MOONLIT BAMBOO

Sometimes less is actually more!! 

MOONLIT BAMBOO - 18" X 26.5"

Available in my online gallery.....link on top bar

Japaneses cottons, batik, hand-dyed cotton, appliqued & quilted. Hanging sleeve attached.

A START

Doesn't look like much yet, but hopefully it will soon.  It takes me more time than it should when working with busy prints to find the path to a design I'm happy with....  stay tuned...... 

BABYING MY SHOULDER

I'm attempting to machine quilt while continuing to baby my problem shoulder.  Even after a short time stitching, it aches more.  Clearly the angle I'm working at and the amount of pressure used to keep the quilt flat is aggravating my condition. 

So, I gave up using quilting gloves and dug out these two non-slip pads.  One is larger than the other....there must be a reason but I don't recall why, nor even who makes them (no markings on either one.)  I've owned them for years but they've rarely been used since handwork had been my focus for so long.  (An Internet search didn't locate this product but perhaps someone can provide the manufacturer's info.)

The amount of pressure required to maintain pucker free straight line quilting has been greatly reduced. Perhaps this approach will be helpful for others who find their shoulder/upper arms scream out during machine quilting.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING.....a day early....  I'm very thankful for all my Asheville area and vitural fiber friends.

PS - Thank you to Wanda S Hanson at Exuberantcolor  for the product info: "They are called Quilt Sew Easy Discs by Heavenly Notions, Portland OR".  They are available at Leah Day 

DECISION MADE

Waiting for the quilt to tell you what to do sounds like a ridiculous statement, but it's totally true.  When design/layout/color scheme decisions are fleeting, allowing ideas to simmer while continuing to audition options is usually time well spent.

After trying a dozen or so background fabric choices....I settled on this blackish/grey batik and this uneven block layout.

 Connector strips had been planned from the beginning of this project. Originally however I expected to add only 1 strip between each block.  But, as I said, time and experimenting with various options change & alter ideas and in this case it led to 3 strip units.

 Of course this top could be pieced, but I felt the excess number of seams would be distracting.  So instead, I've hand basted all the elements to the wholecloth background and plan to hand applique them.  Given that the fabrics are all batiks, it may be more challenging than my sore shoulder can handle.  I'll be reporting back soon.

RED-CROWNED CRANES

Just finished "Red-Crowned Cranes", though this is not a decent photo. I need to reshoot when we finally get sunshine again.  Plus, find a location that better suits the piece than my too small design wall...BUT...you get the idea.

RED-CROWNED CRANES -  58" x 47"

Available Here

Machines stitched cottons, quilted with metallic thread.

Linking to:  Nina-Marie's Off The Wall Friday, Sarah's Whoop Whoop Friday.

FROM NEARLY DONE TO BACK AT IT!!

For many reasons this quilt has been especially slow going......

 ......then finally the machine quilting was done...OR was it?!  After putting the piece back on my design wall, the cornerstones kept bugging me.....I felt they became too prominent.....drawing attention away from the focus fabric.

So after some musing, I've decided to applique black circles in those areas to tame the impact.  There's truly no rush to finish....I'd rather be totally pleased with the outcome than regret pushing ahead just to say it's finished.

Linking to:  Nina-Marie's Off The Wall Friday, Sarah's Whoop Whoop Friday.

LEAST FAVORITE

Still plugging away on my newest Asian inspired wall art quilt......it was a busy week so it's slow going.  I'll admit I'm stalling too.....as I've reached my least favorite part of quilt making......machine quilting.

So far today I've managed to delay getting back at it by making bread, doing laundry, and cleaning the bathroom....one is really in avoidance mode if bathroom cleaning gets on the to-do list!  

Can't do our forced march either because it's pouring....I'll walk in snow but not heavy rain.  And now I'm writing a blog post.....just to put off turning on the machine.....maybe our power will go out (which would be the 4th time in 2 weeks).....NOOOOO I don't wish for that.....so I'll say goodbye for now and slink over to the sewing machine.

MAKING HEADWAY & SHARING A TIP

The top is now finished......next it will be sandwiched with batting and a backing and basted in preparation for machine quilting.

You may or may not have noticed that the outside sashing is wider than the interior strips.  This is a trick I like to use on most of my wall art.

In this case the outside sashing measures 1/2" wider than the other sashing strips. 1/4" extra is provided to trim/square the quilt prior to binding.  And the extra 1/4" will be covered with the black binding.  This will allow the cornerstones to be visually the same size as in the body of the quilt.  

SLOW PROGRESS

I'm back in the studio working on my latest Asian fabric inspired wall art quilt.  Close inspection of the progress you'll see that it's only half stitched. 

 I hope it get the rest done today.  My approach is slower than most quilters who chain stitch.  Instead, I prefer to cut and layout the entire top (or the parts that I have decided on at that point) on my design wall...and work through the sewing, section by section.  Stay tuned....

ASIAN HARMONY

After way too much decision making time, trying to formulate a straight line quilting motif.....I forged ahead.

Rather than vertical or horizontal lines, or even uniform diagonal grid quilting lines, I chose an uneven diagonal orientation. This approach took extra time because I used blue painters tape as my guide for each line.  Assuring they would remain straight as I stitched.  

After being a bit dubious at first, I warmed to the design as it helped to lead the eye around the quilt much better than I expected, yet keeping the general uncluttered theme of this Japanese/Asian style piece.

 ASIAN HARMONY -  39" x 39"

Available Here

Cotton fabrics & machine stitching.

Visit these fine blogs to get inspired by other artists weekly accomplishments:  Nina-Marie's Off The Wall Friday, Sarah's Whoop Whoop Friday.

WHEN SIMPLE TURNS DIFFICULT

January is moving right along, and with that thought in mind....our 11th annual PTA (Professional Textile Artists) retreat in early March is right around the corner.

It's not a sew-in where I can manage any project that is more than super mindless and even with that, I always cut all my patches ahead of time to control the mistakes!  Believe me with all the chatter, 'lookie' what others are doing, constant food and coffee breaks, impromptu dancing or exercising led by Georgia Bonesteel, it's a frolicking atmosphere.

At our very first retreat, Kate, Judy, and I decided to make i-spy quilts as baby gifts.  We pooled all our likely conversation fabrics to increase the variety for each maker.  It's now 11 years later and we still share that fabric box which is constantly being used and added to.  As years past, we chose other projects and shared fabrics but never to the point of a traveling fabric box!

In the last couple of years we each did our own thing, but many times the patterns were similar.  So....this year Kate suggested this simple layout....yeah....thought I - 4 strips per block.  I can do that!

Well....being the A type organized person I am....I decided to start preparing now.  I selected my fabrics (first mistake) and stitched a few sample blocks.  It was then that I realized the Japanese style 'directional' fabrics I selected would require way too much planning and thought under retreat conditions.  If using non-directional fabrics each block could be pieced identically with no regard to placement of the 'colored' fabrics because the orientation could easily be changed.

I hope you are following this explanation of my dilemma.  If not it will become clear as I continue this saga. I aborted the idea of making a big quilt for retreat.  Instead I set about making a smaller wall hanging....which allowed me to pre-cut and position every patch on my design wall.

There seems to be a theme of late in regard to how I construct patchwork quilts....its' a tad worrisome that I'm having such difficulties multi-tasking, but my work arounds help to avoid confusion for me. This is supposed to be fun, right?!?

Come back as I now struggle with how the heck to quilt this thing....I have lots of ideas that could be achieved hand quilting.....which isn't practical for a piece that will be sold.  AND since my skills are pretty much limited to straight line quilting on the machine.....so far I'm stuck.  Part of the problem is that I'm not thrilled with the piece and simply want it done....fast!  Hoping in the end, it will still be of interest to a buyer.  Okay...see you soon.......

OH DEAR...WHAT HAVE I DONE?!?

After having the nerve to share the drama I was having with my troublesome quilt, you dear readers came up with so many good suggestions.  Thank you for taking the time and brain power to connect.

Carole of "My Carolina Home", a talented blogger who freely shares so many clever quilt techniques, not to mention all things "Carolina", suggested replacing my original lower left block with a darker one to help balance the two large blocks. Seen in this photo. Good grief, I can't believe I didn't think of it....brilliant...thank you Carole!!   I didn't go quite as dark as the other two because it seemed to create a bulls eye.  Hard to believe given the impact of the other two blocks, but that's the way I read it.

 I had already decided to add black circles to the corner squares...a motif found in so many Japanese designs.  It helped to add more black, plus it set off the outline of the two rectangles by its omission.

It still needed additional color balance and I thought that could be accomplished by adding a dark border.  Oh dear....now the rectangle on the lower right looks very odd.  Perhaps I should have left well enough alone!

My now - 10:30 PM decision (way past my bedtime mind you) was not well thought out and I could kick myself for not waiting till the next day.  I opened seams and added 4 more corner squares in the center of the rectangles.  Already regretting that rash move I went to bed....again wayyyy past my bedtime about midnight.

Overnight the quilt didn't miraculously fix itself.  But after giving it murderous looks in the morning, I folded back about half of the width of the border and it looked better.  I may decrease it even more.  But first I have to applique all those circles...yuck...however that will give me time to think this through before I again jump the gun and sandwiching the piece too soon.

Say tuned....

Linking to:  Nina-Marie's Off The Wall Friday, and Sarah's Whoop whoop Friday.

SLOW WORK

With my task of finding homes for my friend's quilt treasures coming to an end....my attention can now slowly turn back to my own work.

Many years ago I inherited a fabulous collection of authentic Indonesian batiks collected by my MIL during an extended business stay in that country.  I pondered and pondered how to show them off and finally made this quilt to hang on our stairwell wall in 2009

It's come as a complete surprise to me how 'saleable' my Asian inspired quilts have been.  Since my goal is to create pieces to sell....and that I have a lot of

that style of fabric, it seems only smart to continue with that theme!

Busy prints are challenging for me....I much prefer clean, uncluttered designs....so I've found the easiest way to work is to fussy cut several patches at a time....shifting locations, eliminating or adding as necessary.  It's coming along......

RHYTHM OF THE ORIENT

Although I continue to spend a significant amount of time relocating my friends' fabric to new homes.....I managed to carve out enough time to create another Asian inspired quilt.

Fortunately, this style has had a good rate of sales (so far no two quilts have been the same design).  It's a relief to have one ready to hang in case luck strikes again and the current piece hanging a Woolwork Walk Gallery in downtown Asheville goes home with someone!

That's not to say you can't claim it here.....that'd be even better, as I love knowing where my quilts live!  

 RHYTHM OF THE ORIENT  - 60" x 60"

Available here

Cotton fabrics, machine pieced and quilted.

Visit these blogs to be inspired by other fiber artists:  Nina-Marie's Off The Wall Friday, Sarah's Whoop Whoop Friday.

BACK IN THE GROOVE

Oh it feels so good to be creating again.....I'm moving right along on my latest Japanese/Asian inspired large wall art quilt.....

 Two sides finished, two to go as I hand stitch the binding in place.

I usually force myself to prepare the hanging sleeve before starting to sew on the binding....so I can move smoothly from binding to sleeve because by then I'm anxious to complete the project!

READY, SET, SEW

Much to my surprise, the large Japanese fabric inspired wall art quilts I've been creating over the last couple of years continue to sell well. I try to have a spare one ready to hang should the one on display sell.  So, right now I'm scrambling to make that 'spare' one.  What a good problem to have, right?

 I'd previously cut a bunch of rectangles from some smaller cut pieces that were leftovers from some earlier fussy cutting.  That helped to jump start these blocks.  The blocks are now made and in their final arrangement. 

I was so charged up to see progress that I sewed the first 4 rows together.  Then then for an unknown reason, I skipped row 5 and was in the process of working on 6 & 7..... when a mistake in the position of 1 block became apparent. If you REALLY have nothing else to do...you can look for it....cause it's still there (for now).  

Hopefully by the time you read this....the top will be finished and on the way to being basted.  Though I'm considering adding another row both vertically and horizontally....if I had enough of the black sashing print, I'd add narrow borders.   Okay, enough chatter today......ready, set, sew.....

Visit these fine blogs to check out what others artists have been working on this week:  Nina-Marie's Off The Wall Friday, Sarah's Whoop, Whoop Friday.

ASIAN INFLUENCES - NEW WORK

In the midst of all the POD dispersing, I've been staying up late to work on this piece.

 ASIAN INFLUENCES  61" X 61" 

AVAILABLE HERE

Cotton fabrics, machine and hand stitched.

DETAIL

MAKING PROGRESS ON NEW ASIAN/JAPANESE STYLE QUILT

Despite still being buried in fabric that I'm helping a friend sell, I'm making progress on a new quilt....I do get cranky when I don't sew.  How about you??

LISTENING TO THE QUILT

My last post mentioned that I was moving along to the quilting stage of this quilt, though I had no plan for the direction that would take.

After considerable trial and error tests on spare fabric, it seemed best to keep it simple and allow the fabrics to speak for themselves. Once the quilting reached the borders I was stumped.  Eventually I decided to follow the theme of the uneven patchwork segments.  The design was worked out on tissue paper, pinned in place, and quilted along the lines using my walking foot.  One negative of course is having to remove the paper and all the tiny bits that remain between the stitches!

Because of the simplicity of the outline quilting of every section, for a better impact I chose to work with an antique brass thread. I'm happy with the look but oh my, I probably spent more time tying off each of the thread ends as it took to quilt the entire piece.  

In general, I don't like the look of the tie off function of my machine, nor stitching in place at the beginning and end of each line.  So I always tie off and bury the threads by hand.  This metallic thread had a nylon core that made it impossible to use a self-threading needle as the thread shredded.  So it became necessary to thread a needle with the ends in order to bury them between the layers. It's interesting, I never broke a single thread while quilting but the finishing part was very time consuming.  

Stay tuned for a photo of the finished piece.  In the meantime check out what other creative stitchers have been up to this week:  Nina-Marie's Off The Wall Friday, Sarah's Whoop Whoop Friday, and Crazy Mom Quilts.