Second Tree of Life

This is my second Tree of Life wall hanging.  For this one I used Sizzix dies for all of the flowers and leaves.  The only one not cut with a Sizzix die is the bird, which was cut from a Laurel Burch fabric.  It's not completed yet--there are a few areas that need something added, I think.  Again, I'm going to glue the pieces down and then raw edge applique them and then quilt the background.  I actually prefer my first attempt at a Tree of Life design but I wanted to challenge myself and see if I could use the dies successfully.  Part of my displeasure, I think, is the background--I think it should have been a deeper color, kind of like the teal of my first attempt   I almost feel it's too "cute".  But it's all a learning experience.  These two quilts are examples of the phrase that the quilt will speak to you when it needs something else.  This one is still speaking.  Hope you enjoy.  

Tree of Life

This is the first of a series of Tree of Life wall hangings.  The pieces were fussy cut from Kaffe Fassett, Brandon Mably and other designers fabrics featuring flowers.  Then they were arranged and glued down, raw edge appliqued and then the background was quilted.  The fabrics on the other edges were being audtioned for the borders.  I didn't end up using either.  I'll try to find a photo of the finished product.  It was great fun to do and I'm enjoying the freedom of just cutting and designing.  I have many patterns using traditional shapes but I've discovered I enjoy creating this way.  Planning to have a yard sale and get rid of my stash of patterns in the spring or summer. 

Another finished project

Last August I took a hand applique class from Cheryl Kerestes at Endless Mountains Quiltworks in Tunkannock, Pa.  Her patterns, mainly hand applique, have been featured in many national quilt magazines in the past few years.  Her work is impeccable and what I like about her work is that she uses fabrics that I love, like Kaffe Fassett, Martha Negley, Philip Jacobs, etc.  She brought along several of her quilts to show us and they are all very large ones.  This pattern for this one consisted of 14 blocks, but I stopped at four.  She has a hand applique butterfly quilt in the July/August issue of Love of Quilting I believe that is very near the top of my to do list.  (Unfortunately I have way too many on that list, but anyway...)  The applique is done by hand, needle turn but I machine quilted the background myself.  I wish I had more of that background fabric but I could not find the name of it anywhere on the piece that I had and I've been unable to find it anywhere. 

Hope you enjoy looking at it.  Again the photos are from my older camera.  Still have not had time to buy new batteries for the newer one.  Sally

Some recent work

I don't know what took me so long to try free form cutting of fabric to do an applique piece.  But this is my first attempt, the result of another class I took recently.  The instructor is a very talented quilt artist, Teresa Fusco,  who moved to Pa recently.  I only recently discovered her classes and unfortunately, the shop where she had been teaching is closing so she's going to have to find a new shop/location for her classes. All of her work is so unique and she had a wonderful manner of fostering creativity.  She's working on creating a website and I can't wait for that to be completed.  Hopefully she'll put up some of her work for us to enjoy.  I LOVED the class, as well, as another one I took from her but that is unfinished.

Anyway, for this piece the shapes are cut freely, temporarily pinned in place, then secured with a dot of glue and finally free motion quilted around each shape.  After all the leaves, flowers, etc., are appliqued down then the background is quilted.  Right now I'm in the process of free motion quilting the piece down.  I used  Patsy Thompson's tutorial on basting your quilt using an upright surface and spray basting.  Worked beautifully.  Sorry for the out of focus photo, but my "good" camera's battery died just when I started taking photos.  Hope you enjoy.

Flower Power class results

Last week I had one of the best quilting classes I've ever taken.  Just plain fun!  I took a five day class with Sue Benner at Quilting by the Lake, now held annually at Onondaga Community College in Syracuse, NY.  I found Sue to be one of the best teachers I have ever had.  She's very organized, but relaxed, and makes the experience a joy.  The first photo is of my first project in colors that I normally work with--brights, particularly red and orange. This was done in the first two days of class.

The next photos are of project 2, which took three days.  I love things that are assymetrical and my plan was to groups the colors of the flowers in sections on the piece.  The first photo shows my original design which I didn't find particularly pleasing.  So Sue came along and helped me group them by predominate color and the second photo is the final product.  I ended up cutting all flowers into quarters.  Most of the rest of the class kept most of theirs whole or cut into halves.

It was a wonderful week, with wonderful room-mates, and I hope to go back next year.

Some old work

I thought I would post some photos of some of my quilts that are favorites of mine.  These are not new quilts but ones with colors that make me happy.  This one is the result of a class I took at the http://www.cityquilter.com/ with Kaffe Fassett and Liza Lucy Pryor.  Students were asked to bring in a variety of fabric in any color we chose.  I chose all shades of red from fuschia through cranberry, burgundy, etc.  I found Kaffe to be very supportive with his suggestions of where to put what.  The most tedious part was sewing the corners onto the squares.  I used various shades of his shot cottons and other greens.  Much fun!

This next quilt was from a pattern I purchased at Cottonseed Glory in Annapolis, Md. I remember dragging my husband and daughter there on one of our "let's drive to ... to this quilt shop I read about".  What a fantastic shop--lots nice bright bright fabrics from my favorite designers.  This one is made from a lot of Amy Butler fabrics (13, I think) and is somewhat reminiscent of a Turning Twenty quilt, but is from a similar pattern whose title I cannot recall.  It was great fun for the three of us to join in the selection process.   It reminds my of a quilt titled Yellow Potpourri  in Kaffe's newest book.  In fact I have some yellows all picked out and ready for cutting for this version.

And the final quilt is the result of a class also at The City Quilter with Liza Lucy Prior.  It was also great fun and was a project in using a color and its complement.  I started with a quirky apricot/peach color.  I like this quilt a lot and again have fabrics picked out for a new version.  Have I started it yet?  Of course not.  

Well, I hope you enjoyed looking at them.                                               

Such fun (or can I get it right the third time posting)

A few weeks ago I happened to listen to one of Pat Sloane's radio casts. Well, I'm not sure what she calls the exactly. However, she had an interview with quilt artist Frieda Anderson and something about the interview peaked my interest. So I did some searching, found her blog and began to follow it. Went to Amazon and ordered her two books and when she posted an offer for two new patterns, I jumped on the offer. This is the result of my first attempt. It is really such fun and she has a new technique (at least for me) in using fusibles. And luckily I happened to be passing through our local upgraded what used to be called a 5 & 10 cent store and they happen to carry fabric. There, just calling out to me, were these three pieces of fabrics (plus a few more but we won't get into that...) Anyway, came home and this is the result. Took one evening. You'll notice there are some loose threads on top. That's because although my machine has an automatic thread cutter it always leaves little nubs of threads on the back and I don't like that. So I am trying a new technique of pulling the bobbin thread to the top and using some new needles I found called spiral eye self-threading needles. They're an alternative to the regular self threading ones in that they thread from the side and hopefully that will eliminate the thread coming out of the eye, a problem I've had with the old needles. These new needles were kind of expensive so I hope they don't end up in the land of "I wonder where I put..." I'll let you know how they work. Anyway, if you want to do some fun, quick fusible applique work, try Frieda's patterns. BTW, I like her technique so much I'm going to start using it on other fusible applique patterns I have in mind.