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!

One Word Meme

Well, I decided that I just plain didn't want to answer some of them... So my list of one word answers to these questions is shorter by seven. You can make what you want of the ones I left out. :)

One Word for -
1. Yourself: creative
2. Your partner: divorced
3. Your hair: gray
4. Your favorite item: computer
5. Your favorite drink: diet coke
6. Your dream home: castle
7. The room you are in: den
8. Your pleasure: quilting
9. Your fear: pain
10. Where you want to be in ten years: here
11. Who you hung out with last night: cats
12. What you're not: skinny
13. One of your wish list items: longarm
14. The last thing you did: sew
15. What you are wearing: clothes
16. Your favorite weather: Fall
17. Your favorite book: Ender's Game
18. Last thing you ate: salad
19. Your life: quiet
20. Your mood: good

Besides, 20 is such a nice round number for questions.

Center done

Quilt Center
Well, here's the center of my quilt... now for the borders! Just as I predicted, it's too long to hang on the fence now. :) I took it to work and used the tall library shelving units to hang it for a quick picture - really speedy, I just lifted up a book on that top shelf every foot or so, and pinched the top edge of the quilt under it. I've been working on the borders, but I'm at the cutting strips to go with all my hsts stage and it's nothing interesting to take a picture of yet. This IS the first large quilt I've done - larger than twin size, I mean. I've been surprised at what a mass of fabric it is to move around!


Here's Libby, looking at the birds in my front yard. I know I'm weird, but I love the way she curls her tail around her toes so neatly. I wanted to try to move her tail around to the right side of her body, so she'd look prettier, but figured I'd take a picture of her before I tried it. Lucky I did, as soon as I tried to pose her, she got disgusted with me and decided window-sitting-with-interfering-mom wasn't a good place to be. :D

Chickweed Lane is my favorite comic strip. :) Mostly because it features Solange, the Siamese cat - the artist has the quirks and mannerisms of the Siamese down to a T. Chickweed Lane Index

Parking challenge

Ok, I know it's not quilty, but here's a challenge for you to try:

Click Here to Drive

I'm not doing too well with it - better be glad you're not parked next to me! :D

Almost done.

Well, I'm still not finished, but hey, it's only Saturday. :) I've got three more rows of 6 stars to go. Here it is at the 6 blocks by 5 blocks stage - I went on and took a picture of it now, because soon it'll be too long to fit on the fence without hanging on the grass.


And still playing in Corel, I decided to see what it'd look like if I had set the blocks on point. I rotated the picture 45° then cropped it to make it square again:


Interesting look that way! It would have meant a lot of white triangles around the edge, though. I think I like the straight set better. Easier too.

This whole quilt was pretty easy, doing it in snowballs, nine-patches, and cobblestones. I was trying to give the impression of white sashing around the stars, with colored cornerstones. Back up far enough from your monitor and you can see I could have made the stars as one block, then added sashing and come up with the same design.




I'll put a 2½ inch border of white all the way around this, so the edge color squares float like the middle ones do. Then I have a LOT of little bonus hsts, in the point fabric for the stars, all high contrast dark calicos against white. In EQ, I've only had long one-fabric strips for borders on this - haven't even started trying to replace a border with something using the little triangles! A line of little sawtooth points would be easiest, but I've done that before, and would like to try a new pattern using them. Any suggestions?

Jelly Bean

Thanks, Hanne!
This one was quick. :)

You Are a Caramel Apple Jelly Bean

You have a gentle sophistication. An appreciation of fine things, without being snobby about it. You enjoy sweet tastes and silky textures.

What Flavor Jelly Bean Are You?

Art from Snowballs, 9-Patches and Cobblestones

Well, I have been sewing on all my little 6½ square blocks. But I don't want to show you a picture till I'm farther along. :) So, here is the little set of squares I sewed as a test, BUT *evil grin* I've put it in Corel and squinched at the photograph, so you can only get a general idea of what I'm doing.

This first version (all three pix started with the same photograph) is what they call an 'impressionist dabbled paint effect:



The one below is what the quilt would look like if I dipped it in white paint or a discharge dye, and let it drip:



And the last is what Corel calls a 'swirled paint effect' but instead, looks to me like something you're seeing through a rainy window pane:



The quilt is actually going to be queen sized - six 9-patch star blocks across and eight blocks down, plus borders. Because I want the star points to match around the 9-patches, I had to stop making snowball blocks and start connecting, so I'd be able to make sure I have the right combinations of snowball corners I need. I'm hoping to get a lot more done this weekend! Right now, I'm at 4 blocks over and 5 down.

Leaf Art

I've joined an Art Quilt group, here in Memphis, to try to expand my quilting horizons and stretch my limits a bit. I don't consider myself an art quilter by any means, but I figure it can't hurt to give some of the techniques a try, get out of my comfort level. We're almost all beginners at this, muddling along.

We each brought a piece of fabric to our last meeting - only stipulation was that it could NOT be 100% cotton quilting fabric. Then we traded pieces in a drawing, and also traded some embellishments.



The piece I drew looked like autumn to me - so I added some satin branches and corduroy leaves along the top edge. This picture (at least on my monitor) looks a lot more pinkish than it really is - the two red leaves are actually a deep burgundy. There's another 6 to 8 inches that drapes off the table on the bottom - plenty of room for someone else to add something more! Today I'll take this to our meeting and trade for another piece of fabric. I still don't feel like an art quilter - this is just machine applique. Maybe if I'd done something abstract and non-representational, it'd feel more arty? I guess I need to decide what my definition of an art quilter is. Any suggestions?

More Blocks

Well, working full time gives me only an hour or so each evening to quilt, so this may be a long, drawn out riddle. *evil grin*

Here's the progress so far:

Yes, I know it looks a lot like the last picture, but this time there's

52 snowballs with 4 dark scrappy corners
50 scrappy nine-patches
8 half cobblestones (rectangular, for the edges, lots more to come)
30 square cobblestones (and a lot of strips cut but not sewn yet)
AND more than 230 bonus triangles in the baggie, and stacked on the lower right corner, from the snowballs.

I'm kinda procrastinating on ironing all those triangles, yes, they WILL be for the border, (you guys are so smart)and I still don't know if I'm just going to make a row of hst's or maybe something windmill-y with them. I'll decide when I get the final count.

I've staggered the half cobblestone stack, so I can see what fabrics I've used for them. I am just anal enough that I don't want to have a bunch of the same color in that outer edge, so as I sew the cobblestones, I'm trying to remember to put aside a variety of center fabrics for these skinnier blocks. Some of my scraps will let me strip piece a row of 4 or 6 centers between white strips, but there won't be too many repeats.

:)

A Riddle

Is anyone ready for a riddle?

What do you make when you have:
48 scrappy nine-patches,
33 snowballs with scrappy dark print corners, and
15 I dunno what name to give them, but I've been thinking of them as donuts,
(all 6½ inches square)

AND what seems like two hundred little bonus 2¼ inch half square triangles, some pressed and some not?



Well, you'll just have to check this space later for the answer! But except for the white background, it sure is eating into my scraps.

:)