Newest Project

I got back to Asheville this afternoon after teaching for a few days at the North Carolina Quilt Symposium and all I can say is “wow!” This is an annual event that is hosted by various guilds across the state, so its location varies from year to year. This year, it was held at Peace College in Raleigh, NC and this was probably the most thoroughly organized large scale quilting event I have ever attended. I met so many eager quilters and it was such a treat to meet quilters I’ve taught previously. As a teacher, it makes me feel so great to hear someone say that I inspired them or helped them get over a hump in their quilting journey. This was a really fun weekend for me!

As soon as I got back to Asheville, I started back at work on a quilt top I started last week. Here’s a shot of the flowers that are at the very center of each block:

These very basic flowers have a thin layer of batting behind them, so they’ll have a very subtle trapunto effect once this is in the final quilt sandwich. I did the blanket stitch along the perimeters of them and then added some bright green highlighting emanating from each flower center. Next, I fused the feathers onto the first 2 quilt blocks (these are very large blocks, 28 inches square):

…and then I fused the feathers rotating around the flowers in the last 2 blocks:

Here’s a shot of them on the design wall before I had added the 4 spinning feathers in the center:

…and here’s a shot of the top as it waits to be basted:

You probably recognize this as a variation of the Dancing Feather Quilt from a few months ago:

…but I wanted to play around with it in more than one background fabric. Now if I can just get it basted before I need to drive back to Ohio…

Filed under Appli-K-Kutz Fabric Cutting Dies, Trapunto. 6 Comments

Fourth Block Finished, Blended Felt Applique Nearly Done, and a Great Blog Worth Reading!

That last flower block is done now. I ended up stitching the EKG edge finishing design after I’d stitched all the swirly vine-like structures inside the large plumes:

I joined the 4 blocks together and this is where the project stands now:

I’m on the fence as far as what I’m going to do next. It’s definitely calling out for something to be done as the border, but I’m undecided so far about what my next move will be. That’s ok, though. This is just being done on a whim, so there’s no rush to move this forward. I’m nearly done with the hand work on that small blended felt project:

(Those “tentacle-like” things are really stylized stamens. My plan is to put beads on their tips, but I think I’m going to quilt this and I’ve already broken 2 free motion feet on beads, so I’m leaving the beading until the very end!) This began as 2 cuts from Accuquilt Die #55029:

and the Appli-K-Kutz Straight Feather, Small Die:

I used the 2 smaller heart shapes from the Accuquilt die, and then I decided I wanted to applique a 3rd size of heart in cotton fabric, so I traced an even smaller heart onto a piece of mylar:

…and then used that mylar to prepare my applique shape by starching the edges and pressing them into submission. (There are 2 heart shapes because I was also working on another applique project.) I don’t have a picture of it after I’d appliqued it, but this gives you an idea of what I was trying to do:

My next step will be to attach this to fabric and quilt it. I have no idea if this will even work, but I want to give it a shot!

And here’s a tip on a great blog. I met Kay online and then had the pleasure of meeting her for real in a class. She blew me away with her free motion skills (you should see her feathers!) and now she’s posted a wonderful tutorial on thread painting she just did on a hummingbird. You can check out her blog here.

Filed under Free Motion Embroidery, Free Motion Quilting, Sizzix, Trapunto. 4 Comments