Tag: Quilting

Blew Two – part 2

 

Yesterday I posted about the making of this quilt top……

Cropped

Now I had to figure out how to quilt it…..

I figured that I wanted to having the quilting represent wind, but wasn’t sure enough about it to just sit down and start quilting.  Then, I started thinking about some of the ideas that I tell my students and decided to actually use one  of them myself….shocking!!!!

I took a photo of the top and  made several photocopies of it and started doodling to see what I would like.  Here are several of my first tries…..

 Scan_Pic0020 Scan_Pic0018 Scan_Pic0019

Well, I wasn’t happy with any of these and couldn’t figure out what was wrong, so I put it aside for a couple of days.

When I picked it up again, I immediately knew what was wrong…..wind would be blowing all in the same direction…..it wouldn’t go all over the place!!!!  Once I realized that, it was a simple matter to design the quilting.Scan_Pic0021

I used a metallic thread to do the quilting and am quite happy with the results._6015562

I decided to face the quilt rather than bind it.  If you are interested in learning an easy way to face a quilt, check out this website.   The only thing that I would change would be to make the facing a little bit narrower, especially for a small quilt like this one.

 

After I had completely finished the quilt, I remembered that I had thought of putting a swishy bead border at the  bottom of the quilt.  If I get REALLY energetic, I may take off the facing and add the beads, but dont hold your breath!!

In the long run, this is not only a good addition to the “Blue” challenge, but a fun reminder of our time in Kunming, China.

Wonderful New Book

 

Last night I finished the last of my major teaching duties and am greatly looking forward to cleaning out my studio this morning and getting organized for a new project….. probably a quilt for a friend’s wedding coming up in December.

But, last night, after the Trapunto class had ended, one of the participants pointed out a book in the Quilt Shop and asked if I had seen it before.    It is called “Sophisticated Stitches” by Don Linn and is a collection of really cool quilting designs.

Linn Book

These designs are not the classic feathers, wreaths and other standard patterns, but are wonderful contemporary designs.  You could make a beautiful Whole-cloth quilt just using the designs here….who knows, I might just do that!!

Here is a scan of one of his ideas……

 Linn ScanThe designs could be used for quilting, applique, or embroidery, and would be wonderful worked as a trapunto pattern!!!

There are 66 quilt patterns in the book, with ideas for how to combine them to make other designs.  I am looking forward to spending some time with this book and see what transpires.

Have a good (and quilty) weekend.

 

 

 

 

Seasonal Strolling

I finished the season challenge quilt that I showed in the last posting. I really enjoyed the quilting process and was encouraged at how the quilting added dimension, especially to the boots.


The challenge quilts were presented at last night’s guild meeting. The really funny thing that happened was that one of my best friends in the guild, Deb H., brought her quilt in and it was SHOES!!! I immediately got worried that she had told me her ideas and I had adopted them for my own, but she assured me that she had NOT told me her design. I guess that “great minds” think alike!!!