Word #8 & Happy 50th Barbie

Just discovered that Barbie is 50 this year! EGADS! one of my favorite toys as a kid has been around for half of a century! And after this last move to Tennessee, I can't seem to find mine!!
Jamie Lee Curtis allowed herself to be photographed at 50 in the buff for AARP and in clingy lycra for all to see her all. I figured it was time for Barbie to show all too. And, please, Mattel - she is now 50! She has a problem with chocolate - so she is no longer long and thin. Her thighs actually touch now.

At 40, she had to come down off her toes! So sorry, no matter how 'sexy' they may be, 3" heels hurt!! And of course, in her 40s she had to do the Jennifer Aniston hairdo - didn't we all? As you can tell by now - this piece was done purely for fun! Not quilted yet, though. Still thinking about adding an aging Ken!

Not quilted yet - but this is the 8th in the Word series. The rabbit is hand painted with my favorite inks - in red and yellow, an attempt to 'stretch myself' whatever that may mean. I like the effect alot. The verse is Psalm 4:8 and one I use when sleep eludes.....'I will both lay me down in peace and sleep for Thou Lord only makest me dwell in safety'.

Word #7 - Hummingbird

More logcabin blocks from scraps. I no longer use threadsavers - I keep strippy scraps by the sewing machine - and build these small scappy logcabins while working on REAL projects. Sewing a round to one of these blocks acts as a threadsaver.

After 3 were built - I saw the flower in them - so had to add a hummingbird. March is almost here - almost time to set out the feeders again - yippeee!!

Word #6

Continuing my God's Word series, this is for week #6. The verse is from Jeremiah 33:3...Call to ME and I will answer you and show you great and mighty things which you don't know.

This piece is leftovers from making 2 blocks for my 4sister 2009 block swap. These are pieces from the fabrics and colors selected by my sis in PA - so I am sending it to her along with her blocks this month, our first swap this year.

I used the facing technique again for finishing it - I really like this technique!! So far, all but one piece for this series has been small, measuring no larger than 20"x14" - finished with a fused facing, they seem to stiffen slightly - as such, they make great pieces to lay on a table - and I set my drink on them.

Word #5 - Scream - Potomac

Used scraps of blue and orange to make several logcabin blocks - added some fused applique, God's word and made #5 in this series for 2009. '...blessed are they that hear the word of God and keep it.' Luke 11:28

This is my quilt "Scream" on display in the Pennsylvania National Quilt show, 2007. It is a quilt that is all about and only about the process of building it and my inability to stay focused. My first attempt at a kingsized quilt - I started with 8 inch blocks. Do you have any idea how many 8 inch blocks it takes to make a kingsized quilt? Well I quickly became bored! So I started combining the 8 inch blocks, adding material in and around them to make 20 inch blocks. Add a border here, another one there - lay it out on my bed - still too small - add another border here - another one there. Finally - it is large enough. But I no longer have any idea what the design even looks like! So I take it outside, pin it to my clothesline, step away, turn, look - and SCREAM - in delight!

Ah, but now, how do I quilt this monster on my Viking? Solution - I cut it up into 4 pieces - quilt each piece, then stitch the 4 pieces together. BUT - it would be BORing to put them back in the same place - so I stagger them - and create 4 outside and 4 inside corners. The picture below shows Scream on a bed - the staggered border works really well on a bed.

The Potomac River in West Virginia - this is a sunset behind one of the many railroad bridges over the Potomac. The squirrel is painted then hand appliqued. Its tail is finished with heavy machine stitching - to more accurately capture the whispy long hairs on a squirrel's tail. This quilt finished out at as a YSQ - yard square quilt - and sold at auction for charity.

Facings to Finish an Edge

Well, I finally tried the facing technique to finish the edge of a small piece - WHAT A GREAT TECHNIQUE!! Thinking about it before doing it - I had thought there was NOWAY that you could roll the edge of batting under after turning the facing - without it being bulky/ugly - but it works!! Thru quiltart.com, Melody Johnson of Palmer, Tennesse (gee - wonder how close that is to Savannah?) gave a link to her blog - showing instructions to her technique of an Escape-Hatch Finish published in QNM. THANK YOU MELODY! (Here is the link also..... http://fibermania.blogspot.com/2006/09/i-had-it-just-minute-ago.html )

This is a small piece made from scraps - just trying to deplete my collection of scraps. The batting is Warm & Natural cotton - and it rolled over beautifully! Melody's instructions include fusing the piece - I have onhand a piece of fusible stabilizer - essentially a light weight muslin with fusing on one side - so that is what I used for the backing. It worked great!

This is my 4th piece for 2009 with a Bible verse on it. I have challenged myself to do one each week - I think on and dwell on God's word while making the piece - and I find recall of the verses much easier. If you are a quilter and would like to combine it with your Bible study, I would recommend you try this also.

My mom was a scrap quilter. From a collection of wool and wool blend scraps, she made a few quilts. She gave me one many years ago - and my Dad recently found another one she had made - but just a quilt top. My 3 sisters and I each made a small piece, which I have sewn together for the backing to this quilt. We are finishing it as a surprise for my Dad. And I am feeling seriously 'whupped' by this project. It was extremely difficult to quilt - and I have been dragging my feet about binding it.





So to play a bit - and try to conquer this project - I made the small bag above from some of the scrap pieces. The straps are made by rolling some batting inside 3 sewn squares, then hand stitching it closed. I also used the technique of a facing to line the bag.





The picture below shows the quilt top for my Dad on the left and the quilt given to me on the right.

My daughter is 30 now - just sent off to her a box of 'stuff', clothes, schoolwork, artwork, etc. from her kinder years - almost 20lbs of stuff. I have been thru 2 major moves in the last 5 years - thought it was time to send some of her stuff on to her.....notice I write 'some' of her stuff - yes, I still have more. Oh, bringing them out and sending them off to her brought back such sweet, warm and some funny memories. I hope they do the same for her. The picture above was published in her school calendar - a published artist by the 8th grade!!

Faces Quilted

Recently there has been a discussion on Quiltart about using faces - and over the past few days I have used two faces in quilts. This one - a deer face. I had planned on adding few quilting stitches to the deer. The quilt is a YSQ (Yard Square Quilt) to be sold in the spring for charity. The batting is Warm & Natural cotton - but under the deer face, I added a piece of wool batting - to help 'fill' it out. But as I worked on it - one thing lead to another - and I heavily quilted the deer. Except for the muzzle - and it poofs out in a delightfully 3d way. The deer was painted with Tsukineko inks - only 3 colors - but in quilting, I used 6 different threads.

This is a detail of a small quilt I made last week called Cast. In it, the face is in profile and dark - with few details. So I stabilized it with Stitch Witchery to the batting - and used very little quilting on it. It is holding well - but I think there must be a better way.

Iris In Inks

This is a fairly short video on using the Tsukineko inks. No stencil - almost freehand. I say 'almost' because there is a pattern under the fabric. The pattern is made from my photo of one of my irises, enlarged and the outside edges of petals, stem and leaves darkened with a pencil.

The fabric is offwhite with a pattern - the white-on-white pattern acts as a resist - so this pretty pattern of flowers shows thru the ink.

My pallette is two inks, Peony purple (a rich, dark pigment) and Spring green. I am using the Fantastix brush tip applicators. The two applicators I am using have been used many times so that they are no longer stiff, the tips are very much brushlike. The only downside to a used applicator is that it loses its point - so finer details become difficult to make.

A close picture of the finished iris is shown also.

These inks work great with stencils - but they are also great used freehand. The flowers and hummingbird shown in the banner for my blog are all painted freehand using these inks.