A little bit of quilting

I'm here. I think. I've even been in the studio for at least a while every day.

But it's hard to concentrate because I'm worried about a kitty who is not feeling well. It's so difficult when they can't tell you what's wrong. Tests haven't found anything specific and the vet thinks it's a strain or bruise, so I'm watching and giving  him time to heal. He seemed to be feeling better yesterday, so I hope we're headed in the right direction.

Okay, back to sewing and art. I have been in the studio a bit. I've put facings on several small pieces that I plan to frame, haven't tackled framing yet. I had thought I would like facings better than bindings for these pieces, but I'm not sure. It's very hard to get a nice, smooth, even edge with the facings. I may go back to a very narrow binding. Decisions, decisions.

I have a couple  more painted pieces in progress, and a couple that are just quilting. Here's a finished piece that is just quilting. I quilted the designs with one thread, then echoed and filled in the quilting with several different threads. When I finished I felt the border fabric was a little bright, so I dabbed on a bronze paint using a stiff paintbrush to tone down the color and add a little richness to the border. This one was finished with a facing.

This is my first journal quilt for February.

Lots of other little stuff, but that's enough for now. More later.

Quilting Gallery weekly contest

This week I discovered the Quilting Gallery weekly contest. Each week they post a theme and quilters send in pictures of their quilts that fit the theme. The one that gets the most votes wins a prize package.

This week's theme is Half-Square Triangles and I entered my Treadle On Triple Star, which I finished last fall just in time for our quilt show. Voting is open through Sunday night, so please go vote for my quilt!

Vote here.

The quilt is toward the end of the page. Here's a detail shot to remind you which one it is.

More later.

Photo Friday - color

There's been a lot of discussion on a couple of my email lists about color, color wheels and value, and since I've been spending a lot of time with my Lumiere paints, I decided to play a bit. I created a color wheel with the paints, which I think is rather pretty, and tried out arranging them by value. The breakdown looks good in color but you can see in the black and white version that two of the mediums are the same value as the lights. Just shows it's not as easy to judge value as you would think.

light, medium and dark values, judged in color

More later.

in black and white the values are more obvious

Pretty in paint

My first painted quilt was kind of an accident, as I started with a piece I'd already quilted. So I decided to make another and take notes along the way on what works best.

Start by quilting with a contrasting color, then echoing the quilting
with a second color.

Here are the basics on a simple painted quilt, using Lumiere paints.

The paint shows up best on a dark background, so start with a dark fabric and border it with a two inch border. For this one I chose a fabric that picks up some of the colors in the paints.

Layer with a thin batting and cotton backing. I used leftover 80/20 cotton/poly batting. Baste all the way around the edges with a long stitch so the layers won't shift.

Choose two or more colors of thread to quilt the main area. Both should contrast, and the first you use should be the one you want to be most prominent.

Starting at one of the edges, begin free motion quilting. It helps to have some plan of what motifs you want to use and where you want them. Let the design overflow into the border at a few points. Then quilt the border with a color that blends into the border.

Begin painting with main color in larger areas.

Changing to your second color, follow the quilting lines from the first color, quilting inside any motifs like flowers or leaves. This will be your painting line. Add additional quilting to emphasize different areas if you want.

Get out a selection of small paintbrushes, including fine and wider brushes (about one-fourth inch). Wash brushes with soap and water and allow to dry between uses.

Begin painting, using the main color in the larger motifs first. Allow each group to dry (about an hour) before moving on to the next group.  After the main areas are painted, go back to add accents and shading. Paint can be smudged with nearly dry brush for subtle shadings.

Allow finished painting to dry 24 hours, then heat set with hot iron and press cloth. You can add quilting on the painted areas if desired. Finish the edges of the quilt as desired.

 Enjoy your painted quilt! More later.

Add accents and shading after the large areas dry.

Photo Friday - Tybee Island Lighthouse

Here are a couple of photos I took of the Tybee Island (GA) lighthouse a year or so ago.

More later.

A little of this and some of that

I've taken a little break over the past few days from creating new journal quilts and have been working on new variations of the painted lighthouse. These will be the first art quilts to add to the postcards already in my inventory at our restaurant.

I'm planning something new with these quilts, framing them. When I finished the last journal quilts my sweetie suggested I should frame them, then several of the members of my quilt guild suggested the same thing. When I read an article in a back issue of Quilting Arts about framing small art quilts, that was the clincher. So I bought a couple of frames and I guess you'll be getting a step-by-step on framing an art quilt in the next few days.

Other miscellaneous stuff. The new issue of Quilting Arts came in Monday and I was pleased to see my letter to the editor had been printed, and then was used in one of the email promos for the magazine. I guess a writer never gets tired of seeing her name in print, even if it's just a letter to the editor.

Anyone a fan of the movie Mamma Mia? I had never seen it and it was on TV Saturday night. I watched it while sewing and enjoyed it so much I watched again Sunday night. I've had the songs running through my head all week and am ready to watch the movie again.

I've been reading lots of interesting blogs lately. Havels Sewing has some nice tutorials for different projects.

American Quilt Retailer has a roundup of thoughts on the increase in price of cotton fabric.

For other quilters in or near Georgia, I found out that the East Cobb Quilters Guild in Marietta, GA, has it's 2011 show scheduled. Here's the information.

And not really quilting related, but cool, NASA has a new satellite with a solar sail.

Have a great day. More later.

Tutorial - Pincushion Threadcatcher

A few years ago I learned to make these pincushion threadcatchers from a friend. We didn't have a pattern, so later when I wanted to make more, I had to re-create the instructions. I posted the instructions several years ago on a previous blog, but thought they were worth sharing again.

More later. 

Pin-cushion threadcatcher

Materials:

Two or three coordinating fabrics, plus muslin

Sand, rice or ground walnut shells to fill pincushion

Plastic (package strapping), tubing (from plumbing section at hardware store) or thick interfacing (peltex)

Cut as follows: (A)

Pincushion, one of coord fabric and one muslin -- 6.5 by 8.5

Straps, one of coord fabric, 6.5 by 3.5

Bag, one each of two coord fabric, 10 by 17.5

Straps:

Fold fabric along length, right sides together. Pin and stitch along length, leaving ends open. Turn, press and cut in half.

Pincushion:

Layer coord fabric on top of muslin, right side up. Place straps on one short end, with raw ends even with edge and stretching toward center of fabric. Fold in half across width, enclosing straps. Coord fabric will be right sides together, with muslin on outside. Pin. (B) Stitch from fold one inch on one side, leave gap for turning, then stitch remaining open sides, backstitching when crossing straps, for reinforcement. Turn right side out. (C)

Threadcatcher bag:

Separately, fold each coord piece in half across width. With fold on left, pin right side and bottom. On lining, stitch one inch at top of side, leave gap for turning, then stitch remainder of side and bottom. On exterior of bag, stitch entire side and bottom. (D)

With seams still on outside, flatten bottom to side and pin about 2 inches from corner, forming “ear” at each end of bottom seam. Pin both corners of both lining and bag. Stitch across pinned ears, creating flattened bottom. Cut off “ears.” (E)

Turn so side seam becomes back. Pin straps with raw edges even with raw edge of bag, one strap to either side of back seam. (F)

Turn exterior of bag with seams out. Turn lining to seams on inside. Match seam and pin around top. Raw edges of seams should be visible on both bag and lining. Pincushion and straps will be hidden between bag and lining.(G)

Stitch all the way around top, backstitching when crossing straps.

Using gap in lining, turn right side out, then arrange lining inside bag. (H, I, J)

Using gap in lining, thread in plastic/tubing or .5 width of Peltex to hold bag open. (K) Run stiffener all the way around the top, pinning to hold against seam. Stitch around bag top below stiffener. (L)

Pull lining out, pin together edges of gap and stitch closed.

Fill pincushion with sand, etc., then stitch closed.