Ducks in a Row

FINISHED! The Umpqua Valley Quilters' Guild Show is coming up in a few weeks, so I have been madly sewing bindings, and labels. "Getting My Ducks in a Row" is done, all the sections quilted a row at a time, are done, and the border added. The flannel border fabric is leftover from a commissioned ducky quilt I made a few years ago, there was just enough to get 4 1/2" borders from it. I free motioned stipples in the background and outlined the ducks. It is lots of fun with all the yellow duckies, they are from the H2O themed Row by Row from 2015.

"My Summer Travels" was done a while ago, but I had not gotten a picture of it. So I had my friends came over, so they could hold it up, to take the picture. It is from the row x rows from 2016, themed "Home Sweet Home. I also have another one almost finished in this format from the 2015 rows. I just need to add the left hand rows and add a border to it. Then I still have extra rows made, I probably made 40 rows from the first year I participated. This year I only made the ones I needed for the quilt, choosing my favorites, the ones that would go together well. I'm going to be traveling next month, to Bryce & Zion Nat'l. parks, and the Grand Canyon, Phoenix and Tucson. Too bad they don't start this year's that early. I know I asked one of the shops what this year's theme is, but I can't remember what it was. On Friday I will link this to Nina-Marie's "Off the Wall Friday. click here Check it to see what other talented textile artists are doing this week.

Party Girls

"Party Girls" is finished! I finally got all the beading done and the hand sewn binding. This started with some figures of women I traced from "O" Magazine, and put into my Scan N Cut machine. I cut them from various light colored batiks, then searched for a dark background. I bought several different fabrics, with stars, fireworks, metallic etc... before finally settling on this purple. I wanted more than just a solid background, so I added the black and white triangles, and the solid black and purple at the top and bottom. I cut it up into various widths, and put it back together like a bargello. I wished I had taken more time with the triangles, so the points matched up better on each strip. I don't know how much this extra work shows up, but I am glad I did it. It is free motion machine quilted with raw edge applique.

I went through several packages of rhinestones, looking for the right materials for the disco ball. I ended up with a scrap booking product, a sheet of squared rhinestones. It comes in different colors too. It was super easy to work with, it's plastic, so it cut easy with the scissors and I was able to stitch right through it. I used a zigzag stitch to put it on, and it pierced the plastic with no problems. I will definitely use this material again. I used some clear mylar Sulky thread, around the ball, and for rays of light shooting out from it. I hand beaded seed beads and bugle beads, in crystal and pearl, to make rays of light. I think it was lots of fun. There is one more figure to the left, and the ball is very centered, but I missed it in the photo. Check out all the talented textile artists on Nina-Marie's "Off the Wall Friday" click here

Soy Wax Resist

My friends Susan and Jenny came over to work with the soy wax again. Jenny is working on a batik based on a Maxwell Parish painting. She is doing it for the Fyber Café challenge "Flights of Fancy."

Susan and I added another layer of dye and wax to the pieces we made last time and waxed a few more. I got two new drying racks at Grocery Outlet when I was in Washington. A great deal at $7.50, the ones at Walmart are $20.

I added the bling to the characters of Earth, Wind, Fire and Water. Using Sulky mylar gold thread, I free motion stitched slowly so I could get a long stitch length, so the gold would show well. I also finished the binding and label. The tension was off when I stitched the white so I had white dots pop up on the black backing, so I used a Pigma pen to color all the dots black. It looks so much better now.

When I was at my sister's in Washington, I got this beautiful Poppy fabric at Quilting Mahem in Snohomish. I got the last 2 yards on the bolt, and wanted to just do a simple setting. I cut out large 8" squares and added either the coral print or teal/coral batik in a 2 inch border. I had enough floral to set it on point, and do a decent width border. I did go back and get another 1/2 yard of the teal and coral, so I had enough for a final border and binding. It only took me a couple of easy afternoons to get it finished. It's about 70" square. I will be linking this to Nina-Marie's "Off the Wall Friday" click here check to see what other awesome textile artists are doing this week.