Which were then cut into slices and incorporated with other strips of coordinating fabric from my stash. I tested a lot of different fabrics, found the right ones and then laid them out (on my new design wall. Love it!!!!)

Normally, I would have stopped there and quilted it, but because I was working with Rayna Gillman's technique (through And Then We Set It On Fire), I added the slashed inserts.  Totally not my thing, but I really like it just the same. Hope you do too. 

But now I'm on to some of my own work.  Looking forward to showing you the process!

.....never a bride.

The third time I've thrown my hat into the ring, and the third time I didn't win. *cue the "whah, whah, whah" music*


I'm happy (?) to announce that  Off to Oz - my entry in the Generation Q Magazine's Scrap Splat Challenge, placed second. Congrats to Flaun Cline on her win. (Her quilt really is quite lovely.)

But, can I just say: "AGAIN with the second place?"  Perhaps one day I'll do a 27 Dresses type thing about all of my failed quilts.

Or maybe I'll just stop entering contests!  *heh*

Talk soon!

and The Bloggers' Quilt Festival!  I'm Kit Lang, a developing fiber artist, in Toronto, Canada, and I'm glad to have you here!

Thank you to Amy at Amy's Creative Side for hosting this festival, and thanks to all the lovely sponsors who help to support it!











 

Hi all, hope you had a great weekend.

I had a working weekend, trying to complete some upcoming challenges due in the next couple of weeks, some things on my "to do" list,  and holy cow - The Bloggers Quilt Festival is in TWO WEEKS. 




(And I don't have my quilt done for it yet.  But I'm not panicking, nooooooooooooooooooo. )

Well it wasn't. (Big cheesy grin.)

See, the more I worked on the placement, the more I realized that it just wasn't working.  Stumped, I asked BSP for an opinion and what I got was "I don't get it."  *heh*

So then I explained - "Juxtaposition of angles and curves!" -  "Life arising from/despite the darkness!" - "A conversation about the tension created by  man vs. nature!"  "assorted other asshattery!"

BSP said "Yeah, yeah I get that. Those intellectual ideas make sense. But that's not what's coming through on your quilt.  It just looks like a bunch of flowers you stuck on a a black background.

I sputtered while BSP circled my design wall.

"But that black all broken up with the green - now that's cool.You should make a quilt with just that stuff on it."


BSP wisely left and I stared at the pieces on my design wall, and looked at my photographs, pondered my sketches and pondered and puzzed 'till my puzzler nearly broke (to mis-quote Dr. Seuss); and realized BSP was right.


Don't you hate it when your spouse is right? DAG-NAB-IT!!!!!!  ;)

Anyway...

I took out the damn flowers and pieced together my black velvet and green satin bits, and pondered the nature of mental health/mental break downs, what living in our fast-paced, compartmentalized lives does to our souls, why it is that self styled "non-artistic" spouses are so damn opinonated and why it is that when they're right, it's so damn annoying?


And by the time I was done thinking about all of that, I had finished my latest wall quilt.

The fun thing is, the entire quilt is made completely out of scraps - even the batting is scraps pieced together. I don't think these pics don't do it justice, cuz you can't feel how luscious and cuddly all that black velvet is, nor really see the quilting angles working against each other. But it's really lovely.*



* As is my much Beloved Spouse.

I think one of my very first posts on my blog was about my very first quilt, which I called "The Green One" not having been able to come up with a more clever name.  That quilt was made out of all the scraps of all the light green fabrics I had saved over the course of 30 years of sewing, all with the idea that I would "make a quilt someday"

This is one of the (many) projects I've had on the go recently, finished and ready to show you.

This quilt goes back to my "roots" so to speak - long time readers will recognize some recurring themes: circles and monochromatic and/or limited palettes).

(Thanks to Beth from Maine for the name)

So, those of you who have been with me for awhile were probably wondering what the heck I was up to with this little quilt  - I mean, I've been known to do a baby quilt on occasion - but usually they're more... "adult"; and pink and white? What's up with that?

I actually finished a quilt, can you believe it?

I actually finished a quilt, can you believe it?


I barely can!  :)  If you remember this top from several (or more) months ago, then you may be thinking, "Hey! Wasn't that a lot bigger before?" (I mean, a LOT bigger?) And you'd be right.


*cough*

Ta da!!!

I think I first showed you  this top about a year ago April/May - it's a string quilt made with copper and brown lame, burnt orange velvet and burgundy silk. 

This quilt was a pain in my posterior extremity if you know what I mean - because of the fragility of the fabrics, I first foundation pieced them.  At the time (I've only been quilting for two years now!)I thought it would be better if the seams were large.  So I had thick, heavy seams, on a foundation fabric that was too heavy.

Happy Monday, everyone!

You may remember this from a WIP back in September,  I was just playing with some fabric remnants I had.  Because I got them from a friend who often gives me her scraps I'm not sure whether they're nylon, or parachute silk, but I like to think of them as having been intended to float lightly through the air, gently landing on the earth.

It was a busy weekend for me this weekend.  I made this little quilt on Friday night, worked on a queen most of Saturday as well as making the most delicious stock ever (I mean ever! Beloved Spouse wanted to drink it up just as it was); making cakes for birthdays and our anniversary and recovering from the cold I developed on Monday (of course, because it was my first week back at work, I got sick.)

I'm back to work today after a five week absence (to have a vacation and then to take care of BSP pre and post surgery); and so I've been very busy the last four days getting things organized.  You know, easily accessible and cooked food, a spring-type cleaning of the house, fall wardrobe update and the like.

This entailed not only the cleaning and organizing of my fall wardrobe, but also the making of certain additions - two new skirts, two dresses, and a suit. 



I have a very specific work look which I call "sexy secretary".  I've always been in love with 40s and 50s era fashion and have constantly sought out and made clothes in this style for myself.  Pencil skirts feature frequently in this look and they're easy to sew - these days, I don't even use a pattern - I just cut directly into the fabric and they only take 45 minutes to an hour to make (including felled seams) - so quick and easy!

An odd size for me, this quilt is 55 x 65 instead of my usual lap size - 52 x 73.  BSP thinks my laps are too long unless you have a big couch - my thoughts have always been that I like things generously sized, and a lap quilt that two can cuddle under while watching t.v. or that man could comfortably nap under on a couch is the size I've been aiming for.

BSP says that people's couches are getting smaller and smaller as we adjust to big city living and that my laps are too big to use as a throw.  If it's meant to be decorative only, than sure, it could be smaller, but to cuddle under - bigger is better, I thought.  What are yours?

I showed you this quilt in one of my Wednesday WIPs a few weeks ago, and finally got around to quilting it.

Although this quilt's beauty may not show up in photographs well (BSP says it doesn't); this  is one of my favourite quilts that I've made.  Perhaps it's the warmth of all those wools (the entire quilt is wool except for the gold satin accents and the cotton batting!)

One of the reasons I love it, is that it's made entirely from scraps.  Some of the "scraps" were so big that they may not necessarily be viewed as such (a scrap is in the eye of the beholder after all); but the entire quilt is made from leftovers from other projects, so technically speaking at least; it's a scrap quilt. 

I chose to use a honeycomb quilting in the loden green wool panels; and line quilting in red thread in the plaid wool panels.  The satin accents were quilted in a free motion leaf motif; and the insides of the one row of blocks was done in receding triangles. I quite like the way that turned out, and am going to use it again!



I love this quilt and will be sorry when it goes to live in someone else's house!