August Free-Motion Quilting Challenge

I am very proud to be posting this months challenge way before the end of the month!  I enjoyed Wendy Sheppard's work and liked the jester "hat" motif.  This month I just worked on muslin to get the technique down.

First I drew the hats with a blue wash out marker and then stitched it with variegated thread.  I wasn't terrible happy with my design - the hats didn't travel smoothly from one to another

Then I drew the hats with the Fleur de lis look. I liked some of the hats and others not so much.

Finally I just took a blank piece of muslin and started stitching.  I am still not terrible happy with all my hats but I felt like I was finally getting the hang of stitching another hat to move from spot to spot.  I can see myself using this as an all over design in a quilt.

  

July Free-Motion Quilting Challenge

The last day of the month and I once again just finish the challenge.  Actually it was done yesterday - but we lost the Internet just as I was getting ready to post!

This months challenge by Angela Walters used straight lines to enclose quilting designs - she used a swirl design in her tutorial.  This technique is good for large open areas of a quilt.  I struggled with this as I don't tend to have large open areas in my quilts.

I did not want to make yet another 10" square sample and finally decided to randomly piece some scrap fabrics together and make a place mat out of the finished project.  My guild in Charleston, Cobblestone Quilters, has two charity projects this year and one is to make place mats for Meals on Wheels.

I had three fat quarters of Terrie Hanock's fabric for Robert Kaufman in three different color waves (the fabric with all the colored circles in the piece).  I used one to pull colors of the other fabrics and the backing and will use another for the binding.  After I pieced it together I used a variegated thread to do Angela's technique of tiles but I used a loopy swirl for my design inside of each tile.

I need to work on quilting straighter lines - but I think it makes a very cheerful place mat.  Now to bind it before next guild meeting.

A Little Knitting - Wingspan

Along with teaching a few classes over the summer at Stitch n' Sew in beginning sewing and quilting, doing my free-motion quilting challenge, and working a few quilts and challenges, I have been knitting a shawl/scarf called Wingspan that I found on Ravelry.

I started working on this when I was in Raleigh for the Animazement convention with my daughter and it was a perfect pattern to work on while doing other stuff and being around other people.  Basically it is just knitting with short rows with an occasional cast on.

I used yarn from Brooks Farm in Lancaster, Texas that I picked up at the Southeastern Animal Fiber Fair last October.  It is an alpaca, wool and mohair mix.  Lovely yarn - only one problem - as I was getting near the final "wing" I could see that I would not have enough to finish.  I did the only sensible thing and knit faster - as if that would make the yarn go further.

I eked out the last few rows of the wing and managed to knit all the way across the scarf one time and then it was clear - I was out of yarn.  I needed to knit four more rows and bind off.  Not going to happen with this little tiny bit of yarn.

Luckily I remember having some left of yarn from some finger-less gloves I knit last year and dug into the stash.  It had a little purple in it but it was the best I had.  So the last four rows and the bind off were going to be in this yarn.

You can't even see the where one yarn stops and one ends.  Now if it would only cool down so I could wear it - not going to happen until October or November or maybe even December!

June Free-Motion Quilting Challenge

End of the month - no excuses - just procrastination.  When I first read the June challenge by Cindy Needham, I was a little intimidated.  Her work is outstanding and such a lot of stitching in such a small area.  This is the type of quilting I am aspiring to master.

I used her divide and conquer method and started with a drawing.  I used different styles of paisley's as my inspiration plus some straight line fillers.

I then marked my muslin with a few significant lines - I hate to mark so I did not copy every line - just the ones I needed to keep myself orientated.

Then I quilted the divide and conquer lines with Superior's King Tut.  I wanted to make sure I would see these lines as I went.

Finally I quilted the other lines using Superior's So Fine.  I needed a very thin thread to work with as I knew I would be backtrack lots during this design.  I was surprised at how few starts and stops I had and how quickly it quilted up.  I need to work on my small circles - they are not very smooth and I think my poor machine needs a trip to the service technician for a little TLC as the stitches seem to be a little angled.  Most of all I am glad I got it finished in June (just).  

May Free-Motion Quilting Challenge

Once again - the end of the month (nearly) and I am just getting my May Free-Motion Quilting Challenge finished.  I have had a few distractions this month, as you will see at the end of the post.

I have used Leah Day's blog in the past when trying to come up with new quilting motifs, so I was excited to see her in the list of teachers.  I enjoyed her video and decided to try my machine with the feed dogs up as well as down to see if there was any difference in the quality of the stitch.   My first sample was done with the dogs up and without my Supreme Slider.  It was a little more difficult this way and I would not want to do anything very big in this manor.

For my second sample I lowered the feed dogs and used my Supreme Slider.  Much easier and after comparing the two pieces, I don't think my machine cares if the dogs are up or down.

As far as this distractions this month, I have had lots of company, a college graduation,

and a trip to Raleigh for Animazement, a convention celebrating all things Japanese, science fiction and fantasy, with my daughter to help her sell her work in the artist alley.  She did very well (and as you can see from the picture it was very busy), but I certainly could handle long days and late nights better at 22 than 52.  

April Free-Motion Quilting Challenge

The last day of the month and what am I posting - the finished April challenge piece.  Next month I am determined to finish this project before the middle of the month (highly unlikely as I am converting my studio into a guest room for part of this time as we host family for my daughters college graduation - hurrah.)

I really like this months challenge by Don Linn, Mr. Quilt.  One thing I absolutely, positively hate is marking quilts.  I tend to do my free motion without any marking - but there are times that you want the quilting to exactly fit a space and the only way to have that work out is to mark it.

I started out using a design from 1000 Great Quilting Designs by Luise Roberts. The only difficulty I had with this was finding a piece of tulle that my cat had not chewed a hole in - the only thing she likes better than chewing tulle is licking plastic bags!  I finally found a piece big enough and drew the design using a sharpie maker.  It would have worked better if I had centered the design in the hoop - notice the upper right corner runs into the frame - but no time (or tulle) for a redo.

I then traced the design using a blue washable marker onto a piece of my hand dyed fabric - it was an attempt at a shibori technique that didn't quite work.  I didn't follow the lines exactly in a couple of places but the general line was there.  I used the whole design twice and the center section to link the two together - a perfect fit for the size fabric I had.

Finally, I started quilting - I had a little problem with skipping stitches until I realized I had a cross-wound thread on the horizontal spool and it really wanted to be on the vertical spool.  A few minor curse words, a little bit of un-sewing and I was able to get a pretty good piece.  I need to work on both the consistency of the stitch lengths and following the line - but was fairly satisfied. 

After the initial design was done - I went back and echo quilted the pattern.  I had a little trouble keeping a consistence distance for the previous line stitch - I was using my free motion foot as a guide - more practice is required.

After that I went back in the centers and filled in using a variation of pebbles.

I will definitely use this technique again.  I think it would be a good way to audition quilt motifs as you could lay the tulle drawing on various blocks to see how it would work. I have a quilt where the blocks were made by a group that has been waiting to be quilted.  I haven't been able to figure out how to quilt the blocks to highlight the wide variety of blocks but keep it cohesive overall. It has moved up the get to list now that I have a way to test out the designs and mark the quilt with out pulling my hair out.

Not the Elk

My art group (Art That Works) has been working on an exhibit for the last year inspired by photos we took at Charles Towne Landing, the state historic site were the first colonists reached the Carolinas.  The exhibit is our first public exhibition.

Charles Towne Landing – Impressions in Fiber, will be held at Charles Towne Landing from April 14 -27, 2012 during regular park hours, 10am – 5 pm.  The exhibit will be held in the Visitor Center.  Various artists will be available to answer questions during the Founders’ Day Festival on April 14, 2012.  

I have two pieces in the show -  Charleston Thatch and Not the Elk.  

Not the Elk is the piece I was testing my leaf quilting for in my last post.

The picture I based my quilt on was this cheeky guy snacking on the corn feed in the elk enclosure, while the elk was busy eating the natural vegetation.   

I started out with mostly commercial fabric, a piece of computer printed fabric and bit of painted fabric(the bowl).  I did most of the piecing with free form curves.

I added some fused pieces of fabric for grass and thread painted both the grass and the raccoon before I layered the quilt. The piece looks a little flat at this stage - it is amazing how quilting adds dimension to a piece - especially if you add an extra layer of batting to highlight an area.  The raccoon has two layers of batting.  I used a pillow case finish as I did not want any binding on this piece and did not have time to do a facing.

I used a lot of my practice leafs from the last post to build the foliage behind my enterprising thief.  

If you have a chance to visit Charles Towne Landing in the next two weeks - I hope you will take the time to visit our exhibit.