Blue Feather

I have been wanting to try this for awhile - the idea has been in my head and I finally had the chance to create this one. I think there will be more of these feathers. A perfect use of the tiny striped bits of cloth Grandma gave me - and Grandma loved birds. It was windy outside when I took the photo and it wanted to blow away - just like the real thing...

Friday Morning Quote

My son and I walked down the front steps Friday morning to find patches of mushrooms in the mulch. As we looked at them together he said, "The tops look just like fabric - you could put them in a quilt and no one would ever know."

Hand Appliqué

I follow artist Jude Hill's blog and am in awe of her hand appliqué. So a little while back when she posted this - it not only appealed to the quilter in me, but the graphic designer as well - hand appliquéd typography! - and really wonderfully done. I have been wanting to try Jude's technique of drawing a line on both fabrics and stitching something down. This little block printed elephant was looking at me from the pile today - and so I drew a circle around him and then on a background fabric and went to work - hoping a simple shape would be a good place to start. I had to tear out part of it at the end and correct the circle shape, it was difficult to keep the curve smooth - but I like the technique. Now what to make with this little elephant...

Thread Sketch and New Old Blue Hutch

I took a break from tidying/trashing my sewing room to sew a bit on the machine and thread sketch this little piece. So relaxing. Added some little shell shapes in with the regular circle obsession. I think I may end up painting on it a bit...

Also - more on the tidying of the sewing room: Having all of my fabric remnants in the sewing room staring at me every day proved not to be all that inspirational - more just overwhelming. So I moved them to a closet - probably where I had moved them from - but put them in there in a more organized way. I also found an old blue hutch at a yard sale a few weeks ago and just got it completely moved into the sewing room. Moved my boys' art and craft table into my sewing room so we can all hang out together and my stuff AND their stuff fits into the hutch. It's almost done - I hope to post photos of the tidy new and improved sewing room/studio soon...

Maple Leaf with Circles

I used the same free-motion circles I have been using lately. with some circles cut-out. I drew the teeny tiny brown circles with permanent marker. The leaf print was done with a real maple leaf and archival ink directly onto fabric. The top layer of fabric was a very loose weave, so embroidering the little flower shapes pulled the top layer of fabric open to reveal the colored fabric beneath.

Geleta's Birds and Basket

I made these birds and basket for a new little friend of ours. I used the bird ornament pattern from Last-Minute Patchwork + Quilted Gifts by Joelle Hoverson. I enlarged the original pattern 120% to make the two larger birds. I made them out of denim (+decorative machine stitching) for the top halves and two layers of cotton stitched together for the bottom halves to make them durable enough to be used as toys instead of ornaments. I didn't have a pattern for the basket, but it worked out okay anyway. I always love making the little birds...

White Fern Finish

I have been looking through the fabric my Grandma gave me again - in a constant effort to organize and use the materials I have and the materials I love - I can't use them if I can't find them. (That's another story - to be continued later...) So - the green and white fabric (from Grandma's collection) I used to finish this is fragile - but works perfectly as a wispy edge.