Fishy Art Quilt

Well, I've decided I'm not really an 'art quilter' and I've told them I'm going to stop coming to the Art bee meetings. Instead, I think I'm going to join the Stashbuster's bee they're about to start... I hope they pick an evening for meetings that will work with my schedule.

Anyway, there's the last of our three art quilts we've been passing around:



Since I'm not coming back, this one's my own blue fabric, the dyed denim on the bottom, and two other people have had it the last two months, adding the fish, corals, bubbles, and seaweed. The detail is incredible, I especially love the rock in the lower right corner and the fish with the teeth!

I'm not sure where it should go from here. Other than adding some trapunto to the fish shapes (and that'd be a challenge to do with the denim, I think) the only other things I can think of to do would be add some sand colored fabric to the bottom - and tie on some more shells? Add more beads for eyes and such?

Have any of you ever made a 3D fabric frame, with that stiff interfacing they use for fabric bowls? I think the difficult part would be the corners. Any ideas?

Silly Task to make you Smile

Ok, I know it's silly... :) Got this in an e-mail while I was taking a break from quilting.

Try to use your mouse pointer to trace the moustache on the guy that appears. Can you do it?

Link to Smooth my Moustache

I Think some programmer somewhere has too much time... lol

First Round Done

Wheeee!
My first Ostrich round is done, and it isn't even close to the deadline. :)

I may have to make this King size, so I can use it myself... lol The center star block was 12 inches, the aqua border 2 inches, so by the time I added the 4 inch logs on each side, I'm up to 24 inches square.


And of course, now I'm impatient for October, so I can learn the theme for the next round.

Playing with Pineapple Blossoms

Well, this is not how I'm going to use these, they'll be in a border, not all together, but I couldn't resist playing with the patterns they make. Maybe someday I'll make a quilt with this block ... but the blocks will sure be bigger than 4 inches square!

Straight Furrows

Grid of Diamonds

Pinwheel Center

Purple Center

Teal Center

I would have a difficult time deciding on one pattern though! Which one of these do YOU like the best? Here's one I made last Feb. with hot pink, light pink, and purple triangles in the diagonal. I made some solid squares without the triangle corners to complete my heart - and the use of solid squares opens up a whole 'nother realm of patterns. :)

Pineapple Blossom Blocks

Here's what I've been working on these last few days. They're going to be round two of the Ostrich challenge. (Well, if you count the center block as a round, if not, they're round one.) We're not supposed to tell anyone the theme, but these will fit it. :) I did obviously decide to add in the teal fabric to the purple, these will go around the purple toned star block you saw a couple of posts ago.


I'm making 20 of them. The bottom two are my two sample blocks, above that is two stacks of nine partial blocks awaiting ironing. After work each night, I'm trying to do a pair of white triangle corners and a round of logs. You might recognize the block from Quiltville, it's Bonnie's Pineapple Blossom block, but I've redrawn it in EQ and made it teeny, to finish at 4 inches.

I also tried the block with teal on one side of the triangles, purples on the other, but in EQ, the border they'll be on didn't look as good as when I put the white diagonal where it is now. You'll see when I get them all sewn together!

Art Quilt Bee time again

Well, it's been a month since I attended my Art Quilt Bee! This weekend, I've been working on the new piece of fabric I got. Last month, you may remember, I had a plaid fabric in Autumn colors, so I added a branch and corduroy fall leaves to it. This month, I traded for a turquoise satiny piece with a distinctly oriental feel. The member who got it first had added a deep red rice bowl with sequin rice (and if you look close, steam rising from it), and she also put a net table for the bowl to sit on.

Today, I added the vase on the right, with an orange bud and flower on a black stem. I was trying to make it look like a crystal vase, not sure if I succeeded or not!


I also made a pair of chopsticks, but I havent tacked them on yet. I can't decide if I like them there or not.


Also, there's at least another round with this fabric... I'll take it to them and we'll all trade again. I want to leave room for the third person who gets this piece to do something with it... so if they wanted to put a plate of egg rolls or... _?_ ... on the table under the rice bowl, there'd be space. Guess I'll take the chopsticks to the meeting unattached and just pass them with the fabric.

I'm really looking forward to seeing what was done with the blue-to-green dyed fabric I took... AND the plaid fabric I worked on last month. Wonder what they added under the leaves?

Purple Star Center

Here's the center block for my Ostrich. I've decided to join the crowd of bloggers that's doing the one that Kim from Peach Quilting is offering. :)


I like the timetable she's set up - a nice slow project that won't have me rushing to meet the deadlines. I hope. :)

Not sure if I want to make this a two color quilt (well, deep purple, light purple, splotchy purple AND white) ... or add teal in there. I have the same 3 fabric choices in a bluey-green, deep teal, lighter aqua, and splotchy. I'll have to see what her next round is!

If you think you're interested, it's still not too late to join in, the center block's not due till the 15th.

Toby's expression

I think what Toby's really thinking is not, MY quilt... but... is she going to make me get down just when I've found a soft place to nap?


and 'Maybe if I don't look at her, she won't see me and make me move.'

People always say cats don't show much expression, but I'm always attributing feelings and words to my two. :D

Toby on Corner

Wow, thanks for all the kind comments!

The quilt really isn't as big as that picture made it look, here's a picture of Toby laying next to another of my corner jogs, for scale.


You get the impression of size, I think, because there's so many of the little nine patch blocks - but they're only 6 inches square. The quilter's eye is fooled because you want to make the blocks 12 inches square, which really WOULD make this a huge top. As it is, it's 96 x 120, which is what I computed for a queen size spread with a pillow tuck at the top.

And Borders

Well, here's the quilt with borders. I just finished it this evening. :P



Supposed to be queen sized, but I think it's queen sized spread... lol. The border didn't use all my bonus hsts from making all the snowballs, so I have a bunch of them left. Maybe I'll make matching pillow shams or something.



I had a problem getting the borders to come out right at the corners... so I just decided to make every corner different. The border connects all the way around, makes a path... but at the corners, it makes some quirky little jogs.

Another Ostrich

Well, I've decided to adapt an idea I first saw on Anne's blog for my guild. I've never done anything like this before, so I'd welcome some help!

If anyone has time to skim what I've got up on my webpage for my Ostrich version for my quilt guild, I'd appreciate it. I'll run it as a block of the month. Some of the members aren't real thrilled with spending a lot of time making a complex block, then only having a small chance of winning the drawing for all the blocks, so they'll do only easy things like 9-patch swaps or friendship stars. The more experienced members don't want to make simplistic blocks. With a huge variation of skill levels in the guild (from Houston and Paducah award winners to people who literally can't make a flat nine patch with corners matching) it's a challenge for the block of the month person to get participation! Anyway, here's the page:

Round Ostrich

Am I spelling it out too much? Giving too many examples? I'm thinking I need rounds that could be simple OR complex, depending on the individual's skill level. Feedback welcome! Is there anything on the page that confuses you or anything that would confuse you if you were a beginning quilter? Any changes you'd make?

I've decided to also join the Ostrich being offered at Peachquilting that starts August 15th - I like the expanded time frame she offers. Having the rounds due two months apart should give me lots of time to work!