Monday, July 20, 2009

John Donelson's graduation quilt


Turned many of my nephew, John's clothes including overalls, Tshirts, and some photos into a memory quilt for his high school graduation. It includes his vital statistics at birth, schools, jobs, clubs, and travels. Many of the pockets hold assorted items including a pair of socks...his mom always gets him socks for him at Christmas. I even cut apart a shoe and sewed it in.

Monday, July 13, 2009

Peacock quilt


We created the main peacock in one weekend. Sucheta and I made duplicates of the same peacock in one weekend with Aai's help. I added mine to a watercolor quilt I had made many years ago.

I added a couple more peacocks because I thought he needed more company.

Monday, July 6, 2009

popcan postcards


These are my popcan postcards for a Fiberart Traders swap.

Some of them were crimped and beads , doilies and charms were added for embellishments.

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Cyberquilting hints :

Blue gel glue as resist just soak the piece in room temp water for about 10 - 15 minutes & the glue melts out.

Solid-colored shower curtain: soft, flexible and easy to sew through. Uses: totes, purses.

Before covering your design wall with white flannel, draw a giant grid with a Sharpie. This shadows through the fabric just enough to act as a guideline for squaring and blocking.
..or use 1" fusible gridded interfacing for your design walls

Ribbons and rosettes from horse/ dog shows: apply velcro dots on the back of the ribbons ..hang and move them easily.

To square and block on a carpet, first lay the quilt on the carpet and start with the top edge. Pin one corner, then smooth it out or tug a bit until the other top corner is right. Then securely anchor the whole top edge with plenty of pins. Now pull the rest of the quilt gently into what seems to be approximately the right shape. Put a pin in each of the two bottom corners. Measure. If the dimension across the bottom matches the top, you are getting there. Check the side dimensions to see if they match each other. The really important measures are the diagonals (top left to bottom right, and top right to bottom left). When they are identical, you know you have a perfectly squared quilt. Just keep adjusting the angle and amount of tension by re-pinning the two bottom corners until you have matching dimensions. Then you can pin it securely all round. You can make sure the edges are straight with a long straight edge of some sort if you have one. If you don't, pin a piece of string to one corner and stretch it taut to the next corner and use it as an adjustment guide down the edge to
be sure it is straight.

Prewashing with Synthrapol helps remove excess dye. If a quilt is constructed without this pre-treatment, use Retayne to stop the fabric from bleeding, particularly when a dark fabric is sewn to a light fabric. For future washings, use Woolite's Dye Magnet or Shout's Color Catcher, which resemble dryer sheets to pick up any renegade dyes in both the washing and drying cycles.

Children’s quilts:
...use alphabet blocks to spell a childs name and applique blocks of favorite toys.
... blocks in the colors of the parents favorite teams

Angelina in needle felting: combine some of the Angelina fibers with either wool or silk roving. The Angelina will blend into your piece with the natural fibers you combine it with and leave a nice sparkle. This method also dilutes the Angelina so it is not as intense as applying it by itself.

fabric /mousepad.. Just make it like a slip cover, with elastic around the edges and put it over the mousepad...It works just as well and can be washed.....

http://www.diynetwork.com/diy/cr_linens_fabrics/article/0,,diy_13765_3558619,00.html or use heavy duty double sided fusible
Felting tutorials http://www.tryourdesigns.com/FreeTutorials.htm

http://www.marcusbrothers.com/makeit/ideas/creative_fabric_panels/index.html

http://www.freequiltpatterns.info/QuiltCategories/FreeBabyQuiltPatterns.htm http://www.forevergreenquilts.com/baby_quilts.html http://home.howstuffworks.com/flying-geese-quilt-pattern.htm http://www.stitchinpost.com/freepatterns.html http://twelveby12.org/theme.html
http://quiltersguildnsw.com/quiltshow/
http://www.fiberarts.com/back_issues/Summer-2009/mixed-media-with-beads.asp
http://thegoldenthimble.com/pennypenquin.pdf
http://www.krazydad.com/kaleido/ make your own kaleidoscope

http://www.robertkaufman.com/quilting/quilts_patterns/imperial_garden/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/truvy57/sets/72157619967810794/show/with/3643650189/