July Comes to a Close

It’s been really hot and humid the past few days so I’ve been inside playing around some with both hand and machine work. I’m just trying out some ideas on one piece and the other is actually from a commercial embroidery design that I bought at a bargain price. I don’t have any digitizing software for my embroidery machine, but I do have editing software so I can resize, change colors, etc. till I get the design the way I want it. I’m not quite done with either piece so I don’t have any pictures yet.

It’s hard to believe this the last day of July already. The time just keeps flying by and I don’t know where most of it has gone. I remembered that I was going to show this a while back, but Blogger wasn’t co-operating, so I am giving it another try now.

The subject was of July and a patriotic theme, so I thought I would show this small shoulder bag I made about 3 or 4 years ago.

I had these fabrics just lying around and decided to make this:





















It is all 100% cotton. I fussy cut the eagle from the fabric I used inside the purse and sewed it to the flap.

Here’s the inside:





















The “button” is made from red wire that I coiled to the size I needed.

July Journal Quilt Reveal

* just a reminder to anyone who doesn't know, these journal quilts are not going to the Houston show this fall.*

What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you think of July? Why the Fourth, of course, and fireworks and days hotter than a firecracker. At least that is what I think of. And in keeping with the nature/garden theme, I have chosen the “Firecracker or Patriotic plant” (the annual not the perennial) for my subject for my July journal quilt.

I thought I had some pictures from a couple of years ago when I had these in pots on my deck, but I couldn’t find any. In case you are not familiar with this plant I found these photos online. This is a picture of the perennial which really is different from the annual, but you can get the idea of what it looks like. Red tubular firecracker-like flowers cover these plants.



























After choosing fabric for the background and the pot I chose three different green fabrics to cut the leaves from. I first applied fusible web to the fabrics and then cut the leaves and arranged them sort of snippets style. Fusible web was applied to two different red fabrics and then I cut several half inch strips from these, which I then cut into a million tiny little pieces. I then placed these one by one until I was satisfied with the look.

Now I know how Melody Johnson must have felt when she did her Matchstick Moon pieces. LOL! When everything was to my liking I fused it all down. I just did outline quilting on it and called it done.

This photo doesn’t really do justice to the green fabrics but here it is for what it's worth.

I was going to post some other pics, but blogger isn't co-operating AGAIN.

I am beginning to get really fed up with this blog.

More Playday Results

With this piece I first got it wet, and then I scrunched it up and brushed on 2 different colors of blue and then placed it in a baggy and let it sit for about 24 hours before taking it out and laying it out to dry.
















This is a piece of commercial fabric that looks like a hand dye (but isn’t). I really was just playing around with this one. I used a sponge to stamp it with gold paint and then I used a small foam stamp to get the lavender image. I am thinking of using the same stamp to go back and emboss the design and some embellishing then cut them apart and use them in another piece.

These are pieces of painted cheesecloth:




































And this is the rag I was using to clean up with:
















Looks interesting, don’t you think?

Roofing, Sewing and Results from Playday

DH was off this past week and so I haven’t really been able to do a whole lot. We spent 3 days putting a new roof on our shed (the one the humongous tree fell on back some time ago). Plus a lot of yard work.

I did manage to sew on 3 quilt labels the past couple of nights.

Since my day out with Karoda last week I have been contemplating on what my next endeavor into the wonderful world of “creating” will be. I went to the fabric shop and bought 2 yards of fabric for the backing for another one of my UFO’s but I know it will be awhile before I get back to working on it. I also bought Ricky Tims’ Convergence Quilts book. When I first became aware of his work, I was not all that interested in it for some reason. But now I have decided that I want to give it a try. I spent 4 hours picking out fabric. I won’t be able to start on it just yet, but hopefully within the next few weeks I will have something to show.

I also went to Hobby Lobby the other day and came home with several things including a couple of magazines with some nice eye candy in them.

Speaking of Karoda I finally took some pictures of some of the pieces I made that day.

These 2 pieces I created by spraying them first with water and then sprayed with fabric paints.






































Blogger isn't co-operating and won't let me post any more pictures, so I will try again later to finish posting.