Back to the BlueBird

Yesterday I spent some time tidying up my workspace. It had become somewhat unruly from working on the black lab quilt and the Block of the Month blocks. I have a couple of unfinished projects (OK, more than a couple), that I need to get back to. One of those is the blue and green Indian Orange Peel quilt and the other is this bluebird quilt. I decided to start with the bluebird quilt. I am adding more color to the bird and leaves. I had earlier given everything a base color and now I'm going back in with deeper and lighter colors to add dimension.

Here is the main product I use to add the color to my quilt. These are Caran d'Ache Neocolor II Crayons. They are water soluble and become paint-like once they are wet. I also use some acrylic paint when I deem necessary for the effect I am after.

And here is my color chart for the Neocolor crayons. I find it absolutely necessary to create color charts with my paints and crayons, otherwise it's difficult to know exactly how a color will look in the end.

Sue has created a technique project sheet on using the water soluble crayons and also Shiva Paintstiks. The project sheet will be available mid May. If you are interested in learning more about these products, watch for that information in the Three Creative Studios newsletter.

In other news...
Most of you know I belong to a group called Twelve by Twelve, a Collaborative Art Quilt Project. Well our first group of art quilts are currently set up at their very first exhibition at the Australasian Quilt Convention. See photos of Brenda and Kirsten setting up here. Oh how I wish I could see it in person.

Bonus Blocks

I finally was able to create the April bonus blocks from the Three Creative Studios Block of the Month project. This is bonus block 4A.

I had to adjust the color placement on this first block from what was outlined on the project sheet. I was running low on my turquoise and black fabrics and wouldn't have been able to make the block according to the color arrangement in the directions.

Next month will be the release of block #9, the last block in the Block of the Month project. The original BOM project was for nine 12-inch blocks, but we decided to include three bonus blocks for anyone wishing to create a larger quilt or if you wanted to substitute a block for one you weren't crazy about. After the release of the final block, we'll share some layout options for all your blocks.

Black Lab is Complete

Woo hoo! I'm feeling pretty good that I've finished this quilt. Okay, well almost. All I have left is the label and hanging sleeve.

I am trying to think of a name for it. So far all that comes to mind is Regal Beauty or Well Trained. Any ideas? The size of this quilt is 42" high by 38.25" wide.

Here are some detail shots.

When I first planned this quilt I had thought I would add some painted details after it was quilted. But I decided not to on this one.

Again, I would like to give a big shout of thanks to Flickr user italsma13 for granting me permission to use her photo as inspiration for this quilt. Without her beautiful dog, Solo, and the great photography, this would have been a much harder task for me. Now I can't wait to hear what my husband's aunt and uncle think about it.

Now I really need to get cracking on my 12" x 12" quilt for the Twelve by Twelve group. It's due May 1.....pretty darn soon.

Block 8 and Creative Cues

Today was the day for block 8 to come out of hiding for the Three Creative Studios Block of the Month program. Here are my two versions of it.

 

We also released another bonus block (Bonus Block 4A) but I just haven't found the time to make my versions of that one yet. I've been working diligently away on the black lab quilt. Until.....I ran out of thread for quilting the background. So now maybe I do have time to make bonus block 4A.

I had been given the suggestion to just use another thread that was close in color to continue quilting the black lab quilt....and I seriously considered it, BUT....... yes, there's a BUT! The thread I had been using was a variagated thread and I don't have anything at all even remotely close. I do have some solids that are close in color to some found in the variagated thread, but I decided I just wouldn't be happy if I used something else. So unfortunately I had to order a spool of this thread online because no one had this particular color locally. :(

Today I'm a bit grumpy as I have gotten my husband's head cold that he had earlier in the week. Not a happy camper. I did get a little cheered up though, however brief, when FedEx woman arrived with a package. My Wacom Bamboo tablet has arrived (jumping up and down) (okay, maybe no jumping up and down as that hurts my head).

So of course I had to try the tablet out. And since I was two and a half weeks behind on my Creative Cue themes, what better way than to draw those.

Oh and then doubly fun was using the online Scribbler program to create my drawings.

 

Wishing you a happy weekend!

Another Scribbler Kitty

I had a little minute yesterday and played some more with the Scribbler site (link in previous post).

I don't have a whole lot to share at the moment, so kitty is my only photo today. But it's a cute kitty right?

Yesterday I updated my profile photo, so that's a new photo for you to see.

Oh and yesterday I spotted a new-to-me bird out back. It was the cutest little thing and wasn't very afraid of me. There were two of them, that I could see. It was a Ruby-Crowned Kinglet. This bird is not very showy, except it had one spot that just Wow'd me. On the top of his head, there was the brightest red spot that looked like someone had taken a number 4 paint brush and gave it one stroke of paint about a half-inch long. Very cool!

Pooch Progress

Here is my progress on the black lab quilt. I've already started free-motion quilting and have all of the lab quilted except for the head. That's next. Then I'll do the background.

I had a bad day yesterday in the studio. I had errands to run earlier in the day, so in the afternoon I finally found some time to work on the quilt. Well it didn't go well. I had just started quilting and had about two or three inches of stitches down when I ran out of bobbin thread. Sigh! A fact of sewing life.

So I got my thread all routed and ready to wind some bobbins. I decided to wind four of them right away as I like having extra black bobbins on hand. I finished winding the bobbins and got set up to stitch again, and went at it! Woo hoo, I'm a stitching away like a quilting fool. A little while later, something catches the corner of my eye over there on the right. Hmmmmmm, what was that? I paused and leaned over and lo and behold my black thread from winding bobbins is winding around my hand crank on the sewing machine. ARGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Here is all the thread that wound around it.

Here is the cone of thread and the hand crank of my machine. I had left my thread end up on top of the machine after winding bobbins and at some point it slipped over the side of the machine and started winding around the hand crank as I was free-motion quilting. What a mess!

And then shortly after that mess was over, I got to quilting again. Not much longer and SNAP! My needle broke. My top thread caught up on something and wouldn't feed as I was stitching away, unbeknownst to me. Triple Sigh! All in all, it wasn't a good sewing day. I was wondering where I had placed that "Start Over" button. I really would have liked to push it.

On a happier note, fellow Twelve by Twelve member, Terry, recently shared a fun site on her blog and I went and tried it out too. A drawing tool that adds funky web-like lines to your drawing. You will find it here:
http://www.zefrank.com/scribbler/scribblertoo/

Here is a quick little kitty I created with the drawing site.

Sewing Supplies from YesterYear

Many years ago my grandmother gave me a sewing basket of supplies that she no longer used or needed. I don't recall exactly all that I received, but I do still have a few of the items.

Grandma Rose gave me lots of pins and needles. I don't have many of the pins any more as they became bent or dull or rusty. I do still have some of the needles and I wanted to show them to you. Most of them are packaged in their original packaging which is what I find most interesting. Needles today are not the same quality as they were from way back when. Here are a few packages....note the pricing...5 cents, 15 cents.

And here is a package of home repair needles. I don't use these as they are too heavy duty for what I do, but you just never know when you may have the occasional need for something like this.

Back in the day, many businesses gave out gifts to their customers, normally around Christmas time. The gifts they handed out were normally useful items that had their business name imprinted on it. Needle cards were a popular item and here are three the same. These cards have varying degrees of damage to them and some contain more needles than others. The one that is open had the most needles in it and even came with a needle threader. That was missing from the other two cards.

I have a hard time these days finding good needles. While at my local quilt shop the other day, Angie showed me these straw needles and said that she likes them. So I thought I'd give them a try.

Another item in my Grandma's sewing basket was these two thread boxes. They are hard plastic. I don't use them as the thread spools I have today don't fit well.

You can see on the cover over on the left hand side that a business was giving these out to their customers and had their business name stamped on it. I like the name that is embossed on these boxes...Tidee Maid Thread Box.  Gosh, I wish businesses gave out cool gifts like these still.

And here is the sewing basket Gramdma Rose gave me. I use it these days for storage.

All in all I think that many of the sewing supplies from that time in life are pretty cool, and some things I enjoy having and I suppose there are some things I'd like to have, not that I can think of anything at the moment. But I will admit, that I do like the time-saving tools we have these days, such as rotary cutters and more.

How about you? Do you have any great sewing items handed down to you or that you've purchased? What are they?

Block of the Month

One week from today is the deadline to finish up block 7 from the Three Creative Studios Block of the Month. Share a photo of your block 7 in the forums by midnight April 15 and you'll be eligible for the prize drawing. Here is what you could win:

Includes: Quilt Challenge: "What If" Ideas for Color and Design book by Sharyn Craig & Pamela Mostek, package of Mistyfuse, hand dyed fabric pack by Vicki Welsh, two fabric pieces designed by Terri Stegmiller, DecoArt SoSoft fabric paint, paint brushes, Fray Check, and Wonderfil threads.

The winner will be announced on April 16. We will also be rolling out two new blocks for you to make for your BOM project. One is block 8 and another is a bonus block. Sign up for the newsletter and all this information will be delivered right to your email inbox.

Here Doggy!

DOGGY??!!!??

Now that's something you don't see often on this blog. As many of you know, I'm a full fledged cat person!

This doggy quilt (black lab, to be precise) is what I've been working on lately. A relative of mine asked me to make a black lab quilt and this is it. It's the first time I've attempted anything like this. A whole new technique and subject matter. We'll see how it turns out. As of this moment, I've just got all those black pieces of fabric pinned to the batting. They all have Mistyfuse on the backside, so once I'm happy, I can go ahead and fuse them in place. I'm not sure, but I may tweak one or two pieces here and there. I'm not sure if I'm happy with that very light piece way at the top of the head. In my inspiration photo, that part was very light from sunlight shining.

Speaking of inspiration photo, I am working from a photograph taken by italsma13. You can see the photo here. This Flickr user so kindly granted me permission to use her gorgeous dog photo for my quilt inspiration. Thank you so very much italsma13!

Stay tuned for further black lab progress.

Happy Easter

Here is the latest quilt I've been working on. All that I have left to do on this is to add the label on the back.

It is raw edge, fused applique with Mistyfuse and commercial cottons, free-motion quilted, and has touches of textile paint for added dimension. It measures 20" x 24". As of now it is untitled. Name suggestions are welcome.

My quilt Stirring Thoughts is currently on display at Fantastic Fibers 2010. You can see this show and the other art entries online here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/fantastic-fibers/. I wish I could see it in person.

Wishing you a very Happy Easter.