February Finish: Split Personality Quilt

I finished this quilt just under the wire for Shanna of Fiber of All Sorts February Lovely Year of Finishes!  Yea!

I loved the name that Marlene of Kissed Quilts came up with, "Split Personality".  It also inspired my quilting method.  I split the quilt into free motion quilting, and straight line quilting!  I love the way it looks, and even better, it sounds and feels like corduroy when you run your hand over the straight quilting :-).

I even used some Kaffe Fasset fabric for the binding, which gives it even more "personality", as it goes so well with the Mark Lipinski fabric, a designer with tons of personality!

The back is even more "split", as it's all reproduction fabric that I had in my stash!  Lots of orange in this quilt, which I'm sure Shanna will like ;-).

Finally, I used a new technique that I leanred from Marlene's blog or facebook page... using clear transparencies and a white board marker to put over a print out of the quilt (I don't have a color printer).  Love it!

I'm also linking up with Leah Day's Free Motion Friday  and Amanda Jean's Finish it up Friday. Below is another "finish", and free motion mini quilt that I finished earlier this week!  2 in one week?!  Oh yeah!

WIP Wed: Quilting

I'm trying hard to finish up my "Mark Lipinski Quilt" for February's "A Lovely Year of Finishes".  Any other quilt name ideas would be welcome.  There are already over 70 finishes on her blog party!  Yea!  Be sure to check them out!  I hope to be adding to it very soon!

I just about have the blue and yellow sections finished, but ran our of yellow thread.  I also realized that I didn't have the right orange or green, but now I'm all set, after a trip to the fabric store.

I tried out a new free motion design, in the thin borders, "figure 8's"from Angela Walter's book, and hate to admit that while I love the way it looks, I really don't like sewing it.  I feel the same way about the traditional "loops".  It's interesting how different I feel about various quilting designs.  It's really a lot like different piecing methods, or fabric choices, but it's always good to try something new, even if I decide that I don't like it.

Here's what typically happens in my house when I spread a quilt out on the floor to photograph!  I know I'm not alone ;-).

I have a few ideas, but I would love to hear any suggestions on how to quilt all of the great "negative space" in this quilt!  I'm also linking up to Lee at Freshly Pieced WIP Wed.  With the help of all of the wonderful link ups out in blog land, I'm down to just 3 quilt tops to finish up after this one is done!!!

Off Topic: Dog, Swap, Storage and Vote

Yeah, I'd like to put my dog in storage now, or swap him, but this will help for now.

There's a reason you don't see tons of pretty throw pillows (or lots of white, for that matter) on my blog ;-). He hasn't been on quite this kind of rampage in a long time, and only does it while we are out of the house.  Out lives have been busier as my kids have been getting older.  >>>shrug<<<  Any ideas on how to salvage the pillow would be welcome!

I have to share some shelves that my husband has been working on building for me.  They're going to go on the wall next to my sewing machine.  They're just waiting for some better weather and free time for him to sand and finish!!

I also just love the new configuration of my tables.  They make quilting a quilt much easier (they hold the bulk nicely!).

I also was able to bring out my old sewing machine to work on some swap blocks that are due this week, so I didn't have to reset my 6600.  Even better, almost all of the feet are interchangeable, although the machines have different shank lengths, so not all of them interchange.  The bobbins are now totally interchangeable too, which is fantastic!!! I'll be keeping my old machine handy from now on!!

I turned these in at my LQS today, and picked up the most perfect Kaffe Fasset fabric for the binding for the Mark Lipinski quilt that I'm working on! 

I hope to finish it up in the next day or two.

FINALLY, Kim of Project Quilting has decided to bring back a public vote for the quilts in each weeks' challenge.  The winner gets a nice charm pack, so if you'd vote for my quilt (and 3 others) I'd appreciate it.  Thanks!

Project Quilting 4 Wish Upon a Star

For the 4th Project Quilting Challenge, Wish Upon a Star, I knew I wanted to try to interpret my blog title, "Solar Threads".  I've made a few "New York Beauty" quilt blocks, and found a pattern that I liked, and sewed it up (foundation paper piecing) with the same batiks that I used for the first challenge.  I love rainbows, and wanted to reflect the way light from the sun changes into the spectrum of colors.  I also needed "thread" in the piece.

I initially was going to try to fuse some tiny pieces of the batik fabric onto the black body, as "thread rays", but wasn't very satisfied with how it looked.  I spent 2 hours in a car on Friday, going back and forth to our nearest city for some errands and lunch with a friend, and while driving and thinking, I knew when I got back that I was most excited about the quilting on this, so decided that I'd make the free motion quilting the highlighted part of it. 

Unfortunately my dog decided to "investigate" my work, after also deciding to go through our garbage while I was gone (something he hasn't done since he was a puppy many years ago).  Luckily hand washing it and ironing it was all it needed, but it almost didn't get done due to the extra time that took!

It's also one of the first time I've ever used contrasting thread to highlight the quilting instead of matching to hide it.  I must say I'm thrilled that I worked up the courage to do this.  Even better, my new sewing machine didn't skip a single stitch, or break a thread one single time!!  It's a wonderful thing!

I once again used an invisible binding, and purposely used a almost white backing to further highlight the quilting! This is going to be my "go-to" method of finishing these smaller art quilts for sure!!  Be sure to head on over to the Flickr group to see what others have created this last week!

PQ4: Stuck

I finished up my New York Beauty "Star", and put together a panel as well.  My hope is to translate my blog title, "Solar Threads" into this quilt, but I'm stuck. 

I wanted threads radiating out from the sun (get it?).  So far I have lots of little bits of fused fabric that I plan to iron on, but as I got into it (nothing is ironed on yet), I'm not sure I like it.  Maybe I should just use embroidery floss instead?  Curved lines?  No lines, stitch my actual name in there somehow?  Any ideas?  Here's another view.  It's hard to get the true colors on "film" though...

I can't wait to get started on the actual quilting part of this!!

On one last note, I originally planned on getting my pattern from the New York Beauty Quilt Along that I participated in last Spring.  I made 3 of 9 patterns, adn had hoped to make more, but the link has now been removed :(.  Luckily I found some on my EQ7 program, but lesson learned is to print out these things when I find them, as there's no guarantee of permanence on the Internet.

WIP Wed: West Coast Edition, Project Quilting Challenge 4

After taking a break for the last Project Quilting challenge, I'm throwing my hat back into the ring.  This week's challenge is "Wish Upon a Star".  More later as this progresses!  Linking up with Lee's WIP Wed!

Enlarged Heart, and a "Craft Fail"

Against all conventional medical advice, I decided to enlarge my heart LOL!

I liked my Valentine Cards so much (so did my husband and 2 boys), that I decided to enlarge it to a 12.5 x 12.5 inch size and make the first block of a "gross anatomy" quilt.  It's been way too long since I did a fun geeky quilt, and this heart was just what I needed to realize that!

I also thought I'd share a "craft fail".  Truly, a fail is also a learning experience.  I've dabbled in the past with using bleach to "discharge" the dye in fabric to make shirts, and artwork.  I bought this bleach pen a few months ago, after seeing a craft made with it on a T shirt.  I was going to write out my card with the bleach, but the result was less than desired. 

In the end, I bought the largest gauge thread I could find for my sewing machine, and free motion quilted it.  It was a button or upholstery thread I believe, and it really stretched the limit of my machine, but it worked!!

I just got to add that with 2 kids in school, I hear often about the pros and cons of teaching cursive writing anymore.  I'm not sure I could do this as easily in print :-P.