Simple 4 patch

Look how wonderful a simple 4 patch can be if you use Kaffe Fassett shot cottons and place them into a woven texture.  The colors give a modern feel to a simple pattern.  This has been on the wall for over a month now.  With the VIC and workshops, I haven't been able to take it off the wall and start quilting the top.  It measures 82 x 82 now, so I probably won't put a border on.  I have a 80 x 20 cotton polyester batting that could fit.  But after hearing Pat Paulys lecture about the virtues of wool batting, I might just wait to buy some wool batting.

I have started to use the leftovers of the 42 fat quarter Kaffe shot cottons.  There was only a 5 inch strip x 18 inch left.  What can you make with these small strips of fabric?  My next project.  You'll just have to wait and see.  I have already finished cutting all the fabric.  Now if I can find the time to piece them together.

Simple 4 patch

 This is what I am working on.  I have cut all the strips and most of the squares and have started to piece the two together. Isn't it beautiful.  The Kaffe Fasset colors are just such a joy to work with.

 I love this kind of mindless sewing.  You have your strips and stack of squares on the side and sew them together.

This is one set of the four patch.  I will sew another set of the same colors.  Cut them apart and sew the four patch together.Then I will have 21 four patch sets which will make 1 row.  Back to sewing and cutting.

Feed Me

  

 This is an Adult Bib that is used in nursing homes, hospitals and assisted living facilities for adults to use to protect their clothes while eating.  After Doris' stroke she does not have full control of her left side and uses bibs like these during meals that can get messy.  It is made of a terry cloth material with a white cotton binding and a velcro closure that doesn't work anymore.

This is my first attempt at making a new bib.  I traced the original onto a bath towel and cut out the shape.  I used a grey bias tape and and tried to sew the tape around the edges by just folding the edges around the towel and sewing it.  It was not too successful.  The new velcro from JoAnns $1 dollar craft bin works well though and holds the ends together great.  I took a label and wrote Doris name on this bib.

This is the second one that I made.  This time I ironed the bias tape flat.  Sewed a 1/4 inch of the tape around the edges of the cut out towel and then hand stitched the bias tape to the back.  Just like a quilt binding.  Feed Me was her brothers idea.  Now all Doris has to do is point to Feed Me if she gets hungry.  The lettering was scraps of colorful fabric that were hand sewn on.

 This is the third bib that I made.  Cute.  I haven't finished hand sewing the binding so you can see the edges.  Its kind of fun making these things. Just a little bit of imagination and color and you turn a blank white towel into a happy face.

fabric postcards

These are the 5 postcards I made yesterday.  They were supposed to go to the fundraiser for the VIC show, but Larry has put a kapu on them.  Which means he has taken them for birthday gifts.  Now I have to make more postcards, so I thought I'd better write it down so I can remember how I did it.

First I selected the hula girls and cut them out from one of my favorite fabrics.  I backed them with Wonder Under.

Then I carefully cut them out with a sharp scissors.

I picked out some bright hawaiian fabric and ironed it onto the Fast 2 Fuse backing.  Careful to place the release paper on the bottom so it wont stick to the ironing board.

Then I ironed on the hula girl to the fabric.  I used a clear polyester thread and sewed around the hula girl to stitch it down to the fast 2 fuse and hawaiian fabric.  Then I cut around the edges of the hawaiian fabric to fit the 4 x 6 fast 2 fuse piece.

I cut out the post card backing and then ironed it onto the back of the fast 2 fuse.  I used a bias binding to sew around the edges.  After seeing all the postcards from the KPFA craft fair and the different techniques used to bind the edges, I decided on this binding.  It gives it a nice finished look.  If I didn't have the bias binding, I could satin stich around the edges or single stitch or use a yarn.  The problem with using the bias binding is how tiny it is.  I think next time I might glue it on first.

Identification

This is my entry for the National Park Service World War II challenge quilts.  It is a picture of an identification badge that was posted on the Rosie the Riverter flicker photo page on their website.  The original picture was named RORI 2628.  I contacted the curator by email and asked permission to use this photo for my project.  They were so helpful and actually attached the photo to the email.  I chose this picture because of the red border.  The red is very striking and had a wonderful white scrollwork throughout the red.  

 I used Bubble Jet Set and printed it on a Kona white cotton.  The main picture was one 8 x 11 sheet , the lettering were 3 other sheets of treated fabric.  The hardest part to recreate was the lettering for IDENTIFICATION.  At first I thought I could just print it, but since I was using my own red for the border, I had to carefully cut out each letter after backing it with wonder under.  I used a 100 wt silk thread and a number 6 needle to carefully sew around each tiny letter.

The scrollwork in the red border was challenging.  I tried drawing it on, printing it on tissue paper and then sewing it on, using a circle to sew it and really just used all three techniques to make that elaborate scroll.

I thought I was going to use an actual blouse for the shirt, and cut up an old shirt.  My idea was to have the collar flap extend out of the quilt.  But that did not work so well.  I found some stripe fabric instead and traced templates of the shirt and coat.  I backed the fabric with wonder under and then used the templates to cut out the fabric.   All the pieces were ironed on the quilt and then carefully stitched down.

She looks like she is in a lineup with the height measurements in the back.  Hopefully IDENTIFICATION will be picked for the VIC show.  I wrote about how I could identify with this picture.  Since I live right next to the Rosie the Riveter National Park, it will be nice to see this quilt in the show.

Identification has been accepted to the Rosie the Riveter National Park Challenge quilts. Feb 2014

Happy New Year 2014

 HAPPY NEW YEAR 2014

Last night I decided to eat the mochi from the new years mochi display.  Unfortunately, I waited too long, because the mold has gotten to it first.  It still looks so pretty, that I thought you might enjoy a picture.  My father would say to cut the mold out and cut it into small pieces and eat it.  I'm too lazy and since we still had frozen mochi, I made that instead.

 This is my next project that has been on my mind.  42 fat quarters of Kaffe Fassetts woven cottons.  Aren't they beautiful.  You can clearly see the woven texture on the fabrics.  At first I sorted them into lights and darks.  In this arrangement, the darks would go from the left to right and the lights would go from the top to bottom.

After playing around with it, I decided to make two stacks of dark to light.  In this plan, the blue greens would go from left to right and the red yellows would go from top to bottom.  This would make a dark section on the top left and a light section in the bottom right.  Gradation coloring.  Isn't it fun.

Rayna Gillman

 This is a quilt that I made using the fabric from Rayna Gillmans fabric stencil workshop.  The design of the quilt is actually from a picture from Sunset Magazine.  Ellen had brought the pictures to our mini group and I liked this picture.  It makes you think of construction.  How am I going to draft the block.  Where is the block?  I had to figure out the dimensions of the blocks and triangles.  I used construction paper to do a layout of the design and then just started cutting the fabric pieces.  All the fabric used in this quilt were hand dyed, hand stenciled and painted with fabric paints.

Doesn't it have a very spring like feel to the colors.  This is a very different color palette than what I have been making lately.  As soon as I put it on the wall, it really brightened the room.  I think I'm going to keep it on the wall for a while.  It will remind me that spring is on the way.  Just like the first daffodils of spring.

I haven't decided on the quilting yet.  It is stabilized by quilting in the ditch around all of the squares and triangles.  I think it needs more quilting yet I haven't decided how.  In the meantime it is pinned to my dining room wall, so I can keep looking at it.  It adds a nice modern touch to my white wall.

This quilt has been given to Mrs Chiu for her 70th Birthday.