A quilt from a Photo

While a quilt made from a photo is not unusual, all of the blocks in this particular quilt are made from the same photo.The little quilt also has embroidery on the edges & the corners. Here are the details, the whole quilt & the photo from which the blocks were made. The first photo is the one from which the blocks were made, using a kaleidoscope software. The other photos are of the quilt, the embroidery details & of the block itself.

Shopping

When I'm between projects, I tend to get antsy, pacing around the house, reading though old magazines, anything to keep moving-- until I find a new project to do. Sometimes- most times- a trip to the local quilt shop will provide me with inspiration for another quilt or sewing project. Yesterday I went to the local shop to buy fabric to finish a "pink Floral" kaleidoscope project that I'd printed out using a single photo on kaleidoscope software. That photo was of dogwood trees blooming, hence the pink. Before I got out of the shop, I'd spent too much $$ & had not one but 3 more projects lined up to do. I'll spend today cutting fabric for the pink quilt & trying to figure out the other 2 projects. Gotta go & cut fabric now.

Air Applique & the "Headache" quilt

This is a recent project done in the technique of "air applique" where there is no base fabric to stitch the applique pieces to, you just overlap the seam allowances & stitch the pieces together. The second photo, on the right, is a painting using the same, albeit smaller, sketch used in the quilt. I plan to show them together at the upcoming spring show, May 15. The project was indeed challenge & left me with a headache, trying to figure it out. The technique came from Barbara Olson's book, "Journey of an Art Quilter". The project took about 2 weeks to complete, the quilt is roughly 48" x 60" and the painting, acrylic, is 24' x 36".

Too Many Baby Gifts

I've been working on baby gifts, 8 of them. Seems like lots of women at the school where hubby works are having babies, all about the same time. So I've been making tiny, little dresses, fancy jackets from silk, little kimonos, & bonnets. Each of these tiny items takes several hours to put together, counting all the decorative & heirloom stitching, the lace & trims, not to mention, the small amount of space there is to sew. Have you ever tried to make tiny sleeves without sewing them together? It takes time, you must go slow to avoid sewing tubular things like sleeves together. It's a lot more difficult than it sounds, believe me.

This week, my quilt guild is going on a field trip. We shop for fabric, visit other quilt shops in the area & eat. We're going to southern KY Tuesday. This time my daughter's going too. She's psyched about it. I was waiting till the morning or the trip to make a final decision about going, depending on the weather & how I felt, but it looks like I'll be going anyway, regardless of how I feel, otherwise, daughter will be disappointed & I'll have to listen to her whine about not going. Oh well, I probably need a day out, away from it all anyway. More about the trip later. I'll go back to making baby outfits. . .

Heirloom Sewing

I've been interested in heirloom sewing for a few years, dabbling in it off & on. Well, I'm back on for now. I'm learning techniques about the craft. There are several women at the school where my husband works who are having babies, so I will have somewhere for the projects to go once they're finished, provided they don't turn out as total disasters. At this writing, I'm working on a christening outfit. I have it cut out & am designing the fancy parts now. I'm learning about stuff like entredeux & mederia applique, wing needles and pin tucks and such. I'll get there, eventually. I'll post some photos of the projects when finished.

Marriner's Compass Quilt Problems

I had major problems with this quilt on the Grand Quilter, which kept coming un- threaded half way through a quilting run. So I took the quilt off the frame & proceeded to finish the quilting on my little Bernina. I finished it, but it looks lousy, at least the quilting part. I'm totally aggravated with the Grand Quilter,a Pfaff product. It does this to me every time I use it (coming un-threaded in the middle of a run, often multiple times). I have had the tech & the shop owner work with it to tell me nothing is wrong with the machine, I'm going too fast. I slow down, it happens anyway. Anyone want to buy a lightly used Grand Quilter & frame? I have to bind the huge quilt yet. I was thinking about putting it in the Spring Quilt show, but now I'm not so sure. Maybe people will notice the design on the top & not the quilting so much. Anyway, I got some nice comments which I appreciate. That alone encourages me to continue the project. Once I finish it, I'll just have another bed quilt for my bed (king size) & one for the cats & dog, who sleep with me, to lay on. Oh well, life goes on.

The New Quilt

Here's photos of my new quilt, the one that began as a 4 foot project & ended as 99" square. Its huge!!The next hurdle is to quilt it. There are also some detail pics of the project. The ends of the quilt have half mariners compasses & the corners are new york beauty blocks.