Design Wall Monday ~ July 1st

Back in February, I mentioned that I joined a local chapter of the Modern Quilt Guild. I've been enjoying the meetings, and it's helping to push me out of my comfort level :) In May, we had a workshop that taught us how to make an improvisational log cabin block. Most people brought various scraps, but I fell in love with this wonderful Mon Amie fabric line by Robert Kaufman Fabrics, so I decided to use them along with some other fabrics in my stash.

At the workshop, I made three of these blocks, then I made a fourth one at home:

I really enjoyed this process; it was quite liberating to not have to be exact with everything. It reminded me of  when I piece crazy quilt blocks, although we did not use foundation fabric like I do when crazy-quilting.

I have sewn these blocks into a top, using solid charcoal Kona fabric as a background. This will be my first quilt with a lot of "negative space" ~ big in the modern quilting movement. I would show a photo of the finished top, but I forgot to take a picture of it and right now, it is in my machine being quilted. I'm hoping to have it done by our July meeting, because all the workshop participants were challenged to make their improv log cabin blocks into some sort of finished project by then.

Did I mention that I'm calling this quilt "J'aime Paris"? I truly do love Paris. I've been there twice when my husband and I have chaperoned groups of high school students from his school on trips to Europe, and I'd love to go back sometime with just my husband to explore the city.

Be sure and see some of the other projects that are on quilters' design walls over at Judy's.

Happy stitching!

September and October CQJP blocks

This weekend, I finished the beading and other embellishing on my September block. As you may recall, this block commemorates the trip Mike and I took to Europe over Spring Break this year. I added three charms for three of the places we visited. I bought the "Paris" and "London" charms at one of the big craft stores, I think Hobby Lobby.

Here's a closeup of the souvenir tie tack I bought in the gift shop at Neuschwanstein Castle in Bavaria, Germany. I purposely bought it for this block, the way I bought the doily that the "London" charm is on while we were in London.

Here's a photo I took of the real Neuschwanstein Castle. This castle may look familiar to you. It's one of the most photographed castles in Germany, and it was the model for Walt Disney's Sleeping Beauty Castle.

I added this gold ric rac on the long patch of fabric. First I couched it down with chain stitch and French knots.

Here's a closeup of the bead cluster that I sewed onto the ric rac. The two oval-shaped pearlescent beads are from a pair of fancy earrings I bought on clearance after the holidays a few years ago. I deconstructed the earrings to get a fun assortment of beads.

 I put sequins, seed beads, and larger pearls on the lace edges of the doily.

The date was an after-thought! I had already photographed the block and was putting it away when I saw one of my other Europe blocks and realized I had forgotten to put the year that we took this trip. I used some small rubber stamps and gold ink. It's a bit faint, but I like that the 2012 is not real obvious.

Besides finishing up the September block, I pieced my October block. The blue oval is where I am going to applique a photo from our wedding. I'm planning on sewing my seam treatments before I applique the photo; I think that way will be a bit easier than appliqueing first.

Happy stitching!

September CQ block started

Yes, I am getting further behind with my CQJP 2012 blocks. But even if I don't get all 12 blocks done this year, I know I will have done more than if I wasn't particpating in this challenge!

My September block is going to commemorate the trip to Europe that my husband and I helped chaperone this year over spring break. We went to London, Paris, Lucerne (Switzerland),  and Munich. Yep, these trips are whirlwind trips. But they're lots of fun and we get to go to all sorts of places that we couldn't normally visit. As chaperones, our trips are free!

While we were in London, we were browsing in  a little market and I saw this cute little doily. I bought it, knowing it would be perfect for this block!

Here is the pieced block. Now I'm off to start stitching on it.

Happy stitching!

May block finished

I finally finished my May block for CQJP 2012 last night. Here are closeups of the seams:

I added two sizes of Swarovski pearls onto the lace; smaller near the seam and larger near the outer edges. On the gold feather stitching, I added flower-shaped seqins and seed beads.

I sewed large transparent beads onto every third herringbone stitch.

Small mother-of-pearl buttons are attached with seed beads.

If you recall, this block for my 25th Anniversary CQ is a reminder of the trip Mike and I took to Italy and Greece in 2010. The cameo button represents our time in Italy on this trip. After we visited Pompeii, we toured a cameo factory. The cameos there were absolutely gorgeous, but rather pricey, so I didn't buy any. Besides the cameo, I also added transparent heart-shaped beads to this seam.

Here's my beaded version of the Parthenon in Athens, Greece.

Happy stitching!

May block continued

I have been working on my May block, with hopes of finishing it soon so I can get working on my June and July blocks! Good thing I have more time in the summer to play catch-up!

I added the piece of lace to the lower left side. I think it adds so much to the block. I also added a piece of off-white ribbon to the upper right patch. I added the year we took this trip to Italy and Greece using acrylic paint and rubber stamps.

I'm done with my embroidery. Next I'll be adding beads and buttons.

Here's a close-up of the stitching in the upper left side. I was only planning on doing the two darker wavy lines, but I spaced them too far apart. I added the middle line with variegated silk ribbon to tie the darker lines together. It was a happy accident, and I like the look of it.

This is the ribbon I added to the upper right side. I couched it with a straight stitch, using "Wisper" thread (it's 70% kid mohair and 30% nylon). The thread is a bit fuzzy, but you can't see that in the photo. The French knots are silk ribbon. The straight stitches will have beads added to them.

 This is the lower right seam next to the center white patch. I used gold metallic thread to couch some "Very Velvet" thread. I love that velvet thread, but there's not enough color contrast with the satin fabric. Live and learn, right?

 Embroidery thread to couch the right side of the lace down.

More embroidery thread to make herringbone stitch for this seam. You can also see a close-up of part of the year.

Happy stitching!

"Love" art quilt

I started making this journal-sized (8.5 X 11 inches) art quilt awhile ago. I wanted to make something totally out of my normal comfort zone of traditional quilts and crazy quilts. Last week, my husband cut a dowel for me so I could hang it up in the kitchen.

I loosely based the design on a page of "The Book of Kells", an illuminated manuscript of the four Gospels which was made sometime between the 7th and 10th centuries. I saw a few pages from this awesome book when we were in Ireland in 2008. I was so enamored with the Book of Kells, I bought a souvenir book with lots of photos.

For the background of this little quilt, I used some gold paint on muslin fabric. At this point I layered on batting and quilted straight horizontal lines. Then I layered on a few different red and gold fabrics. The two gold crosses are made from Angelina, with a button in the center of each. The red circle is actually a Bounce dryer sheet that I washed several times then painted with red acrylic paint. I beaded two lines from the red velveteen piece down to the red circle.

The verse is printed on Extravorganza. For the letter "G" I used foil paper in a method described by Deborah Boschert in the February/March 2009 issue of Quilting Arts magazine. To attach the Extravorganza, I simply sewed six beads on, one in each corner and one in the middle of each of the longer sides. I used rubber stamps to write the word "agape" (which means love in Greek).

Here's a close-up of the verse with the foil G:

Happy stitching!

May block beginnings

Just wanted to show my May block as it looks when first pieced. In looking at some of my finished blocks for this CQ, I realized that I love the look of some lace on the blocks, so I'm planning on adding a bit of lace, perhaps on the seam of the gold fabric in the lower left corner.

This block is going to represent the trip Mike and I chaperoned in 2010, with high-schoolers from his school. We went to Italy and Greece. You can see the little black dots in the white center patch. Those are little guides for my beading; I'm going to use gold beads to make a little Parthenon.

Happy stitching!

March block finished

Wow - it's been longer than I realized since I've posted anything here. My only excuse is that the last week of March, my husband and I helped chaperone a group of students (from the high school where he teaches) on a trip to Europe. We had a wonderful time, but my jet lag was really bad when we came home. I think I'm finally recovered!

I finally finished my March block! Here's how the whole thing looks:

I decided to make a button cluster to echo the cross shape of the gold fabric:

Here's the upper left corner of the block, with beads and silk ribbon added:

The right upper corner also has beads and silk ribbon French knots:

I love the silk ribbon roses in this serpentine chain-stitch on the lower left corner:

Besides some different-sized beads in the lower right corner, I added a few flower sequins:

Now I need to get working on my April block!!!! My consolation is that school is out in just over a month, so I will have more time to stitch (and hopefully get caught up) during the summer months.

Happy Stitching!

(PS Am I the only person who's not impressed with the new look of Blogger's "compose" page? Also, I found it difficult to move my pictures around.)

Crazy Quilt Journal Project 2012

So I've decided to do the "Crazy Quilt Journal Project 2012." I'm not sure if I will actually be able to make one CQ block each month next year, but I thought that it would be a good incentive! In the summer of 2010, I took Sharon Boggon's "Encrusted Crazy Quilting" online class. (A wonderful class, by the way!) I made one block, with the intention of making a 25-block CQ by December 2015 for my 25th wedding anniversary. Here it is, a year and a half later, and I've made three blocks. Not a good start. As it happens, my blocks are 6X6 inches, which fits the criteria for the CQJP 2012. I emailed the chairman to make sure I can make the blocks for a project I've already started, and Kathy Shaw replied that, "Twelve new blocks would fit the intent of the challenge...and would be fine as long as each block is at least 6x6 inches in size."

I'm showing my first three blocks, so you can get an idea of where I'm headed in 2012. I'm sticking with a monochromatic color scheme of whites, creams, and golds, with some black embroidery added. Although there will eventually be 25 blocks, I'm not making one block to correspond with one year of marriage.

This is the first block I made in Sharon's class:

This block commemorates our first trip to Europe. My husband Mike is a high school social studies teacher, and in 2006, we helped chaperone a group of 24 students on an educational trip to France and Italy (there were three other chaperones). I embroidered the Eiffel Tower in black floss and added gold beads to represent the lights at night. In the upper right corner, I embroidered the Leaning Tower of Pisa, although it didn't turn out so great. I added a "Rome" charm I bought at Hobby Lobby on the left side. You can't really see it in the photo, but I used some gold thread to embroider the year 2006 in the lower right patch.

Below are two close-ups of the block (Oops ~ I forgot to turn the photo of the Rome charm before I uploaded it.)



This is the second block I made. I embroidered the US map in black. When a local bead store was going out of business, I bought a string of about 50 light brown Swarovski crystals at a great price. I sewed one bead onto each state that Mike and I have visited together. If we visit more states before our 25th anniversary, I will add those beads to this block.

Some closeups of block 2:

There's a small lace flower under this button. I used acrylic paint to add color to the lace.

This is the third block I've made. It represents our second time chaperoning a trip to Europe, in 2008. This trip we went to Ireland, Wales, and England. I used some rubber stamps and acrylic paint to stamp the year. In the center, I embroidered Big Ben in black, and used a small mother of pearl button for the clock face. In the lower right corner, I used pre-made ribbon roses to make a circle, then I placed a shamrock charm inside.

Closeup of the shamrock and roses. I put a cream bead in the center of each rose:

Closeup of the little gathered ribbon flower I made. There are a few clear beads in the center of the flower.So there you have it: my first three CQ blocks for my anniversary quilt. Now I just need to be consistent working on the next 12 blocks in 2012!

Thanks for stopping by!

Back to Roma

When I went to Archiver's the other day, I absolutely fell in love with the new collection from My Mind's Eye, Lost and Found Two. It had the perfect paper for this month's MME challenge sketch from their blog. The stickers for "Back to" are from Creative Memories; the glittery "Roma" stickers are Thickers; and everything else on the page is from the Lost and Found Two collection.
Journaling reads, "Tradition says that if you toss a coin over your shoulder into Trevi Fountain, you will return to Rome someday. It worked for us in 2006. Now we'll see if the coins we tossed in 2010 will bring us back to the Eternal City for a third time..."

Here's a closeup of my brad cluster in the lower left corner. You can also see the glitter in the border of this paper.

Vive le France ATCs

Anna with Christian Paper Artists is hosting another ATC swap; this one is "Vive le France." I was so excited when I first read about it, but then I didn't kow what to do. Mike and I visited France two and a half years ago, on the first trip we chaperoned through his high school. I fell in love with France: Paris, the countryside, the Cote d'Azur. How to translate that into an ATC? I decided to concentrate on Paris, using some pictures I took of some of my favorite Paris places. Going clockwise from the top right is Notre Dame Cathedral, Eiffel Tower, the Louvre Museum, and Arc de Triomphe. I printed the photos in sepia tone to give them continuity and to make them look a little older, like memories.



I apologize for the slightly fuzzy picture; the brad in the left corner (from JoAnn) sticks out, so the ATC wasn't laying flat when I scanned it. I'm having issues with my digital camera, so I can't just take a photo and upload it.



For the base of the ATC, I painted a thin wash of Liquitex "Iridescent Rich Gold" acrylic paint over a page from a French book I picked up at the used bookstore in town.

I made five of the same ATC for this swap. Can't wait to get some from other artists.