Quilt show photos!

There were a lots of nice quilts but I know we all see the same things most of the time so I picked a few of my favorites that are unique for different reasons.

The first is an angel, but Barbara Barbara. She had a few of her painted pieces in the show, but this was different from what she normally does. Nice idea if you are interested in doing a piece for your church, lots of free angel images online.

The next few quilts were done with quilts bought from the New England Quilt museum. Love seeing old quilts and these were tops that were sold and the ladies quilted them.

This was my favorite, love the design and fabrics.

Unique quilt and great for scraps.

 The next  two are examples of quilts you can make from used clothing, especially from a loved one.

Something to cuddle in, when she misses her dad, all from his flannel shirts.

A unique way to use ties in a quilt, love the fence idea and ties could be made into other types of designs for art pieces.

This piece is wonderful, a style I would love to make. She used a resist to bleach out some color in the background. 

And for you wooly lovers, a Heart to Hand design, it was really gorgeous in person. Beautiful wools and beautifully made.

And last but not least, was a quilt made by my friend Tina. She does beautiful work and I loved how she used the graduated colors for the background and then hand stitching around the blocks, then beautiful quilting around that. I like the idea of doing hand stitching to enhance some of the designs, mixed with machine quilting.

This is just a section of the quilt, it is huge and i wanted to show the work close up. 

Valentine Postcard!

I decided to try another postcard, using a different method. Since I printed out two smaller backings, I decided to try a practice run to see how it would work, so I kept it simple this time.

I started by finding old postcard backings to print out. They print out larger, so I reduced them until I got the right size. This one was made with a smaller version. You can find the free postcard backings at Fuzzimo. I used card stock and printed out two at a time.

To make the applique piece, I used a fun art print that I won from Sauder's Fabrics. I used Pellon heavy fusible and ironed the piece to that, then added the appliques using a medium weight fusible. Once I had those on, I sewed down the appliqués. Once the appliques were done, I added a piece of batting and a scrap piece of fabric to the back of the batting, so I could do free motion on a smoother surface. When all of the quilting was done, I added another piece of fusible and attached the card back and sewed it around the edges. I think it would have been easier to use fusible web, to save on cutting and attaching so many fusibles, but the nice part is, it gives it a nice quilted card look and stays thin and stiff, so perfect for sending in a card or envelope.

I think the card stock was what actually gave it, it's stiffness, so you could use peltex type products, as well. I also tried a tighter, small blanket stitch and it really chewed into the card stock, so sewing the edges with that, is something I need to work on. I also forgot to stitch an eye on the bird, so I glued a silly eye on, lol.

This is a great way to make cards if you want a quilted look and I am thinking that I could sew the top together first and then just attach the back, on last, without stitching, will have to see how that works out.

The design is just a simple heart and bird, hand drawn, so no pattern needed. I used variegated red to black for the outer stitch. I also wanted to write the word love, in free motion, but forgot that too.

Here is the back of the card. You can see where some of the card stock tore at the edges. I started out in the wrong spot, then figured out where to place the edge with the foot, then my bobbin ran out, so that didn't help. I love the look of the card though, nice antique look and you can use printer fabric to make them, as well.

This week we got snow, then sleet and rain, so the snow is icy and hard. I went out skiing in my back yard, but I really had to watch myself and the areas that were sunken in, but I just went slow and did ten laps this time. The kitty that my neighbor left when she moved is still hanging around, he comes every morning for food and water and I think he is also being taking care of by the new neighbors at night. He must be doing ok, he was following me around the yard and being silly.