Friday, February 4, 2011

Journal Quilt #5


At one point this week I didn't think I was going to get a weekly journal quilt made. I had almost decided that it would be okay to skip it, but today I felt differently. I really wanted to do one. So I quickly found some fun and colorful fabrics and got to work.

I'm so happy that I just dove in and created this. I didn't put a lot of thought into it at all and I found my enjoyment factor was up in the high ranges. Usually I stress a bit more on how things work together and if the end result will look good. But when I started on this, I think I just pushed aside all the normal creative hesitations and went for it.

The stamped fabric across the lower third of the quilt and the Cape Code applique is something I had gotten a long time ago from Pokey Bolton from Quilting Arts. I can't even remember any more why she sent me this fabric, but I really like it. The colorful fabric in the upper section is one of those serendipity fabrics where you wipe excess paints and dyes off your brushes or rollers when painting on other pieces. Sometimes these clean-up fabrics turn out so beautiful.

A couple of new things I tried out on this quilt is the raw cut, wavy edge. I have about three to five specialty blades for my rotary cutter and I rarely use them. I really have no clue why. I also got out one of my twin needles for the sewing machine and used it to stitch a double straight stitch around the edges.