Sunday, June 19, 2011
Monster Bubbles 4 + CQ
There was one quirky design from last year's JCS Ornament issue that had been on my 'to-do' list for a while. I just loved 'Four' by Monster Bubbles for the four calling birds with their pretty beaded collars. I stitched it up on a piece of 32 count linen from Vikki Clayton and then I waited for inspiration to call me so I could finish it. I decided to try something new for me and see if I could make a kind of Crazy Quilt block. I cut the stitched design into a 5-sided shape and used the sew and flip method of foundation piecing to create the block. Then I used some embroidery stitches as seam treatments... closed blanket stitch, blanket pin wheels, coral stitch, spiny chain stitch and a poor imitation of the cretan stitch. Nothing perfect like the way Pam Kellogg would do it with waste canvas. Just my eyeballing everything. And I only barely read instructions for sew and flip.. just muddled through on my own. The charm is a little heart from Blue Moon. Special thanks to Kerry for all the stitch ideas in the sidebar on her blog. This finish is going to Attic Needlework for their annual Breast Cancer fundraiser.
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Princess Parade and Printer Cover
Today was a pretty good day. Sent off my latest Love Quilt square. Pressed another finish so it's totally done and I could take a photo. Plus I got my hair cut and colored, always a way to feel brand new.
The LQ Square is for Hailey G, who wanted bright colored princesses, especially orange and purple. I picked out the "Princess Parade" pattern from Country Cottage Needleworks. Of course, the design called for beautiful, muted, pastel hand-dyed floss. Hand-dyed doesn't work for LQ squares since the quilts need to be machine-washable. So I picked some brighter shades of regular DMC. The fabric in the photo may look like light blue, but it's really white. I made the clouds blue to compensate. I think it will work pretty well for the theme.
And I found a use for my "Sisters" Stitchery. My poor printer stays in a corner and doesn't get much use. Quite the dust catcher, so I decided to make a dust cover for it. I used this simple tutorial for an ottoman slip cover. No piecing of the fabric, just four 'darts' and a hem. Then I used Stitch Witchery to fuse the stitching to the top center and added a blanket stitch around the edges. Certainly not perfect, but definitely does the trick. And definitely an improvement over the old pillowcase that I had draped over it before. I understand the construction principles now and I think my next such cover will be better.
The LQ Square is for Hailey G, who wanted bright colored princesses, especially orange and purple. I picked out the "Princess Parade" pattern from Country Cottage Needleworks. Of course, the design called for beautiful, muted, pastel hand-dyed floss. Hand-dyed doesn't work for LQ squares since the quilts need to be machine-washable. So I picked some brighter shades of regular DMC. The fabric in the photo may look like light blue, but it's really white. I made the clouds blue to compensate. I think it will work pretty well for the theme.
And I found a use for my "Sisters" Stitchery. My poor printer stays in a corner and doesn't get much use. Quite the dust catcher, so I decided to make a dust cover for it. I used this simple tutorial for an ottoman slip cover. No piecing of the fabric, just four 'darts' and a hem. Then I used Stitch Witchery to fuse the stitching to the top center and added a blanket stitch around the edges. Certainly not perfect, but definitely does the trick. And definitely an improvement over the old pillowcase that I had draped over it before. I understand the construction principles now and I think my next such cover will be better.
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