Little Man's Nursery Projects #2 - Baby Mobiles - Pirate Ships, Fish and Bubbles

I've created the baby mobiles for all of our children. I had Pinned a bunch of ideas for Baby T's nursery and really fell for the simplicity of the dot mobiles. This was a really cheap and easy project - about 6 pieces of shimmery cardstock punched into 1" circles. Before I started to assemble the mobile, I ran across Alisa Burke's amazing fish baby mobile  I loved the carefree nature of hers and the added texture addition of fabric. It was quick to free motion sew a few fish from fabric and paper; such a fun and perfect touch!

This is a simple project, but it makes a fabulous and colorful impact in the nursery. All I needed was an embroidery hoop, scrapbook paper and scrap fabric. Once the dots and fish were completed, I just chainstiched it together in a random pattern. I love to watch it sway in the breeze - I can't for little Tommy to rest in his crib and enjoy the symphony of color!

After the bubble and fish mobile was completed, I started to become re-interested in papier-mache. And of course I created yet another Pinterest board.. In my late night Pinning sessions, I came across the amazing Ann Wood. Her pattern and tutorial for a papier-mache boat is wonderful!

I had promised Kiddo and my dad that somewhere in the Baby's nursery, there would be a pirate.. I adore this little pirate ship that hangs in the corner. It was fun to make, but it is a bit time consuming. I had thought it would be fun to have a small fleet of them, but yeah.. For now and the foreseeable future, there will be one ship flying high and seeking mischievous adventures!

Little Man's Nursery Projects - #1 Gone Fishing Improv Baby Quilt

My sweet Little Man's nursery theme is "Gone Fishing". My husband wanted a fishing motif, I wanted nautical and neither of us liked the typical colors.. What did we end up with? A fishing motif in sweet, soft oceanic color tones. Lots of cool blues, clementine orange, sandy browns and a touch of light green. The nursery is serene and the whole family enjoys being in there.

I wanted to create a number of items just for him, like I did with the girls, even though my time is honestly more stretched now. I wanted to create a couple pieces of art for his room that would be meaningful. At the top of list of thing I wanted to create was a large quilt piece to be focal in the nursery. And I had no ideas. Inspiration would just not come and I was getting sick with it. I wanted it to be more art than traditional, but I wanted it to be pieced. And I have come to accept that I really, really don't like creating realistic or literal pieces. I gave up and created a pretty simple modern quilt.. and hated making it. There was no connection, no piece of me in this other quilt. Finally a good friend told me to trash it and start over. Ugh! Really? I could never do that.. and so that quilt has become a carseat cover, a much more functional and adorable use for a quilt that held little meaning.

What to do? I'm still a novice at improv piecing, I can count on one hand the number of projects I've created in that style. However, I'm always happy when I create in that fashion. I decided that I would do an impressionist piece with a single fish that was not too abstract, but not too cutesy. I loved the process, I was eager to work on it and it felt right.. I finally found the quilt that gave my son a piece of me.

The details of the quilt..

It is 22"x30" - I had originally envisioned a very large piece, but we ended up having less wall space and I had to par it down.

It is completely pieced - no applique or fusing at all. This is huge for me. Of course for bed quilts, I've always pieced, but it when it comes to art pieces, I've run from piecing. I always felt like the precision of piecing would somehow kill the spontaneity of the art. I never had that feeling with this quilt I think because it was improv pieced with a very vague plan. This is also the very first time I used curved piecing as well.. It was not that scary and the gentle waves were perfect for this piece.

I quilted it on my domestic machine. Given its smaller size and that I learned how to FMQ on my domestic, it made the most sense. Maybe one day I'll enjoy quilting art pieces on my mid-arm, but um..yeah not yet. The majority of the quilt has 2 motifs - white waves and blue bubbles. The little bit of white sky has fluffy clouds and I left the fish unquilted.

My single goldfish swimming in a sea of blue. Looking for new adventures and eager to see the world. My sweet Little Man, that is my wish for you.

*****
I am linking up this post to Amy's fabulous Blogger Quilt Festival.
I heartily encourage you to visit and dive into all the amazing quilts that have been posted.

Easter Pillow Tutorials

Am I the only one that gets a little nutty when Easter lands in March? In my brain, Easter is in April, that way I have proper time to enjoy it. Alas, it is in just a few weeks. Time for the Easter Bunny to get moving on baskets, decor and treats.

If you are looking to add to your Easter holiday decor, I have a couple of pillow tutorials that you may want to check out -- everything from faux chenille to free motion sketching. Running short on time like me? You can use these techniques on gifts for Mothers and Father's Day!

1.) Shabby Chic Eggs

2.) Foundation Pieced Cross Pillow - this also makes a beautiful Baptism/Christening gift!

3.) Faux Chenille  and Reverse Applique - Good or Bad Egg Pillows

4.) Free Motion Sketched - Bunnies at Church Pillow

5.) Crochet Embellished Easter Egg Pillow

The Stitches That Bind

Oh my, this was just too much fun to make! I have been itching to do another encaustic / textile mixed media piece. My girls both had the flu this past week and there has been little time to sleep nor play. As soon as fevers subsided and laundry cleaned, I ran to the studio for some art therapy!

This was done on a mounted canvas. I pulled out one of my easels and acrylic paints with glee. I then layered it with the quilting cotton fabric (they are from Blend, Charlotte Lyons line - Walnut Hill Farm) I embroidered on linen the following quote - "Reinforce the stitch that ties us, and I will do the same for you". They were embedded into the canvas with warm, hot beeswax.

I wanted something more.. Something organic. I wanted to have some free motion sketching on the canvas, but I did not want to cover up more of the paint with chunks of fabric. I had an idea!

I knew that you could create free standing lace by stitching soluble stabilizer and tulle. I wondered if I could do that with just free motion sketching and if the hot buttery wax could melt the stabilizer. And it did! Looking back I could have washed off the stabilizer, dried it and then embedded... Oh well, maybe I will try that next week.

This was such a fun treat to make after a week of some ickiness.
I think it is the perfect Valentine art and just placed it on Etsy.. 

Poisoned Apple - Completed Piece

I loved this process so much.. I can't wait to get started on another!

Poisoned Apple 

Home is Where My Heart Soars

This is my third year participating in The Alliance For American Quilt's yearly quilt project. Each year the AAQ picks a theme for the project. The quilts are auctioned off later in the year to raise funds and the first prize quilt artist wins a Handi Quilter. Amazing, right? Each year I look forward to this challenge as I really try to push my personal limits.

Last year one of my quilts was dedicated to the loss of a pregnancy I experienced between having my two daughters.

This was one of my first art quilts that I really shared myself and put my heart into. I also bought this at the auction later that year and have it in my studio; it was much to personal for me to permanently share.

My inspiration last year was a personal loss, my inspiration this year was the birth of my first daughter. As many of you know, my amazing Kiddo was born with symbrachydactyly. To be perfectly honest, four years after her birth this condition has little to no impact on our lives. She is beyond beautiful, smarter than the average four year old, and has a determination that rivals her mother. I don't worry too much about her. However, when you become a mother, you have decided that a piece of your heart will forever walk outside your body. And when you become a mother to a child that the world will deem "different", in many ways you become a mother to all children that are "different". Even though Kiddo's difference hasn't yet altered her life, my heart reaches out to all children that will blaze a more difficult path.

As a parent we often want to share our personal interests that we love with our children in the hopes that they will have interest in it too. Kiddo is already fascinated with art, quilts, and working with her hands. I've wondered what would I have done if she had been born in such a way that sharing these interests would have felt impossible. I hope that I would have reached beyond myself and made it possible.

This year my quilt is dedicated to all those young lovers of art and quilts that do not have sight. Each room of the house is adorned with a braille label created with french knots. There is a physical clay piece embedded in each room in a trapunto style with more hand embroidery to make the texture obvious. Each room was fusible appliqued and machine stitched. I embellished each room boundary with more hand embroidery to accent its separation from the others.

I present, "Home is Where My Heart Soars"..

The door that leads to Home..

Love..

The Spirit that allows us to fly..

To Create..

Nature..

Music..

The house roof is layered with lace and free motion stitching. Never in a million years could I imagine wrapping a traditional binding on this quilt. I did a very small zig zag on the perimeter. Then I embroidered a back stitch and crocheted a single crochet into each stitch. I wanted the edges to be organic, soft, and yielding.

It's easier to see my free motion quilting from the back of the quilting (and yes, I still have to add my sleeve and label..)

My quilt was a labor of love and I hope that it speaks to you. It really is one that best appreciated in person and with touch.

Did you enter? I would love to see what "home" meant to you.

You Know You're A Die Hard Free Motion Quilter When..

When you free motion in and out of your thumb..twice..
break the needle and then have push it on the other side of the finger.
All the while your toddler screams and is in awe of the ordeal.

In a word.. ouch.

My original post will be delayed a day or so. Have no fear, I'll be back to quilting tonight and will have a fun inspiration piece for you..

In the mean time, want to play my game?

Feel free to finish the line..

"You know you're a die hard free motion quilter when..."

Eggcellent Series #4 - Bunnies At Church

I can not believe there is only more day left in my pillow series. This week has flown by! I hope that you have been inspired to try a pillow, maybe even one of the tutorials I created. It has been fun and completely fulfilled my crazy desire to create a bunch of Easter pillows.

Today, I present "Bunnies at Church".. isn't it sweet? This is a vintage pattern from Needlecrafter - you can download it by clicking here. There are a ton of awesome vintage patterns to play with.

Materials Needed: 
Fat quarter of white fabric
(2) fat quarters of spring pattern fabric
13" square of fusible batting
Polyfill stuffing
Crayola crayons
hand needle & thread

Step One: Print out the embroidery pattern from the site listed above.
 
Step Two: Grab your erasable pen and trace the pattern on to the white fabric.

 Step Three: Using your white crayon, color in wherever you plan on tinting with crayons.

 Here is my completed piece; this provides as a surface treatment for your tinting.

 Step Four: Color in and have fun! Now colors may slightly change after you free motion and heat set it. If you compare this to my final pillow, you can see that the colors become more subdued.

 Step Five: Now it's time to free motion! Free motion drawing has a very distinctive look, especially when you are doing it with your conventional sewing machine. I love it, I'm crazy about it..but not everyone is. If it is not your cup of tea, feel free to complete this embroidery by hand. If you like it like me, here are some tips:
* lower your feed dogs, if you can't do it manually on your sewing machine then you can tape a business card over them while you work.
*check to see if your machine has special settings for free motion - mine did and I didn't know for about 6 months..doh!
*some lower the stitch to 0, but I don't
* try to be consistent with your speed on the pedal and moving the fabric.

 Step Six: Now it's time to heat set the crayon and remove the pen marks. Place a sheet of copy paper on top of the embroidery and heat set with a very hot iron. You will know you are done when the crayon has left some color on the paper.

 Step Seven: To complete the cover you will need to cut the following pieces and sew as seen below.
Fabric A - (2) 2"x10"
Fabric B - (2) 2"x13"

 Step Eight: This pillow is just decorative and the cover will not be removable. I didn't use a pillow form and simply stuffed it with polyfill. For this reason I wanted to give the cover more stability. I cut a 13" piece of fusible batting and ironed on to the wrong side of the cover.

Step Nine: Cut a 13" square of one of the spring pattern fabrics. Pin the front and back covers right side together. Sew the around the border with a 1/4" seam allowance and leave a 3" open space on the bottom of the pillow. Clip the corners up to the stitching line and pull right side out.

 Step Ten: Gently fill the pillow with polyfill stuffing to your desired puffiness. With a needle and hand quilting thread, sew up the 3" hole with a ladder stitch.

And there she is! I love that you can enjoy hand embroidery patterns in a fraction of the time. I love free motion sketching and use it lot with raw edge applique as well.

Come on back tomorrow for my final pillow tutorial in the series.. crochet on fabric..mmmm, my favorite!

Eggcellent Series #1 - Shabby Faux Chenille

Thank you so much for joining me today! All week I will be presenting different tutorials on how to create Easter pillow covers. What kind of tutorials will I have? I have two different faux chenille, one paper pieced quilted cross, one applique with crochet, and a fun embroidery/crayon tinting.

Are you excited? I am! I have been wanting to make pillows for a long time. However I was afraid of zippers. Granted you can create pillows several different ways, but I always thought a zipper cover was the most professional looking. Earlier this year I learned how to install an invisible zipper easy peasy. The best online tutorial I can refer you to is Sew Katie Did. Seriously that Coats & Clark $2 foot is amazing! I have it on one of my older sewing machines and it has officially become the zipper machine. Now Katie and my guild friend both placed their zippers on the bottom. If I have a fancy back then I do place the zipper on the bottom, but in many cases I'll actually place it the middle of the back.. I think it lays better, but that's just my two cents.. OK, on to the tutorial!

Today I am going to show you how to make this lovely shabby chic pillow cover. You could use this technique for any reverse applique shape, so please experiment and have fun!

Materials needed:
14" pillow form
1/2 yard of linen
1/2 yard of light weight fusible interfacing
large scraps for the eggs
ric rac trim

 Step One: Cut (2) 14" squares of linen fabric.

Step Two: Create your applique shape template. For this pillow I did a basic egg. Now pick out the fabric you will want to use as the applique. Stack four layers of the fabric, making sure the applique shape will easily fit within. Next draw 45 degree angle diagonal marks every inch apart (see photo below). I use my cutting mat, ruler, and erasable marker to create these lines.

Step Three:Sew down every marked line. Next cut end to end down the middle of each marked line, only through the top three layers. Do NOT cut through all four layers. There is a chenille cutter on the market that is perfect for this task, but it is not necessary for this small project.

Step Four: Take a chenille brush or unused toothbrush and severely agitate the freshly cut fabric. I find it helps if you squirt a bit of water on the fabric while you agitate.

Step Five: On the back of applique fabric, draw out your egg shape and cut.

 Step Six: On the front cover about 6" up from the bottom, draw three of the same egg shapes with an erasable marker. Now carefully cut out the middle parts of the egg, leaving at least 1/4" space from the marked applique shape.

 Step Seven: Place the front pillow cover right side down. Pin the applique right side down with it peeking out through the window. Repeat for the remaining two eggs.

 Step Eight: I really like the sketchy look of free motion quilting, so I went crazy with it. You can either free motion around the applique border or use your regular sewing foot. The most important thing is to be sure the you are sewing down through the linen cover and catching the applique.

Step Nine: Cut (2) 14.5" strips of jumbo pink ric rac. Pin one strip above the eggs and one below them; carefully sew right now the middle of the trim.




Step Ten: Cut out (2) 14" squares of the fusible light weight interfacing. Iron interfacing on the wrong sides of both the front and back cover. Next finish the edges of the front and back cover by either running it through your serger or use your sewing machine's zig zap stitch. (This is not imperative, but it makes your pillow more professional..)

Step Eleven: Again, I highly recommend checking out Sew Katie Did's tutorial on adding a zipper. That is exactly how I do it and she explains it very well.

Have questions? Let me know! Come on back tomorrow to see a paper piece quilted cross pillow. It's gorgeous for Easter, but would also make a very sweet Baptism/Blessing/Christening gift.

**Sharing this tutorial at:
Made By You - Skip to My Lou
Sumo's Sweet Stuff
Today's Creative Blog

Where Does Inspiration Come From

There are times when I'm flooded with ideas. They always seem to hit me at inopportune times..like when I'm trying to fall asleep, driving Kiddo to school, or in the shower. And there are plenty of times when trying to think of something new and creative is painful and my brain stalls. What do I do? I look for creative prompts and try to work past it.

I'm so glad Project Quilting is back in full swing. Kim has worked at hard at creating an atmosphere that is welcoming and encouraging. The week long challenge is never long enough for me to complete what I envision, BUT it gives me incredible inspiration and a safe place to try something new. Whether you are a novice or experienced, modern or traditional, you have to give it a try.

This week the challenge was to be inspired by architecture. I had a number of ideas, but they always ended up being too literal. The week was coming to an end and I had nothing to show for it. On the way to Kiddo's school I was listening to The Muppets soundtrack and racking my brain. This started a very long train of thought..

..The Muppets.. "The Muppets Take Manhattan" movie..famous New York buildings..

The Empire State Building... "Sleepless in Seattle" and the Empire lit up with a heart for Valentine's Day..

Valentine's Day.. love.. so in love my with my husband.. haven't painted much since I fell in love with my Hubby...miss painting.. favorite artist Van Gogh..favorite painting "Starry Night"...

Does everyone's else brain work in such crazy ways?

So.. what I came up with is to take a spin on "Starry Night".. something romantic and something that focuses on the beauty of architecture instead of nature. 

I wanted to try a few new techniques as well. I had recently read about an alternate to using fusible when working with appliques. The main idea is to over saturate the fabric with starch and lots of hot ironing. It worked great - really cut down on fraying with raw edge applique, considerably cheaper, and pretty quick.

Here is a picture of where I started with the simple appliques..

 And then I decided that I wanted to play with painting on fabric. It would be crazy to try a Van Gogh and not have any actual painting.I worked with both fabric paints and acrylic paints mixed with a textile medium. I have lots and lots..and lots to learn. BUT I had soo much fun and will do it more in the future.

 Then it was time for lots of free motion quilting. Some with colored thread, some with different colored bobbin thread, some monofilament.. You can't learn if you don't take risks and put yourself out there.

 And here is my completed quilt. I love the warmth and love that emanates from this piece. It just makes me happy to look at and it made me happy to make. In my opinion, quilting should be a release and not a source of stress.

 I have a love/hate relationship with the heart.I feel it's distracting,but it was the source of inspiration and it felt necessary to keep. I hope Van Gogh isn't turning in his grave.. hope he would enjoy a more romantic take on his breathtaking work..