The Orange Quilt

One More Bee and Feathers

I had one more rejected bee and I just couldn't throw the little guy away so I quickly (I mean quickly) made one more bee mini with a bunch of scraps and also practiced feather quilting too. I didn't even bother changing the color of the thread, brown! Oh well.

 I hate basting.

 But I love quilting! I saw a quilt like this somewhere on the internet and kind of shamelessly made one that looked a little like it, it is fairly traditional. I really loved the colors and the white which has now given me a great opportunity to practice free motion feather quilting.

 In each block I am doing a different kind or shape of feather and filling in if I need to with pebbles or swirls or something else.

 

 

Feather Practice

 So here is a sample of different feathering techniques learned from youtube and the book you see below. I love feathers and hadn't realized how many different ways exist to make them, and how many different kinds of feathers you can create and how they don't have to be perfect. The important part is the curve at the end, but they can be long, short, skinny, fat all in the same feather!!

If you go to youtube and search "quilting free motion feathers" you'll get lots of video demonstrations. There was one in particular that really helped get my feathers more rounded and uniform, but they are far from perfect. It's a good thing "perfect" is not my thing, I just want to get better.

This book Dream Feathers by Peggy Holt has some great tips and ideas.

Now I have to baste a quilt in order to continue my practice. I almost always practice free motion on real quilts, why not? What am I going to do with all these swatches anyway? 

Scrappy Trip Around The World Finished

 This quilt if finally finished! It was fun to piece. The quilting is a little of this and a little of that. I didn't think the quilting would show up much so I kind of used it as a practice quilt and did some Mctavishing, swirls, curls, feathers. It is a little hard to see in these pictures.  It has a red orange border, of course. So pretty.

 It is my goal to be a really good free motion feather stitcher this summer. I watched a bunch of quilting videos in my studio the other day and made a sample which I'll share tomorrow. Feathers are so fun, and they can fill in all kinds of crazy spaces.

Happy Father's Day

 

Patrick, the best father kids could ever have.

 

Retiring Queen Bee

 One more bee, this time for a retiring teacher at school, who has taught for 40 years! She and her husband are both teachers and are retiring together. I had to make her a "Queen Bee" quilt with a self satisfied smile on her face, of course. The flowers are supposed to represent all the children she has nurtured and guided through the years.

 I used a stencil painted background and added fused flowers, stems, and the bee. I used layered cheesecloth for the bee's wings fused with Misty Fuse. The faces are created with fabric markers. I fused everything down and then free motion quilted the rest using mostly Sulky rayon threads.

 The bee was drawn and painted with fabric markers and Dyna Flow dye/paint. Ironed to set and fused on. I wanted to extend the size so I used a border fabric sort of blended in with the background fabric instead of being starkly contrasty.

Flowers and made with hand dyed fabrics and the bottom strip of background fabric was stenciled with fabric paints, just an experiment, it has some metallic paint on it too.

I like to use a decorative border around the edges, this time I used white because I wanted it to kind of blend in instead of stand out. This border stitching also provides a way of attaching the hanging system on the back, where I place a dowel. It's about 18" x  24". Check out http://ninamariesayre.blogspot.com/ for Off the Wall Friday!

I really had fun making this one! Shout to all my colleagues, happy summer vacation!



Busy As Bees Here

 I made this for our PTA President who has gone above and beyond the call of duty at our school. He is especially attentive to all the teachers and I just wanted to show my appreciation as he steps down from his two year term.  His wife is a teacher at our school and his daughters are students (one has graduated). They have all sacrificed time and energy to make our school better. So he's the "Kingbee".

One more day of school, then vacation!!! Yippee!

Too bad I am nursing a sore throat right now but hopefully the worst of it is over, because I am ready to play in the studio!