A New Journal Quilt, a New Toy, and Some News

"Morning Sentry"

9" by 12"

I haven't done a journal quilt in a while -- I've been too busy doing real quilts (and a whole lot of other stuff). I used the color palette (here) from Three Creative Studios for last month.  The stars are cute little three (3!) inchers that I made with my new toy.

I don't buy a lot of gadgets.  Not that I don't want to be a gadget girl, but I am not rich and famous (it's hard to believe, I know), and therefore have a limited budget for fun things.  Which makes it easy to talk myself out of rulers and things that aren't fabric.   I tend to think of costs in terms of fabric and thread; as in: hmmm.... that's equal to how many spools of thread (or yards of fabric).  And then I decide that I don't really need said gadget.  

But this one was different.  It makes Lemoyne stars and the stars are still diamonds!  And the edges are all on the straight grain!  And because I'm a smarty pants, I had to test it out with wee little stars!  And it works!  I'll have more on this in the next few months, I'm sure.  Here is a link to the company: http://www.studio180design.net.

The news is  that I have been invited to join the creative minds at the technique blog "...And Then We Set it on Fire."  Also, there is a link on the right side of this blog.  I did some guest blogging there a while back -- I put up my first post over there as a member today.  I'm "up" next month and I'm still mulling over my technique....

The technique for the bird is here.  I ironed fusible to the back, ironed it on the pieced stars, then covered it with thread.  To check out some more appliqué, go to Angie's blog here.

Back to the BOM

My design wall shows a little progress on my BOM for 2011.  No, I didn't abandon it -- I've just been busy.  New are the fans block and the New York beauty.  I didn't sew the NY beauties together because I'm going to use them in the corners of the quilt.

And that's a compass in progress.

For other people's design walls, click here to go to Judy's blog.

This was going to be my journal quilt for the May/June Color Palette Challenge.  I thought about using it for my Nook cover, but it didn't look right where it was going to have to be cut down.  So I didn't use it.  Now I'm not sure what to do with it.  I  could just finish it and have another mini-quilt -- but I was trying to make something more useful than that.  It's the wrong size for a journal cover.  So I suppose it's going to move to the "hmmm..." pile for now.

Parrotpalooza is Finished!

"Parrotpalooza"

12½" X 14"

Acrylic inks on cotton with cotton threads, wool batt

This is my journal quilt for March.  I wanted the parrots to "spill over" the edge because the March Journal Quilt Challenge theme at the Art Quilt Blog for this month is "spilling over".  The trouble is I liked the background so much I couldn't bring myself to cut off much more than I did.

I faced the edge with some really fine black Egyptian cotton because I knew that this fabric would make it easy to get a clean edge.  I did trim a little too close to one edge and had to add some fray stop liquid and then wait for it to dry so I could restitch it.

I did a little quilting around the eyes and on the beaks, but I left the parrots mostly unquilted so they would remain puffy. I'm considering doing just a little more quilting to provide a bit more depth -- especially under the parrots' heads.   

This was primarily an experiment with the acrylic inks.  I wanted to see if I could paint fine detail and not have it bleed all over.  The only part that bled was the background -- and that was because I mixed a lot of water with just a few drops of ink.  So it was more of a wash.  I'm really pleased about how dark the color is with the tiny amount of ink I used.

January Journal Quilt

"Repeat Eyes Her Dinner"

8 x 12 inches

This is my first completed Journal Quilt for 2011.  My personal challenge was to use some of my shibori-dyed fabric.  

So I used the stuff with the little moons because geckos are nocturnal.  

I stenciled little gecko shapes with freezer paper templates and sponged the paint onto the fabric.  It's pretty subtle.  Not what I intended, but after it dried, I liked the "ghost-gecko" look.  I left the pictures pretty large, so you can click on them for a better look.

The gecko and cricket are raw-edge appliquéd with textile paint and thread to enhance them.  

I chose the leopard fabric for her top side because she is a leopard gecko.

The sand is more paint and thread.

What would I do different? Another of my self-imposed rules was to make each journal quilt 8.5 by 11 inches.  I chose this size because it's large enough to really try a technique -- but not so big that I won't have time to finish.  This one missed that rule -- and actually, I think it looks unbalanced.  I think it needs another border on the side.  

I had wanted the gecko to dominate the quilt, but with the top and bottom borders, it just doesn't work for me.  I think I could have done without the borders and made the gecko larger, but then I wouldn't have used the shibori.  So maybe I need to make another one...

3Creative Studios Giveaway and Cool New Stuff for 2011

The intensely creative minds behind 3 Creative Studios are having a giveaway and some very cool new challenges for 2011.

The giveaway is here and includes some amazing goodies!

The challenges are a journal quilt project with no rules -- my kind of project!  I'm going to do one per month -- 8.5" by 11" and use this to practice or (hopefully) master a new technique each time.

The other is a Color Palette Challenge which I may or may not incorporate with the journal quilt.

These are great challenges and because the rules are so loose -- I can incorporate them into the stuff I was going to do anyway.

 And just for fun -- here is a picture of the latest addition to my family.  Her name is "Repeat."