Kim Lapacek from Kim’s Crafty Apple issued a challenge on her blog called Project Quilting. In the spirit of “Project Runway” she gave a tight deadline (a week), limited budget ($10) and an inspiration (the shoofly block) and this is the project I came up with…

(Click photo to see it bigger)

I used some funky, highly-contrasty, geometric prints I had in my stash. The design is a large shoofly block in the center, turned on point and then surrounded with smaller shoofly blocks and one in the center. The challenge also specified that it had to include a stripe. I was originally just going to bind it with the stripe, but I am glad I decided to really highlight that stripe in the large shoofly block.

I’m excited to say that I learned a new technique for the quilting of this project!! Charlotte Warr Anderson’s Book “One Line at a Time” described how to quilt those repetitive geometric quilting lines, following a template and stitching around it one line at a time. It was really fun to do and I like the way the quilting echos the geometric qualities of the fabric prints.

Here’s a look at the back so you can really see the quilting lines.

I’m so proud to have gotten this done in a week, that is highly unlike me! I usually let things sit a while in between stages and flit between projects before getting anything done. This one was a straight through, plow! (reminiscent of the retreat…perhaps I should run with this new trend!)

If you’d like to see what other quilters did with Kim’s Challenge, here is the link to the Flickr Pool.

Here is the beginning of my Kathmandu project. I just couldn’t wait to show you! It’s going to be a wholecloth quilt, embroidered and embellished into a colorful banner-size wall-hanging.

The fabric is that ruddy red with gold designs printed in blocks (I’m going to use 2 blocks x 4 blocks; from the Katmandu line by Mark Lipinski for the Troy Corp.). I’m going to fill in those lines with embroidery, then sandwich and quilt it and later embellish it with beads, sequins and/or shisha mirrors.

It’s so exciting to start a new project!! I know this will be a long project that I will work on many, many hours…but it is already fun to look at and enjoyable to do, so I’m looking forward to working on it a long time.  Some projects I do because I want the finished product, but this one I’m really doing for the process…and I hope it will be a beautiful masterpiece in the end.

Thanks for looking!

I got all excited about two weeks ago when I thought up a new product (A Quiltie Pillowcover) and the first one turned out great! But wait, there are no pillowcovers in my shop?! Well, it turned out too great! I’m keeping this.

My rationale is that I got that brown flowered fabric as a Christmas gift from my mom. And I love it! I have two other quilties in the works using other fabrics from that bundle, but I don’t want to give them ALL away! So, I think I’m going to be making more pillowcovers. It’s a great idea, practical-minded and just as easy to make as a quiltie (frankly, easier!), so I’m excited to have come up with a new product. I’m just not ready to roll it out yet.

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I was just going to say how fortunate I was to take a fabric painting class from Nancy Kazlauckas last week, but then, I really only got to be there for a short time (due to a plumbing disaster!) but after the sump pump got fixed, I did get to do some painting…and it was really fun!!

If you don’t know what I’m talking about, Nancy Kazluackas, a native of my hometown, has made a name for herself in the quilting field by making beautiful quilts with Shiva Paintstiks and also Thread Calligraphy. She gave lectures and workshops for the Des Moines Area Quilters Guild this month. The Painstiks are oil paint in solid form that are fun to use for stencilling and rubbing permanent designs unto fabric. Nancy has plastic texture plates that make beautiful designs, most notably, her leaf pattern quilt.

Here’s my progress on that project:

If you haven’t already, take a look at my tutorial on stencilling with paintstiks and the finished quilt with that technique.

I was fortunate enough to take a class from Dawn Cavanaugh last week and I have to tell you I had so much fun!! I learned technique I had never tried before. We stamped fabric with foam stamps and water soluble resist, then dyed it by painting on thickened dyes.

Besides a really fun morning spent with friends from the Des Moines Area Quilter’s Guild, I also got 6 really great fat quarters of batiked fabric (and two not so good, but that’s ok).
Here they are (you can click to see a larger view):

Aren’t the colors luscious?! I was surprised at how brilliant they turned out! The square within a square stamp is one I made from foam tape! The rest were from Dawn’s collection. She had so many to choose from, that was almost the best part! Washing the fabric was the worst part…very time consuming.

Dawn really wants to see us make our dyes into quilts and show her photos…so you should see these fabrics again, in a quilt or two!! Hmmm. Any suggestions?

Oh, I have to say that Dawn was an amazing teacher! She was enthusiastic about the project, fun to listen to and really clear in explaining how to do each step. I was a little disappointed that I didn’t get to go to her class in Background Quilting, because she is known for her amazing machine quilting…but this dyeing project was no disappointment. THANKS SO MUCH, DAWN!!

I got some pretty new fabric and promptly started another quiltie!

I hope the embroidery stands up to the border fabric, though. I’ll have to make sure to quilt it right so that it stands out!

Now that the holidays are over, I’m thinking up new themes for quilties…and new products!! My great idea last night was for these fabric postcards. They’re not the timtex versions from the popular book, I’ve just zigzagged my quiltie right to a paper postcard! They feel really nice and sturdy, will be easy to write on and go through the mail well!! I’m very excited about the possibilities this opens up.

The peace dove is a stamped image, made with blue and green fabric markers.

I printed a nice vintage postcard design on the back of the second one.

So, what do you think of my new product??

I just worked on my office!! I work at home, in a room that is probably meant to be a dining room (very open to the living room and kitchen) and until now it had no character. I really want to paint the walls and perhaps consider new furniture, but for now at least there is a little new artwork to admire.

First, I fell in love with this bit of fabric I bought in a quilt store in Los Gatos, CA on my wonderful vacation this fall…I love it so much I didn’t want to cut it up, so I framed it!!



Then there are the wonderful glass shelves my mom bought me for Christmas and my husband hung for me! My plants are so happy now!! This photo makes them look like they’re floating on air.



And of course, I hope you noticed the quilts in each picture. These from the quilt show are just too beloved to give away or sell!!

Hey, do you have any fabric scraps?! Well, my scrap bin was getting too full…so I made a few notecards yesterday. I don’t think I made a dent in the scrap pile, but I did have a blast! Maybe I’ll make a little tutorial on this, it was a really fun and easy project. And aren’t they pretty?!

I’ve ventured into a new land…the land of felted wool! It’s a natural fit, as I’ve been saving and using fabric scraps from old clothing forever, but this is a new thing for me. It started with a few cute holiday projects in a craft magazine I bought at the airport! Now, I found Betz White’s book “Warm Fuzzies” and have a new respect for felted wool! Here is the project I started with:

I made a blue and red robin one for my son too, but he’s been carting it around the house so much I couldn’t find it for the photoshoot!

If you have any interest in felted wool you’ve got to check out this book! It has the cutest projects, great instructions and really inspiring photography! Usually I pick up a book to see what I could do to make the projects my own…this one, I want to make everything just like she did, they are so well done!! Check her out: www.betzwhite.com She has a blog too, I just discovered. I’m going to go read more there, it looks fun!

Oh, and I have to thank my mom for when I told her I was interested in felted wool, she brought me a bag of goodies, including the stunning little wings on this birdie! What a sweetie!