Wednesday, November 25, 2015
Tuesday, November 24, 2015
Snug as a bug
My sort of Christmas themed neonate mini quilt ...
I have a lot of white narrow strips of fabric, mostly left over from trimming quilts. So started playing with a selection of red, orange and lime green fabrics cut into smallish squares with even smaller white squares on opposite corners like this ...
After sewing what seemed to be a rather lot of squares with even more to go to make a 27" square quilt something was needed in the middle.
The something was a ladybug, although here in New Zealand we call these ladybirds.
The fabric had fusible ironed on and then cut on my Silhouetto Cameo cutting machine.
The shapes and letters were fused on to a square of white fabric that had another layer of fabric to help stabilise the applique.
Using a straight stitch, stitched around the letters 3-4 times. The bug has a mixture of straight stitching and blanket stitch.
There was one false start ...
When I cut fused shapes I've been placing the fabric side down on to the sticky carrier mat as I've found it is easier to peel the pieces off and it seems to cut better.
Using the mirror image is a bit more useful.
Final layout.
I kept the quilting simple with cross hatching around the bug and the words. Each white square was quilted in the ditch, while a little bit time consuming the end result is what I wanted.
I have a lot of white narrow strips of fabric, mostly left over from trimming quilts. So started playing with a selection of red, orange and lime green fabrics cut into smallish squares with even smaller white squares on opposite corners like this ...
The something was a ladybug, although here in New Zealand we call these ladybirds.The fabric had fusible ironed on and then cut on my Silhouetto Cameo cutting machine.
The shapes and letters were fused on to a square of white fabric that had another layer of fabric to help stabilise the applique.
Using a straight stitch, stitched around the letters 3-4 times. The bug has a mixture of straight stitching and blanket stitch.
There was one false start ...
When I cut fused shapes I've been placing the fabric side down on to the sticky carrier mat as I've found it is easier to peel the pieces off and it seems to cut better.
Using the mirror image is a bit more useful.
Final layout.
I kept the quilting simple with cross hatching around the bug and the words. Each white square was quilted in the ditch, while a little bit time consuming the end result is what I wanted.
Friday, November 20, 2015
Poppy Field
Over the past week or so as
we've been driving past Appleton Park (near Karori tunnel) we've seen people
installing white ball-like things on the end of waving stalks.
There is no signage so one day we stopped and a guy, who was lying on his stomach working on cabling, told us it was an art installation called 'Remembrance' to mark Armistice Day, 11th November.
The ~860 LED lights on poles pay tribute to the Wellingtonians who died at Gallipoli in World War I. During the evening the LEDs glow red creating a poppy field and during the day a field of white flowers.
A couple of days ago some of the lights were still to be connected.
They are quite fun to walk through especially as they move in the breeze.
The installation is there until early December.
There is no signage so one day we stopped and a guy, who was lying on his stomach working on cabling, told us it was an art installation called 'Remembrance' to mark Armistice Day, 11th November.
The ~860 LED lights on poles pay tribute to the Wellingtonians who died at Gallipoli in World War I. During the evening the LEDs glow red creating a poppy field and during the day a field of white flowers.
A couple of days ago some of the lights were still to be connected. They are quite fun to walk through especially as they move in the breeze.
The installation is there until early December.
Wednesday, November 18, 2015
Tuesday, November 17, 2015
Playing with Fabric Twine
Recently a friend demonstrated how to make fabric twine. I watched but didn't pay too much attention ... a couple of days later happened (!) to come across instructions (see here, includes a video) and had a play.
A few pieces of abandoned hand dyed fabrics ripped into roughly one inch strips ...
... and rather too quickly had a large ball of twine.
Days later had whipped up a bowl.
How the bowl was created ...
Using a wide and long zigzag sewed the strips together in a circular shape. I used a large jeans needle (100/16) that sewed easily through all the layers.
To start the bowl shape, tilted the piece as I sewed.
To add a handle, held the twine away from the edge for a couple of centimetres, stitched and then rejoined on the other side and continued stitching.
The trick is to evenly place the handle on the other side.
To shape the base, use a similar sized dish and iron the base and the edge. The ironing flattens the twine and seems to hold the shape quite well.
Now on to the next project, this time with a more controlled colour scheme.
A few pieces of abandoned hand dyed fabrics ripped into roughly one inch strips ...
... and rather too quickly had a large ball of twine.
Days later had whipped up a bowl.
Using a wide and long zigzag sewed the strips together in a circular shape. I used a large jeans needle (100/16) that sewed easily through all the layers.
The trick is to evenly place the handle on the other side.
To shape the base, use a similar sized dish and iron the base and the edge. The ironing flattens the twine and seems to hold the shape quite well.Now on to the next project, this time with a more controlled colour scheme.
Wednesday, November 11, 2015
Wednesday, November 4, 2015
Tuesday, November 3, 2015
A bit of doodling
I have a colouring in book that is full of lovely designs that, for some reason, I can't bring myself to colour. It does have some great designs for quilting, etc.
So instead I've created my own colouring pages. During our recent holiday I took along an A5 sketch book, black gel pen, selection of Inktense pencils and a brush for a bit of doodling.
First effort, coloured with Inktense pencils then brushed over with a moist brush.
To avoid the colours running into each other, I did one colour at a time, left to dry before wetting the next colour.
Next effort, this time just brushing over in one go.
water still to be applied
A selection of pages to be coloured.
Next to try on fabric.
So instead I've created my own colouring pages. During our recent holiday I took along an A5 sketch book, black gel pen, selection of Inktense pencils and a brush for a bit of doodling.
First effort, coloured with Inktense pencils then brushed over with a moist brush.
To avoid the colours running into each other, I did one colour at a time, left to dry before wetting the next colour.
Next effort, this time just brushing over in one go.
water still to be applied
A selection of pages to be coloured.
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