Shams

Today I started quilting pillow shams I embroidered for Mother.  I embroidered one set for her, and one set that she will be giving as a gift.  I started with hers...

These aren't going as fast as the little quilt I did this weekend, but they're pretty! One Down...3 more to go.

Quick Little Quilts

I have a trip to visit my Mother , kids, and grandkids coming up in a couple weeks, so I've been making things to take with me.

I love to do quick strippy quilts when I need a kiddie gift. My sister Mary does these, but hers are a bit different than mine. I cut all my strips the same size and prefer to add applique, plus I do mine completely on the longarm. This one I did a while ago, all on the longarm...piecing, applique and quilting. Very fast and very easy...cute too!

But I needed 2, so time to whip up another.  I cut all my strips 6 1/2" x WOF. I cut 6 solid and 5 in a cute mermaid print.

Then I cut out hearts with my die cutter...the fabric was pre-fused with misty fuse

Next, I fused the hearts in place on the solid fabrics

All ready now to go.  I loaded backing and batting on the longarm, then stitched the first strip down at the top. (sorry, I forgot to take photos) Then place the next strip right side down on the first one and stitch along the bottom edge.  I use my channel lock to get a perfectly straight seam. Flip the strip down and press. Continue doing the same stitch, flip and press until all your strips are sewn in place. Stitch across the bottom edge of the last strip and now your top is all pieced and stabilized.  I then stitch up one side back to the top of the quilt.

Back at the top again I'm ready to quilt and applique each strip as I go. On these I did a blanket stitch around the hearts. I did a little video on this technique back in 2009...you can find the post here if you want to see how I do it. I just made my way back down to the bottom row by row, completing the applique and the background quilting working back and forth from side to side.  The whole quilt can be pieced, appliqued and quilt all with only one stop and start.  On this particular quilt, it took me 15 minutes to piece all the strips, 10 minutes to applique and quilt each solid row, and 5 minutes to quilt each print row for a grand total of 1 hour and 40 minutes!  The finished quilt measures 40" x 66"....perfect size for a 7 year old little girl.

And one of my drip dyed backings

I also made a little shoulder bag for her ipod touch

And I  made a couple pencil rolls for budding artists to carry their colored pencils around

I still have a few more things to make this coming week.  And looky what came in the mail today...

My 8" round Gelli plate!  Can't wait to play with this! That's it for today,  have a great weekend!

Vision of the Night

Today is the reveal of the first project of our new group Art Squared.  The theme (chosen by yours truly) this time is "Mystical".  The works can be any medium, but must be in a square format with a minimum size of 6x6 and maximum 12x12.  "Vision of the Night" is my interpretation.

"Vision of the Night"

12x12

The first thing that comes to my mind when I hear the word "Mystical" is the Moon.  Much of my work incorporates images of the moon.  In this piece, I combined the "Wadjet" or "eye of Horus" with the phases of the moon.

Horus was a sky god whose eyes, it was said were the sun and the moon. Ancient myth describes a battle between Horus and Seth, in which Horus' right eye was torn out.  Thoth, the god of magick, restored Horus' eye.  It is said the myth relates to the waxing and waning of the moon, during which the moon appears to have been torn out of the sky before being restored once every lunar month.

The base fabric background was dyed with fiber reactive dyes. The eye is painted with Pro Chemical textile paints and Jacquard Lumiere.  The moons are black and white Dupion silk and are machine appliqued to the background.

The batting is Quilters Dream Puff and it is quilted with Superior metallic and silk threads. Lastly, it was mounted on stretcher bars.

Be sure to head over to the Art Squared group blog to see the fabulous work of the other artists.

Making Stamps

I use many surface design tools  for making fabric my own. Some tools I buy that other artists have created, but I also create a lot of my own. Stamps are one of those easy things to do.  You can make stamps out of a variety of materials and the end product can be used with inks, paints and dyes, bleach etc.  on fabrics, leather and paper.  I have 2 very large bins of stamps, most of which I have made either with fun foam, or carved from lino, speedy cut or speedy carve. It's fun and easy to do when you want a creative project that leaves you with new supplies you'll use in your art over and over again.

I thought I'd share a few I've made. This first set is made from fun foam. Easy to cut with scissors, an exacto knife, versa tool (though, have plenty of ventilation), or  even a die cutter. 

These next sets I carved from speedy cut and speedy carve...easy to carve with a lino cutter.

And here is what they look like printed with ink.  I use them with paints, dyes and discharge agents as well.

If you've never made your own stamps, why not give it a try!

More Non-Quilting Projects

While I waited for my shoulder to heal enough that I could use the longarm again, I did other things...painting canvas was one. And while I showed the individual works in progress, I had a request to show them all together in one post, so here they are.

Selma and Herschel

Sea Dancer

Trudy and the Twins

Olivia

and Mollie

And while I had fun with these( and I'll continue this series on canvas), I'm very happy to be back using the longarm again as of today.  It went well with no increase in pain, and I got a lot done on my challenge piece.  Tomorrow should finish it up, and the full reveal will be on Tuesday.

I also carved and made a lot of new stamps during my time away from quilting.... I'll share some of those tomorrow.

A Tiny Glimpse

My new art group, Art Squared, has its first reveal on Oct 1st.   I've been working on my piece off and on for a couple months now and it's nearly finished.  Here's a tiny little glimpse of my piece.

 Be sure to join us for the reveal and see how each of us interpreted the first "Mystical"  theme.

New Thermofax Screens

Yesterday, I posted a stencil design from my friend Terri Stegmiller.  Today, I'll show you some new Thermofax screens.

Terri is lucky enough to have a Thermofax machine and she has made some fabulous screens.  You can find her designs in her ETSY shop...along with lots of her other art.

But getting to my point, I sent some more of my drawings to Terri and she made them into screens for me.   I did a quick printing on fabric scraps  just to see how they looked.  I love them all.  The paint I grabbed was a little too thin, so there they are not as crisp, but that is totally my fault...the screens are perfect.  So here they are...

Gears

Fans

Small Leaf

Large Leaf

Sm Swirl Feather

Lg Swirl Feather

So if you are in the market to have some of your drawings made into screens, keep Terri in mind...you won't be disappointed!