Inspired by my Frustration

I'm still here and sewing. Lately I've had some frustrations, which inspired this piece, called T'd Off. It was in response to a T challege given by the quilting guild.

Practice

Practice might not make "perfect" but it does make for improvement.

Stoles

At last I'm posting pictures of the stoles I've made. Pentecost, Guess the season??, and close up views of the Lenten Stole, made with free motion embroidery.

As valuable as gold.

I did a little thread shopping yesterday for a free motion embroidery project that I’m intending to do.  I needed some rayon thread in several shades of purple, as well as some heavier threads in variegated tans and greens.  Wow.  That little tiny bag of thread cost a fortune.  But you never can have too much thread, right?  Maybe too much fabric stash, but not too much thread. 

Quilt Finished!

Finally, after too many years, the Big Quilt for my daughter is finished! I originally bought the pansy fabric in about 1999, then spent a couple of years trying to decide how to use it without cutting up the pansys. Eventually, I bought 16 Moda Marbles for the cornerstones and trellis rectangles. It is queen sized.

The backing is hand dyed fabric from Primrose Gradations, Two Harbors, MN., a company no longer in business. It feels almost like flannel and looks like suede. The top was all put together in 2000, but then the big procrastination set in. Mostly, I had to learn better techniques of free motion quilting. And I had to figure out why I was having trouble with the tension of the quilting thread. The secret is to turn the top tension way, way down, I finally decided. But the biggest "technique" I learned was to use the Galloping Horse Technique: If you can't see the mistakes from a galloping horse, they won't be noticed by most people.

The design, fabric choices, and fabric arrangement of this quilt is original. The quilting design was partly based on a quilting stencil I purchased. The name of the quilt is Faithful Pansys.

I don't have to worry about it not being used, as we had so many people sleeping over at our house last weekend that it was put to use immediately. See my other blog for that info.

So Cold

It was 38 below Zero when we got up this morning. I have hand work to do on my big quilt...burying threads. This is the just what I need on my lap in this weather.

Epiphany Wall Hanging

This fabric said Epiphany to me, so I made six of these wall hangings for special friends (and me.)