Tuscan Rose

Murmuration - front

Murmuration

The back

navigating a new galaxy

a quilt made with hand dyed fabrics
kind of a blah picture that does not show all the cool texture

better picture

lots of texture

this one was fun to quilt

and the back

on the longarm today

On the longarm today are some modern shibori fabrics getting their final dry.  Many of my fabrics are boxed up for shows and I like to give them extra hang time to make sure they are good and dry.

I do have a wall quilt loaded and just beginning to quilt on the longarm. More on that later as I make some progress.

The strip of orange fabric on the left side, that is my "runway".  When I load my quilt top, I make sure to have a bit extra on one side so I can float a scrap of fabric.  This fabric scrap is a good place to warm up on and also to check tension and threads.

 On another note, I think I have contacted everyone but if you had a custom order in for hand dyed fabric in the 118" width, I am not going to be able to get the fabric out to you.  My last order of 100 yards of extra wide fabric has a serious flaw running through all 100 yards.  I have contacted several of my fabric sources and no one has the extra wide fabric right now. Seems there was a problem at the mill.

 

micro fill with longarm quilting

Today, I tested a self drafted design for a quilt I am working on. This test square is 12" by 14" and I am quilting with my APQS Millie.  There will be a change in threads on the final quilt and I am not so sure of the micro fills. This is the best way for me to work out any design and thread issues before I move on to the actual quilt top.

So far, it is working for me. There will be crosshatching behind the design and I may take the micro fill down just a bit smaller. After I get the crosshatch in, I will think about adding more linear elements to the quilting. 

This small test is just a tiny part of what I have planned.

more later....

tiny stars

Improvisational star quilt that measures 20" x 26"

I wanted a vintage inspired quilt with a folk art look. I started with the star blocks and without a plan just added as the quilt developed.

Moda Kansas Troubles jelly roll and other Civil War fabrics from Moda
In my area, the quilters do not like the Civil War prints, so that is good for me as I love them and load up when they go on sale.
Superior Threads bottom line thread for the machine quilting

I learned quite a bit with this small quilt. Mini quilts are the perfect project to learn and practice techniques. I have many more I want to make, it's like a potato chip, you just can't stop with one. I enjoyed the free form feathers so much that I was sad when this quilt was finished.

Katsuri Kimono Quilt

I loved the quilt I made for myself using vintage Katsuri Kimono fabric. so I a made another and used the last of my fabrics to make this one.

I have it listed on my etsy shop, click here for more details.

It turned out really nice and I just love it.

It took clearing the patio and the help of a few well places fossils from my fossil garden to help with the layering of this quilt top. And a couple of bricks. It's a big one, measuring 98" by 118. My plans are to quilt it on my domestic machine...

The top is made from Kasuri kimono fabric that I collected piece by piece while living in Japan. I love the small fabric pieces so much but never knew just what to make with them. To me they are so precious, I was uneasy using them. I knew I didn't want to cut them and then I realized all I had to do was trim them a bit so they all were the same width and just sew them together. Silly how I was overthinking it trying to figure out how to use the fabric.

When I was living in Japan, there was a kimono shop just outside my train stop and small remants were placed in a basket outside for sale. Every week, I would pick through and buy a couple. My favorites are the colorful ikats and I loved the indigo blues. Actually I loved it all and by the time I came back to the States, I had acquired a large collection.

So here's to using the good stuff.

I am still working on the Central Park art quilt and will post finished pictures soon.

Last week, I quilted and finished this quilt top that I made in 1996.

I never really cared for it and still think it's just okay but it's FINISHED and useable and that's all that counts.

For those who ask, it is queen size and I quilted it on my domestic machine.

Pink June

I love how the quilting gives the personality to a quilt top. It comes alive when finished.

The back

This quilt was made with a mix of vintage nine patch and four patch quilt blocks in various sizes, new and repurposed fabric.
This quilt was quilted with Superior Threads Fantastico which is a trilobal and gives a nice bit of extra color and shine.

This is the last of my playing with and incorporating vintage quilt blocks into my projects. It takes far more time than it is worth to inspect and repair every single old seam. Then there is the fear that it will explode in the washer and that is never a good thing after spending so much time on a quilt.

The end.

 

Ikats and fossils

It took clearing the patio and the help of a few well places fossils from my fossil garden to help with the layering of this quilt top. And a couple of bricks. It's a big one, measuring 98" by 118. My plans are to quilt it on my domestic machine...

The top is made from Kasuri kimono fabric that I collected piece by piece while living in Japan. I love the small fabric pieces so much but never knew just what to make with them. To me they are so precious, I was uneasy using them. I knew I didn't want to cut them and then I realized all I had to do was trim them a bit so they all were the same width and just sew them together. Silly how I was overthinking it trying to figure out how to use the fabric.

When I was living in Japan, there was a kimono shop just outside my train stop and small remants were placed in a basket outside for sale. Every week, I would pick through and buy a couple. My favorites are the colorful ikats and I loved the indigo blues. Actually I loved it all and by the time I came back to the States, I had acquired a large collection.

So here's to using the good stuff.

I am still working on the Central Park art quilt and will post finished pictures soon.

sometimes it takes decades

Last week, I quilted and finished this quilt top that I made in 1996.

I never really cared for it and still think it's just okay but it's FINISHED and useable and that's all that counts.

For those who ask, it is queen size and I quilted it on my domestic machine.

Pink June Quilt

Pink June

I love how the quilting gives the personality to a quilt top. It comes alive when finished.

The back

This quilt was made with a mix of vintage nine patch and four patch quilt blocks in various sizes, new and repurposed fabric.
This quilt was quilted with Superior Threads Fantastico which is a trilobal and gives a nice bit of extra color and shine.

This is the last of my playing with and incorporating vintage quilt blocks into my projects. It takes far more time than it is worth to inspect and repair every single old seam. Then there is the fear that it will explode in the washer and that is never a good thing after spending so much time on a quilt.

The end.