Using My Entire Design Wall

I am fortunate to have almost 30 feet of pinable design wall in my studio.

This means I can have a lot of work on it at one time.

Some of the work is in the early stages. Others are ready to be layered and quilted.

I often have several pieces pinned on top of others as it is a good way to keep them wrinkle free and also be able to find them!

I often hang finished work on the design wall – both to photograph and just to enjoy and decide what I want to do with it.

If you are a regular reader of my blog you have probably seen all these at one time or another.

I also can study things and make design decisions, come up with quilting designs or make a decision if a piece is worth going ahead with.

Another benefit is I LOVE color and having work on the design wall surrounds me with color – in a variety of colors and color combinations.

If you are a quilter you might want to think if there are any other places in your studio or home you can hang work while you are working on it.

Could you cover a bookcase with felt using a tension curtain rod to hold the felt in place?

Could you tape an almost completed piece to a place on your wall with painter’s tape?

Could you layer work on your design wall like I do?

Put on your thinking cap and let me know what ideas YOU come up with to increase your space for a design wall.

A Gorgeous Quilt – If I Do Say So Myself!

This is the quilt that suddenly moved to the top of my list of quilts to finish.

It is the perfect quilt for Jessica’s room.

The quilting is finished with the exception of the triangles on each side. I have a pattern designed for those areas. It is not so easy to mark a quilt when the batting is already in place, especially wool batting.

Once it is marked the quilting should not take long. I am not sure if I will be facing this or adding a matching binding. Bindings are so much easier and I think it will stabilize the edges better. Of course I will  add a casing at both the top and bottom so it hangs perfectly.

It will finished approximately 62 inches square.

Almost A Potato Chip Quilt!

My friend Pauline sent me this photo of a quilt she made using the idea I use to make a potato chip quilt.

This is what she had to say about it:

Kinda, sorta a potato chip quilt?

After seeing your tutorial, I thought "what a great idea!!"

I made a 3" wide strip that ended up just over 216 feet long. Then, I folded the strip and sewed it using the potato cop directions. I used 3" strips & a longer length so I would end up with a quilt 80"x80".

Still didn't make a dent in my black & white strips I cut for my last quilt ;-)

Hers is bigger and there are no chips.

She has so much going on and she did it masterfully.

Pauline LOVES black and white and you might guess it when you see this quilt!

I have to say “I absolutely LOVE this quilt.”

This method is a great tool in your quilting tool box. What are you going to use it for?

“New To Me” Wall Unit Ready To Enjoy

Some of you know I am an eBay enthusiast.

I purchased this 110” Dyrlund wall unit on eBay. I would guess it is somewhere between 30 and 50 years old. I love Scandinavian furniture. It is not perfect. The middle lower section has some surface imperfections on the top and one door won’t open. Other than that it is in great shape. I bought it because it had such a beautiful design. All the doors are tambour doors.

The pieces were taking up almost my whole living room when I returned from Florida 3 weeks ago. There were at least 25 different pieces that had to be put together to create this finished unit.

Yesterday it was set up in guest room 2 – or as I now call it – Jessica’s room!

After it was set up I filled the various cabinets. There are still several empty sections. It had a lot more storage room than I expected.

I then shopped for accessories to put on it. My shopping for accessories is done in my house! I look around and see what I have I can use.

On the floor I have this rya rug I purchased on eBay several years ago. The colors are very muted and there is some lavender, burgundy and many neutral colors in the rug. I found the vases and the tray in my other guest room, where they weren’t adding anything to the room. The tall art doll came from my dining room.

The music boxes came from a cabinet on the opposite wall of this room. The other accessories were on the cabinets that were previously in this spot. I am sure I will still do a little tweaking of the accessories I used, but for now it is done.

I will hang a quilt on the wall adjacent to the cabinet on the left. It is not finished so it is moving up to the top of my “finishing list”. It will be perfect for this room.

I hope Jessica enjoys this new wall unit in her room.

Contemplating A New Shibori Composition

Looking at all my fabrics I have dyed this season arranged together gets my creative juices flowing.

I am fortunate to have a lot of design wall space so I can have multiple pieces under consideration at the same time.

I rarely work on one piece from start to finish.

This is a close up of the fabrics I am using as I create this piece.

If you look carefully you will see I am using the fabrics that are second from the left, the middle three and the second from the right.

The three center fabrics were originally one fabric I underpainted. Then I cut that piece in 3 and pole wrapped each piece individually.

I am using two different fabrics as separating and border strips. I am trying to decide which ones I like the best. It is also possible I might use something entirely different.

The colors are much softer than what I ordinarily use in my work – with the exception of the red.

I also remembered I had some multicolor rick rack. I inserted that in one of the seams to see if I like the effect. the jury is still out on that idea and unless I have at least 2 more packages of it I can’t do it.

I like to share pieces as I work on them. It is a good record for me. It also gives you some insight into the way I work and how I get where I am going, with many detours along the way!

All 200 Fabrics I Dyed Recently!

I am laying all my fabrics I recently dyed on my ironing table. I thought I could take a picture of all of them, but I can’t get up high enough to get them all in the picture. Almost all of them were arashi shibori dyed on PVC poles. Many were dyed more than once.

It is going to take me several pictures to show them all to you.

By having them all laid out like this I can see what I have and I can start using them to design more compositions.

200 pieces of fabric are a lot. Some pieces are a half yard or more. Others are fat quarters or notebook paper size.

Whatever size they are, they are all exciting to see – IMHO!

I overlapped these more so you could see a wider range of the fabrics in one photo.

This shows some of the fabrics that were larger pieces. The patterns on many of them spanned the width of the fabric.

My goal was not to dye as many fabrics as I could. I was just trying to get a good assortment and a variety of types of fabrics.

I also usually mixed up too much dye so rather than throw it out I just kept dyeing.

If you try to count them and don’t find 200 it is because I have already used quite a few of them.

You have now seen them all. Stay tuned for some closer views!

I love all these fabrics and want you to enjoy them doing this puzzle with my favorite cut!

Family Bridal Shower

Sunday we had a Bridal Shower for my nephew Dave’s fiancée.

It was held at my SIL Mary and brother Bill’s house on the lake.

Tara is opening gifts and her sister is doing the recording of the gifts.

It was hard to get a picture of Mary as she never stood still. She was not standing still as I took this one either!

 

Some family members watching Tara open the gifts.

Tara with her gifts

The men were also in attendance but not often in camera range.  Some of the men and the kids actually braved the water. The pontoon boat made several trips around the lake.

It was a lovely shower. It was so good to see everyone and to meet Tara’s family.

The food was outstanding, as usual.

Mary and Bill did an outstanding job hosting this fine occasion.

I’m looking forward to seeing everyone again at the wedding next month.

Shibori Quilt–I Think I’ve Got It And Studio Progress Report

I would guess I have done at least 40 different arrangements trying to come up with a final composition.

I am quite certain this is it. I will be able to start sewing this together this week.

There may be a slight amount of tweaking the proportions, but I’m pleased with it.

I was able to study this as I reorganized the studio. How’s that for multitasking?

This is the cutting, sewing, and ironing areas.

That studio reorganization project is semi-complete!

The important things are arranged. Like the quilt, I still will have to tweak the proportions as to where I have some of the furniture. The new arrangements is functional and looks good.

The supplies are in their new homes. Now if I can only remember where things are when I need them. Hopefully I put them in the most logical places!

The lounge furniture is positioned for conversation, relaxation and a place to sit and read, do handwork or observe things on the design wall.

I am still boxing up the donation fabrics. I also have some things that I no longer need in the studio that need to be moved to other rooms.

Still More Potato Chip Quilts From Australia

Wendy Luff cut strips from her stash and added double zinger highlights. She was surprised at how easily it went together. 65” x 75”. Professionally quilted by Kay’s Quilts.

This is Duck Egg Blue by Kay White who used a Moda jelly roll in duck egg blue, golds and caramels with zingers in hand dyed accents. 60” x 70”. Professionally quilted by herself.

Susan Camm used a jelly roll of 25 fabrics, then added in a further 15 plus borders etc from her own stash to make a bed-sized quilt 69” x 75” called Pink Jelly. Professionally quilted by Kay’s Quilts.

Accented with Raspberries and Leaves is the second quilt by Wendy Luff. She used a Moda jelly roll of fabrics which included white, spots, green and red. It has a polar fleece back to make it really snuggly.

One of the things that makes all these quilts so successful is the choice of the “chips” or zingers.

I believe these were all shown at the Queanbeyan Quilters Exhibition.

I will have one more post showing more quilts from this group. What an enthusiastic group!

Potato Chip Quilts Are Alive And Well In Australia

My tutorial for my potato chip quilt made it to Australia and is thriving if these quilts are any indication!

Thanks to my friend Cassandra I have many new ones to show you.

I’ll share some today and more another day.

Autumn Toned by Robyn McPherson used an autumn toned Moda jelly roll to make this quilt, adding in two highlight squares between strips, one square in wide wale corduroy and one square in the border fabric of autumn leaves. 69” x 75”

For from Sky blue to Indigo Robyn McPherson used two packs of 20 Bali prints cut as 2 ½” strips in blues from indigo to sky blue, then added dyed fabric accents. 60” x 75. Professionally quilted by Kay’s Quilts

Robyn McPherson used a Moda jelly roll in natural colours highlighted by Dalmatian spots in positive and negative. 69” x 75” Professionally quilted by Kay’s Quilts.

Robyn McPherson used 30 strips of various creams, from buttermilk, yellow through to caramel. Interspersed with fussy-cut squares of gold-painted African style fabric. 69” x 75”. Professionally quilted by Kay’s Quilts.

The Kay’s Quilts mentioned as the quilter is not me!

Robyn seems to be the most prolific of the Potato Chip quilters so far!

Her selection of fabrics for each one is so unique.

Thanks Cassandra for sending me these photos and writing the descriptions for me.

If you missed the tutorial for the Potato Chip Quilt you can find it here:

http://quiltspluscolor.blogspot.com/2011/04/sunrise-sunset-quilt-tutorial.html

The name of the version in the tutorial is Sunrise – Sunset.

My Studio: More Good – Less Bad and Ugly!

This is one of the “new to me” pieces of furniture I am using to organize my studio.

I have filled it with my painting supplies and some projects. It is great to have similar things all in one location.

This is the desk we brought up from the guest room. It is now a sewing machine desk!

The three shallow drawers on the left were perfect for thread, sewing machine needles and other miscellaneous items I need at the machine.

This little middle drawer is perfect for all those little things I can never seem to find.

The drawer on the right was a file drawer. It took me a while to come up with a way to use it. There are many sewing items I want at my finger tips and I have always kept them in silverware caddies on top of the sewing table.  I was able to fit all three of them in the drawer and still have room for the machine instruction books. There are just as convenient as they were before (maybe more so) and the sewing area looks a lot neater. How’s that for thinking outside the box!

In case you think this is almost finished and everything is ship shape I’m sharing ONE Bad and Ugly photo with you today.

Maybe you can put the pieces together again and neaten up my studio?

My Studio: The Good, The Bad And The Ugly!

I had a lot of help from my family moving things around in my studio yesterday. They even brought up a desk I had in the guest room.

I thought I’d share the good with you first. This is the desk we brought up from the guest room.

It has enough space for my main sewing machine and my best serger. The other tables hold my other machines and my Embellisher.

You can also see the ironing devices are all concentrated in this area.

While this area is organized the rest of the room is a big MESS! I can not start putting things away in their new homes until I have one more piece of furniture moved upstairs.

This is just one view of the bad and the ugly!

Another view of the bad and the ugly.

This might just be the “baddest” of the BAD!

This looks like it might not be too bad – but it will all have to be reorganized now.

There’s even more – uglier and badder! I don’t think you need to see anymore to get the idea.

I am hoping everything will look as nice as the first picture  very very soon.

Family, Food, Fun And A Little Work Thrown In!

It was great having my Minnesota family here for the last two days.

The only time I can get everyone in the same picture is at dinner!

Dinner was Fluffy Meatloaf (from the Betty Crocker Cookbook), baked potatoes and broccoli in cheese sauce.

Dessert was home made chocolate cookies that Julie and Jessica made.

I have a set of 7 matching placemats I made. They fit the table perfectly and there was one for each of us.

Why would anyone make a set of 7 placemats? Sets usually have 4, 6, or 8.

I made this quilt and had a lot of leftover strips sets and triangles. Ten units was a perfect size and shape for a placemat. I had enough for 7 placemats!

Everyone had worked up a good appetite.

Early in the day we all worked moving furniture and deciding what furniture should go where and whether to save or get rid of many things. Greg and Nicholas brought a desk upstairs from the guest room. What did I do with the desk? Why did we work so hard? Tune in next time for “The Rest Of The Story”!

Amulets And Variations

Last winter I was down to my last two amulets in Wisconsin. Knowing that it was possible I’d have visitors I went up to the studio and found some other polymer clay items that I thought people would appreciate as much as an amulet.

I now have added a lot of regular amulets to the selection.

Last night my son and grandson stopped for a short visit. I think my grandson is the biggest fan of my amulets and may have the largest collection of them.

He was quite intrigued by the ones that were not the traditional amulet shape and selected one of them to add to his collection. His dad also selected one of the nontraditional ones.

I think I may have instilled the collector bug in my grandson. My son certainly has the collector bug. Maybe it is genetic?!?!

This gift ball was sent to my grandson and it was filled with amulets he added to his collection.

He told me he now keeps his amulets in the box he keeps the fiber postcards I send him. He also expressed the opinion that he hadn’t been receiving post cards recently. I guess I’ll have to do something about that.

I even have a puzzle for you today!