Making Lemonade

A while back, I took a short painting class one evening and was less than happy with the results.  For the good of mankind, I will not show you the painting.

As a sewing and crafting fanatic, I couldn't "waste" that perfectly good canvas, though.

A couple of posts back, I showed a new spiral in progress,  I made it to fit the size of the canvas.  Last night I quilted it and this morning I mounted it on the canvas.  Now I like this piece of art work MUCH better.

And since I sew, quilt, knit, crochet, and make jewelry, I don't feel too bad about not being a painter. 

More Birds

No, the spiral isn't finished yet.

But this bird quilt is!  I was unhappy with the machine quilting mid-way through and put it away for a while. When I took another look, I still didn't like it, so ended up picking out a lot of machine quilting in the sashing around the birds.  Once that was done, I was able to finish it up rather quickly  And I like it now.

Wait and See

I started this spiral in a class a few months back.  Today's the day to finish it!

I'm planning on mounting this piece on a 12" x 15" canvas, so midway through the process I placed it on parchment paper with guidelines.  As you can see, I'm just about done with the piecing.  I'll layer it on batting, do a bit of quilting, then add a few embellishments before stretching it on the canvas.

At Last!

I started this when I taught a class on my "Hexagon Table Topper".  Here are the original pieced sections, ready for the embroidery to begin.

I don't know exactly why it's taken so long ..... but last night I finally finished.

Close-ups:

Maybe there's been too much knitting going on?

Little Art Exhibit

Here's my entry in the 2015 Little Art Exhibit.  It's an annual fundraiser benefiting the Beaufort County Arts Council here in Washington, North Carolina.  Each participant is provided with an 8" x 10" canvas and create a finished piece that will be on exhibit and available for purchase. 

Two friends, Mary and Sally, had played with woven ideas recently and I wanted to get in on the fun.  I wove my strips on top of a piece of fusible interfacing laying face up on my ironing board, then zigzagged all of the raw edges with "smoke" invisible thread.  I fine tuned some of the ins and outs along the edge with scissors, then zigzagged twice around with purple thread. I dabbed the edges where white still showed with my black Sharpie.  I spray painted the canvas RED before attaching the woven piece.  I was toying with the idea of beads or other embellishments, but I think now that it is DONE.

Split Personality

Here's another great example of how I am pulled in so many different directions.  Hanging above the ironing board is my challenge piece for the Artrageous Quilters along side a little finished top made from a printed "Block Party Studios" panel and free pattern.  I've got to keep the shop samples coming!

Here's a little quilt that should have been finished a LONG time ago.  It's one of my original patterns "Four Square Hearts", and has 2010 on the pattern back!  I've used it as a teaching sample several times.  Finally, it is basted and ready to quilt.

AND, when I'm not sewing, I might be working on jewelry (taking another class right now) or knitting.  Last night I finished my third pair of hand knit socks.  I just love them!!

Show and Tell

I know that a lot of you can identify with this.  Too many projects at one time means SLOW progress on each one of them.  Then, magically, several things are completed in quick succession.  Hooray!!!

The first thing that I have to show off is the quilt I designed for our annual shop hop in February.  It had to remain a secret until Feb. 4, the day the hop started.  Now it can be shown!  The name of the pattern is "Star Play" and it is available at Cotton Fields Quilt Shop.

I had a great time making this large wall quilt.  It's my version of the quilt featured on the cover of Cultural Fusion Quilts by Sujata Shaw.  The majority of the fabrics used were French prints that I had been hoarding.

Close up:  I machine quilted with a walking foot and variegated thread. Straight lines, 1/2 inch apart.  It took a WHILE.

The paint ship challenge quilt is also finished.  It's 12 inches wide and 63 inches long.  It's also machine quilted with walking foot and variegated thread.  The 12 inch wide quilts from this challenge will be on display together at the Crystal Coast Quilter's Guild show in Morehead City, NC in May of this year.  They will appear at the Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival in Virginia next February.

The title of the quilt is "Inner Light".  Here is a close up of the quilting and a little bit of bead work I've added to the center.

What else?  I've also made a small quilt top from a pattern called "Plume" in the book Fat Quarter Style.

AND

I've finished knitting a second pair of socks and started a third.