Quilting is Complete

This morning I finished with the free-motion quilting on this quilt.



I still have some threads to bury but I do believe that once that is done I can move on to squaring up and finishing. I love lots of quilting, as you can see in the photos.

I received my Christmas present from myself in yesterday's mail. I bought myself one of the Bendable Bright Lights (seen here). I got it all hooked up last evening and WOW! was that a bright discovery. I can't believe the light this little thing puts out. I had seen lots of other sewers sharing on their blogs about how much they liked these, so I just had to see what all the hullabaloo was about. I did notice one thing: at first I had it pointing directly where the needle is going up and down. Well the bright light was reflecting off the shiny metal of my presser foot and giving my eyes quite a strain. I started playing around with the light position and found that if I shine it on the fabric that is in front of the presser foot that it works better for me. I was beginning to wonder if I would need to wear sunglasses to be able to use this thing. I guess there is a learning curve to everything and all in all I am going to be very happy with this handy tool. So my review of this product is a big thumbs up.

Way Back When

I mentioned some time ago that I was working a mixed-media triptych painting. I can now show you these paintings that I created for my son's Christmas present. Since I didn't want to take the chance that my son might see these on my blog, I thought I should wait until he received them before sharing them here with you. I must have did a good job as he really likes them.

I'm not happy with how they appear in the photo. The far left one has a bit more burgundy/maroon in it and the middle one shows more blue in the photo and really is a slight bit more green.

Creative Cue

I like drawing and sketching and don't do it often enough. Drawing is one of those activities that improves over time. The more you practice, the better it gets.

I've always enjoyed seeing other artists' sketches and drawings too. A few of the bloggers that I follow have taken part in sketching to a theme word and I always enjoy seeing the sketch they create from a word prompt. I thought this would be fun and I decided to do something similar myself starting in 2010.

I happened to mention this idea to Sue and she said this interested her too. And then we got to thinking that maybe others would enjoy something similar. So we came up with Creative Cue.

Read all about it here (click the image):

Quilting

I started the quilting on my watermelon quilt.


I had originally thought that I'd machine quilt all of it, but once I started looking at it and deciding what I wanted to do, I came to the conclusion that I will need to do a little hand quilting. The center squares are where I'm doing this. Because of the quilting design I wanted to do, I decided that doing it by hand would be better than all the stopping and starting by machine.

I would like to wish all of you who stop by to read my ramblings a very Merry Christmas. I'm not sure if you all celebrate Christmas, but if you do I hope yours is a safe, happy, and healthy holiday. I know there are many areas in the US right now that are making holiday travel unsafe. We are in a snow storm area for the next couple of days, from what the weather people are saying. So be safe and smart out there please!

Backing and Basting

Today I found some time to get into the studio. I couldn't find a piece of fabric large enough to use for the backing on my quilt. So I pieced together some of the discarded fabrics from the project and created a strip. I then used a fabric that worked, colorwise, and that I had enough of to piece with this strip to create my back.


Next I did the basting. It's now ready to quilt.

Next Round

I've added another border around this quilt. I'm happy with this and think I am going to stop there. At this point it measures approximately 35" square--a really good size for me to quilt on my sewing machine. This quilt has been so much fun.


I just had to snap the next photo of Zoey while she was napping. Life must be good!


Hey, did you notice my new blog look? I felt it was time for a change so I fiddled around with my blog template and came up with this.

Sewing Along

I made a little progress on this quilt this week. I lengthened the borders and then attached them to the central section.

Every time I look at this piece, I'm reminded of/or think of watermelons. I've kind of got two names going around in my head for this one so far. Watermelon Bubblegum and Watermelon Slices. I imagine one of these will stick more than the other by the time I'm done, hopefully. Or, perhaps another will sneak into my brain and tease me.

I think I want to add more to this quilt. I am thinking along the lines of some black and white fabrics and some more painted fabrics like in the center. I ran out of one of those paint colors though, but never fear, it should appear at my door today or tomorrow and then I can get some more painted up for this quilt.

Did you realize that Christmas is one week from today? Happy Weekend!

Oh Christmas Tree

I have been sporadically working on these holiday greeting postcards the last few days. I finally finished them up last evening. I probably should have created these a few weeks ago, but just couldn't get into the spirit of them until just recently. Now to get them in the mail.

December Block of the Month

Here is the next block for the Three Creative Studios block of the month. This is block #4.

Again, I created it in the two color ways I'm doing. And then farther down, I've snapped a photo of the four blocks together in each color way. Just to recap, there will be nine blocks total for this block of the month project.


The gift card sleeve I mentioned a couple of blog posts ago is now found here, along with a great table runner project that Vicki created. New Free Projects

Also, Three Creative Studios is hosting a quilt challenge. Every two months a theme word will be given and participants create a small quilt according to the theme. You can read more about it on the Quilt Challenge blog.

I want to thank each and every one of you who commented on the previous blog post. I appreciate your thoughts and input on my project. I've been so busy the last few days that I haven't had much time to respond to each of you individually. Thank You!

Progress???

I've been working on some border sections for this quilt. The first photo shows how I had first thought to add these borders. I was originally thinking about putting four blocks in the corners.


Then I played with the border pieces and scooched them over. Now I'm wondering if I would like it better if I just continued on with this look and lengthened the border sections to fill the space around.


Oh the decisions!!!! Then, after that is decided, I will need to think about what's next? More or stop! The possibilities are endless!

Gift Card Sleeve

I decided to create a fancy gift card sleeve for a gift I am giving this year. It is a bi-fold design and can be used again and again. I've written a tutorial on how to make it and it will be available on Wednesday (the day after tomorrow).

The next photo shows the prize package for the November Block of the Month at Three Creative Studios. If you are participating, you still have today and tomorrow (12-15) until midnight to get your November block (BOM #3) posted in the group forum.


The prize includes a package of Mistyfuse, some fabulous hand dyed fabrics from Vicki Welsh, sequin waste, thread, Fray Check, Creative Paper Quilts book, and a handmade beaded Christmas ornament made by me.

Fabric and Stuff

I feel like I've been bouncing all over the place with my projects lately. I think it's because of the holidays. I think it's because I can't make up my mind. And I think it's because I am a bit stressed about some upcoming deadlines.

I currently have several things in the making. I have several things I should add to my etsy shop, and I had high hopes of entering some upcoming quilt shows, but I just haven't had the time to get quilts made to meet their specifications and the entry deadlines are too near now to even think about them anymore. Sigh! Maybe next year. I've never been much of an agenda planner, list writer/follower, and goal maker; although I do some of these things to some extent, perhaps subconsciously.

Anyway, on to the latest...

Up first is a new wall hanging I've started with some hand painted and hand dyed fabrics. I have an idea where I want to go with some borders around this but I'm going to sit on that, I think, for a day or two to see if I can come up with other ideas.


The next photo is a sneak peek at my initiative quilt for the Fiberactions quilt challenge group. The quilts for this theme will be revealed on Jan. 15.

Petal Pink

Today is the reveal of "pink" over on the Twelve by Twelve blog. This reveal marks the first reveal in our color-play round. We usually reveal our quilts on the first of the month, but we thought it would be fun to wait until today, December 12 (12-12) to share our first color theme quilts.

We are again creating quilts that are 12" x 12" in size. You can see all the quilts here as they appear throughout the day.

On the Cutting Table

Here's what I was working on today. I'm putting together the next block in the Block of the Month for Three Creative Studios. You will find the Block of the Month information here.

The new block will be released on Dec. 16. Also on Dec. 16 the winner will be drawn from the pool of quilters who shared their block 3 in the forum.

Speaking of Three Creative Studios...we now have a blog.

2 Becomes 3

Two Creative Studios has now become Three Creative Studios.


Three Creative Studios is now the virtual online studio for Sue and me, and Vicki Welsh! Vicki brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise in the field of fabric painting & dyeing, quilting and surface design to the Three Creative Studios team. Please visit our new website here.

And that's not all! Earlier this year we moved our online class forums from a yahoo group setting to a ning group application. Unfortunately the ning group application is not as user friendly as we would like it to be and is cumbersome and awkward to navigate. So after much research and subsequent testing of several other options we're happy to announce that we've decided to move to an online forum application that we're sure you're going to find a lot easier to use. You'll find the new Three Creative Studios forum here.

One of the benefits we really like about this new forum application is that you can browse the forum as a guest if you would rather not become a registered user. We think that you'll like this new forum a lot better than the ning group and find it easier to navigate and use.

2009 has been a very busy and exciting year for the Creative Studios team and 2010 is shaping up to be even better. Watch for new online classes, free projects and a new monthly program to keep you inspired and challenged. Sign up for our newsletter so you don't miss any of it!