It’s very exciting to be part of the Park City Girl: Quilt Festival - Fall 2009 once more. My sincere thanks to Amy at Park City Girl and all of the wonderful sponsors for putting this together!
My entry – well – entries, will be a surprise to my regular readers.
You see, I’ve been working feverishly on a quilt for the Festival and finished it last night at about 11:30 (talk about coming in under the wire!) but sadly – I have not been able to get any pictures that do it justice. I have tried any number of locales and lighting in our house and it just. wasn’t. happening. Not being a great photographer, I think I needed to move “the shoot” outdoors but it’s a rainy fall day here today - so even The Universe is not cooperating. But maybe the Universe wanted me to move in a different direction. ;)
So, I’m submitting two quilts that I’ve already posted here in my blog, both of which are examples of what I see as my “jumping off” point as a quilter.
What I mean by that is, when I made my first quilt about a year and ½ ago, I knew, while sewing away, that this was it. I mean, “It” with a capital “I”. My heart was singing, my brain was racing: I had fallen in love! And I knew at a cellular level that this was going to be my passion for the rest of my life.
The sad part was that I was in no way prepared for this passion! As I was quilting that first quilt, I was dreaming of the next one and the next one and the next one, but I didn’t have the knowledge or the skills necessary to construct the tops I saw in my head. And I sure as heck wasn’t able to do the quilting!
So these two quilts, called Mans’ Fans (the chocolate one) and Baby-Go-Round (the graphic white and black) gave me hope. I’d made a lot of quilts before that, but even as I made them, I knew they were only practice runs. Because I knew I had to put in the time, learn the skills, practice, practice, practice (!) – and though I was moderately or sometimes very pleased with the results, they weren’t what I really wanted to make.
"Man’s Fans" on the other hand, was. It was the second time that I made one of the quilts I saw in my head ( the first was the one I entered in the first Bloggers Quilt Festival ). The construction of Man's Fans wasn’t what it should have been (in fact, the top was the third or fourth top I made, and that’s when I knew I really wasn’t ready to make those fantasy quilts!); but the quilting - oh the quilting! was done fairly recently, and it was the first time I ventured into what I think of as “artistic” quilting territory. When it was done, I was STOKED. *happy dance*
Again, I could see where I went wrong and what needed to be improved, but there it was! A whole quilt top and quilting, that I only ever saw in my head – right there in front of me!!! Could there be a better feeling in the world? (Okay, loving and living with my Beloved Spouse and children aside. :) )
Man's Fans excited me personally, because after completing it, I was sure that some day (maybe some day soon!), I would finally be able to make the quilts I want to make.
And the next one that I found amazing was “Baby-Go-Round”.
It’s a simple quilt, but it was exciting to me because it was the first time in my quilting career that a quilt I conceived in my head came to fruition – exactly as I had envisioned it. Pretty exciting stuff if you’re a quilt nerd like me!
So, I thought I’d share these two quilts with you. I know I have a long way to go - even as I write this, you should know, there is a quilt in my head that is dying to be made (I've had the fabrics purchased for it for almost a year ) and I think I'm going to be ready to make it soon. My fingers are itching to cut and sew!
I hope you like these two offerings to the quilting world. I'm not where I want to be yet - but I'm on my way. "Stay tuned" as they say. :)
And in the meantime, enjoy the Festival. I know I will!
My entry – well – entries, will be a surprise to my regular readers.
So, I’m submitting two quilts that I’ve already posted here in my blog, both of which are examples of what I see as my “jumping off” point as a quilter.
What I mean by that is, when I made my first quilt about a year and ½ ago, I knew, while sewing away, that this was it. I mean, “It” with a capital “I”. My heart was singing, my brain was racing: I had fallen in love! And I knew at a cellular level that this was going to be my passion for the rest of my life.
The sad part was that I was in no way prepared for this passion! As I was quilting that first quilt, I was dreaming of the next one and the next one and the next one, but I didn’t have the knowledge or the skills necessary to construct the tops I saw in my head. And I sure as heck wasn’t able to do the quilting!
So these two quilts, called Mans’ Fans (the chocolate one) and Baby-Go-Round (the graphic white and black) gave me hope. I’d made a lot of quilts before that, but even as I made them, I knew they were only practice runs. Because I knew I had to put in the time, learn the skills, practice, practice, practice (!) – and though I was moderately or sometimes very pleased with the results, they weren’t what I really wanted to make.
"Man’s Fans" on the other hand, was. It was the second time that I made one of the quilts I saw in my head ( the first was the one I entered in the first Bloggers Quilt Festival ). The construction of Man's Fans wasn’t what it should have been (in fact, the top was the third or fourth top I made, and that’s when I knew I really wasn’t ready to make those fantasy quilts!); but the quilting - oh the quilting! was done fairly recently, and it was the first time I ventured into what I think of as “artistic” quilting territory. When it was done, I was STOKED. *happy dance*
Again, I could see where I went wrong and what needed to be improved, but there it was! A whole quilt top and quilting, that I only ever saw in my head – right there in front of me!!! Could there be a better feeling in the world? (Okay, loving and living with my Beloved Spouse and children aside. :) )
Man's Fans excited me personally, because after completing it, I was sure that some day (maybe some day soon!), I would finally be able to make the quilts I want to make.
And the next one that I found amazing was “Baby-Go-Round”.
It’s a simple quilt, but it was exciting to me because it was the first time in my quilting career that a quilt I conceived in my head came to fruition – exactly as I had envisioned it. Pretty exciting stuff if you’re a quilt nerd like me!
So, I thought I’d share these two quilts with you. I know I have a long way to go - even as I write this, you should know, there is a quilt in my head that is dying to be made (I've had the fabrics purchased for it for almost a year ) and I think I'm going to be ready to make it soon. My fingers are itching to cut and sew!
I hope you like these two offerings to the quilting world. I'm not where I want to be yet - but I'm on my way. "Stay tuned" as they say. :)
And in the meantime, enjoy the Festival. I know I will!
For some reason, I thought the Blogger's Quilt Festival started on Monday. I know, I know, it says right there in my sidebar "October 9" but, I somehow thought, up until yesterday, actually, that somehow that meant I magically had four whole days to finish quilting my Festival entry.
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So, er, what am I doing here again, talking to you?
Bye!
;)
I was wrong.
So, er, what am I doing here again, talking to you?
Bye!
;)
I posted yesterday. Though you will see them again, it turns out, my muse went elsewhere, so I've made something else.
I started out with a Waverly upholstery weight ultra-suede called "Wind". It comes in three different colourways and I have them all, so I suppose you'll see this fabric again in another incarnation in the future.
I started out with a Waverly upholstery weight ultra-suede called "Wind". It comes in three different colourways and I have them all, so I suppose you'll see this fabric again in another incarnation in the future.
But in the meantime, I thought I'd use this version to make a perfect-for-autumn bag. I really love this fabric - it's soft and luxurious feeling and I was tickled to finally find a use for it.
I constructed the bag using the same principles as my round tote bag, although of course, the shape is different this time. First I cut the cello shape out of the fabric, attached batting and backing, and then I quilted it -using a simple diamond grid using gold metallic thread for the top (did you really think I wouldn't add something shiny to this project?) and a varigated thread in red, two shades of green, gold and blue for the lining.
I constructed the bag using the same principles as my round tote bag, although of course, the shape is different this time. First I cut the cello shape out of the fabric, attached batting and backing, and then I quilted it -using a simple diamond grid using gold metallic thread for the top (did you really think I wouldn't add something shiny to this project?) and a varigated thread in red, two shades of green, gold and blue for the lining.
Speaking of, the lining was a lovely moss green satin - a remnant that I picked up at at the Textile Museum fabric sale a couple of years back. It was just the thing for this little bag and I was delighted to re-discover it in my stash.
I used some of the remnants of the orange silk taffetta that I used in "Transitions - Last Fall in Spring" for the trim and I did an inner pocket again - this one divided - big enough to put my cell phone or a couple of lipsticks on one side and my IPod Touch/Crackberry on the other.
And when I was all done, I had this cute autumn bag, about 16 inches long, 14 inches at it's widest point and about 10 inches at the top. It's kind of a narrow top, but it's still wide enough that I can slip a 12 inch coffee table book in it if I angle it, so I think it'll be practical despite its seemingly limiting mouth.
My new tote bag. Yay! :)
My Friday post will be another small project (involving lots and lots of RED, because the sneak peek I gave you last week of the quilt I'm working on is labour intensive and will be saved for posting next week during the Bloggers Quilt Festival hosted once more by Amy at Park City Girl.
Are you particpating? I hope so!
See you Friday. :)
ETA: For those of you who here for the link up - this is my "before" sewing room. After is here
I haven't been in this room since Wednesday night.
I wasn't feeling well (and to not quilt, you know I'm not feeling well!), and by the time I recovered, it was time to go.
Beloved Spouse and I went away for the weekend - some much needed R&R time in the country.
So I have nothing to show you for my usual Monday post. However, I'll make my "Monday" post, on Tuesday.
Perhaps it'll feature these lovely fabrics. Who knows?
And how was your weekend?
It only took us seven takes (neither one of us being familiar with Mr. Right Now [i.e. the camera that isn't (mine, that is)]). Wow. If I really tried, I wonder how many parentetical references I could fit within a single paranthetical reference!
Anyway! Our little masterpiece is about the "stopping" issue I asked about a couple of weeks ago. Some of you sent me links and detailed explanations, and I thank you, so very much for them - but as I tried to parse out the different techniques I remembered that when I first started quilting, I asked a young man named Adam, of Real Men Quilt (who does beautiful long arm quilting) how to stop. And he said "The same way you start". (The "duh" was implied.) :)
That didn't make sense to me at the time (not knowing how to properly start was part of the issue *laughs*) but as I read all of your answers, his came back to me. So I tried it. And it worked!
When making the video, we were worried about time constraints (for some reason, the screen of Mr. Right Now consistently went black at 1:50 seconds), so I wasn't as fullsome in my explanation as I would have liked to be. I double knot those threads when I tie them off so they're nice and secure, for instance. And I make the thread tails so long because I have arthritic fingers and have difficulty tying them off if they're shorter, so you may not need to pull the fabric forward so far or make your bobbin thread so long. And depending on the quilting motif, I try to start and stop in the same place. Stuff like that. :)
But the basics are there, and if you have any questions, I'd be happy to answer from the small store of knowledge I have. So feel free to ask.
Hope that helps those of you weren't as knowledgable as some of my readers! :)
And also, I've decided to join in another WIP challenge - this time I'm doing Finn's UFO Challenge . You simply pledge to finish whatever number of projects you want by New Year's Eve. I've decided to finish Love Drops, Spring Forward, my as yet unnamed Boy Blankie and one I haven't blogged about here yet called Bento Blues. Those are all queen sized quilts, so I'm going to be very busy if I want to keep up with making some new ones I have in my head.
It's going to be a productive fall, I think. :) Yay!
Anyway! Our little masterpiece is about the "stopping" issue I asked about a couple of weeks ago. Some of you sent me links and detailed explanations, and I thank you, so very much for them - but as I tried to parse out the different techniques I remembered that when I first started quilting, I asked a young man named Adam, of Real Men Quilt (who does beautiful long arm quilting) how to stop. And he said "The same way you start". (The "duh" was implied.) :)
That didn't make sense to me at the time (not knowing how to properly start was part of the issue *laughs*) but as I read all of your answers, his came back to me. So I tried it. And it worked!
When making the video, we were worried about time constraints (for some reason, the screen of Mr. Right Now consistently went black at 1:50 seconds), so I wasn't as fullsome in my explanation as I would have liked to be. I double knot those threads when I tie them off so they're nice and secure, for instance. And I make the thread tails so long because I have arthritic fingers and have difficulty tying them off if they're shorter, so you may not need to pull the fabric forward so far or make your bobbin thread so long. And depending on the quilting motif, I try to start and stop in the same place. Stuff like that. :)
But the basics are there, and if you have any questions, I'd be happy to answer from the small store of knowledge I have. So feel free to ask.
Hope that helps those of you weren't as knowledgable as some of my readers! :)
And also, I've decided to join in another WIP challenge - this time I'm doing Finn's UFO Challenge . You simply pledge to finish whatever number of projects you want by New Year's Eve. I've decided to finish Love Drops, Spring Forward, my as yet unnamed Boy Blankie and one I haven't blogged about here yet called Bento Blues. Those are all queen sized quilts, so I'm going to be very busy if I want to keep up with making some new ones I have in my head.
It's going to be a productive fall, I think. :) Yay!
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