Announcing the Quilt Remix Giveaway winners! Congratulations to Angela Campbell, Anita Daggett and Kathleen Ely!
Thank you so much to everyone who participated by leaving comments here and on Facebook.
Yvonne Porcella at the San Museum of Quilts and Textiles
I was recently at the opening of Yvonne Porcella: Bold Strokes, a new exhibit at the San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles, representing C&T (an exhibit co-sponsor) and as a Board Member of the Museum (I just joined the Board in October).
The exhibit is spectacular! It shows 25 years of Yvonne’s work, including works that haven’t been seen before in public. Yvonne was there for the opening celebration and it was great to see her. In a talk, she told us about her weaving, doll-making, and other fiber related work and passed around examples for us to see.
Part of Yvonne's exhibit Bold Strokes
Alex Anderson talking about Yvonne's role in the Alliance for American Quilts
At the reception, Therese May talked about Yvonne’s role in founding SAQA (Studio Art Quilts Associates) and serving as the President of the Board of Directors for many years, and how Yvonne has played a leading role in the Art Quilt movement. Alex Anderson spoke of Yvonne’s role in the Alliance for American Quilts where she has been a board member and her accomplishments are listed in the Quilt Treasures link .
Also at the Museum is Cream of the Cloth, an exhibit of quilts from the personal collection of Hilary Fletcher (Quilt National Project Director from 1982–2006).
Both exhibits run through January 30th and for those of you who live in or will be visiting the Bay Area, I hope you have a chance to see these fabulous exhibits.
Yvonne Porcella is a long-time C&T Publishing author.
Do you avoid free motion quilting or free hand drawing with your sewing machine because you feel you are not good at it? Don’t let that stop you from doing some machine quilting. Mary Mashuta gives you great ways to quilt wonderful gently curved designs in her book, Foolproof Machine Quilting. She shows you that by using a walking foot with the feed dogs up, you can sew around a few predrawn shapes. Your quilting will be even and professional looking.
One of the many helpful ideas in Mary’s book is to draw or trace the quilting design onto self-adhesive shelf paper (Contac paper), cut out the shape, stick it to the quilt and sew around it. One way to use this idea is to use one of the appliqué shapes already in the quilt as your quilting design. Use a copier to enlarge and reduce the shape for variety, cut out these shapes from the Contac paper, and place them to fill in the background of the quilt. Use a larger size for a larger space and a smaller size for a small space. When you finish one area, reposition the shapes onto another area. The Contac paper will remain sticky for several uses. If your curves are a little too tight to use a walking foot, use a free-motion foot. Quilting with a free-motion foot and the feed dogs down takes a little patience, but because you have a shape to follow, it is still easier than having no design to follow.
The plant appliqué shapes are traced onto self-adhesive shelf paper and used to quilt the background of this crib quilt made using a pattern in Covered With Love, by Becky Goldsmith and Linda Jenkins.
Using various sizes of the plant shapes creates an organic, jungle-like filling for the quilt's background. They can be overlapped if necessary and sized to fill in the open areas.
The same technique can be used to quilt words in a quilt. Create the letters needed, cut the shapes from self-adhesive shelf paper and sew around the letters. A free motion foot will probably work better than a walking foot because the curves are rather small. The great advantage of the Contac paper is that the letters can be positioned so you can adjust the spacing before you quilt. In addition, if you need to use a letter more than once, just make one letter from Contac paper and use it as many times as that letter appears.
Position the letters before quilting around them.
Finished quilted letters
Your quilting may not be as perfect as what a professional quilter would do, but it is satisfying to know that you made the quilt from start to finish. Remember—most recipients of your quilts are not expecting perfection—they only see the love you put into their quilts.
A creative life is filled with challenges and rewards, puzzles and curiosities. This ongoing series of poems attempts to express the “Aha”s and “What if”s, the deep ponderings and casual observations of an inquiring mind trying to make sense of reality. May it serve, for you, as a bit of “Everyday Inspiration” along your own creative path.
I love
The sound
Of normalcy…
Clean clothes
Tumbling
In the dryer
And a blue jay
Announcing
The sunrise…
As Christmas approaches it’s easy to put our creativity on the back burner for the more menial tasks of holiday shopping, cooking, and decorating. But did you know that taking a moment to create something simply for the sake of creating can actually help relieve some of that holiday stress?
Check out the fun projects some of our Creative Troupe members came up this month. They’re sure to inspire you to take a moment to nourish your own creative soul.
© Becky Garrison
Becky Garrison reminds us that sometimes, you don’t have to follow the rules “exactly” to reach beautiful results. Upon receiving her “sketch challenge” she realized that a little tweaking was all it would take to turn something difficult into something pleasing. Stop by her post to discover the supplies used to create this beautiful coffee lovers anniversary card.
© Fannie Narte
Fannie Narte is a mixed media fabric artist with a flair for design. Back in October, she started a daily challenge to spend the first 20 minutes in her studio painting on fabric. This is one of her journal fabric paintings. Isn’t it lovely? You’ve got to check out her other studies, she even turns her daily paintings into stunning digital works of art.
© Gina Balourdas
Gina Balourdas, of Lizzy B, has turned vintage boxes into stunning visual Christmas centerpieces. And the best part is that she tells you how, in a super quick tutorial, on her blog. So if you’re short on cash and ideas but have some old suitcases, boxes, or storage containers lying around, you’re going to want to check out her post!
© Marlis Egger
Marlis Egger, of Textile Art And…, has my mouth watering with her Ribollita soup. It’s a Tuscan cuisine known as a vegetable and bread soup. Can’t you just see yourself inviting a bunch of gal pals over, plopping in a copy of “Under The Tuscan Sun” and enjoying a piping hot bowl of this soup? Stop by her blog for the complete recipe.
© Linda Frost
Linda Frost is a textile artist with a love for the bizarre–in a cute and whimsical sort of way. These adorable zipper-mouthed frogs have me longing for days when my creativity soared and my imagine got the best of me. Can’t you just see yourself creating bedtime stories with these characters? And if you’re looking for something more child-friendly, stop by her blog to her see her latest child-proof creations.
These are just a few of the amazing projects our Creative Troupe members have been creating.
Have you joined the Creative Troupe yet? It’s free. It’s fun. And it only takes a moment to sign up!
Click here for all the details about membership. Then check out the Creative Troupe’s blog links here for a little more artsy inspiration.
Liz Aneloski, C&T Developmental Editor and all-around creative person made these for all of us. They have a peanut butter center, dipped in chocolate, then decorated. Yum, yum, yum!
She was inspired by this article on Bakerella.com.
I’m sure every one of you readers recognizes this image: The classic tomato pincushion. I have had a love affair with the little tomato pincushion for some time now. In fact, I have a canister full of vintage pincushions in my studio. There is just something about them that makes me smile. So when it came time to start making Christmas presents, I thought it would be fun to use my thrifted velvet cloth and fabric scraps, to make my own version of my beloved tomato pincushion!
thrift shop velvet cloth
canister of old tomato pincushions
I used the Heather Bailey Fresh Picked Pattern and to stabilize the fabric I fused some of our own Shape-Flex® (all purpose, woven fusible interfacing) to the wrong side of the velvet. And for the record, if you cut carefully, you can probably make about 7 – 8 pincushions from one package of Shape-Flex.
Since I was going to make quite a few pincushion gifts, I decided to make a plastic pattern so I could trace around it quickly.
As velvet has a distinct nap and the pattern top and bottom looked the same, I marked all my fabric pieces with a “T” before I cut them out in an effort to minimize any chance of sewing the pieces together in opposite directions. It worked most of the time!!
For the leaves, I raided one of my other thrifted treasure stashes and used some of my “thrifted” wool sweaters. I only used about half a sleeve for five tomatoes.
Here is the finished result, my collection of new “heirloom tomato” pincushions. I saved the buttons off the velvet shirts I used for fabric, and they became the perfect finishing touch. I added a few decorative pins here and there, and the pincushions were ready to be gift wrapped! If I can bear to part with them, that is….
One note: I made this leopard print one from a knit fabric scrap with a very certain person in mind. Typically I wouldn’t have used a knit fabric, but by using Shape-Flex fusible interfacing, it went together just as easily as the velvet ones!
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Junk to Jewel is a series where, once a month, C&T author and editorial team member Sue Astroth chronicles her upcycling adventures with thrift store finds.
I love, love, love the new Carol Doak Keepsake Frame Cards, I’ve been waiting impatiently for them ever since I heard that we were going to be publishing them.
Machine and hand appliquéd using painted fabric
I really enjoy making my own cards–these make it so easy, and they look so great. The hand-made paper they are made from feels substantial and deluxe. You can stitch through them, and drawn on them. When I get a chance, I’m going to play with painting the whole card. You’ve got to try these.
Stamped on painted fabric
TAPped image and palette-knife painted image
Here are some additional examples of incorporating surface design into Carol’s Frame Cards, all by our Business Development Manager, Mary Wruck.
painted with Liquitex® Acrylic Soft Body paints
painted with Liquitex® Acrylic Soft Body paints
A creative life is filled with challenges and rewards, puzzles and curiosities. This ongoing series of poems attempts to express the “Aha”s and “What if”s, the deep ponderings and casual observations of an inquiring mind trying to make sense of reality. May it serve, for you, as a bit of “Everyday Inspiration” along your own creative path.
Thank goodness
All the appliances
Don’t go out
At once…
Oops!
Shhhh!
Don’t jinx it!!
It’s almost Turkey Day! Family, friends, and, of course, delicious food on an inviting table are key elements. What’s nice about Thanksgiving festivities is the simplicity of decor. For example, a bouquet of found leaves can actually pull off really well as a centerpiece. Likewise, these votives are simple in nature and easy to make with a wow effect.
What makes these votives so alluring is how the paint plays on Lutradur®. If you haven’t played with this medium yet, believe me you will fall in love. It’s printable, paintable, stampable, heat distressable and more. If you haven’t tried it yet…give it a go.
