Clam Flower #2

Here's the start of Clam Flower #2!  I had a lot of fun making a blue flower.

Here's layer 1:

And the back:

Layers 2 and 3.  You can see that I used a piece of light blue, then put on the pistils coming out of the top of the flower, and then put a piece of the same fabric in the front.  If you look closely you can see that the front piece uses a much longer stitch length.  It was fun to change it up a bit.

And the back.

I hope you get to quilt today!
Suzy

Spring Flower Inspiration

The flowers of spring are all popping out here in Minnesota.  Below are a gorgeous Yellow Lady Slipper from my lake property and some gorgeous dwarf iris from my mother's garden.  

I hope you get to quilt today!

Suzy

Clam Flower #1 - Part 2

Clam Flowers has become a bit of an obsession for me of late.  It's getting done a lot faster than I thought it would and I can't wait to keep working on it!  

Here's a link to Part One.

This is the back of layer three.  You can see that I am using a variety of sizes of blanket stitching.  I have come to using this because I think it adds a bit more variety to my blocks.

Here's the front of layer three.

This piece of green fabric at the bottom of the stem was giving me a few problems because I couldn't decide which thread to stitch it in.

I ended up picking a neutral green thread so it wouldn't stand out a lot (the right most spool above).

I hope you get to quilt today!
Suzy

Free Motion Friday - Silk Trial Piece #1

Over the next few weeks I'm going to show you the three silk trial pieces I did all quilted up!  I'm excited to share them.  For these small samples (they're 8 x 10 inches or so) I decided to just quilt what came to me when I sat down.

This piece of background fabric an accident.  I put it on top of my ironing board to catch leftover dye when I was ironing dry pieces of Dupioni Silk using Terial Magic stiffener.  I decided it was a fun border so I put a butterfly of Dupioni silk and leather (body) on it and then had fun quilting it.

Here you can see the background fill.  I did circles and random things inside circles.  I wasn't worried about being perfect so many of them are a little wonky looking.

For the top and bottom I used a 50 weight variegated Aurifil Cotton thread in pink that I received as an Island Batik Ambassador.  It was so fun to watch it changing color and I like the look over the dye.

I hope you get to quilt today!

Suzy

Introducing Clam Flowers!

So this blog is all about quilting.  Especially my favorite applique!  And I realized that I didn't have any applique projects in the works to share with you.  PROBLEM!  So, I had to create something new.  (Play with fabric?  Okay!)  I decided that I wanted to do something a little different.  So I decided to do clamshell shaped blocks....wish me luck putting it together eventually...

Here's my first block, first layer.  I had a lot of fun fussy cutting the dark purple fabric so that blue dot was right at the top.

Here's the back once it's all stitched up.

Here's the second layer.  I love the contrast in the greens.  It was a goal in this project for me to use a large variety of greens.  I tend to have trouble with that, so I kept it in mind as I was working.

And the back of the second layer.

More Saturday!

I hope you get to quilt today!
Suzy

Backpack Inspiration

This is the backpack of one of my third grade students.  It so reminds me of quilting.  Can't you see quilting pebbles with thick threads in a variety of colors like this backpack?  I love it!

I hope you get to quilt today!
Suzy

Terial Magic Review - Part 2

This is the second part of my review of the fabulous Terial Magic!  It is an amazing product that makes fine and fussy fabrics stiff and easy to work with.

For today's post I'm sharing a butterfly I made using dupioni silk I'd sprayed with Terial Magic.  It worked like a charm.  It was easy to cut and fuse with little fraying.

I decided to go outside the box with the body of my butterfly.  I fused a small scrap of leather!  To do this, I fused from the back side.  You can also see I had a fun time adding blanket stitching to my butterfly.  It's done with the fabulous Glide thread.

Here's a closeup of the leather.

 I hope you get to quilt today!
Suzy

Free Motion Friday - Graffiti Quilting Close-ups

Graffiti quilting is a blast.  If you haven't seen it before be sure to check out Karlee Porter as she originated graffiti quilting.  In experimenting with it myself, I realize that it works better for me at a larger scale than a smaller scale.

Here's the quilt I did graffiti quilting on.  It's called Modern Jewels and was made for my May Island Batik Ambassadors project with Tammy Silver's new Batiks Go Retro line.  Enjoy!

I hope you get to quilt today!
Suzy

Terial Magic Review - Part 1

At International Quilt Festival Houston last fall I was given a bottle of Terial Magic to try.  I was excited to see how it worked.  Terial Magic is like a really, really, strong starch.  I was anxious to see how it would work on silks.  I love silks.  They are so shiny and fun, but I get frustrated when they ravel.  So...I wondered what would happen if I first used Terial Magic on them, cut them, and then did blanket stitch applique with the silk.  Here's what I found! (It was such a success...)

First, I sprayed the pieces of fabric until fully saturated.  I then dried them for about 1/2 an hour until damp and ready to iron.  I did discover that it's important to put paper underneath so dye doesn't get on your carpet (good thing I caught it fast and was able to clean most of it from the carpet!)

This is what the fabric looks like when it's been ironed dry.  It's stiff like paper or cardstock.  The smell of ironing Terial Magic was just like strong starch and not offensive to my sensitive nose at all.

I did put down an extra piece of fabric on my ironing pad before ironing so any extra dye from my dupioni silk would bleed onto the fabric instead of my ironing pad.

This particular silk is from Cambodia (a purchase from Golden Threads Silks in Houston) and due to the weave the fusible did not really want to stick to it.  I didn't have this trouble with any other silk.  However....it lead me to a question.  What if I simply glued the pieces on with a fine tip on an Elmer's School Glue bottle instead of using fusible.  I had to try out both of course!

This gorgeous coral fabric is a hand-dyed silk velvet that I purchased from a vendor from Australia while in Houston.  I know I took a picture of the name of the vendor but alas it is lost somewhere as I can't find the picture!  I really had to use a lot of Terial Magic to saturate the velvet, but it worked wonderfully.

Here is the glued block.

Here is the fused block.

Fused block finished. 

Glued block finished.

So, what is the difference?  Not a lot.  The fused block is stiff, the blued block is a little more bubbly as the fabric can move.  Are either of these things a big deal?  I don't think so.  I would use both methods again easily in a quilt.  The only thing I would note is that my silks are not necessarily color fast so I wouldn't want to wash the finished project and would keep it to a wall hanging.

I hope you get to quilt today!
Suzy

Wildflower Inspiration

We were up at our lake property and the trillium were blooming like crazy!  I bet we had about 10,000 on our 2.4 acres!  And I'm not exaggerating.  I love the shape of the petals and the way some of them bend and curl.

Check out this picture below!  Isn't the curling at the edges of the flowers fabulous!?

I'm not sure which wildflower this yellow one below is, but it's gorgeous and there were a ton of them blooming too!

I hope you get to quilt today!
Suzy

Island Batik Ambassadors Modern Batik Challenge

It's time for May's Island Batik Ambassadors Challenge and this one is Modern Batiks!  I am loving the simplicity of modern quilts and I had a blast designing this one!  It uses Tammy Silver of Tamarini's new line of fabric debuting this coming weekend at Quilt Market in St. Louis.  It's called Batiks Go Retro and it's an absolutely fun filled line.  I can't wait to play some more with it.

Here's a closeup of some one of the central blocks.  I used Tri-Recs Rulers to help cut out some of the pieces including a continuous diamond and half diamonds in the peach.  I must admit I tested them on some scrap fabric first to make sure they came out the right size.

And here's the back.  You can see more of graffiti quilting here.  My good friend Karen let me play with her Bernina Q20.  It was a fun and potentially dangerous ($) experience!

Come back next Friday for my Free Motion Fridays to see more detail shots of the graffiti quilting.  

I hope you get to quilt today!
Suzy