Diary Quilt Tuesday

This  has been a very stressful sewing week. Three times I had to rip out pieces on a quilt I am making for a book because I sewed them in the wrong place...3xxxx!!! My seam ripper and I have become very good enemies.

This is not the real fabric I am using but this is what most of the pieces looked like, being unsewn. Yes they are small too! I thought it would be fun to use it in the block. After I stitched it I put a dab of Stitch Witch at the critical points to keep it from coming out. A little bit of Elmer's glue on the thread keeps it attached to the background Some beads were added to the pin heads and I called it a day.
Back to the other quilt.
Again the pictures are not very good. I am trying to figure out how to get my pictures from Picasa to my blog.....

Kelly

Mosaic Monday

I took a class this weekend and learned how to make a mosaic! It is so much fun and a very creative.

First you sketch out a picture.

Next you select the colors you think you want to use. At first my flower was going to be reds and oranges but I changed my mind and went for the blues.

Cutting the glass is very easy, I thought that would be the hardest part. There is a piece of contact paper, sticky side up on top of my design. You place your glass on the contact paper following your design.

Here is my design completed, I was super happy the way it turned out. Rachael, just realized it is a blue daisy!!!

Here is a close up before I grouted it. I loved piecing all those little puzzles in place. Kind of like quilting!

Here is a close up of the piece completely grouted and dry. I enjoyed working with glass and might just have to try it again sometime.

My instructor was Amy Bruckner of Piece of Mind Mosaics. As an added bonus she only lives 5 minutes away!! This is a table she made.

Here is a round piece, waves and a mermaid.
This was great fun. If you ever are tempted give it a try.
Sorry my pictures are not that great, learning how to use Picasa. Need some more lessons Sujata!!!

Kelly

Keeping It Real

Hope this one shows up!

 

Kelly

Fun Friday

How pretty are these on a warm winter day? It was 60 degrees here today, way too warm.

I took a class with Barb Persing today to learn how to use this very cool ruler called Leaves Galore

You fuse Misty Fuse on to a strip of fabric (this example show a 2" strip), line up the edge of the fabric on the ruler and carefully trim the edge, as shown above.

Flip it around, line up your dotted line and cut the top edge.........

A perfect leaf! Now I am sure you are thinking big whoop one whole leaf for all that work. What you do is line up 3 or 4 fabrics on top of each other and all of a sudden you now have 12 to 16 leaves!!!!

Next we lined up our leaves on the background fabric.......

Here is what mine look like.........

Blanket stitch around the edge, best part is you don't have to stop and start, it is done in one continous line of stitching (yeah!).

I got quite a few done in class, even if I also did a lot of talking with my fellow classmates.

These are a couple of examples of Barb's quilts that she has made using this ruler. This one is called Hope Diamond. The ruler also comes in 3 sizes.

Love the green!

This was our class example available from Barb Persing and Mary Hoover of Fourth and Sixth Designs at Barb@barbpersing.com.

This was done in batiks. She has a great eye for color!

 Barb also does long arm quilting and her quilts are gorgeous. Just look at this detail.

I would never think to do that in the petals.....

Here is a bigger shot of the quilt.
It was an enjoyable day out and a much needed break for me. Tomorrow and Sunday I will be taking another class in something totally different, it has nothing to do with sewing. How is that for cliff hanger?

Kelly

Diary Quilt Tuesday

I love this block!!! It represents our day at Sujata's last week. From left to right....Jane, Christine, Sujata, Barb and Terry. Of course you all recognize yourselves????

I took some artistic license.....Barb's hair is not that exact color, but that was as good as I could get. Terry's glasses are a little wonky, the hazzards of drawing them on after you make the block!

Sujata I don't know what happened to your shoulder!!!......

Jane I bet you never knew that your hair could look this good!! and Christine your hair looks so much better than this but it is the "essence" of  you! I did put you in a red top! (Her favorite color).

You all do look a little like Stepford wives, especially Jane in the "helmet" hair! Terry your legs look a little scary too!
I never claimed I could draw but I really, really love this one! Cheryl don't worry there will be plenty more blocks for you to make an appearance in at a later date. Thank you again ladies for allowing me to make you my focus for the week!

Kelly

How Cute Is This?



Antique Sewing Caddy

I love all kinds of antique sewing things, especially if they are useful! I bought this today after looking at it for a few months now.

Perfect for getaways and on the go sewing.

There are even 2 pockets inside. It is not big, the size of the fabric is 7 x 9. Some one took the time to handmake this, I just love that! I wonder what things of mine might make some one happy one day......

I am anxious to show you the Diary Block. It's almost done, just a little machine quilting left to go.....but that will have to wait until tomorrow.

Kelly

Keeping It Real

Kelly

A Day With My Son

The other day my son, Dylan and I went to a very cool place called Terrain. It is a garden/lifestyle/restaurant that is very inspiring.

Amazing and cool items for your garden......

expensive stuff.....this terrarium was almost $1900....

we both love gardening, actually all 3 of my sons love to garden....

I guess all those years of making them pull weeds payed off.....

their gardens look better than mine......

love this....a tree hollowed out and soil and plants put inside.....lovely....

How cool is this? After lunch they bring you the check inside and old plant book. It almost makes you not think about how much it cost.
Yes it was a very nice way to spend the day.

Girl's Day Out

Sujata, Jane, Barb, Terry, Kelly and Christine

Yesterday Sujata invited a fellow blogger Barb from Fun With Barb to come and visit us. We managed to have a great time.

Barb brought some of the things she is working on for show and tell. It is amazing how much more wonderful things are in real life and not a picture! You get to touch them and see the true colors of the fabrics.

Don't you love how she mixed fish fabric with scissor fabric?

This is a gorgeous quilt, one of Barb's favorites and I can see why!

It is made with hexagons some pieced and some not. The most amazing part of this is the unusual fabrics that she used. There is a wonderful richness to this stunning quilt.

This has hundreds of crystals scattered about.....

A very personal quilt with lots of fun folk art shapes. Barb appliqued the dogtooth borders.

Christine has been on a roll making some runners....

this one has lots of texture and a cool stitch.....

red, her favorite color!

Not all our show and tell is ready to be seen yet. Sujata had this antique piece with little mirrors crocheted down. I wonder what she might do with this???

We really had a wonderful day just talking and doing things quiters do, talk about fabric, techniques, quilts shows, eating Sujata's yummy soup etc. I hope we do it again real soon! Thanks Barb for making the long drive and thank you Sujata for inviting us over

Kelly