Diary of a Long Arm: Week 3 - Flowing Feathers

I have been finding feathers really hard on the longarm. I wanted to practice them. I still have my peacock that started my progression in feathers on my domestic machine. I decided to add some fabric to the peacock and just quilt feathers - all sorts of different feathers. Why not have both my first feather practice pieces together?

I really regretted the seam I put in that goes across the top of the peacock - I wish I had worked out a way to have one continuous piece of fabric to avoid this seam.



My feathers are really began to come along after a little while and that seam was still screaming at me - I didn't want to waste fabric on a practice piece - I didn't know it was going to look so nice.

Candy Free Valentine Idea: Flower seeds

We can't seem to leave the idea of flowers behind for Valentines Day. This year our little Valentine tokens are again candy free.

We made little sacks out of burlap, tied at the top with red ribbon. The sacks are made from some burlap scraps I had - sewn together with a simple red zigzag stitch. They were very very easy and quick to make.

On each little sack is an appliqued red cotton heart.

On the label it says 'You are my sunshine'.

Can you guess what is inside?

SUNFLOWER SEEDS! What kid doesn't like watching a giant sunflower grow?

I had thought about making heart shaped seed bombs - but I was so worried about doing them wrong and harming the seeds - I didn't want to send out anything that wouldn't grow! I think we will experiment with seed bombs this summer.

You can read about our previous flowery themed valentine gifts here:
Valentine Egg Carton Flowers
Valentine Lollypop Flowers

Diary of a Long Arm: End of Week 2

People give me all sorts of materials - all sorts of clothing, fabric (cotton, upholstery, antique.) Sometimes this fabric sits there for years before I find a good purpose for it. A friend of mine gave me this cotton/linen/canvas type material which has some really pretty flowers embroidered on the top. After I had washed the fabric it felt really nice. I put in a double layer of cotton batting and quilted along the embroidered pattern on Freddie.

Once this is all done I am going to cut the quilted piece into two baby quilts and give them to our church.  This is the view from underneath the frame.

Memorial Quilt: Bear Paw Shirt Quilt

When I was first given the materials for this quilt I was a little scared. I had no idea how to make this pile of shirts into a beautiful quilt for the family.

The lady who wore these shirts used to be the mayor of our town. With every Memorial Quilt I make - I feel so privileged that the families entrust me with their loved ones clothes.

Preparing for this quilt took a long time - in ladies shirts there are many more darts and seams that in a typical mans shirt. Some of the shirts were made of very sheer fabric and they all needed interfacing. I use the lightest interfacing I can find - I like ' '

I quilted this quilt on my new Fusion - Freddie using a design I call an 'octopus flower'. I loaded this quilt on day 5 of having this new machine which was either brave or foolish. Perhaps both. 

The family wanted to use the quilt in their house in Vermont - which is a traditional farmhouse. I wanted the quilt to be of a traditional origin - so we decided on the classic bear paw block. The Bear Paw is a very easy block to put together - and very easy to chain piece as well. I sewed my blocks together on point.

With every quilt I make I find it hard to stand back and be totally pleased with my finished project - I can always see where I could have improved something - but with every project I take on I learn so much. I can't wait to make more memorial quilts for families in 2014.

Diary of a Longarm: Day 6-8

I have loaded the memorial quilt that I have been avoiding to quilt so long on Bernie. Loading on a longarm really is so easy and the lack of 505 spray & endless smoothing while on my knees made me feel like there is hope in this purchase.

For this quilt I was using ladies shirts. All sorts of different patterns & materials. The family wanted to use the quilt in their house in Vermont - so we agreed on the traditional Bear Paw pattern.




I find the Bear Paw pattern quite a strong and bold pattern so I wanted to use a softer pattern for the quilting. I decided to use a pattern that I had made easily on Day 5. I call it the Octopus Flower - I'll post the pattern soon.

WIP: Kids Painted Quilt - Spin Art

A good friend of mine gave her kids these really cool Spin Art Centers for Christmas. Of course knowing my love of turning any kids art project into a quilting challenge she invited me and some of my fabric over to play. We did try using a salad spinner as well - but the salad spinner did work as well as these little machines - perhaps because with the salad spinner you add the paint before you spin - as with these machines you add the paint while they spin.

I stuck some black cotton down to paper using a light layer of 505 spray and cut them into the required 4 1/4" squares. In our Nancy bottles I mixed my beloved BioColor paint with BioColor Fabric Medium, a little water and either Make It Glitter or Make It Shimmer.

Our girls quickly got going decorating the squares of fabric.

Here are our finished squares. 

We made an awful lot of them! 

My idea is to make the squares into a quilt - and the spin art squares will be fireworks. 

I am excited to see how it turns out.

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Our other kid painted fabric projects have included:

Kid painted Teepee

Kid painted Garden Picnic Blanket

Kid painted Quilt - Blotter Art

Kid painted Quilt - Throwing Paint

Kid painted Quilt - Spraying Paint

Kid painted Quilt - Shaving Foam Paint

Kid painted Quilt - Watercolor Circles

Diary of a Longarm: Day 5

Something is happening. Things are improving. I'm feeling happier.