Dogs on Quilts & Dog Art Quilt

I've finally got my act together and am ready to enter the Pet's on Quilts Show hosted by the lovely Lily Pad Quilting! 

Girls are you ready?  Perk up and look lively!! 

Here we go!  If we are meeting for the first time I'd like to say welcome and I'm so glad you've come!  So are the girls!! 

Katie and Sammy are two high energy, quilt loving, golden retrievers.  Katie is on the left, she's a little over 5 years old.  And Sammy is just a pup coming in at a little over 1 year old.  They are posing for you today on my most recent finish, the Rainbow quilt, which I admit is getting a ton of use even in the summer. 

For the Dog Themed 'Art' Quilt category, I am also debuting my whole cloth painted quilt.  I think I am going to call this one "Puppy  Dreams," but don't say I didn't warn you that the name might change a million more times. 

Yes, you guessed it, that's Sammy in fabric and paint!!  I have to say that I am totally in love with this new process and the freedom of multimedia!  

It all started with the introduction to painting on fabric through an event that was hosted by my Art Quilt special interest group.  It was honestly one of those moments in a lifetime that you feel a spark ignite and all you want to live for is for painting on fabrics. 

Ok, so maybe it wasn't that strong, but I did pretty much order my own set of fabric paints within a week and then got to work.  I decided to start with a picture I took of Sammy for a challenge called "Darling" issued through the Creative Tuesday Co-op.  If you want to be inspired or to feed a need to continuously create, then I highly recommend the group!!  

Once I was satisfied with how Sammy looked, I heat set the paint and got to work on adding fur texture through quilting.  I admit the quilting was a bit nerve-wrecking, but I am so pleased with the results!

Even with the quilting progressing nicely, I still had to do something with the plain white background.  You see Sammy embodies puppy hood... never stopping, runs everywhere, she's loud, she adores toys, and I might even venture to say that hiking and swimming are her favorite things to do.  So, I needed a background to match her personality.

Here's a close up of raw edge appliqued green fabric to create a mossy ground.  The texture is finished off with more free motion quilting and a few dabs of paint for drama.

I also added bits of raw wool roving in blues and greens to create the effect of the wind swirling around her.  The last touch was to cut those flowers out of white lace, tack them on, put a pearl bead in the middle, and then a touch of orange to help them pop.

Yes, I really enjoyed bringing this quilt to life!  And I'm happy to be sharing it with you today too!

And because I couldn't resist just one more picture of our little ham.  Here is one more of Sammy from my instagram feed.  I'm @cwiltex if you want to follow along there.

It was a pleasure to have you over!  Wishing you sunshine and endless creativity!

Rainbow Quilt {All Finished}

I'm so bad.  I can't believe I left you hanging like that.  And teasing you with the likes of quilting the Rainbow quilt, and talking about how it's done, but then skipping right to the using it part and not taking photos.  If anything it's just a testament to how much I'm enjoying this finish. 

Here is a quick photo of the quilt before I threw it in the wash for the first time.  Always a nerve wrecking moment!

An up close look at the flower quilting. ~love!~

And the moment we've all be waiting for.... here is what the ticker tape quilting looks like after one run through the wash.  I'm totally digging the soft frilled edges of the scraps!



I did have a bit of thread cutting once it came out of the dryer, but it's totally worth the effort.  Did I mention it's soft?

So many colors and so many memories all wrapped into one.  Nearly each scrap holds dear memories for me and reminds me of past projects.

I can already see it's going to be the perfect throw around quilt for the summer.  It would be easy to take it to the beach or throw an impromptu picnic.

The back of the quilt features a sheet from when I was a kid.  The sheet is so tender and soft and really adds to the memories contained in the fibers.

A better look at the reverse flower quilting.  Yes, I quilted this one upside down and traced the flowers for my quilting pattern.  It's a technique I definitely see myself using again on a future quilt.

See what I mean about the picnic potential?  I'll bring the sun tea... all we need is chips and salsa.  And yes, I'm one of those that really use a quilt to bits.  This particular beauty had coffee on it (courtesy of one small blonde puppy) within hours of it leaving the dryer. 

And more proof that it's already well employed and being loved. 

Hope you're off to a great start to the week.  Now, go hug a quilt you love and think about all the stitchy love that went into creating it!

WIP: {Rainbow is Quilted!}

Well, there I was last night tracing the daisies on the rainbow quilt and I got to the last one!  What a home run moment.  I enjoyed the free motion quilting practice and it was a wonderful opportunity to get to know my newly refurbed sewing table --which worked marvelously! -- but you know when you reach that moment on a quilt where you've had enough?  Yup, I was just getting to that point.  Thank goodness I was in the homestretch.

It's going to get it's first wash today and I am on pins and needles to find out how the scraps on the front fray and get softer with a wash.  And so as not to leave you totally hanging, here is sneaky peak of what those flowers look like on the front.  If you remember, I've been quilting this one upside down and I couldn't be happier with the results.  Oddly enough, the Mister even said how much he liked this quilt.  Cool huh?

With the Bottled Rainbows project wrapping up I can feel myself mentally moving on.  So, let's take a look at the updated project list and talk about where I'm headed next. 

I do have my triangles mostly cut and the beginnings of the arrangement on my design wall for Patchwork Prism, but need some uninterrupted time to get that one to the point of sewing the pieces together.  Need to finish this by June 25th to be considered for the amazing prizes... not sure I'm going to make that deadline. 

You'll notice I also took the idea of hand sewing a separate triangle quilt off my list.  Funny how quickly I've had enough of triangles.

This Week's Work in Progress (WiP) Stats:

Last WiP Wednesday Total: 9
New Projects: 0

Finished Projects: 1 (bottled rainbows is off to it's first wash!)

Total WiP's: 4

I'm taking liberties to refine my list and really only count what I'm working on, so with the finish, I'm only going to count four active projects (Prisms, Mushrooms, Hawk, and the City/State Landscape).  

Speaking of mushrooms, I wanted a project that I could hand sew and work on slowly throughout the summer.  I was going to do triangles, but since that desire has faded I looked at my list and decided I could do needle turned applique mushrooms.  Sounds so fancy, doesn't it?  I have started making a few mushrooms, but am still working out the design and the sizes.  I will hopefully have more to show next week.

But the quilt that is just begging to get attention is my hawk quilt.  I have had a hawk quilt in my head for nearly three months now and since it's not going away then I guess it's going to come out in fabric.  And it's perfect really because then I can enter it in the Wings and Things show coming up in October.  I did make some brown feather colored fabric over the weekend in my fabric painting adventure.  I have also been collecting photos and sketching.  Here is a page from my sketch book below.  And yes, I'm thinking of making three hawks for this quilt.  I must be out of my mind.

And I've thrown in a picture of the pups for good measure.  I still laugh... all that space on the trail and they have to walk smashed together.  Almost hard to tell if that's one dog or two, right? 

Hope your sewing time is plentiful and your creativity is never ending!

WIP {Basting & Quilting the Rainbow Quilt}

Well, I got around to picking the backing for the scrappy rainbow quilt and ended up using a colorful flower sheet from my childhood.  My Mom had saved it for me and we talked about how it would make a nice quilt back.  And I think she was totally right.  The white in the sheet also helps balance out the intense amount of color on the front.  As a bonus it's so very soft from all the washing and use!

This Week's Work in Progress (WiP) Stats:

Last WiP Wednesday Total: 9
New Projects: 0

Finished Projects: 0 (almost done with bottled rainbows)

Total WiP's: 9

I decided to finish this quilt a little different than normal.  A little easier even.  I put the right sides of the quilt and the backing together and then stitched around the edge leaving a portion unsewn. 

The unsewn part is then used as a hole to turn the quilt right sides out.  I sttiched a 1/4 seam all the way around and closed up that hole.  For the life of me I can't think of the name for this!  But, it means that the quilt edge is finished now and I will not be adding binding which is perfect because my lack of ability to settle on a binding color/fabric was keeping me from finishing this one.

Then, I was off to add a bit of quilting.  Since the front is so busy I was also experiencing paralysis in deciding how to quilt this one.  Then it struck me.  Turn the quilt over and trace the flowers in the quilting.  The organic shape of the flowers and wide spacing should help soften the harsh square lines of the front.  Sometimes I really surprise myself!

I settled on an off white thread for the front and put that in the bobbin since the quilt is upside down and I am using a bright turquoise on the back.

I'm a little more than half way now and head over heels for the result.  Here is a closer look at the blue outlining I am doing on the daisies; cool, right?  And yes, I have snuck a few looks at the front and it's pretty cool too.  My last touch may be to add a quote or happy saying around the edge of the quilt, but I'm still deciding on that one.  Any ideas on a quote you would capture on a bright quilt like this?

...and I still can't wait to throw this one in the wash and see how the edges of the scraps on the front soften up. 

Don't you just love it when a quilt can excite you this much?  Sew on!

WIP {Starting Prism and Veggies!}

As promised, here is a better look at the rainbow all put together.  And that's Katie there under the quilt.  I just couldn't resist a photo with her cute little fluffy tail there and wee little bum!  Next steps with this one include basting, quilting, and binding.  You can read more about this one in yesterday's post.

This Week's Work in Progress (WiP) Stats:

Last WiP Wednesday Total: 8
New Projects: 1 (the hand sewing ribbons)

Finished Projects: 0

Total WiP's: 9

With the rainbow blocks off the design wall I didn't leave the space empty for long.  The triangles for my very own Patchwork Prism jumped right up on the wall. 

I am still fussing around with placement and loving it!  I'm also happy that this is going to be a nice and big quilt!  I'm following the quilt along found at Sweet Diesel Designs if you are interested. 

This little stitchy was started in a power outage and really came together all on it's own.  Is it done yet, should it be an art quilt mini, a pillow?  I'm not sure yet. 

But I have the piece right in my workspace so that it can tell me what it wants next.  It's one of those go-with-the-flow kind of projects and I'm excited to see where it takes me. 

And for the sake of sharing all sorts of progress, I wanted to share that my garden is growing!!  I'm smitten that a lot of these plants are coming up from seeds I have sown.  Makes it extra special. 

In the bottom of the photo you can see green bean plants and peppermint.  That's the pea trellis toward the back. 

And I couldn't resist a sunny photo of the rock pathway.  I have such a sweet spot for rocks and the Mister really hit a home run when he put this garden together for me.  I love that I can bounce through the garden and fuss over a plant or pull a weed without worrying about where my footing is. 

In this one, you can see a bell pepper plant and tiny butternut squash in the lower left.  The tall plant about midway up on the left is a rouge peony that's going to be moved.  On the right, you can see a tomato plant and the tiny leave line to the left of the tomatoes is arugula.  I'll be sharing this over at Outdoor Wednesday with A Southern Daydreamer too!

I'm looking forward to more work on both the sewing and gardening fronts!  They both have a way of calming me and making me smile!! 

Wishing you a lovely day!

Rainbows Almost Done

So, one thing about being home and nursing my allergic reaction was that I found a lot of time for movies and sewing.  And yes, thank you, I am feeling much better -- nearly 100% now.

I am also happy to report that all of my bottled rainbow blocks are sewn!  Aren't they pretty?  I really had a hard time pulling them off the design wall to put them all together, but I am also quite giddy to see what a washing does to the edges of the scraps!  Come on soft fraying!

I have had a lot of time take in the beauty around me too and realized that my red rose bush is blooming!  Last year I had one rose late in the summer, this year since the deer seem to really have left my flowers alone, I see a ton of buds coming!

I also am seeing this pink rose bush bloom for the first time.  Again, this was a plant that the deer ate regularly and once the buds were eaten it took a year to nurse the rose bush back to life again.  I had no idea these were pink (it was here when we moved in), and they smell divine!

Our mountain laurel is also starting to open up.  I only have one bunch of these flowers on the whole bush, but I removed a vine that must have been choking it as well as some dead branches.  I bet this one makes a nice come back next year.  And in the meantime, I just love this one!

I couldn't resist bringing flowers into the house.  Here is that pink rose.  Really smells so good.  And it doesn't get much cuter than a rose in a tiny mason jar.  I'm also joining the Cottage Garden Party at Fishtail Cottage!

Sammy approved.  And she is a hoot as she had to smell each and every rose or peony I cut and brought in.  This one has such a curiosity for all things, makes me laugh sometimes!

Once I finally mustered the energy, I took the bottled rainbow blocks down one by one and started to put them together.  It's funny piecing with batting already in place. 

And yes, I am just loving my sewing table.  The extra table arm on the left there was so handy to hold and prop up the weight as the quilt grew in size. 

Once the last seam was sewn, I dashed outside to put it on the laundry line to take all that rainbow-y goodness in.  I'm a horrible tease... aren't I?

It's everything bright and cheery as I hoped!  I adore seeing all those scraps in a place where they can be enjoyed and the colors are so much fun that you can't help but smile when you see them. 

I am also sharing my progress at Quilt Story for Fabric Tuesday.  I haven't had much to share there lately, but it's nice to be back!

We'll have a closer look at my works in progress tomorrow.  And I've nearly figured out the backing and binding, but haven't started the basting or quilting yet.  Maybe this week.

Thanks for popping in and hope you are easing into the week nicely!

And Like That...

...the last bottled rainbow block is designed, pinned, and ready for sewing.  I'm in the homestretch!

Living up to the Challenge

I worked diligently on the one challenge I set for myself this week which was to finish up my remaining bottled rainbows blocks.  Let's take a look at the progress I made.

You can read more about Amy's One Thing, One Week Challenge here.

This blue block got filled in and pinned (will be sewn today).

Same with the yellow block.  Just love the diagonal lines in this one!

The red one is almost filled in.  Looks like I have a lot of red fabrics with dots.  Too funny!

And I believe the lime green is also one you haven't seen yet.

Did I finish up the challenge as I set it for myself?  Not exactly.  But, in a way it worked, because I have a renewed motivation to get this one to the finish line.  So much so, that I cleared my design wall and put the whole thing up as a reminder of how darn cool it's going to be all finished!

Neat looking, isn't it?  I am getting more and more excited about this one for sure!

I also signed up for the upcoming Friday Night Sew In.  Clearing some time for myself to sew, sew, sew!  If you are interested you can read more and join in here.