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The baby quilt project continues.
I pulled out an old tutorial from Craftsy that I had used before. So complicated looking and absolutely easy and quick to construct. This whole thing came together in about 6 hours!
I think I have 8 more tops prepped and ready to stitch. If I do a couple more after that (I have LOTS of scraps left) I will have 25 of them to contribute to the project.
Ddd
I am back at the Baby quilt tops again. This is number 14.
The idea for the design is from a recent tutorial on Missouri Star Quilt Company. Jenny started with layer cakes so her rectangles were 4 1/2 x 9 1/2 finished. I wanted mine to finish with two rectangles at 6 inch squares so the center area would be 36 inches. This made my rectangles 3 x 6 finished. I cut my flippy corners at 2 inches.
All of the rectangles were scraps from my stash and gifted to me. I went with mostly florals, focusing on red, rose and blue flowers. Some supporting fabrics pulled out more blue.
The flippy corners, sashing and inner borders were from some yardage that matched the darker colors in the florals.
I added a 1 inch border to the sides and 2 inch borders to the top and bottom to bring the final size to 40 inches.
Ddd
WOW! If you thought I was rushing Christmas, get a load of the New Year's card I did!
To be fair, the swap this is for is due December 1 so I am not that early.
The first question was "what color of thread do you use to represent a clear liquid and clear glass?" It's not an easy choice. In the end, I chose silver for the background card and decided to use a very pale verigated thread with a little yellow, blue, green and pink.
The pattern included the stars above the glasses. Not sure why but I decided to leave them in.
I added some irridescent rhinestones in the liquid and as bubbles above the glasses and they pick up the same colors as the thread.
I mounted the card on some shimmery purple over shimmery white.
I used a rubon for the text.
Ddd
Next swap card ready... assignment: reindeer.
I had some 12x12 printed cardstock that I picked up a few years ago and cut it up into pieces suitable for card fronts. I chose one with a deer in a circle element with other decorative patterns in the background.
Since the requirement was to include paper embroidery, I pulled out the circle frame I've used several times and arranged it to lay along the left border of the feature circle. I pricked it into the cardstock and then free-handed a few extra scrolls.
The swirls of this mimic the big bow on the reindeer's neck and the color echoes a portion of the plaid.
I mounted the piece on a bordering burgundy then on a dusky green card base.
I used a rubon for the text and added a sticky-back red pearl to decorate the nose. Hello Rudolph!
Ddd
I have been bemoaning the lack of quality in the photos my camera takes but today is a whole nother level. But, then again, trying to photograph white on white is difficult with any camera out there.
That was the assignment: paper embroidery using only white.
I chose a rose pattern and then edited, adjusted and did my own thing with it before stitching it with white thread on white cardstock.
I used the Cuttlebug to diecut some lettering from the panel but then left it in place instead of popping it out.
It needed a bit more interest so I added a scalloped edge to the bottom.
The stitched panel is mounted on a white card base using foam tape.
Ddd
Yeah, it's another Christmas card - in paper embroidery. But very soon I will be caught up with these assignments and we can continue with other things for awhile.
On the other hand, the holidays WILL come in a few weeks time and more cards are still needed. Expect to see them here...
In the meantime, here is the latest. Since the assignment was very generic "make a PE Christmas card" I went with an iconic image, stitching a wreath.
This pattern was stitched in metallic gold and metallic green and then red beads were added for berries.
After it was stitched, I decided I wanted it to be cut into a circle. Well, those beads do not play nicely with the diecutter. I do have a 'B plate' thickness plate with a round aperture in it. It is designed to use with the Cuttlebug folders so only the outer area will make the impression, leaving a blank space in the middle. But I used it to surround the beads while using a scalloped circle die.
I mounted the resulting piece over a red cardstock, then over a green cardstock base.
I added the greeting with a rubon.
Ddd
I know it seems a little early to be posting Christmas stuff, but If swaps are going to be done on time to send to a partner overseas in time for them to use it as one of their personal greeting cards, then I has to be early.
I actually completed this back in October but that WAS to early for me to post it.
The assignment was to make a paper embroidery card with a poinsettia. This pattern is a freebie from so many years ago I don't have any clue who designed it. In fact there are no stitching directions so I just winged it. I stitched with red, green and yellow threads on black cardstock for the contrast.
I mounted the stitched panel on bright yellow cardstock and added the text with rubons.
Ddd
Next up in the paper embroidery assignment lineup was the theme 'Hats and Scarves'. How fortunate to already have a pattern on hand that incorporates these, plus mittens... on a penguin!
I like penguins anyway so this just called out to me.
I chose a patterned cardstock in blue with white dots as it looked to me like snow falling.
I stitched everything in outlines with the exception of the pompom on the hat (with a poof) and the eyes (french knots). The panel was mounted on a bright pink card base.
I added a prestamped greeting.
Ddd
Our assignment for the next swap was to use diecuts along with paper embroidery.
Technically, the 3D images I use are all diecut but I'm sure they meant to use the sorts of diecuts that are made with the home cutting machines (like the Cuttlebug). So I did the stitching of the sentiment on a diecut panel.
I combined this with a card-sized 3D image and layered with colors contained in the image.
Another challenge met...
Ddd
I went on kind of a paper embroidery spree, getting a lot of cards done for upcoming swaps and challenges. One of these was a swap where we could only use black and white.
I decided to do a reverse on the typical music pattern by stitching in white on black cardstock. I also used white beads on the notes.
I mounted the panel onto a folded white card base and added a strip of peel-off white sticker border across the bottom.
I added a prestamped sentiment with a banner end cut onto it.
Ddd
In October, one of the challenges was to stitch a card with the theme Autumn Flowers. This always means sunflowers to me and I especially like this pattern. However, I never stitch it like the designer shows.
I chose to add two partial panels of dark green behind opposing corners and then mount the whole onto a base card the same color as the flower petals.
The scripture stamp was still on my desk after having used it a few days ago. I stamped that in black and then used Distress Marker in a matching tone to color in the double lines in the letters.
Ddd
The embroidery alphabet swap is up to the letter 'P' now and the assignment was to make a card related to Pets.
We don't have any pets at our house - all of the animals around here are wild in the great outdoors. However, both of us love to watch crazy cat videos on YouTube so I decided to stitch cats on a card.
I had a distressed panel from which I had diecut the word 'hello' for another project. I backed it with a different color of distressed panel and added the cutouts from the loops back in their appropriate places.
I pricked out the two cats from one of my own patterns and stitched them using a verigated thread that matched the inset lettering.
The cats blended into the background so much that I used a yellowish marker to color in some parts, adding a little contrast.
I used a cream coloredcard base with a bit of border showing all around.
Ddd
Paper crafting group challenge in October was 'birds and birdhouses'. I guess a birdcage is a bird house so that is what I did.
I have a stencil that includes four birdcages hanging from branches with a couble of birds in the tree.
I used tape to block out all but one of the birdcages and all the birds that were free. I kept the one bird inside the cage.
I used a squeegee to spread Liquid Pearls (color: bisque) through the stencil onto printed cardstock. The stencil was removed and the pattern allowed to dry completely on its own.
I then used Copic markers to color in the bird and the leaves and branches.
I cut the panel to size and stamped a sentiment on the side.
Here you can see the coloring better
I mounted this on shiny gold cardstock, then to a folded card base.
Ddd
I liked the use of stencils in overlapping watercolor pencils that I did yesterday so I decided to do it again. This time I used three butterfly diecuts and arranged them in a rising flight design.
Once again, the elements looked too flat, so I used a Sakura glitter pen to draw and color in the patterns that were on the dies.
The effect is great in person but sure does mess up the photography!
I ounted this on a patterned paper with yellow and grey chevrons.
I stamped a greeting on the side and used the glitter pen on the double lines in the lettering.
What am I going to do about this camera?
Ddd
I saw Sandy Allnock doing a watercolor pencil technique the other day on her blog and decided to give it a try. She was using the blanks left over from diecutting for her outlines but I already had stencils so decided to use that instead.
The stencil (mine were poppies) is laid over watercolor paper and traced partway around (I am using the bloom heads only) with a watercolor pencil. The next bloom is laid overlapping it and another color is used to draw the new bloom head. Where they cross one another an in-between color is used.
When all the flowers are traced the same pencils are used to lightly fill in the blooms with color. The stems and leaves are drawn in with green.
An aquabrush was used to blend the pencil color inside the cross-over areas first, left to right. I then did the same with the stems and leaves and finally I went back to the left and did the blending on the bloom heads (this gave the first pass some time to dry a little before wetting the adjacent areas.
I did go back with some contrasting colors and add a bit to the bottom area of the lighter blooms as a shadow area as they looked too flat.
After drying, I trimmed the panel and stamped a sentiment in black and mounted the piece on a yellow base card. I also added a single doodle line in black to go with the sentiment.
Sandy also did the same with a line of hanging Christmas ornaments and suggested that it would look nice with fall leaves as well.
Ddd
After making those blocks stretched with white diagonals I still had a pile of the same fabrics cut to 6x6 inches. I decided to make a balanced grid of them with the colors running on the diagonal.
The blocks finished at 5 1/2 inches square which required a wider border to bring the finished top up to 40 inches. I had to cut the border at 4 inches which will finish at 3 1/2.
I was short of all the colors except the yellow to use in the border. It turned out to be the perfect one to use as it brightens this quilt top right up.
Ddd
I haven't shared work by my friends for a long time. I participate in swaps year-round on four different lists. Plus, several people send birthday cards and some send RAKs.
I won't try to identify who made these, because you wouldn't know them anyway, but you may be interested to know that they come from the USA, Canada, England, Australia, New Zealand, France, South Africa, The Netherlands, and others I may have forgotten.
These are just the ones received in 2015. We are finding ourselves swapping with the same people over and over as many find the international postage to be a burden.
Thank you to all my friends!
Ddd
Mid-October the tomatoes started falling off the vines whether they were ripe or totally green. I picked (and picked up) all of them, washed and sorted them and this is what I ended up with.
First, all the ripe ones:
Then, the ones that were starting to turn. These will ripen in the kitchen window:
Followed by the totally green ones that were larger which I sliced to bread and freeze to make fried green tomatoes. These made three layers on a cookie sheet in the freezer:
Finally, the ends and sides of the sliced ones and chunks of totally green ones that were not large enough to slice. These went through the food processor and got bagged for the freezer to make green tomato bread later:
I ended up with enough chopped tomato to make 20 loaves.
Ddd
When I was cutting up fabric scraps I did a stack of them cut at 6 inches square. Then I started making all these quilts and realized the math (not my favorite subject) worked out perfectly with 6 1/2 inch squares so they would be even after the seam allowances were stitched.
Harrumph!
So I cut all of them in half diagonally and added a white fabric strip and squared them up. Still more math problems as they ended up 1/8 inch less than what I had intended.
I went ahead with the construction and then added a 1/2 inch white border and finished with a dark blue border.
With all this math fiddling I only ended up 1/4 inch short overall. I'm calling that good.
Ddd
I'm still churning out the tops for baby quilts. I pulled out a star-covered white fabric that featured two tones of blue stars plus red ones, all in varying sizes. To this I added a single red and a dark and light blue.
I cut pieces measuring 6 1/2 by 3 1/2 and matched each color to a star. These created square blocks which I arranged to come up with a 36 inch arrangement of diagonal chevrons.
The addition of a 2 inch border brings this up to 40 inches square.
Ddd
