And yet more Diary Blocks….

Posted on June 21, 2010 by katyquilts

Here are some more…

Still going strong! Until next time….

Posted in Journal Quilts | Leave a comment

A bit of stitching…

Posted on June 17, 2010 by katyquilts

I have been seeing a lot of people handquiting with perle cotton lately. I love the look and decided to play with this myself. I worked on this in the car on the way to the west side of the state for camping last weekend.

I machine quilted a grid first because if I were going to do this on a quilt of any size, it would have at least half machine quilting as well. For this piece, I was just playing, kind of doodling with thread. I also wanted to make a small piece I could throw in the wash just to see what would happen. This is cheap perle cotton, it came in a bag of 100 or so skeins from JoAnn’s. I think it was intended for kids crafts but I loved the colors and I had a 40% off coupon making the entire bag only $6. The colors are brighter than they show here.

I have no idea what I will do with this piece. Maybe a journal cover, or a zippered bag…..got any ideas? If so, leave me a comment! I am certainly open to suggestions here!

Until next time….

Posted in Hand quilting | 1 Comment

Just do it!

Posted on June 16, 2010 by katyquilts

I hand pieced a pile of  4 inch bow tie blocks about 5 years ago. They are mostly done with repro fabrics and a tea dyed muslin. I have pulled them out a few times over the years trying to come up with a new way to set them as I have made many bowtie quilts and wanted to do something different. I always ended up putting them away again and not putting them together. A couple years ago, i went to a friends cabin for a weekend of sewing. I quickly cut some setting blocks thinking I would put this top together. I did other things.     Since then, I have pulled out this pile many more times but was never sure of the setting so they went back in the UFO pile. I do not know why I have been so indecisive with these!

Anyway, once again, today I pulled them out.  I decided finished was better than perfect and just to set them together in my hastily thrown together plan of two years ago.

I am glad I did.

I like it.

Why did I have so much angst over this?

I think it needs a border but I am so happy to be moving on this project. I hope to border, quilt and bind it soon! I am also going to look at some other projects that have been languishing far too long and put them to use. Sometimes, I need to just DO IT!

Until next time…

Posted in Traditional | Leave a comment

At the beach…

Posted on June 16, 2010 by katyquilts

Before we headed home from Manistee on Sunday, we spent some time at the beach. It was the nicest day weatherwise that we had!

Seeing these makes me want to go back! Until next time…

Posted in Photography | Leave a comment

More Diary Quilt Blocks….

Posted on June 15, 2010 by katyquilts

I have to be honest, I did not make blocks while I was camping….. I did make blocks for each day when I got home.

Here is the latest crop:

Guess where I shopped on this day?

I am pretty pleased with myself for keeping up with this!

Until next time…

Posted in Journal Quilts | Leave a comment

Getting back to nature…..

Posted on June 14, 2010 by katyquilts

We took off for the west side of the state for the weekend for a church camping trip. It was great fun and even though the weather was not the best, I got some fun pics for inspiration. Enjoy (but please do not take)!

This is in Manistee, Michigan. You can see how foggy it was!

I loved this apartment overlooking the canal.

This was part of the riverwalk.

Not exactly beach weather but it was pretty!

It got nice and sunny on Sunday. I will post those pics tomorrow.

Until next time….

Posted in Photography | Leave a comment

What’s on your design wall?

Posted on June 10, 2010 by katyquilts

I asked this question quite some time back on the Quilt Art list and the results were interesting and fun! I so enjoyed hearing and seeing what everyone was currently working on. So, I have decided to ask the question again. Leave a comment, with a link if possible and share what you are currently working on.

Here is what mine looks like at the moment:

I have several projects going here at the moment. First is my Diary Quilt that I have discussed in previous posts (scroll down for more detail and discussion on these). You can see that I have now finished 20 days worth of blocks. Woo hoo!

To the upper right, I have a project that I started to use up some solid scraps and just play with. I am liking it so far but have a way to go for sure. Here is another shot of that:

The lower left shows  a small project based on Kathy Loomis’ method for inserting tiny strips. You can find her method detailed here. Here is a close up shot that more accurately shows the colors:

The small pink block is an experiment with quilting/embroidery with perle cotton.

I have also been working on some items for a craft fair in the fall. I may show some of those items at a later date.

Until then, what is on your design wall?

Posted in Uncategorized | 4 Comments

Why is it so hard to be random?

Posted on June 10, 2010 by katyquilts

Seriously, I have recently quilted several pieces in what I hoped would be a random grid. I never knew it would be so hard! I don’t think I could get this straight if I wanted to! This is what I mean:

Granted, I used a walking foot to keep the stitches themselves even. I had to force myself to get this much variation. Hmmmmm….. Who knew random could be so hard?

Until next time….

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Diary Quilt Part 2

Posted on June 8, 2010 by katyquilts
I have decided to call this my Diary Quilt rather than Art a Day. I cannot call these art exactly but they all do represent my day in some obscure way! I also see in some of these some seeds for future work.  I have added captions so you can try (good luck!) to follow some of my thinking here.

Shopping

 

Church Picnic

Learning to piece skinny lines

Home from India

Anger and Frustration!

Pieceful hand stitching

This last one is a crutch, my dear MIL broke her foot and I took her to the doctor.
As you can see, these are fairly abstract representations. However, some stitching is better than none and I see in some of these some ideas for future work.  I am still at it and will post another batch soon.
Until next time…
Posted in Journal Quilts | Leave a comment

She’s home!

Posted on June 4, 2010 by katyquilts

My wonderful oldest daughter is finally home after a three week study abroad course for her nursing program. Isn’t she lovely even after nearly 24 hours of travel time?

And she brought me lovely textile things from India too!  Just look at this beautiful fabric:

That is 4 yards of a lovely cotton. Bundled with it was this very fine matching print, intended to be used for a matching scarf:

They come bundled like this with enough fabric to make one woman’s outfit. She had two beautiful outfits made for herself there. I will show them another time. Here is a detail shot:

She also brought this lovely little piece for her daddy to hang in his office:

They were able to visit the place where these were woven. The gold and silver threads are exquisite. She also brought this magazine for me from the plane:

I can’t wait to sit down with a cup of coffee and read these textile articles! It is so good to have her home. I am so proud of her :).

Until next time….

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment