Trend-Tex Challenge

I belong to our national quilt association CQA/ACC , and each year we have a fundraiser at our annual conference.   It is called the Trend-Tex Challenge because Trend-Tex Fabrics donates ALL the fabric.   This year I got to organize it.   I made a theme of 'Modern Ways' and instead of just a small quilt entry, you had another alternative, a quilted wearable entry to choose from.

You were mailed 5 fat quarters.  I also got to pick out the fabric=)   This is what I chose:

I had to have a zinger in there=)  Here is what it looks like opened up.

I chose to do a wearable and decided  a bag would be fun, and I should mention, all the quilts are auctioned off and I wanted something practical.   

Of course, my modern bag had to have circles on it.  I used my Baby Go by Accuquilt to cut out fabric that had fusing put on the back of it.  

I decided to use the pink as my background for my bag, and laid out the circles on the fabric in a manner that I liked.  I had to do a front and back and decided that the back would just have a few circles on it.  Pictured below is the front.

I fused them down and did straight line stitching in a contrasting white thread so it would not only show up but I think the lines add some texture and fun to it.

 Here is what the front of the bag is going to look like.

And the back.

I am going to line it and put in lots of pockets for keys, phone, pens etc.   I have some interesting ideas for the straps but will have to audition them to see what will work with this bright fabric.

One more thing, we do have a fb page and it is not just Canadian quilting stuff, but rather a great source of quilt info...   so if you are interested in joining us, we are here.

A Challenge Quilt

As you know, I am a member of the Canadian Quilters' Association.  They have started doing quarterly challenges for their members... with great prizes.   This last one was to create a quilt within a 48" perimeter and the theme was 'These Boots Are Made For Walking'.

I started out by using some sandy looking hand dyed fabric.   Then took some fabric dye and made it into a paint.   I painted the bottom of my son's running shoes and stamped it on the fabric.

After letting it dry, I picked out an area I thought would work and quilted it.

I decided to quilt the background with a meandering dark brown thread... to create a wind blown effect in sand.   The footprints were outlined in a navy blue thread to highlight the treads.

I call it 'Summer in the Sun'. It was nice to create something small and without a lot of planning.   I just went for it, no sketch pad, no pre-design, just created!  And loved it.

The 'Big Girl' Thread

I call this my 'growing up' post.   One of the main reasons I quilt is to create original art quilts that I can enter into juried shows.   Not so much to build character by receiving those multitudes of rejection letters, but for the thrill of the phantom acceptance letters.

What you may not know is that I have a deep seeded fear.   Not of rejection, but of thread.   Yep, any thread that is slippery, fancy, metallic, shiny, satin or anything other than plain and simple thread.  
See this picture:

I have 2 of these.   They are all fancy threads.   I have had them for over 5 years.  I have never used them.   Until a few days ago.   Then all 'thread' broke loose, so to speak=)

While I was away at our national conference, I of course wandered into the Merchant Mall.  I walked into 'Cindy's Threadworks' and told her to load me up on fancy threads, and tell me what to do.   

Cindy, is a total doll!  She did in fact fill my basket and gave me very specific directions.

As luck would have it, the Janome dealer was directly across the aisle from her.  So I marched off and asked if I had to adjust tension to use fancy threads.   I should add here that I have NEVER adjusted tension on my machine.  EVER!   I have a Janome Horizon, in case you were wondering.   

Liz from Janome told me I did not have to do that, but if I had this gizmo, (a spool stand) I could use it and I would never have any problems.   I admitted that in fact I did have said gizmo, still in it's box when I brought the machine home 2 years ago.   I pulled it out and hooked it all up, which really meant putting in 2 little screws=)

I changed my bobbin and put in the thread Cindy told me to, along with the needle she said, took out my scrap fabric,took a breath and went for it.  ( I used Superior Magnifico thread, 90/14 topstitch needle, and 'The Bottom Line' by Libby Lehman thread, 60 wt in the bobbin.

Guess what?  It totally worked!   I was doing it, I was using fancy schmancy thread and it was actually working!   This was very big in my little world.

I am working on a little challenge, so decided to use my new shiny thread.   Look how great it turned out.

Do you know what I used next?  Metallic thread!   I know, only the bravest of brave quilters use that.   And it worked!   I will post more pics of my little challenge piece in all it's fancy thread glory tomorrow!

Quilting Arts Challenge

I have decided to try and enter more challenges this year.  One that came up is the Quilting Arts challenge.  I am an avid subscriber to their magazine and enjoy all the different opportunities they provide in their magazine.     This challenge is to produce an ATC - artist trading card.  The theme is 'What's In Your Heart' and it must be 3 1/2" x 2 1/2" and it will be swapped with another.

I have never made a quilt that size before.   I do know they like embellishments on their challenges, so I raided my kids tool boxes for unique embellishments.   Don't even ask if they are 3D, you know the answer=)

I started by cutting and stitching, recutting and more stitching.  I cleaned up the edges too.   How do you finish a quilt that size?  Please tell me that you don't actually bind it?

Then added my bling.

What do you think?   It is copper wire and copper looking beads that are attached to it.

Still Life

 

I have joined an art quilt challenge group. 

Each month one of us gets to post a theme and the others are to make a 12 x 12 art quilt representing this theme.  

The first theme was Still Life.  I also decided that this was the perfect opportunity to try all those techniques I don't try on a large art quilt for fear of ruining the quilt.   Having said that, the first picture is my beginning of my project.  The fabric was batik and I discharged it, then fused circles on and did some free motion quilting.  My idea of still life is a photograph of anything, instantly making it a still life moment.  In this case, I seem to be having a thing with circles, water and bubbles so followed that theme. 

Now, I did like the quilt when I was done, but I have always wanted to just take my ruler and rotary cutter and just cut into a finished quilt.... but have never done so.  Who wants to ruin a large quilt?  So I did.  Then I just resewed it back together as best I could and couched some yarn over the seam lines.  

Here are a couple comments from members of the group:

The slashed version is more lively or active, your eye wants to move around it, while the first one is restful.

 your results are very successful after slashing and reconstructing. There is a tension between the visual elements in the final piece that did not occur in your original piece.

What do you think?