More Fun With Hyperquilting!

April 18th, 2008

I got to mess around a bit today with thread, so I thought I’d post a couple more designs to hyperquilt. You can do these designs in one thread only and get them done in just one pass that way, but if you’re a thread lover, it’s fun to play around like this. This first design is what I call the loop-d-loop pansy. (I don’t know why, because it looks nothing like a pansy!)

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This design is pretty nice just as is, but if you go back in with another color thread, you can jazz this baby up a bit:

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Now here’s a close-up to give you a better look. Note that as far as the loop-d-loop part goes, you’re really not trying to stitch right on top of your previous line except where you enter and exit the flower; the rest of the time, you’re riding just along side of it:

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I’m not quite as fond of this next one. This one is called the loop-d-loop rosebud and when you stitch out the “bare-bones” form, make sure you leave some space, (i.e. don’t make it as crowded of a loop-d-loop background) because you’ll need space to go back in and add some leaves. This makes the baseline design look kind of blah:

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When you go back in on this one, you’re adding leaves. In this case, I just added them up close to the rosebuds, but you could add them all along the loop-d-loop if you wanted:

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And here’s a close-up of this one:

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I have a website link for you to see some pretty free motion quilting. Remember Brenda Gail Smith? She’s had some great tutorials on her website before. Go here to see some beautifully quilted heart leaf vines. Make sure you click on the image of her quilt to get a better view of the lovely meandering vines she made!

And I’ll leave you with an image of spring emerging…some blooming red bud trees along our driveway:

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Dropped Off the Face of the Earth…Not!

April 15th, 2008

I’m alive! That virus really kicked me hard, but I’m ok, just hopelessly behind in every part of my life! I am sorry to say that I have not touched a sewing machine in about 2 weeks, and I’m now in withdrawal…a very ugly thing to witness! But, I have some pictures to share of another experimental quilt that I finished quilting awhile back, (Of course, it’s yet to be bound, but I can crop out the messy edges with photoshop!). Remember that for me, an experimental quilt is a traditional quilt top or blocks that I have purchased on ebay solely for the purpose of experimenting with quilting. Here is a shot of the whole quilt:

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It’s a traditional Dresden plate pattern, so my goal was to preserve the traditional “feel” of the quilt but do some more contemporary quilting. One thing that always help maintain that traditional ambience is to throw in some feathers…you don’t have to put in many, but it will always work! In this quilt, the “middle blocks” are all feathered wreathes:

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The background quilting is the curvaceous seashell pattern and it’s fascinating to me that the addition of the ever-so-slightest curve lends a subtle sense of movement to this design:

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In other news, Have you seen the special edition of Cloth, Paper, Scissors called “Studios?” See below:

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If you haven’t seen this yet, check it out! I haven’t even gotten halfway through, but it is sure fascinating to see how other people organize their studios! I used to think I was an organized person, but man, I have a long way to go! I kept looking for this magazine all over and couldn’t find it, so I think you may only be able to get it directly from Quilting Arts. To find out more about it, go here.

I’m back on my feet, so hopefully, I’ll be able to crank something new out in the next several days, and it promises to be full of luscious COLOR!!!!

I’m Sick-Yick!

April 1st, 2008

Don’t ya just hate being sick? I sure do! I’ve been dragging myself around for the past several days, feeling sorry for myself, and not getting much done. Sure makes me appreciate how great I feel 99% of the time! Despite being felled by a virus, I was able to finish the quilt for the 2nd pattern. It’s called “Hearts ‘N Swirls:”

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This picture doesn’t do the quilting justice, so I took a tangential shot and look how cool all the textural effects from the quilting are:

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That main background fabric is cotton sateen, and it has a sheen that REALLY throws off great shadows when it’s quilted. I love to do that EKG design stitching to finish the edge of an applique shape.
Here’s a closeup of one of the heart/leaf pairs in a corner, and it shows that kind of stitching off really nicely:

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And here’s a closeup of the quilted heart at the base. It was kind of “lost” until I hyperquilted it with blue thread:

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