This is a quilt series inspired by tree bark. Each quilt represents a differnt type of tree bark. Click through to see which one you like.
For the more traditional types, country quilts are the best to bring that homey, rustic feel to a room or furniture.
Beautiful!
From sewing to needlepoint to embroidery to quilting, Jo Avery learns everything she can and practices, building a large body of work.
Every so often I wake up with a word list in my mind. It happened a month ago at 3 am. It happened last week at midnight and it happened this morning at 5 am. The list is a series of verbs that contrast each other. I have a note pad at the side of my bed so that I can write down my dreams. Sometimes
Overwhelming fabric scraps. I thought this was such a fun topic to discuss. so here I am. Do you love or hate working with fabric scraps? Do you sometimes get overwhelmed with your piles of fabric …
Happy March 1st! And because it is the first Wednesday in March, we are once again opening our monthly theme for the Modern Quilt Along series that we are doing in 2017. If you need a refresher of what this series is, go HERE to read the introduction post on the why’s and how’s. The theme […]
Catalina loves Cats. That's why as soon as I saw this quilt pattern, I knew it was for her. It is titled Pins and Paws from the Missouri Star Quilt Company. There was some fun quilting on this quilt. I love pieced backs. It's also a good way to use up left over fabric.This backing idea is from Gyleen Fitzgerald. This is one of my favorite border quilting patterns. I love quilted straight lines. They add so much movement to a quilt. The whole quilt. Richard thought the quilting was odd, but I think it is very modern. As always, a label.
How to give fabric a vintage look with an easy and way technique. Transform new ordinary fabrics into vintage looking fabrics. Step by step tutorial.
Quilters, feast your eyes on a gallery of stunning quilts from the 2017 Pacific International Quilt Festival. #PIQF2017, #quiltshow
Knowing how to start a quilt, especially when it comes to quilting can be difficult. Get expert tips on how to start quilting your next quilt.
33 quilting and fabric scrap crafts projects to make for handmade gifts, home decor, baby and nursery, toys, party decorations and DIY ideas for scraps .
During QuiltCon 2020, I created a number of Instagram posts of quilts grouped by various topics. That process really helped me to think about how I was experiencing my first QuiltCon and the amazing wealth of quilts. But it also takes a lot more time and energy than I’ve had at QuiltCon 202
Happy New Year! Despite the long pause in postings, I did actually complete a few more sewing projects in 2014. January 2014 - Drawstring book bags for Allie and Cate's birthdays February 2014 - Robert Hughes baby quilt (I really need to consider taking a "how to photograph your quilts" workshop:) quilted with stars and spirals May 2014 - Amy Becker's HS graduation lap quilt Amy picked out fabrics at Fabric Depot during her Portland visit, Christmas 2013. I supplemented with a few fabrics I found at The Stitching Post and at Kapaia Stitchery during a trip to Kauai (always looking for an excuse to fabric shop). The blue batik with butterflies was the first fabric Amy chose. Other colors were built around that. quilted with vining flowers and leaves Now Amy has this nice warm lap quilt - perfect for her college years at the University of Arizona in Tucson. She assures me that it does get cold there, especially when the air conditioner is running. November 2014 - New curtains and duvet set for the Sisters house After 20 years, Stefanie and I decided it was time for a change in the upstairs bedroom in our Sisters house. We found some curtain fabric at IKEA (seen below in the medium-sized pillows). After a futile search for a coordinating duvet cover I decided we just needed to make our own. Not as cheap, but so much more fun! On the bed in Anna's old room at our house (tempted to keep it here, but...) Had to add a border piece as it was just a bit too small. Found a fun coordinating fabric at The Stitching' Post. Shams and throw pillows. The quilting in the shams mimics the print in the curtain fabric. All set up in its new home. On to 2015... January 2015 - Jeanne's lap quilt This quilt was made for my good friend and fellow swimmer, Jeanne. She will be out of the water for a bit, recuperating from surgery, so of course this called for a quilt! My daughter, Anna, suggested the colors - perfect for a swimmer. Another swimmer friend, Jenn, joined me for a shopping trip to Fabric Depot and also helped with part of the sewing. Sandi and Jeanne The design incorporates over 60 small blocks with names of some of Jeanne's friends. Next Up???? cityscape art quilt based on a photo of Roussillon, France art quilt based on our Croatia travels last September flower/plant themed art quilt for the Hardy Plant Society Hortlandia Plant Sale in April hopefully taking Hilde Morin's Bowl Art class
In yesterday’s post, I described 3 different traditional crafts that share one common thread, the running stitch : Kantha, Boro and Sashiko. Kantha and Boro are traditional patchwork from Ind…
Quilts! Sewing! Books! Life!
How to Design a Simple Art Quilt. Create an image and make it into an Art Quilt. Fabric scrap and fusible web will make it simple and quick
One of the goals I set for myself this year is to invite curators and other artists to my studio to show my work. I've spent about two months recording, measuring and carefully storing the quilts that I have done in the past 10 years. I'm running out of closets and storage materials. So the question
Learn four simple methods forto created textured fabric for your quilt
Susan Brubaker Knapp is fiber artist, author, teacher, host of Quilting Arts TV and a Bernina Ambassador. And, also makes amazing art quilts!
Available here.
Earlier this year, some of our Tasmanian MQG members got together at one of our sewing days and started putting blocks together for our raffle quilt. One of our very dedicated members (my friend Lauren) then put the rest of the blocks together. We worked together to piece the top - and then it was handed over to me for the quilting (which I finished back in April). We made this quilt using a bundle of Kona solids, and Carolyn Friedlander's fantastic Aerial pattern. The blocks are all paper pieced, so it was the perfect choice for a group quilt in terms of making sure the blocks were all the same size. It went together like a dream! It took me a while to decide how to quilt this one, but I knew I wanted to keep it fairly simple since it's such a dynamic and complex design. I ended up deciding to quilt in the ditch in all the seams in each block, and then chose one colour within each block to do some free motion organic straight lines. I think it works really well - the texture is really lovely without distracting from the complexity of the blocks. I used coordinating Aurifil thread for all the quilting - my healthy thread stash certainly came in handy ;o) How to quilt the borders had me stumped for a while - but I ended up extending out the 'fractured' lines within the blocks, and then filling in the spaces around them with some swirls and a couple of feathery designs. It wasn't until I quilted the last border that I discovered what I should have done across the whole border - rather than extending the line and echoing it at an angle on both sides (as in the photo above), it looks much more effective where I've just echoed one side (as in the lower area in the photo below). I'm still really happy with how this one came out, but it was a really great learning experience and has given me ideas for how to quilt future projects :o) We are currently selling raffle tickets for this quilt, and the winner will be drawn at the Craft and Quilt Fair in July. The money we raise will be going to a support a sewing program at our local Women's Prison. I am thrilled that we are supporting this program - I know so many people (including myself) who have found sewing and quilting to be amazing therapy when going through difficult times in life. If you are interested in purchasing tickets, please contact us at tassiemqg at gmail dot com. xx Jess PS stay tuned for my MisDirection pattern release later this week! I can't wait to show you my amazing testers versions.
"The Jump" by Cristina Arcenegui Bono is based on an illustration by Sveta Dorosheva.
The modern quilt craze has hit Japan ! Here are some spectacular results from Japanese quilt artists. When the Sunset Crowns Mt. Fuji in ...
I'm doing a happy dance today because after two three (!) years, I have a finish: My Lake Michigan Quilt, or as we say in all of our state's ads about things we like, MI Lake Michigan Quilt. I was under the MIstaken (get it?) impression that it took me two years until I looked up my old posts this week and found out that I started it in MId-October 2015. It's as old as one of MI grandsons. I won't put all the links in here of posts along the way, but if you'd like to read them, click on the Lake Michigan quilt label on the right side bar or at the bottom of this post. I followed the techniques of Karen Eckmeier for making Accidental Landscapes. I've made tiny ones in the past, like this ornament for my daughter and son-in-law. It's maybe about 3 1/2 by 4 1/2 inches. But when my daughter (MI daughter? Ok, I'll quit now) mentioned that she wanted a wall quilt for her office, I decided to supersize the technique. The new quilt is 30 by 42 inches. Nearly all the fabrics are scraps. I did buy a piece of Grunge for the back, appropriately when I was on vacation near Lake Michigan. The batting is a leftover piece of Quilter's Dream Cotton Select. There's no reason that this quilt should have taken as long as it did. It wasn't difficult. Most of the delay was lack of confidence. I built the layers slowly in between other projects. I'd put some strips up on the wall and spend a few days months letting them percolate (marinate? stew?), and then I'd sew them down. I started with the water. After doing a bit of sand, I built the sky up toward the top. Most of the sky is pieced with regular seams rather than layered. Then I layered the foreground, slowly, slowly. I like the bits of embroidery that add detail and depth on Accidental Landscapes. I thought it would be a simple task. But I hadn't thought of it that a quilt this size would need larger scale embroidery to be proportionate. That stymied me. Before starting the embroidery I quilted the project with my walking foot. To plan the placement of the beach grass I laid paper strips on the quilt and took a photo to refer to as I stitched. I started with a few stems of grass and then gradually built them up until I was satisfied. I used 4 strands of floss for the longest stems, and reduced the bulk to 3 or 2 strands for smaller stems or those closer to the water. I used a modified stem stitch, bringing the needle up closer to the starting point than is common, to make the stitch as thick as possible. I took the quilt with me on several road trips. It was an easy take-along project. A few weeks ago, when I was Gramma nesting while waiting for our new grandson, I suddenly realized that I was almost done. It was a perfect project to work on at a time when I didn't want to start a new mess. In just a couple of days, I completed the stitching, or at least stopped myself from getting carried away with it. After we arrived home from cuddling our little grandson (and his big brother who was born right after I started the quilt!), I chose a sandy colored fabric from my stash for the binding. I took it out for a photo shoot on our garage. I thought I was truly finished, but then I remembered that I have a wonderful supply of ceramic buttons (by artist Sandra Lance--you can find her work under images online, but I think she has suspended her business for now) that I like to use on art quilts. I found two that looked good among the dunes. (I usually try to use three, but these looked the best.) Closer And closer So now it is truly done. This quilt will be living at my daughter and son-in-law's house. As I said earlier, it was meant for my daughter's office, but by now she has found something else to fill the space there, and I know her family will enjoy it at home. (And I can visit it, too.) I was almost hoping she didn't want it anymore, but hey, now that I know I can do this, I could make another one for me in less than three years! Maybe in solids? The best thing I learned from making this quilt is that the technique does work for large scale quilts. Really, all that is needed is a good supply of fabrics to choose from. The embroidery is fun and works very well after quilting, even with building up fairly dense stitches. Let's look at that finish one more time! I'm linking up today with crazy mom quilts for Finish it up Friday and Confessions of a Fabric Addict for Can I Get a Whoop Whoop. Happy Quilting and Happy Finishing! And if you live anywhere within driving distance of Lake Michigan, Yea for MI Lake MI!
Do you love scrap quilts? Do you wish you could create your own? Today I share time tested tips and tricks for scrap quilting success.
I played with the arrangement and the colour flow off and on yesterday – I’m stopping with this layout: I worked at changing the block placement from linear on the diagonal to a more pa…
The best way to get perfect quilting is to transfer quilting designs onto the quilt top before stitching. Continue reading to see how!
Deborah Louie sets herself apart in the quilting world by taking advantage of all of those stitches on your sewing machine.
I've been at the "nearly done" stage with this project for a week or more...and I set it aside. But I just realized that June is almost over so I took a few minutes this afternoon to finish it up. Here's the June Folt Bolt color scheme art quilt....once again....just in time.
"He Heard The Surf Roar" by Ana Buzzalino was inspired by a photo of Lawrencetown Beach in Nova Scotia.
In this video, Heather Thomas shares a unique tip for choosing quilt fabrics!
We are onto our last block. Apologies for the slow down in the posts - but with the Covid restrictions being lifted here in Queensland, my...
I've taken a lot of pictures of vintage Crazy Quilts, but not very many modern day interpretations. I was especially happy to see 2 contemporary CQ versions at the Arizona Quilters Guild show. All Creatures Large and Small by Gerlinde Hruzek won First Place in the "Other" category. This artist used so many mediums in the making of her quilt: Needlepoint, embroidery, applique, crochet and ribbon work to name a few. The far away picture just does not give justice to how wonderful this quilt really is. The close up shots give a much better visual. Look at the imagination and variety! Someday I would really like to make a Crazy Quilt. (Maybe it's because I'm a little crazy?) These pictures bring wonderful inspiration. I could have stared for hours to visually absorb all there was to see. It almost felt a little bit like an I-Spy quilt. Do you spy 3 cats? Or a fish? Imagination made and quilted by Sheila Groman Sheila wrote "Imagination is a fanciful Crazy Quilt created with applique, standard and silk embroidery, ribbon, lace, heirloom gloves, needlepoint, crewel, beads, cross-stitch, and tatting." Whew! Yes, I'd say Imagination is a perfect title.
This quilt made its way to me from Arizona. A gal is teaching this pattern (a Jacqueline de Jonge pattern) in a class at a community college and asked me to quilt it after seeing an article I wrote…
With the trend toward slow stitching, it’s only natural that more and more needle crafters embrace Sashiko as a meditative decorative hand stitch.
