New Project - Butterfly & Indigo Dyeing

Butterfly 

I love #TulaPink and I have been eyeing her butterfly quilt forever. I finally broke down and got it. Here is the progress. Cutting the fabric and organizing the blocks into sandwich bags was a 2 day job. There is a lot of curve piecing in this quilt, I am definitely working on a new skill set.

Just played out the blocks that are finished on the bed. Starting to look like a butterfly.

INDIGO DYE

Sandra Johnson is a pretty famous local quilter and my Tuesday night sewing teacher at the local Jr. College. She invited all her students to Patchwork Show Modern Makers Festival in Santa Ana Sunday to do some Indigo Dye demonstrations. I was excited to participate as I have never done this type of dyeing before.

Two finished indigo dye pieces!

While there Jamie Fingal and Libby Williamson dropped by to say hi to Sandra. 

It is always inspiring be be able to bump shoulders with truly talented individuals.

Elephant Quilt

I wanted to show you the progress on the elephant quilt too. I added some yardage to the top and bottom and started quilting him. I added a little mouse near his foot, a tree along the right side and a couple of African ladies on each side. Next more leaves and a tree frog - but my largest throat sewing machine broke and I had to take it in for repairs. Trying to pull this quilt in a small throat machine is torture so it will have to wait a while.

Woman in long designed wrap.

Face of an African woman.

Geometric quilting on elephant.

Hard to see little mouse.

Well that is it for now. Always sew much.

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Nine Degree Evolution of A Quilters Mind

It is finally finished.

I changed the name of the quilt. Since the large round traditional checked block uses a 9 degree ruler and this quilt actually evolved into what it is now, I thought the name needed to reflect that movement.

I will be entering this quilt into QuitCon 2018. I really do not expect this quilt to be accepted. I think it is modern but it isn't made of solid colors, it doesn't have straight line quilting, yet I have never seen any other quilt like this one - it is unusual, interesting, cosmic, mesmerizing and whimsical 

Maybe it has a chance.

Nine Degree Evolution Of A Quilters Mind
50.5" X 61"

In the quilting I have incorporated the solar system around the circle - with all the planets including the Earth's moon and Saturn's rings, the Starship Enterprise, Challenger, a spaceman, a meteor,  a UFO, a satellite, an alien and Spock hand in the" Live Long and Prosper" position in the boarder. 
It was a lot of fun.

Fingers Crossed.

Although we did everything differently back then, this photo shows that deep down, raw human spirit never changes. Our compassion, ingenuity, curiosity, and perseverance as a species will always stand the test of time.

A bicycle that fits a family of four, including a sewing machine. 

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Splendid Universe

Finally Quilting
Here are some of the details of the quilting of this cosmic quilt.

Tissue in place.

Major Tom

So far:



I have our solar system, the space shuttle Challenger, a space ship, a space man and a starlight. Here is how I did it, I took coloring book drawings and enlarged them to the size I wanted, then copied it onto tissue paper and sewed over the tissue. I think it works pretty well.

I am still deciding how to fill in the rest of the "space"

Mr. Data, make it sew.

I am linking up with Linky Tuesday - Free Motion By the RiverSaveSave

and 

Cooking Up Quilts

Sew Much to Show & Tell!

Gosh it has been forever since I wrote in my blog. It is time to catch up.

Since my last post was the start of Elephant Extraction Here is my progress on that one. 

He is a flimsy and I am going to add some more of the green leaves on the top and bottom. This pattern is so cool and it goes together quickly as the pieces are large. Have such great ideas on how to quilt him and I have been saving motifs on my Pintrest Board: https://www.pinterest.com/julesmctool/african-quilt-motifs/

Lot's of babies are in the bellies of my nieces and nephews

Baby Quilt Updates:

One got away from me it was "Princess And the Pea" (Pattern on Moda Bake Shop) It turned out adorable and I gave it to little Jen for her second girl.

http://www.modabakeshop.com/2009/05/princess-pea-blanket.htmlhttp://www.modabakeshop.com/2009/05/princess-pea-blanket.html

Now here is the Buggy Barn Bunny

It is complete, pieced, quilted, blinded and labeled! Done
I used my stash of 1930's prints and used vintage buttons.

Detail of the quilting and vintage button.

I know, I know...buttons on a baby quilt? What was I thinking... well it is more for presentation. I am going to tell the mother to cut them off and give them back to me and I will gladly hold on to them and sew them back on when the time is right IF the quilt makes it that far. Or it could be used as a wall hanging, but O would prefer it be used as intended, to warp the little one in some LOVE!

 The one thing I do love is the free motion quilting I did on this little guy. I am now confident in using my domestic machine to do my on quilting. I have always quilted everyone of my quilts, with my computer generated on a long arm , pantographs or now free motion on my domestic.

The next baby quit is: #Hipster Cat by Shwin & Shwin- a free pattern.

I used straight line quilting to keep it Modern

Next:

 MQGOC - Modern Quilt Guild Orange County #Hawthorne Threads Challenge
This is a charity quilt inspired by one of the lines of #Hawthorne Threads. We were given about an 1/8 of a yard of a of a single collection of their fabrics . In mine was their:
#Blackbird Collection by #Hawthorne Threads 
there were 20 - different swatches about 4 1/2" x 6" each. Not much fabric to work with so I came up with this leaf idea using the fabric for the body of the leaf. I a variegated batik I used so the roots would be different form the stem but also show continuation of growth. The backing is a pink and white stripe. At this point all I need to do is bind it. I am glad I got started on this early. I know it will be finished by the November meeting.

MORE BABY QUILTS IN THE MAKING

So I found this pattern in my stash and it was screaming 1930's. It looked so simple I could just knock it out. Well it is still not finished but I am going to get on it and finish it up. I love to do hand embroidery and the antenna of the butterflies will be hand done in matching colors, like my BBB whiskers were. (see above)

1930's prints.

1930's prints

Last but not lease is this cute "little" - I mean little quilt I am working on. The ears of the bears are 3D and I love their ties. . I backed it with a dinosaur print I had in my stash.

Here is my ribbon from the Orange County Fair- I'm a Weanner!

Love you all

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Elephant Abstractions

I Just started another quilt. Elephant Abstractions by Violet Craft is a pattern that has always intrigued me, I picked it up at Road To California in January. This is paper pieced and not too large. (54" x 60") 

There are 98 separate paper pieced units in the quilt.

 I chose this green leaf batik fabric for the background and backing.

I decided to piece all the parts before starting to construct the quilt. It has been going fairly quick. I joined a Tuesday night quilting class at Rancho Santiago College and that alone has been keeping me motivated to sew more often.


Here are the 98 units all sewn and trimmed.

Starting on the trunk. I am "sew" glad I made up all the units.

Dressing Downton at the Muzeo closed Mothers Day. I am already missing the fun times I spent as a Docent for the exhibit. The exhibit is now traveling to Memphis. 

I guess that means more time to sew. 

Thanks for stopping in. 

Enjoy your day.

Julie

Completed Ties and Tails - Meeting the famous at the Muzeo

Excited to show a completed quilt! My Ties and Tails is now complete and I quilted on my domestic machine. Long story I was going to quilt it at my friend Ann's on her longarm but after getting it loaded found out she had gotten the needle shaft caught on a charity quilt that our guild philanthropy didn't provide enough backing - which pulled the needle over, yanking on the shaft, bending it. Needless to say- I quilted this on my domestic. Actually it gave me a lot of confidence that I know now am able to quilt on my machine even if the quilt is big.

Docent News!

This is Evie Ashworth a textile designer at Robert Hoffman she came to visit the Muzeo today and I had an opportunity to talk with her about one of my favorite subjects --- FABRIC!

What a pleasure!

Here are some links to a couple of her interviews on the internet:

Evie Ashworth

Designer Advice

Behind The Scene

I was excited to meet Leslie Nicol at the Muzeo a couple of weeks ago....

Oh Mrs. Patmore

-  "Mrs. Patmore" at the Muzeo - Dressing Downton Gala. Here is a photo of us both. How do you like my costume, I know it is more Victorian than Edwardian but I think it works for the job I do there.

The Blocks Are Done

9 Blocks with 9 Lives

This has been such an ongoing quilt project. I recently joined the Modern Quilt Guild of Orange County and last month we were given a challenge to finish a UFO, I chose this one. I have been diligently working on it. Amazingly I think I will be successful with the challenge that ends this Thursday. I actually have the quilt sashed, I have the backing almost ready. Today I am going to run by "The Batty Lady" and pick upside batting and Ann my good friend, said I could use her longarm tomorrow.

This quilt I have torn up so many times (3 to be exact) - If only I would read the instructions, maybe I could save myself some time. Well it is almost there. 

One of the reasons I have been so bad about blogging is that in September as I dropped my husband off at the airport for his much deserved WWII tour of Europe - my house was flooded out by a broken sink line in the upper master bedroom. The process has just been very "draining" - if you get the pun. Six room of my home were destroyed and rebuilding them has been a handful. Still ongoing believe it or not but I am back in the sewing room several times a week now. 

I saw this on Etsy when I was looking into a blog post about pattern design

 plagiarism. Apparently a quilt shop posted a free pattern on their website. One of their employees designed this cute little bird - the quilt shop asked permission of the employee and posted it. Several  people started using the pattern for commercial use without giving the pattern maker acknowledgment.

I thought this was so cute I wanted to give it a try myself.  I found the pattern and I am going to put one together. More on that later.

Thank you for stopping by.

Come visit me at the Muzeo of Anaheim.

Dressing Downton

I docent there every other Friday!