A New Bundle of Joy

Yes, one of my "adopted" family members has a new bundle of joy on the way.  I made a quilt for her big brother, and I decided to start on hers even though she isn't due for a few months.  Starting with Electric Quilt software,  I tried several ideas for the quilt.  Here is my current version of the quilt, although the colors are subject to change based on what is in my stash! 

Since I have been doing lots of fusible applique for the faces and other art quilts, I decided that I could certainly do some simple applique on a baby quilt. 
I didn't have all the exact things in EQ -so these are a rough approximation of the applique pieces. 

However,  I got going and have the applique pieces fused onto the background blocks.  It is also pieced together! 

First, I put the three hearts, cutting out one bit of the underneath one. The AccuQuilt die cuts three hearts so I decided to use them all - Why not? Right?

The bit that was cut away became the belly of the bluebird. So, that wasn't wasted. 

But then I keep fused scraps that are pretty small because sometimes a little is all you need. 

Next up are the Sunbonnet Sue and Sam.  These are an absolute CHEAT!  Yes, I had some cheater cloth with these on it. I can't imagine making an entire quilt with all of them the same.  I had the great idea of adding fusible behind two of them and fussy cutting them from the fabric. I think they came out great. Once the outline quilting on them is done they will look like I did all the work! Ha ha. 

The bottom row is done with the Puppy Dog die from AccuQuilt.  The red one was already cut and in my fused fabric bin.  I cut the purple one to be facing the opposite direction and gave it a red ear. 

I chose the dog motif because the family has a dog that protects "little man" as if he were her own puppy. I am sure she will do the same with "little miss" once she is crawling around. 

The rest of this will be just as easy with four patches and half-square triangles. I am seriously debating adding more applique perhaps in the four patches. I think some small hearts and stars would add a bit more pizazz to the quilt. What do you think? Should I add to it, or let the center be the star of the show?  

Until Next Time,  

Stay Creative 

Comments are welcomed. I will reply when possible. Of course if you are a "No Reply Blogger"- I can not reply. Links in comments will result in the entire comment being deleted.

Announcement!

While most of my readers are not in the local area,  I want to share this news with you anyway.  The local Public Library has a good-sized auditorium, The Ayers Room, where many presentations are given. But, also in this space, the walls are dedicated as an art gallery space. Local artists are invited to share their talents in an exhibit.  At some point during the last year, the Librarian and I discussed using the space to show my quilts.  Due to the schedule already in place, we were not able to put it on the calendar until March of this year.  However, in mid-January, the librarian saw me in the library and asked if I could mount the display earlier.  I told her that I had a few pieces that were not ready yet, but I would be happy to do it as quickly as possible. (The previously scheduled artist had cancelled.) Therefore, I have a longer exhibit time. 

Here is the poster that the library's Graphic Designer created for the event. 

I love the way this came out!

Here is a sample of the display:

I will be sharing more photos of this in the coming weeks. 

As this post is on a Friday, I am also linking this to the Friday Face Off.

The Friday Face Off is hosted by Nicole at  DVArtist.

  Clicking the link will take you to her blog.  It is great fun

 to see how various people interpret the challenge.

Until Next Time,  

Stay Creative 

Comments are welcomed. I will reply when possible. Of course if you are a "No Reply Blogger"- I can not reply. Links in comments will result in the entire comment being deleted.

An Absurd Face

Welcome to the Friday Face Off!  I am spending my "creative time" getting  lots of quilts and art ready for an exhibition at the local public library.  They have a nice big auditorium with walls designed for hanging art.  The librarian asked me if I would be interested in exhibiting my quilts. So, getting ready for that has kept me pretty busy.  

For today's Face Off entry, I am sharing a quilt that will be in the exhibit.  This one is a different type of face.  It is the face of "The Absurd Bird,"  a quilt that I designed and made.  This quilt is made with all Island Batik fabrics, except for the backing.  This was made for a challenge using a spiderweb cutting die from AccuQuilt to cut the fabrics. I used the spiderweb die to create the eyes of the bird.  All of the other pieces were cut using different die shapes.  I hope looking at this Absurd Bird makes you laugh. 

I am linking up with  DVArtist for the Friday FaceOff.

  Clicking the link will take you to her blog.  It is great fun

 to see how various people interpret the challenge.

Until Next Time,  

Stay Creative 

Comments are welcomed. I will reply when possible. Of course if you are a "No Reply Blogger"- I can not reply. Links in comments will result in the entire comment being deleted.

The Funky Chicken

Welcome to the Friday Face Off.  Today I am sharing a quilted piece that I started back in December of 2017.  Several days ago, I finished him and completely forgot to show him on my blog.  However, I think he is a great entry for this Friday.

He is all raw edge applique with various fabrics.  I decided to quilt him with black outlines like I do my usual faces. But in the black background it was just too tempting to use  vivid colored threads for the quilting. This is not my original design. I found this pattern for free online. I did change a few things, but it still has a strong resemblance to the pattern. 

Oh yes, if you look closely you can see that I signed my name with quilting. 

I am linking up with  DVArtist for the Friday FaceOff.

  Clicking the link will take you to her blog.  It is great fun

 to see how various people interpret the challenge.

Until Next Time,  

Stay Creative 

Comments are welcomed. I will reply when possible. Of course if you are a "No Reply Blogger"- I can not reply. Links in comments will result in the entire comment being deleted.

Cruising along with the quilting

I am cruising along with the quilting on the quilt from my last post.  I did straight lines in the outside black border for simplicity. I think it makes it look more like a frame around the quilt. 

Then I started quilting in all of the black rectangles. I started with an echoed squiggle design. I started it corner to corner so that I could work easily into the next rectangle diagonally. 

Then I did a line of echoed petals also working from a corner and going diagonally. 

Then I worked with a diagonal line of arcs. For some of them, I switched direction in the center, but that seemed like too much work, so I changed to all the arcs going one direction. Each one ended in the diagonally opposite corner so that I didn't have to break thread. 

The repeating factor in each of these is the curve in the lines. I love using curvy quilting lines when the elements of the quilt are decidedly "square."  I just think it is a nice contrast. 

Finally in the hand dyed border I put pebbles in a row all around the quilt. There are flowers in the corner stones, but I forgot to take photos of those. 

I plan to do a minimalistic quilting design in each of the hand dyed rectangles.  The thing is that I have to figure it out first.  So perhaps I will grab my "doodle pad" (Amazon has it listed as an LCD Writing Tablet.  It was less than $10. It erases with a simple button push.  So I can try again and again. The only downfall is that once erased it is gone forever. When I use paper, the designs remain until I decide to throw them away. 

Here is what I am considering for those rectangles.

You can see the little "trash can" erase button here. 

Until Next Time,  

Stay Creative 

Comments are welcomed. I will reply when possible. Of course if you are a "No Reply Blogger"- I can not reply. Links in comments will result in the entire comment being deleted.

What? Can You Believe it? Quilting

I know that some of you  may be shocked by this.  It has been so long since I quilted anything larger than a 16" by 20" piece that you think I may have quit.  Ha!  I found two pieces that have been hiding out, waiting for the right time to say "Hey there, quilt me!"  

This one has been "in the stack" since March of 2017!   On Tuesday, I layered it, basted it with pins, and did some Stitch in the Ditch to secure it for more quilting. 

I think this quilt will be quite eye-catching in my exhibit. 

Of course, now I have to figure out how I am going to quilt it. 

Meanwhile, back at Mom's, we finished the 1000 piece puzzle. 

I was happy to put in that last red piece. 

 Mom really enjoyed this one even though it was harder than the ones we usually assemble. 

Now, I need to get back to work - I have a facing to hand sew unto the back of a wall quilt. 

Until Next Time,  

Stay Creative 

Comments are welcomed. I will reply when possible. Of course if you are a "No Reply Blogger"- I can not reply. Links in comments will result in the entire comment being deleted.

It is Friday - Face Off Day

The face for today is a bit outside my ordinary style of faces.  This one is more of a cartoon style image created in free motion embroidery with just a bit of added color.  Of course I started on a subtle piece of fabric that I had hand dyed.   Here is the finished product. 

Timothy 

As you can see, I added colored fabric for his hair (batik fabrics) and for his eyes (hand dyed fabrics.) 
I used a variegated thread for adding color to both his hair and facial hair. 
I think that added some subtle but interesting color movement. 

Below you can see the beginnings where I started with only black thread. 

I did the outline and quilted the beard  and eyebrows all in black.

Once I added the batiks for the hair, it was quickly obvious that I needed to add some color to both sew down the batik and to make the beard match the hair. 
My hope is that I succeeded in that effort. 

I am linking up with  DVArtist for the Friday FaceOff.

  Clicking the link will take you to her blog.  It is great fun

 to see how various people interpret the challenge.

 I am currently preparing for an exhibition locally.  In that,  I will be exhibiting many of my quilts along with some of my paintings. Most of the quilted faces I have created will be included in the exhibit.  

However, due to the time involved with this effort, I may not have new faces for the next few weeks. But I hope to share some older faces in the face off 

Until Next Time,  

Stay Creative 

Comments are welcomed. I will reply when possible. Of course if you are a "No Reply Blogger"- I can not reply. Links in comments will result in the entire comment being deleted.