Adopted Practice Piece

A couple of days ago my neighbor brought a visitor to my studio to look at some of the things I've been working on.  During the course of their looking around and talking with me about processes, the visitor's eye fell on a small practice quilt sandwich that lay beside my sewing machine.  She couldn't stop talking about it so I thought if she liked it that much, she could have it.  After all, I'd just been practicing some ideas for free motion quilting.  I'd even tried using bobbin thread in one area and it didn't work, so I used that opportunity to free motion scribble words around it to remind me not to try this on the large work that was in progress.  She said she didn't sew and asked me if I could put a backing on it so that she could use it as a small pillow cover.  The next morning I made a backing with buttonholes and buttons and, ta-da, here it is.

It never fails to astonish me when something like this makes such a hit.  What a great reminder it is to step back sometimes to gain perspective.

Tea Bags, Checkerboards and Birds - The Final

The blue jay is finally finished.  Because the bird became somewhat lost on the busy background of squares, I drafted a circle around it and then filled it in with Jacquard luminescent textile paints to provide a contrast that would make the bird stand out.  Satin stitching around both the circle and the tea bag was done to provide a unified focal image.  The borders and reverse are made from a hand dyed fabric.  Since there was only a little of the hand dyed fabric left after the borders and backing were done, the hanging sleeve needed to be pieced.

Now, it's on to working on a piece with some writing on it...

Finished Tea Bags, Checkerboards and Birds

Close-up of Bird and Circle

 

 Reverse

Label

Reverse - Close-up of Quilting

Sleeve

Close-up of Stitching around the Jay

Etsy Treasury

I just got word that my "Escape and Return" art quilt is in an Etsy Treasury today. The treasure can be seen at www.etsy.com/treasury/4d91646689646d91d3576dd5/escapes.

Pocket Book for Fiber Arts Post Cards

I belong to Serendipity Play Group, a mini group of Quilts on the Wall in Southern California.  The focus of the group is on creating and exchanging 5" x 7" quilted, fiber arts post cards.  A recent project is for each member to create his or her own "pocket book" for the post cards that are exchanged.  Because my grandmother called her purse a pocket book, that image has always been among my fondest memories; thus, my take on the pocket book was the shape of a purse.

My Completed Pocket Book

Yarn Fringe Looped Through Binder Rings

Side View that Shows the Edges of Various Pages

How and Where to Insert the Post Card

Three Sets of Buttonholes were Made to Accommodate the Binder rings

(inside view)

Three Sets of Buttonholes were Made to Accommodate the Binder Rings

(Outside view)

 

Page Example with Clear Vinyl Stitched around Three Sides

and Yarn Stitched around Four Sides

Example of Page Back

with Handsewn Vinyl Pocket to Hold Card Documentation

Washers Sewn to Each Page

Another View of Washer Attachment

A Handle Was Sewn to the Back Side Edge of the Pocket Book and

Heart Shaped Buttons were Stitched to the Front Edge.

The Clousure Consists of Loops of Cording That Were Stitched to the Back Edge

and Looped Over the Heart Buttons

View of Various Pages

Open Pocket Book

Final View of Completed Pocket book

This post contains a sampling of my art quilts for Cindy Blumkin at Art N Soul on 101 :-)