I finished this Grandma’s Flower Garden quilt. It turned out a perfect size for a 12″ x 12″ shadow-box style frame. I’m very pleased with the results. Usually I display quilts, even small ones, by just hanging them on the wall…but this is a lesson in the difference a frame can make!
Click the thumbnail for a photo where you can see the stitches better.
I don’t know if you’ve noticed my Blogroll on the side bar. If not, I’d like you to look over there. I have a website about my graphic design business, my Quilties shop link AND a new one…my husband’s website. That’s right, David McGinnis is a talented cartoonist and he’s posted his comic strip, Sid the Freshman, on a geocities website. I hope you take a few minutes to read some of his strips. They are very fun!
After completing that baby blanket, I can get back into the creative mode. I sometimes only let myself “play” when there’s nothing else I “must” do. This project just made it back at my sewing machine, so I thought I’d share a work-in-progress.
This is a new attempt at quilt designing, using my computer. I started with a pile of coordinating fabrics. Then I used Adobe Illustrator (I don’t have a quilting program, yet!) to draft a few things, until I settled on the final design.
I like the “Trip around the world” pattern, so that was my start. Then I played with some of the rounds, altering and adding to them. You can still see the “trips” in my final, but I think it’s way more interesting!
I also had just discovered how much I enjoy paper-piecing, so I added the “Grandmother’s Flower Garden” appliqué in the center to start out the rounds.
I hope you enjoy seeing a little of my process. I look forward to revealing my finished piece!
I usually have one or more projects going that are “spoken for,” whether they are Christmas presents, other gifts or (now) inventory for sale. I love these projects and love giving handmade gifts, but it really is a relief when one is complete. I just finished this baby quilt for my niece-in-law’s new little girl.
I’ve added a projects section to my blog! I like teaching and writing instructions, so I will share some of them with you in the projects section. See the link under pages. Right now please check out the paper-piecing instructions. I have had a lot of fun with this technique recently, I think maybe you could too!
November 20, 2007, Sharon Meisenheimer gave a presentation to the Des Moines Area Quilter’s Guild Newcomers group on the topic of English paper-piecing. She was wonderful and the quilts she showed were truly amazing! I had fun with the little project we tried and have done a few more English paper-pieced projects since.
The first project was one for the center of a larger quilt. The hexagons were 1 1/2″.
Then I tried a smaller version, which I will finish as a small framed piece, like in Quilt magazine April/May 2008 called “Nana’s Flower Patch”. These hexagons were only 3/4″, but I don’t think it was significantly faster!
You may have noticed that my website changed a little. I kept the same graphics and feel, but I’ve recreated it for better search engine optimization. (So I hope!) This means that there is now more text, as text, and fewer images that contain text. That way the search engines can read my site and catalog it.
I expanded the table a bit, as I’m thinking people have bigger screens these days. I know, lots of you are on laptops, but, my brother just got a 24″ screen Mac, so I know some folks out there are upgrading!! (Lucky you!) I also updated my nav bar and changed the background color from black to a softer gray.
Original Homepage
Redesigned Site
Search engine optimization is a complex topic and I have just begun to research it. I found a couple good articles, but have lost the links! When I find them again, I will post. http://www.conversationmarketing.com is one good place to start reading, if you’re interested.
It occurred to me that if you’re interested in seeing some of my artworks, you may not think to go to my professional portfolio. But I have a section on my design website dedicated to my fine arts. Here’s a link. http://www.etmcreative.com/artportfolio.html
I have sections there for quilting, computer art & photography, creative postcards and other 2D art.
I need to update them, but I hope you enjoy what I have there!
I promise this won’t be a blog all about my kids…but I just have to post this adorable photo of my youngest on a quilt. The quilt has been a UFO for a couple years because I hand-quilted it, but I bound it last night! Baby is proud of his mommy for this one, look!
My mom came for a visit and brought a new art medium to show me and let me try: Shiva paintsticks on fabric. I had to choose a stencil design. I used an applique pattern, then traced it onto freezer paper and cut out all the pieces carefully with an Xacto knife.
I chose fabric and ironed the freezer paper parts onto it, putting all back together except for one color area. I used a stiff stencil brush and slowly built up the paint color in thin layers, rubbing from the paper onto the fabric and around in little circles. That’s why the paper in the photo looks painted.
When the first color was finished, I ironed those pieces of paper back over the paint and removed the next color area pieces. After getting used to the process, I tried blended two colors to make a nice pink to purple blend.
The finished piece had a translucent painterly quality. I really like the effect! You can reuse the freezer paper stencils, so I made a four-patch.
Now I need to decide how to make it into a finished piece!
Hopefully, I’ll publish that soon, too.
Credits: Ginny Thomas showed me this technique, Nancy Kazlauckas taught Ginny, The design came from Piece O’ Cake Designs’ Book: Flowering Favorites.
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Hello and welcome to my blog. I am a freelance graphic designer, artist & craftsperson and stay-at-home mom. I have many creative passions and will write about them here in the hopes of sharing them and hearing from others who share my interests.
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