Flamingo Baby Quilt...Quilted!

Today I finished the quilting on the Flamingo fabric Yellow Brick Road baby quilt that I began a few weeks ago.

These are some of my favorite colors, and the flamingo print is really cute.  I decided to do an all-over feather design, with a few flowery swirls.

Next is the binding.  I will try to get that sewn on while we are here at our mountain cabin.

A Joyful Noise...Finished!

Still working on projects from the UFO basket...and finished the binding on another little quilt last night!

A Joyful Noise, by Jeanne Turner McBrayer, 2017

 This one has been "cooking" for quite some time.  It of course is made of scrap fabrics, mostly from baby quilts that I have made.  I followed directions from the blog Del Quilts, who learned this technique at a workshop with Rachel Maus called "It Doesn't Matter."  Basically, you sew lots of scraps and strips together, cut them into triangles, sew together into squares, and then arrange your squares in a pleasing manner.

Here is a detail of the quilting, which is my favorite free-motion meander with flowers, leaves, and feathers.

A Joyful Noise detail

The backing fabric is a very happy print of cherries and cherry blossoms.  In fact, everything about this little quilt makes me happy.  I borrowed from Psalm 100 for the title, A Joyful Noise.

A Joyful Noise label and cherry backing fabric

I am not sure where this little guy will end up, but I think it will be a table topper.

Amelie's Quilt-Finished!

Those snow days last week were very productive for me.

Amelie's Quilt has been mailed to California for my little great-niece.

I started this one a year ago at the Charity Sew-In day with the Whacky Ladies Bee.  Donna Sontag lets us meet in her shop, Whatever's Quilted, where she taught me to use her Accu-Quilt to make scads of 5-inch squares.  I used fabrics in lots of different widths to make rows, which I alternated with white sashing strips.  

The backing is a coordinating print, and I made a label from a novelty fabric with hummingbird hearts.

I still have to put the binding on the other quilt I made that day, which will be donated to charity.  It looks almost the same.

And for your daily dose of cute...here is my little granddaughter, Layla.  She is happy, even though her quilt is not finished yet!

Chenille Posies-Finished!

We had a snow and ice event here in Raleigh last weekend, resulting in us being housebound for a few days.  Result:  I finished a few projects!  Here is one quilt that is now complete.

I bought the top at an antique store in Pittsboro, North Carolina, last spring when I went to French Connections with two friends.  I think it was meant to be a summer-weight child's bedspread.  The edges were a little ragged, but I thought it would make a nice quilt.

I put this one on my Gammill in the mountain cabin in July, but it took months to finish it.  I did not know when I put it on that I had a broken leg.  I could not stand very long on that hard concrete floor!  

I quilted lots of leaves and swirls and echoed around the flower shapes.

When it came time to bind the edges, I recognized a problem.  I would have to cut off that last chenille border if I wanted to add a traditional binding.  I decided to just zigzag the binding and batting to the very edge of the top.  I think that solution is fine.  This one is not going in a quilt show!

You can see the pastel stripe flannel I used for the back.  It is turned up so you can see the stitched edge.

I think this quilt will live in my bedroom, where I will keep it on my chair.  

Ties That Bind

My art quilt group took a field trip last week to the Contemporary Art Museum in Raleigh, NC, to see the Ties That Bind exhibit.

From the CAM website:  Precious Lovell: The Ties That Bind is a collection of 15 apron studies that continue Precious Lovell’s exploration of the narrative potential of cloth and clothing with a focus that is both personal and universal. The exhibition explores the lives of women through the cloth and clothing they have historically made, worn and continue to make. The medium is the combination of techniques used by improvisational and traditional patchwork techniques of African American quilters with those of Korean women’s Jogakbo (Patchwork), Nubi (Quilting) and Bojagi (Wrapping Cloths).

The aprons are displayed on dress forms.  Each apron is represents a female ancestor of the artist's.  A symbol on the waistband represents the relationship to the artist.

Today is the last day of this exhibit.  We all liked seeing the different techniques used to make the aprons.  None of us had visited this venue before.  It was kind of hard to find a parking place on the day we attended because of many large cement-mixer trucks in the same block.  I managed to parallel-park, and we paid a dollar for the meter.  The museum admission was five dollars, but free for seniors over 65 (I qualify!)

After we viewed the exhibit, we went to lunch at Jose and Sons Mexican Restaurant in the next block (free parking in the adjacent parking lot.)  We all liked the delicious fresh food that they served.  It was a good outing!

Sewing and Painting Fun

Happy New Year from snowy North Carolina!  It snowed once over the holidays while we were at the mountain cabin, and again today here in Raleigh.  


On Thursday, my Wake Forest quilt bee met for our annual charity quilt sew-in day at Whatever's Quilted, Donna Sontag's shop.  It was so good to be with these good friends again and get caught up.  We all brought our machines and some fat quarters to make some baby quilts for Capital Quilters Guild's Quilts for Kids projects.

Here is what I finished today, using the Yellow Brick Road pattern from Atkinson Designs.

I used a fun flamingo print with coordinating fabrics.  I think it is large enough for a baby quilt without any borders.

I will get it quilted some day, but my long arm machine is up in the mountains.  We worked hard on the basement over Christmas.  It is now painted a neutral  beige.  Next:  putting in the suspended ceiling.

We had our older son's family with us the week between Christmas and New Year's.  Once again, we donned our Clemson orange in honor of our daughter-in-law's favorite team being in the playoffs for the collegiate national football championship.  They won!

They are from South Carolina where it hardly ever snows, so they had a great time playing in it and going for Gator rides over the mountain.

I have been trying to learn how to do negative paintings like artist Linda Kemp.  I started with one in just one shade of green, then one in greens and blues.

For the last one, I started with bright yellows, then switched to more golden tones with each layer.

There are some good You-Tube videos on this technique, which I used for these practice projects.  Here is a good one to start with.  

And here is a journal page in watercolors.  I used liquid mask to draw the snowflakes, painted over them with washes of blue and violet, then removed the mask.

If you are experiencing winter weather where you live, stay safe out there!