Florabunda Baby Quilt

Florabunda Baby Quilt
41" x 41"

I had so much fun making this little baby quilt with Melanie Testa's new fabric line Florabunda!  And, I am delighted to be part of the blog hop (see below) to showcase her new line!

I started making quilts many, many years ago.  My first quilt was a log cabin quilt.  After making a few traditional quilts, I was drawn into the world of art quilting.  The learning curve was quite steep as I had no real art background or training, but I knew that's where I wanted to go!  However, there are also times when my brain needs a rest, and I am drawn back to working with quilting blocks and commercial fabrics.  This was one of those instances, and it didn't disappoint.  I loved touching this fabric.  It was soft and the colors and patterns were so appealing to me.

I had an idea to use some triangles for this quilt, and started coloring on graph paper, and this is what evolved.  When the fabric arrived, I was ready to go!  The entire quilt went together in just a few days.

I added some hand quilting with Superior's heavy weight Sew Sassy thread, which looks perfect with the aesthetics of this quilt.

Here it is, photographed in the wild.  I would have put a baby on it, if I had one!  :)

Now for the blog hop info!

Twelve artists have joined with RJR Fabrics, Quilty Box and Melanie Testa to host an Instagram Florabunda introduction and fabric GIVEAWAY!  You are invited to join the Blog Hop each day, June 7 through June 16.  Please, visit and like all Florabunda Blog Hoppers on Instagram, including @RJRFabrics, @QuiltyBox,  and @MellyTesta to increase your chances to win! RJR Fabrics will post chances to win Florabunda Swag daily (June 11 through 16). Don't forget to check out Melanie Testa’s blog each day too. You will get highlights and interesting info about each participant!

Tiffany Hayes http://needleinahayesstack.blogspot.com June 7

Deborah Boschert http://deborahsjournal.blogspot.com/ June 8

Sara Mika http://www.mockpiestudio.blogspot.com/ June 9

Lyric Kinard http://lyrickinard.com/lyric-kinard-blog/  June 10

Kathy York http://aquamoonartquilts.blogspot.com   June 11

Teri Lucas https://terificreations.com June 11
Susan Brusker Knapp http://wwwbluemoonriver.blogspot.com June 12

Leslie Tucker Jenison http://leslietuckerjenison.com              June 12

Tiffany Hayes http://needleinahayesstack.blogspot.com June 13
Jamie Fingal http://jamiefingaldesigns.blogspot.com/            June 13

Debby Brown https://www.debbybrownquilts.com                June 14

Heidi Kelly http://www.hkellydesigns.com June 14
David Gilleland  https://www.facebook.com/VectorQuilts/                June 15

Melanie Testa http://www.melanietesta.com June 15

Big quilts and quilting....

Big quilts and quilting....

What I've been up to. 
I have finished HAND quilting this giant 96" x 96" quilt.  I had planned to enter it into QuiltCon, but alas, the cold winter season is upon us.  I have already entered 3 other quilts, and though I doubt all 3 will get in, if they do, my bed will be cold this winter!  So, I am saving this one to use, just for me.  This is the back of it.  Like a dog in the grass, I simply adore rolling in the colors of this quilt.  It makes me HAPPY.

folded up view of the back of the quilt

I quilted it by hand because it was so heavy, I didn't have the heart to push it through the machine. My initial plan was to machine quilt it.  I made up a small sample to test my idea of what that would look like:

This is a sample piece that resembles the front of the quilt.

The very dense quilting lines look fantastic!  It was, unfortunately, a lot of quilt to push through the machine so many times.  Heavy and daunting.  And, the issue of texture.  Though, I love the texture of this machine quilting, I don't like to touch it, I don't like the way it feels.  I wanted this quilt to be useful, as in touching and keeping me warm.  And so it may seem that the hand quilting would take longer, that would not have been the case. 

This is the actual quilting of the front of the quilt.

One could make the argument to machine quilt it in a much looser pattern so that I could complete the task quicker and get the texture I wanted.  Possibly true, but that is not what my Muse was insisting upon.  I try not to argue with the Muse.  So hand quilting it was.  And, I really enjoyed the process.  It is slow, and meditative and relaxing. I will get around to photographing the entire quilt and posting, so please, check back with me later.

As for the Giveaway!
...  and the winner of the MQG calendar is Karen (who posted comment #6)!  I have already emailed her, so hopefully she will receive the calendar soon!

Thanks for stopping by!

Machine Quilting Unlimited 2017 Calendar Giveaway

Machine Quilting Unlimited 2017 Calendar Giveaway

I am happy to share with you the latest calendar by Machine Quilting Unlimited.  My deer quilt is featured for the month of February, You Are What You Eat.  It is one of my very favorite quilts!

Since MQU sent me a few extra copies of the calendar, I thought I would like to share them with you.  Please leave a comment below to enter the drawing.  I will select the winner with a random number generator at noon CST on December 1.  I am paying for the shipping, so US entries only.

While you are here, consider popping over to my new page, Small Quilts for Sale. Perhaps you will see something that will make a nice gift for yourself or someone you love.  

Thanks so much for stopping by.  I should have a new quilt to share with you soon!  Happy stitching!

Review

Review of Sue Bleiweiss's new book: Colorful Fabric Collage:  Sketch, Fuse, Quilt!

Last year, I was invited to submit a little quilt for Sue's book. I was delighted to give it a go. This is my little quilt, Welcome Home. It was fun to make. The only requirements were the size, and that it need to be made with fusible applique. Her book, Colorful Fabric Collage: Sketch, Fuse, Quilt has been published now. I love it! It is filled with a lot of techniques for fusible applique and many fun projects!

I have been doing similar work for years and thought there would be very little to learn from her book, but happily I was wrong. I like using black lines to outline my work from time to time, and the only way I have ever used is with satin stitch, like this:

Now, I have learned another way! Just to practice the new things I learned I made this new little quilt, Garden House using some of Sue's techniques. I really like it and was surprised how quickly it came together!

My favorite things about the book:

1. It has all the steps, start to finish, including design, dyeing fabric, fusing, quilting, embellishing, and finishing it. I love that it is comprehensive.

2. Lots of pictures! Well, maybe that's a given, but very important to me because I am very visual.

3. Lots of examples from other artists. I love that Sue included examples from many of her artist friends. It was interesting to see the other projects.

4. Speaking of projects, Sue's book is packed with them, and they are not all quilts. I love some of the other projects she shows how to make like the tote bag and the fabric journal. Excellent!

5. Last, and this one is important! Sue gives tips that help make your project a success. Thanks for that!

Giveaway Pack

Sue is having a blog hop. There will be a drawing for a free book, hand-dyed fabric, Mistyfuse, and Aurifil thread. Leave a comment below to enter!

May 4: Sue Bleiweiss: http://www.suebleiweiss.com/blog/

May 4: Jamie Fingal :http://www.jamiefingaldesigns.com/
May 5: Leslie Tucker Jenison: http://leslietuckerjenison.blogspot.com/
May 6: Terri Stegmiller : http://stegart.blogspot.com/
May 7: Deborah Boschert : http://deborahsjournal.blogspot.com/
May 8: Desiree Habicht : http://myclothesline.blogspot.com/
May 9: Kathy Sperino : http://finishinglinesbyksperino.blogspot.com/
May 10: Barb Forrister : http://www.barbforrister.com/blog/
May 11 Kathy York : http://www.aquamoonartquilts.blogspot.com/
May 12: Lyric Kinard : http://lyrickinard.com/lyric-kinard-blog/

Good luck!!

Review of Thermofax 101

Review of Thermofax 101: screen printing made easy

I’m so happy to be a part of the blog hop and giveaway to celebrate the release of my dear friend Lyric's newest DVD Thermofax 101 screen printing made easy by Lyric Kinard. 

Enter a comment below by next Friday and you will be eligible for a free copy of the DVD! I will randomly selected a winner for a free copy of it (international entries are also accepted)! If you don't win this one, you can get one here.

I was really excited to watch it because I have done a little screen printing and I was curious about the thermofax process. It is a great instruction DVD! I also really love getting to see Lyric's process because I have admired her work for years. I really appreciate that Lyric sells the screens too, just in case you do not want to invest in a thermofax machine, but might enjoy trying it out!

Things I like about the DVD:

1. It is well organized. The chapters are in a logical order and go into enough depth that you can easily get started screen printing.

2. I really like the way Lyric gives enough tips to help you through any trouble spots you might have.

3. It is obvious that Lyric has a lot of experience screen printing and has taken a lot of time and care to explain the process in a way that makes it easy to do. She uses a lot of visual examples and a lot of demonstrations to show how this all works.

4. I was not expecting Lyric to cover fabric design. Bonus! I like the information about design, and ways to use the screen to make fabric for use in other projects.

5. The DVD has good light and good closeups. The visuals are helpful and easy to see!

Things I like about the thermofax screens:

1. They are super easy to make (well, especially when I send my drawing to Lyric and she runs it through her machine!) ha! Whatever I draw, the screen looks just like it!

2. It is reusable, as long as I remember to not let the paint dry in it (this is not a problem, I am always super cautious about that!)

3. I do not like that the screen rolls up so easily. It seems hard to use, however once I got it taped up as shown in the DVD, it was really easy to work with, surprisingly easy.

For my little practice project I am using this little faucet. I wanted to do something about water usage and our current drought.  This is a work in progress shot:

ps.  I printed 6 of these little faucets, and it took me about 5 minutes (including the clean-up!).  LOVE how fast and easy this is!

Check out the other participants in the blog hop!

April 24 Cheryl Rezendez  http://www.cherylrezendes.com

April 25  Leslie Tucker Jenison  http://leslietuckerjenison.blogspot.com  

April 28  Sue Bleiweiss  http://www.suebleiweiss.com/blog/

April 30  Judy Gula  http://www.artisticartifacts.com/about_us/contactus.htm

May 1  Sue Price & Elizabeth Gibson  http://pgfiber2art.blogspot.com/

May 2  Judy Coates Perez  http://www.judycoatesperez.com

May 4  Linda Stokes  www.lindastokes-textileartist.com

May 5  Jane Davila  http://janedavila.blogspot.com

May 6 Melanie Testa http://melanietesta.com/blog/

May 7  Liz Kettle  http://www.textileevolution.com/index.php/our-journey

May 8  Carol Sloan  http://carolbsloan.blogspot.com

May 9  Kathy York  http://aquamoonartquilts.blogspot.com

May 11  Susan Brubaker Knapp  http://wwwbluemoonriver.blogspot.com

May 12  Desiree Habicht  http://myclothesline.blogspot.com

May 13  Jamie Fingal  http://JamieFingalDesigns.blogspot.com/

May 14  Deborah Boschert  http://deborahsjournal.blogspot.com

May 15  Sarah Ann Smith  sarahannsmith.com/weblog

Thanks for stopping by!  And may you be inspired to create!!

Houston Awards and Modern Patchwork

Houston Awards and Modern Patchwork

Sadly, I had to cancel my trip to Houston this year.  It was unavoidable and especially disappointing to miss the awards ceremony.  Thanks to Victoria Findlay Wolfe, I was able to find out about my awards in nearly real time.  She posted photos of the ceremony on FB within minutes of their announcement...which is how I found out that my quilt You Are What You Eat, won an Honorable Mention, and my quilt, Windows, won a 2nd place!!  Outstanding!!

 

Throughout the week I watched my friends attend the show through the miracle of Facebook.  Here are some of my friends that I will definitely count on seeing next year if not sooner!  And there are so many others I missed.  Poohy!

Jamie Fingal, Sherri McCauley, Irs Karp, Leslie Jenison, and Sheila Frampton-Cooper

Meanwhile, back at home, a surprise came in the mail!  Three copies of Modern Patchwork!  I have a small quilt (Fresh Plus) published with instructions on how to make it.  Isn't the cover gorgeous?!!  You can purchase an issue here, directly from Interweave, or you can leave a comment (literally about anything!).   I will pick two people to receive a copy from me!  I will announce the winners on Friday, so stop back by!

Blog Giveaway Winner

Blog Giveaway Winner

It is Friday and I finally get to announce that Jan E is the winner of my blog giveaway!  She will receive a free copy of Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks, vol. 2.  I used a random number generator, and her number came up.  Yeah Jan!

Don't forget to email me your address Jan!

Another Giveaway!

Another Giveaway! 

Some Urban Landscapes fabric for you! This one is by Clothworks, so you will have to go to their blog (here) and leave a comment. Brandi is posting the winner on Monday, so you will have to hurry! I LOVE these little zipper pouches, and especially the color combos! Nice job Brandi!