ones that go on a plane), a seam ripper, marking pen and a few straight pins….

I also needed a straight edge to use for marking the sewing lines and my ruler wouldn’t fit in my pencil case holder so I decided to make one. I cut a rectangle of template plastic and marked 1/4 lines along it’s length….

The final addition to the project bag was my clip on light…..

Now my bag is packed…..I’m ready to go……

I probably wont even open it on the trip, but at least it is there and available!!!!