Patchwork Breeze: four-in-art

Showing posts with label four-in-art. Show all posts

4/23/2017

April Sewing Projects

My primary focus for the past few weeks has been on the upcoming wedding of our daughter! Since we were having guests staying, my husband suggested we get the spare room painted. I bought paint a year ago when the local hardware had buy one get one can free! He recruited a friend's high school daughter to help paint. (I am scheduled for hip replacement in May, so no climbing or bending right now.) She did a fine job and earned some money over spring vacation. The guests have a lovely, fresh room to stay in.

A new place for my "Love" quilt in the room.

Sewing has not taken the back seat. I am posting a photo tour of the items I have worked on this month, with a brief caption under each.

This wall hanging was finished and sent to my aunt in Wisconsin.

It hangs in her room at the assisted living home.

I used Island Batik fabrics with her favorite color--purple.

Another set of Michigan coasters and

a pincushion basket to sell at The Yellow Window.

A pillowcase for donation.

Michigan Potholders

GRIDSTERS BLOCKS

A test of the bee pattern for the Gridsters Bee block exchange selected by the Queen Bee for May.

Last month I forgot to post the 2 piggy blocks I sewed for the Gridsters March's Queen Bee.

Check Elizabeth's blog to see the quilt top she made with all her piggies.

I am April's Queen Bee and the blocks are arriving. I designed the block pattern. They are beautiful.

I can't show them yet; they are for a special project.

FOUR-IN-ART REVEAL COMING SOON!

I am also working on the finish for the Four-in-Art Reveal for May 2. Be sure to check back then to see how each of the members interpreted the theme of "Light in the Darkness" for this quarter. Here is a little section of the quilt.

SEPTEMBER ROW ALONG

I have been working on my row submission for the Christmas Caroling Row Along - sponsored by Seams to be Sew. It begins September 5, 2017. Over 40 pattern designers are participating! This should be a spectacular event. Put it on your calendar to row along with us. You can find more details HERE.

I wish you a happy ending to the month of April and hope it includes many things you like to do.

6/28/2016

18 Days Ago

Wow!
My last post was 18 days ago, but it really feels longer than that!
What have I been doing? Would you believe cleaning and purging?
A friend and I decided to have a garage sale of our excess, seldom used quilting (and some of my crafting) supplies on June 23, 24,and 25.

My friend included much of her mother's supplies, too.

After the sale ended, I read Val's post HERE about the re-organization of her sewing area. She had returned from a retreat and was inspired. Read her tip for organizing fabrics and threads. And she said that with re-organizing she can get back to creating.

I know I am more productive and creative when my area is organized. It is hard to work around piles or try to find tools that are not where they should be.
It was a good way to tidy up for me. And here it comes.....BUT......
I didn't realize it was going to take so long!

I have one room where I shelve my fabrics and craft supplies. I found my box of cross-stitch books, kits and canvas, which I no longer do; so those items were priced to go.

At the beginning of the June, I cut some fabrics and had not folded them neatly or returned them to the shelves. So I spent two weeks organizing the shelves by colors and folding the fabrics so they fit nicely. I chose to say good-bye to many fabrics because they did not inspire me as they once did.

I let go of my Christmas beading projects and ribbons and lace. There is only so much one can work on.

Yes, I admit I have a stash! I realized I may never find the time to make all the quilts I want to.

I am hoping to be back to sewing on Thursday.

I will be finishing my Island Batik project for the June Modern Batik Challenge.

Then I'll begin the Christmas in July project. There is a giveaway with this Challenge.

I also will be working on my pattern for The Road Home Row Along coming in September,

which is hosted by Marian of Seamstobesew.com and Amy of Sewincrediblycrazy.com

There will be giveaways for this online Row Along.

There is the August 1st project reveal for the Four-in-Art group.

The challenge is to quilt our representation of Purple Passion.

On July 1, Sherri will let us know the block to make for the Mid-Century Modern Bee.

Wow! I will be busy.

May quilting keep you busy, and happy.

4/27/2016

Worktable Projects

I'm finishing up the last details of my Four-in-Art challenge project

for the May 1 reveal.

I will give you a little peek.

Spring is here, although one couldn't tell by the cold temps in Michigan right now.

I picked my tulips and brought them in the other day.

We have two rabbits in the yard and deer come and go during the night.

I decided I would rather enjoy the colorful flowers for a week or so in the house

than to miss it because they became tasty food for one of these critters.

It is time for some springtime potholders for me and friends.

I am enjoying the rocks and some of the fresh colors of fabrics.

This weekend I will turn my attention to the May

Island Batik Ambassador paper pieced projects

with the theme of Playful.

What are you sewing up this week?

4/06/2016

My New Pattern Releases

I am happy to announce that I have two more Cut Loose Press patterns for purchase from your local quilt shops.

I had a blast using the Creative Grids Log Cabin Trim Tool to make the 8 inch by 8 inch finished half log cabin blocks and a creative way to curve the petals and leaves in the project.

My scrap supply of pink, purple and green fabrics worked perfectly for the table topper pattern with some yardage for background fabric. (I can visualize any color flower.) The table topper is 20 inches by 20 inches.

So, what do you think of Cabin Flower Table Topper?

I made the second pattern, Cabin Leaves Table Runner, using Island Batik fabrics. While any type of fabric strips would make this a lovely runner, I really liked the organic, natural look the Island Batiks gave. The light background is Seashore (#111622109) and the peach fabric, I believe is from the Sweet Georgia Peach collection.

Now that these two patterns are finalized and ready for sale, I am getting back to my other quilting/sewing tasks.

May 1 is fast approaching for the Four-in-Art Challenge reveal. My concept is now going to the construction phase. Our theme this year is Color and the sub-theme this quarter is Music!

I will be posting about some other sewing items between now and then. Visit tomorrow to see what came in the mail last week. And I have swap blocks I have to get sewing!

May your bobbin always be full (and if not, have a spare one ready)!

2/02/2016

Four-in-Art 2016 February Project

The first 2016 "project reveal" for the Four-in-Art Group was yesterday.
I hope you got to see all of the members' projects.
What did you think of them? How did you like their use of color?

Today I am going to tell you about how I designed my quilted sunflower wall hanging, which I titled, "A Closer Look into the Stem."

We were charged with using a sub-category of MICROSCOPIC in this color-themed project.

We were to find something we were interested in and look at it on a microscopic level. (It didn't mean our quilt needed to be microscopic). Some examples of topics to Google with the word "microscopic" were: sea water, viruses, mountains, chocolate, sugar, and ice. When exploring many of these elements on a microscopic level there could be repeating geometric shapes or interesting organic shapes that can be applied to quilting inspiration.

This was a tough project for me.

I understand "some" uses of the color wheel and the choices one can make;

but, I have difficulty making the choices in fabrics.

So, I put that on hold and worked my way through the microscopic aspect of this project.

I looked at butterfly wings, chemicals, minerals, gems, plant cells, bird feathers and bug parts!

The choices were over-whelming. My Pinterest Board is bulging.

(The United Kingdom has the Micropolitan Museum

with curated exhibition halls. Really!)

I found macrophotographic is the term used for microscopic photos.

Some of those were cross-sections of flower stems.
There was a really cool one of an orchid and some of sunflowers, too.

Image courtesy of foto76 at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

I like sunflowers. The cross-sections could be drawn.

(I am glad we have 3 months to work on a project,
because I was down to the final 3 weeks.)

I would use the cross-section of a stem as the center of the flower.

I printed it onto fabric in the computer printer.

I used black thread to stitch around all the parts of the stem cross-section.

I found a sunflower coloring page that was free to use but not redistribute.

(http://thesignexpert.com/free-vector-art/flowers/)

I enlarged it to fit the petals around the 8" center I had printed on fabric.

I used a glue stick to keep all the petals in place while I sewed the center (above).

I worked with yellows to yellow-orange colors and chose a green background.

I know this was not exactly the analogous color scheme I had looked at on the color wheel, but I liked the range of yellows with the green background.

I had a number of thread colors to work with and found that the rayon threads gave more pizzaz to the petals than the cotton threads.

The petals were pretty flat (below) and needed more color so I added other fabrics to the petals. I wanted the microscopic stem to show as such, so I didn't put any color there.

The petals were quilted to the batting (see the mess on the back).

When quilting all three layers,

I wanted the quilting to be simple and not distract from the flower.

I was pleased with the box overlapped by the on-point box and set behind the flower.

I put triangle corners on the back for hanging the quilt.
I do this before sewing the binding on.
I am able to place a dowel in the triangle pockets and hang the quilt
on one nail put into the wall.

What colors would you use to create a project?
Is there something microscopic that interests you?
Leave a message and let me know.

I think I might try something with a butterfly wing just for fun.

2/01/2016

Four-in-Art Reveal

The start of the new year for the Four-in-Art Quilt group begins with today's reveal.

The theme for this series of quilted projects is Color.

Our sub-theme for this quarter was "microscopic."

Tomorrow's post is about my journey with this project.

Now, I want to show the small wall hanging I made for this project.

"A Closer Look into the Stem" wall hanging measures 20" x 20".

The petals are raw edge pieces.

The center (a microscopic illustration of a stem) on fabric,

which you see below, was quilted to a layer of batting.

as were the petal pieces (seen below).

This was put onto the backing fabric and I quilted around the main areas of the piece.

The triangle corners hold a dowel to hang the quilt with one nail in the wall.

I hope you will look at the other members' projects

and visit me tomorrow to for a bit more detail on the design details of my project.

Betty	https://www.flickr.com/photos/toot2
Camilla	http://faffling.blogspot.co.nz/
Catherine	http://www.knottedcotton.com
Elizabeth	http://www.opquilt.com
Janine	http://www.rainbowhare.com
Nancy	http://www.patchworkbreeze.blogspot.com
Rachel	http://www.rachel-thelifeofriley.blogspot.com
Simone	http://quiltalicious.blogspot.com
Susan	http://patchworknplay.blogspot.com

1/28/2016

A Tease for February 1 Reveal

I finished my project for the Four-in-Art Quilt group reveal coming on February 1, 2016.
I will say that it is time to clean up after a good amount of work on this project. That means I won't be sewing for a bit.
As a tease, I want to give you just a few cropped images of the project and invite you back on February 1 for the full post and to visit the other members of the group to see their projects.