Thursday, September 29, 2011

Thursday's Thoughts -- Sharing Your Quilted Creations...

Quilt Blogging is all about the "sharing"!

Recently, I have been sharing my quilts in the Online Weekly Themed Quilt Show Contests at Quilting Gallery  What a great place to share your quilts and quilted projects... You can join in too and add a photo and description of your quilted projects.  Quilts are shared from all over the world! 

In addition to that, I am sharing some of my posts with quilting, sewing, and craft blog linky parties.  There are several links in the side bar. --->

I share my quilted creations here... and on my second Quilting Blog.  On my second blog, I am in the process of adding photos of 40 years of my quilting and sewing projects.  I have a Picasa Photo Gallery and a Flicker Photo Gallery.  There are hundreds of photos on both.  I add photos of my customer's quilts and my personal quilts every week.  I share my blog posts and photos on my Crafty Sewing Facebook Page too. 


Quilt blogging is all about the sharing... 



This weekend I am sharing my "Come Fly With Me Tote Bag and Passport Bag".  I will share the direct link in the sidebar on Friday,(September 30th), when you can click on it, view all the beautiful quilts, and vote on your favorite ones. Link is in the sidebar and you can click here also.---> Enjoy the quilts!


I created "My Come Fly With Me Bag" for a quilt challenge at Project Quilting.  I based my Project on the art work of graphic artist MC Escher (Maurits Cornelis Escher).  I found the two pieces of artwork on Google images and decided I could place triangles in a similar pattern to create a cool design on the front of the quilted bag.  I used orange and purple for my complimentary colors. Then I decided I needed extra borders to make it larger and added the strips in a log cabin fashion creating a step like design element to the sides of the bag.  


Then I repeated the V on the back of the bag - upside down.   

My original plan was to make a small passport bag for myself, but I was having so much fun with the triangles, I decided I had to make a larger bag. So when I quilted the fabric to make a large bag and created a little flying geese design to make my small passport bag. 


My Fly Bag is about 14" wide by  15" deep.  I used a poly batting to make it a little lighter, as I will pack it full for flying.  I don't have a passport --- yet, as that is another long story... I plan to eventually apply for one, but it seems I never do it!  Maybe next week!



Scroll down to the very bottom of my blog to view the quilted projects I have shared in the past few weeks on the Online Weekly Themed Quilt Contest.


I posted this today, so you can enter the contest too.  You can enter up until Midnight on Thursday.  The contest is every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Hop over and check out what the themes are for each week. 


Share your quilts!  That's what it is all about!


Enjoy your day!


Marcia




Linked with: 
Stuff and Nonsense - Fridays Unfolded-Sept.29, 2011
RoCa and Company - You ROCK Party - September 30, 2011
Homemaker in Heels Weekend Craft Soiree and Blog Hop - October 1, 2011
It's Sew Stinkin Cute Craft Thursday #74 September 29, 2011

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Hodgepodge Patchwork Tuesday --- Learning Something New and WIP (Work In Progress)

Today, I learned how to create my own design in order to make a Hawaiian Applique'.  The design incorporates a lacy appliqued center motif with an elegant appliqued border.   

The class is called Hawaiian Applique'.  Our instructor was Linda Halpin.  Linda is a quilter, instructor, and an author.  She travels all over the United States teaching her wonderful quilt classes.
We learned how to create our own designs.  Linda explained and guided us through each step. 
It was amazing as we unfolded them into the beautiful motifs.
I created this one.
I loved seeing it transform when I carefully cut it from my fabric. 

 Amazing all the colors and designs...


 I was a family and consumer education teacher, before I started my quilting business 8 years ago.  I was so pleased today, to be a student - learning something new!  Do you like to be a student or a teacher? 

I will share my progress on this project another day. It is still a work in progress! 


Enjoy your day!


Marcia
Linked with Freshly Pieced - WIP Work in Progress

Monday, September 26, 2011

Getting Up Close with Meandering and Meandering with a Twist!

We have all seen meandering quilting, but what about "Meandering with a Twist"?   
Most of my customers who love meandering, also love meandering with a twist.  
My favorite is meandering with a twist. 



What's the twist?   Anything from leaves to stars to swirls to hearts...  
These are all customer's quilts except a few are mine... 





I shared several photos to give you lots of examples of both. I probably chose way too many, but they are all great examples.  You can view more in my Photo Gallery.  Keep scrolling there's more...














It's all free style quilting!  No templates, no panto graphs, and no computers... I just move the quilting machine and create the designs free form... 

 Meandering looks great on vintage and modern quilts!


See how nicely meandering just blends into the quilt... 


 Perfect for a wall hanging.
And it looks great up close too.. 




Do you like Meandering or Meandering with a Twist?

Enjoy your day!

Marcia