Blogger's Quilt Festival Fall 2013

Life is a festival only to the wise. 

Ralph Waldo Emerson

After debating for far too long I finally came to a decision on what to share in the Blogger's Quilt Festival.  Looking back over the year so far I realized that my only finishes have been for other people, charity and blog hops.  This being true I am reaching back into my past and sharing a couple of oldies but goodies.  

This first quilt is a Strip Pieced Colorwash Wall Quilt which I am entering in the Scrappy Quilts Category.  I made the top as a sample for the technique when I was teaching the class.  A few years later the guild I was in had a challenge of depicting a song in a quilt.  I was stumped for months and then looking through my UFOs I decided that this top looked like a garden after a rainstorm when the sun breaks through the clouds.

Out Came the Sun

I added an appliqued water faucet and some flowers cut out of various prints.  I quilted the rain with a sparkly thread and couched down some heavier metallic thread to make a spider web under the water spout.

Close up of Water Faucet

Even closer look at the Spider Web

Can you find the Spider? 

Did you guess the song yet?  If you are thinking the little nursery rhyme ditty "Itsy Bitsy Spider" you are right.  Sorry if it gets stuck in your head for the day.

The second quilt I selected is a cotton crazy pieced one.  I am entering this quilt in the Bed Quilt Category. I used the book Crazy with Cotton by Diana Leone for my inspiration on this one.  I also taught classes on it.  The blocks are crazy pieced but there is no embellishment.  The inspiration was the wonderful Alexander Henry cat print I used in the border.  The blocks are primarily filled with cat and bird prints.  There is one tone on tone dog print used (because dogs are just a minor note in a cat quilt).  It was a lot of fun to make.  I don't usually do such large borders but I wanted the cats to be the focus of the quilt and they were just to wonderful to cut up any smaller.

Who Ate the Canary?

Great cat print! 

Backing Fabric

The blocks are bordered with this delightful black and cream checkerboard print.  I used it for the binding also.  The sashing is a gray feather print.  That gave me the name for the piece.  With so many smug looking cats someone had to be up to some mischief.  The quilting is a large meander done with a primary colored variegated thread to look like yarn.

I hope you enjoy my entries in the Blogger's Quilt Festival and will check out and vote for your favorites!

Crazy Quilted Stockings Beginnings

From small beginnings come great things. 

Proverb

Thank You! Thank You! for making the

CHRISTMAS STOCKING HANG OUT 

a GREAT SUCCESS!!

My guests left and I have time for one more post.  This is one that I should have done a little earlier but I didn't have the pictures made until Saturday.  Perhaps I whetted your appetite for them and now you want to try making one or two.  If that is true I have a few tips and a several that are in process.  These are some I started as teaching samples and have not yet finished.

One thing I learned along the way was to start with a foundation slightly larger than the finished stocking.  This is true whether you are Crazy Quilting or even when Strip or String Piecing.  The process on either a muslin or batting foundation can shrink or distort the shape of the stocking.  This will be obvious when you try to join it to the backing (ask me how I know).  In order to prevent this problem start with the enlarged foundation, do your piecing and then cut it to the pattern shape and size.

If you have added any hand stitching or embellishments make sure the knots or back stitching will not be cut off or damaged when trimming.  You don't want your hard work to come unraveled.  Any beading that is would fall under the presser foot when sewing should be added AFTER the seams are sewn.

Stocking Front

Detail Shot

Here machine and hand are used. 

More piecing to do on this one.

Started with a distorted hexagon.

Heavy Piece of Fabric is the focus of this one.

This is the back side of the top piece.

There are no rules.  You can see I have mixed all kinds of fabrics.  Embellishments can be done by hand or machine.  Lace, trims, buttons, appliques, charms, beads, silk ribbons, jewelry bits... any or all or none can be used.

Let me state that I am NOT an expert Crazy Quilter!  There are many bloggers on the web who do absolutely wonderful work that I can't hold a candle to.  Look around at them and join their groups if you like it.  I just want to have fun with the techniques and I think Christmas Stockings are a fun place to play with them.

I'll announce the WINNERS on the 26th.  I seem to have other plans for the 25th.  LOL

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Crazy Quilted Stockings

Live life fully while you're here. Experience everything. Take care of yourself and your friends. Have fun, be crazy, be weird. Go out and screw up! You're going to anyway, so you might as well enjoy the process. Take the opportunity to learn from your mistakes: find the cause of your problem and eliminate it. Don't try to be perfect; just be an excellent example of being human. 

Anthony Robbins

If you are looking for the
  

CHRISTMAS STOCKING HANG OUT 

to add your stockings or a chance to win Prizes

CLICK HERE

Join the FUN!
Linky is open through
December 24

I thought I would give you a closer look at my Crazy Quilted Stockings.  Now I suppose it would be a little more logical to talk about the simpler stockings first but I had the pictures done of these so they are what I'll talk about.  If you are thinking of making some this will give you a few days to get it done before Christmas.  The easy ones can be done on Christmas Eve if needed.  It really doesn't take too long to do any of the ones I've made unless you add a lot of hand work like embroidery, beading, applique or such. Cross stitch is another matter and I don't know how to knit.

I'm not going to do a tutorial on Crazy Quilting.  There are plenty of them on the web already.  I might do one for next Christmas or something.  I'm going to just show a few close ups of the two I've done and talk about what I did.  I have a few more in progress that I'll try to get to later.

Gold & Neutrals Crazy Quilted Stocking

Trims used are: 

1. Lace Appliques sewn on by machine with invisible thread
2. Various Buttons
3. Various Laces & Trims, White, Gold and Ecru
4. Glass Snowflake Charm
5. Hand Beaded Snowflake (pictured below)
   

Wonky Beaded Snowflake

Fabrics used include cotton prints, satin, shantung, upholstery weight brocade, gold lame`, moire.

Heel & Toe accented with Gold Trim

I played with the fancy machine stitches and metallic, rayon and invisible threads.  Adding the fancy stitching and trims as the crazy piecing is done buries the thread tails and trim ends which cuts down on raveling.

Stocking Back

The back is more of the decorator fabric brocade.  It has an Oriental look to it.  I inserted a twisted rayon cord piping at the top and added a 5/8 inch wide gold metallic grograin ribbon for the hanger which is nice and sturdy.  The lining is white satin.

If you want these fancy fabrics a good place to get them is the remnant bin.  It doesn't take but a little bit to crazy quilt.  A half yard will easily back a couple of stockings and the trimmings can be used in the piecing.

A Special Stocking

This one is special because the green fabric and lace flowers are from the fabrics I made the outfit I wore to my oldest son's wedding.  All the other fabrics are cotton except for a little black velvet and a small triangle of white satin.

I cut a full fan from the fabric to start and gave it seven sides.  I used some pearl chain beading and used it as an accent on the fans.  I stitched in on using a cording foot and a zig zag stitch with invisible thread.  If you come up with an angle you can't work with remember that is what the trims can be used for.  See the little bit of silver lace above to the left of the green button.  It is hiding an edge that wasn't cooperating in the piecing.

I played a with the fancy stitches and a few threads again and added just a few trims.

Two matching fans were just perfect for the heel and toe.  They had to be appliqued on because of the curves.  Pearl beading was added for accents.

The back is a metallic printed cotton.  The lining a black polyester lining fabric.  The gold metallic ribbon worked well for the hanger again.

I did add batting to both the back and front of these.  There is no actual quilting on either of these stockings.  The crazy quilt piecing was done on a muslin foundation.  

CRAZY QUILTING TIPS

1. Incorporate bits of fabrics and trims that hold special memories.
2. Shop the remnant bin for fancy fabrics.
3. Play with the fancy stitches on your machine and fancy threads.
4. Add trims, laces and stitches as you piece to cover edges and thread tails.
5. Add batting to both sides to balance the stocking. 
6. There are no rules, do what looks good to you.  I've seen just fabric used with no trims or accents that look good.  
7. It takes a larger number of fabrics than you think it will to avoid having the same fabrics wind up against each other.  Color and/or value variation is a big help.
8. Avoid working with pieces of fabric that are too small or too large.
9. Try not to have the seams of the piecing fall too close to the seam of the stocking.  The extra bulk makes the curves harder to turn out smoothly.
10. Note where ridged trims are when sewing the stocking together (i.e. the pearl beading in the one above) sew up to them and then hand turn the wheel and/or raise the presser foot to get over/past them.  If needed reinforce those spots with a few hand stitches.

So that's the tale of these two crazies.  Want to try to get a little crazy too?