New Stuff….

The new here is …. the DH (Dear Husband) had a new knee installed a couple of weeks ago…. No pretty pictures to go with that… In the meantime I have stuck pretty close to him and home. But he progresses daily, and soon it will all be a memory.

I have been working on some small projects. The first was a challenge put out by one of my new guilds -9 Patchers. We were told to select a magazine from the back table and to choose one of the published patterns for our inspiration. We were to take that pattern and make it our own. When we revealed the quilt, we were to bring along the inspiration pattern to display with the quilt. This was my inspiration pattern, from Quilters World 2010, called the Road to Kansas.

I suspect I should have named mine the Road to Kentucky, but alas, the name of the Challenge was “Just Do It”, so I named mine ‘Just Do It- with ZEST! I wonder why?

I also made some additional ‘Letter’ Quilts. Mostly because I will be teaching it to the guilds here, and figured I had better know more about what I am doing…. So I made the Letter “C” and gifted it. The whole thing…. Did not want to be made. Gave me fits and starts from the beginning, it was only about 11x14 inches, but I nearly scrapped it several times. But the recipient will like it regardless of the difficulties it presented.

These letters are all done with Free Motion.

I also made the Letter “S” which has also been shipped but I don’t know if it was received, yet. Approximately 16 x 20.

And lastly this Letter “L” quiltlet (about 12 x 12 inches) for a quilter named Lorie, as a thank you. Just as I was moving… a member of the Virginia guild gifted me with her dyes and books. I of course thought when she asked if I wanted them, I figured it was going to be a little of this and a few of those…. kinda stuff. NO way! It was dyes, and paints and books and much of the paraphernalia that goes with fabric dying. Very generous. I might almost miss Chicago and the snow, but I am hoping we will get a couple of inches… a few times over the winter down here in Kentucky so I can play with snow and ice dyeing…. Well or maybe just some fun making my own …. Colored fabrics!

And we fall back an hour this coming Sunday. Hooray! Next up some local color pictures.

More Later-Beth

Thread Painting

I have been thread painting…. miles and miles of thread have been used recently.

The Guild I belong to, Waterford Quilt Guild in Virginia, had a speaker cancel for later in the year and I was asked if I would share the Thread Painting process… Of course I said SURE!

So to be ready… I have been making samples. I showed 2 small pictures a post or 2 back. I have one of them completed.  The Flower Basket.

This is a detail of the stitching on one of the flowers. The threads I used were mostly Master Piece and So Fine, in the colors I had on hand. One or two, regular weigh threads may have made it into this…. because I did not want to go shopping or to wait for thread in the mail!

This is the back, before I put the quilt backing on and quilted it

And this is finished. It measures about 25 inches square.

The elephant is being quilted now. Originally I wanted the back to be visible… since I Thread Painted in 2 layers, but I also wanted to get it quilted so I could get to the really fun part and embellish! I plan to add lots more sparkle and beads to the headpiece and blanket.

 

The last one so far….is this large flower runner. I decided to quilt it in a large geometric pattern, just to keep the graphic look, and only the top flower area is quilted, so the front and back are visible. So, for now it is done. The threads are the ones I thought I would use… not shown is a black, a green and a blue blue thread… that I used in the darkest areas of the center flower.

   

I alluded to another one…  actually I have 2 that I am thinking about. I only have enough time to make one of them. I think I want to paint one -as in whole cloth…(of a flower that I took) to show that you can do more than just echo the commercial fabric… with the thread. You can also use the thread to create depth and dimension. Let me say from the beginning that I am NOT a painter…. I lack a very important ability that applies to drawing and painting. I cannot see and translate the subtle shadings of color and the dimensions of shadow and apply it… and then there is perspective and scale… also difficult for my flat mind to comprehend. The other involves a tree… which just now occurs to me that I could combine the 2 ideas into one if I were to do the tree… hum, I have some thinking to do!

As always, More Later- Beth

Whats Up?

Has it really been a more than a month since I last posted? Just goes to show I really live a rather boring life…

The weather has finally turned to more summer than spring… And so far the weather has been spectacular!!! Not too hot and humid, but I’m sure those days are coming! I have not been outside with a camera in several months… I am going to have to fix that soon!

The kids and DGS packed up and moved to a warmer climate in May. They did not like the long cold and very brutal winter here.  We hope they like Texas better, and so far I think they do… This was taken the day before they left- DGS turned 3 earlier in the month.

I have been working on a quilt, but I am not ready to reveal the whole thing. But here is a picture to tease… you.

I have sent it to the Longarmer for quilting. I just didn’t want wrestle it through the sewing machine to quilt it myself.

I have had a house guest… also quilty! She was in the area for another obligation and came early and stayed a bit late to visit.  Hi Kelly.

She also brought gifts!!! Always nice.

The other bit of time consumption and keeping me close to home, has been Axel the Monster Dog. He has once again spent too much time and money at the vet. This time for a hematoma (similar to a blood blister) on his left ear. We drained it twice and each time it came back so finally a surgical fix. He had the stitches out on a Monday and by Thursday was back because it didn’t stick! So, it was drained again and more surgery again next week.  He will have some blood tests done too, as we think he has an underlying disease that is causing the ear (and him), to not heal as well as is expected. The poor guy has been living in a cone with one ear taped down, for nearly 8 weeks and he has a month more time in it after the surgery. In the meantime he acquired and ear infection… the medication for that -ear drops- is $65 for a 15 ml bottle, (1 Tablespoon!!!).

Doesn’t he just look so sad?

I am busy working on some thread painting… objects. They are fun… I had forgotten how much dimension thread can add; to commercial fabrics!!!  Here are a couple of pictures… Nothing too revealing, since they are not yet done…

 

The flower basket is more traditional and the elephant… will have much in the way of embellishment and sparkle. I will show and share -more later!

Beth