Modern Nativity

Yesterday I was able to complete my Nativity art quilt. Lots of free motion quilting, hand embroidery and it is gallery mounted. There is a little embroidered halo gracing his sweet head. Loved I was able to create what I wanted to do in a timely manner.. I must be gaining some of my old energy back. It is placed in my Etsy shop for about another week or so if you are interested.

Now off to finish some teacher gifts.. lots of needle turned applique going on here!

Mr. Sunshine

Mr.Sunshine - 2012

Wowzers! This art quilt took way longer than I had anticipated. I originally wanted to do a series of sugar skulls with different bone tones. I may still continue to slowly work on that series, but I have seriously missed my personal November deadline.. My pregnancy exhaustion mixed with two active little girls has required I slow way down. It's been a great test of my patience and I'm glad I saw this through to the end.

It is a collage applique style with shimmery tulle machine quilted on top. Lots and lots of hand embroidery on the face.

Really enjoyed working with such bright colors and a primitive design. The more I shut off the parts of the brain that tell me what is trendy and I listen to my inner voice, the more fulfilling my work has become.

I can't wait for 2013! I have a number of collage series that I will be working on. I have 4-5 macabre carnival sketches that I'm itchy to sketch on fabric. I'm going to also try moving my art quilting style on to wearable goods by request.. i.e. clutches, scarves, and more. And I have bought a TON of silk painting supplies and I'm so excited to jump in and learn something new. I haven't found too much current information on silk painting or in combination with applique quilting, so I'm planning on documenting my fails and scores on the blog in the hopes of helping others.

My New Passion.. well kind of new..

It may not be any big revelation that my personality is manic and I have some major arty ADD. I used to stress and worry about these aspects of myself, but I think around the time I turned 30 and had two kiddos I stopped and embraced. I think some of the unique nuttiness of each of us is what makes us awesome. Now I could totally be rationalizing so I feel less insecure about my idiosyncrasies.. but oh well..

If it's not obvious, I'm pretty fascinated by embroidery and applique right now. I loooove that it something I can do outside the studio = more time with kiddos & hubby! I love the vintage, but not really traditional patterns like this one here that I blogged about earlier.

I've been slowly designing some patterns of my own, but I'm also loving changing art into embroidery. Since the girls & I are listening to "Charlotte's Web" on cd, I'm bit crazy about it. I adore the sweet cover illustration and have set out to embroider it. I think it would be fun to make one for each girl every year - maybe their favorite or most meaningful book that year? "Brown Bear, Brown Bear" is next on the roster for Baby.. I'll probably do some fun fusible applique & embroidery combo with that one.

  

I've also wanted to try more organic, less structured motifs. It also turned out that I haven't sent my belated birthday gifts for my two besties. Ack! I thought it would be fun to make some cocktail coasters with a cellular structure embroidered on them. My besties are both trained bio engineers - smary pants, eh?! 

What else is coming? 

I stumbled across this picture book at the library yesterday by Jennifer Adams. I'm quite the smitten kitten! Love, love it! I think I may try it as a wool applique.. Love it!

Some of my embroidery secrets..

*I don't always hoop. I know, such the rebel! I really like to use sticky stabilizer sheets on the back of the fabric and found that hooping really isn't necessary when I use it.

*My favorite thread/floss/pearl cotton right now is Valdani and the wool thread from Aurifil.

*When I do trace designs on to fabric, I don't use a washable or iron off pen. I love to use my mechanical pencil. I have found that even with a single strand of DMC, I'm still able to cover it without any issue.

So addicting and so fun!

The Adorable & Easy Sewing Machine Cover

Lately I'm all about hand embroidery. I love how portable it is; I can work on it for a few minutes throughout the day with the rare moments my crazy girls give me. I originally started this embroidery for the 4th of July, but since I pursue happiness almost daily on my sewing machine, it seemed appropriate. And I loved how this line of Blend fabric designed by Charlotte Lyons coordinates with the patriotic colors.

The embroidery pattern can be downloaded here. I used 2 strands of floss for the pinwheels and a single strand for the grass and words.

This is a super easy project and is fabulous way to showcase a piece of embroidery or some pieces of special fabric. You can create this with a few fat quarters and lengths of ribbon!

1.) Measure your machine from the bottom at the front to the bottom of the back (as seen in picture below), my machine measured in at 27". You will also need to measure the width of your machine, mine was 18".

2.) We will now cut the fabric for the inside of the sewing cover. Cut your desired fabric a 1/2 larger than each measurement you just calculated. So, my inside fabric was cut 27.5" x 18.5". I choose to use muslin fabric, but you can create this to be a reversible cover.

3.) The back of my fabric was a single piece of fabric - that was cut to 18.5" x 14".

4.) Now depending on your machine size, your final measurements for the front of your cover will vary, but I will show you my layout for your reference. The measurements listed include a 1/4" seam allowance and were pieced in alphabetical order.

5.) Once the front is pieced, you will need to sew the front and back of the top together (see picture below for reference.) Now you have a completed top piece that should measure 27.5" x 18.5"

6.) Before I completed the cover I added just a little bit more embroidery on the cover as seen below.

7.) Now we will need to prepare our ties for the sides - cut (4) lengths of ribbon 20" long. You will pin these 4" up from each corner.

8.) Now place the two fabric pieces (inside and outside cover) right sides together, lining up the corners, and pin every couple of inches. **Be sure that your ribbon pieces are sandwiched between the two layers**.

9.) With a 1/4 seam allowance, sew along the perimeter of the cover.***Leave a 3-4" gap to turn it right side out*** Clip corners and turn.

10.) Give it a nice hot press and top stitch around the perimeter. Enjoy and pursue happiness!

If you have any questions or you spot an error (ack!), please feel free to email me at allthingsbelle@hotmail.com

I would love to see if you make one!

Bigfork Bay Cotton Company

One of my favorite things to do at Quilt Market is to attend the early morning classes. This year my mother & I really loved both of our classes and came away so inspired. My last class at Market was taught by the truly fabulous Bigfork Bay Cotton Company. They specialize in fusible applique quilts and art; they have a fabulous new pattern coming out soon designed by Pat Sloan (it's not up in their shop yet, but be watching for it!)

Our purse block is from Hippie Bird ; I *love* how they added the block to the purse with buttons - you could change the purse theme so easily! In the class the sample was free motion quilted at the end. You know I love free motion, I do, but lately I've been really loving adding quilting by hand. I embellished this bird like crazy with Aurifil wool thread. Wow, I love that thread - it is like butter! And BBCC sells the thread to complement their patterns and fabric kits - it's that cool?

I'm working with BBCC right now on creating a truly amazing quilting retreat at Sundance in Utah. The details are still being ironed out, but I will let you know as soon as it is set! I'm soo excited!!

Even if you have been quilting for awhile, I recommend taking classes from different artists. I always learn something new and it renews my desire to create. After taking BBCC's class I learned about applique sheets  - I had never worked with one before! I also fell in love with using sealing irons for my fusible work. These two tools have now taken up residence in my studio.

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.

Feeling Stitchy - May Project

I finally was able to complete a Feeling Stitchy project in the right month! I loved this pattern from isewcute and immediately thought of Alice when I saw it. I pieced it into a sweet quick coin purse; I used Make It Perfect's tutorial and it came together really fast.

It even has a lining!

Kiddo wants it desperately -she's a bit of an "Alice in Wonderland" nut.. We'll see how long it takes to move from my studio to the bottom of her toy box.