Machine Quilting | Crazy for Fiber

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Archive for the ‘Machine Quilting’ Category

Will She or Won’t She?

Monday, October 28th, 2013

I am plugging away on this big piece while I am dealing with a nasty virus and men on my roof, making noise that hurts me to the core. This particular virus made its way through the Barnes family and then skipped over here to me. Fever, swollen glands, dizziness, sleepiness – ack! So, will I finish this in time to photograph it and enter it on line?

I got the background quilted over the week-end, in short spurts, a section at a time.

Spring:

Summer:

Fall:

Winter:

So far I have 3 layers – hand-dyed cotton, painted organza and thread. The next layer will be tulip tree leaves. I got the idea of making this quilt because when I walk around the neighborhood, I pick up leaves for their colors or shapes and bring them home and scan them. I love the shape of tulip tree leaves, they are kind of short and curvy, like myself!

I am trying to use up what I have in my studio and not go out and buy more stuff. I found this roll of Jacquard paper backed habotai silk on a roll.

I played with my scanned leaves in photoshop and printed them on the silk. I then fused them to cotton crinoline to give them some shape.

I have pinned them to the background and now I am deciding if I am ready to stitch them in place. I was orginally going to make thermofax screens and screen a layer of leaves and then add the silk leaves. Seemed like too much to me. Today, I almost bagged the silk leaves and was about to make screens and screen the leaves. I just don’t have time to deal with that and so I think I will stick with these. What do you think? You can click on any image to see it larger.

I need to crash. It has been a long day.

Posted in Machine Quilting, My creations, photo transfer, photography, quilting designs | 3 Comments »

My Sewing Machine Saga

Tuesday, October 8th, 2013

I wanted to get my pet postcards finished because I have to get busy on my quilt for the SAQA Oregon show. I need to have it done by the end of the month. So, I decided to resurrect my Bernina 170 which I have been using as a felting machine for over a year. To use the felting attachment, I had to remove the bobbin case and hook race. Dummy that I am, I forgot about the hook race. I thought I had misplaced just the bobbin case. I looked high and low and could not find it. I finally found one at a Bernina dealer near me. When I started to attach it, I realized I was also missing the hook race. I knew then that both had to be some place in my studio. There is no way that both could have been thrown out or disappeared. I had to find the bobbin hook race because it is really expensive to replace.

I finally found them safe and sound in the Bernina accessory case, under some fabric in the bins behind my sewing machine.

The problem was that I had a storage case from my former Janome that looked similar so I thought they were not where they belonged. There were in fact two bobbin cases. So, now I have 3 – I can play with tension to my heart’s delight.

So I got it all assembled and had to do some futzing around because I have been using a Janome for so long, I couldn’t remember how to do anything. I had to get out my manual.

Once I started working, I realized how much I love quilting with the Janome. This Bernina is several years old.

I am not happy with the one up at the top because the script gets lost in the quilting. I went over it with a pen and it did not help. So, I decided to experiment with the monogram feature on the Bernina. I think this will work better, especially if I use a contrasting color.

On another note, I am having the ultrasound tomorrow. I will be glad to get that over with.

Posted in Machine Quilting, Postcards | 1 Comment »

Stalled

Sunday, October 6th, 2013

I was so excited to get down to the studio after church and lunch today. I was happy to have something fun to do. However, the stitching on this postcard is as far as I got and then my Janome went bonkers and started jamming. I think the timing is off or there is a problem with the bobbin case. My shop is open on Sunday, so I dropped it off. Hope it won’t take long to fix.

Here are the cards that I got fused and ready to stitch.

We have had two glorious and sunny fall days in the 70’s. It is ending tomorrow. Here are some photos I took today while we were out and about.

A really big spider web by our garage.

The lake on Reed College campus.

Yellow trees – a common fall color here in Oregon.

Posted in Machine Quilting, My creations, My neighborhood | 1 Comment »

And Then the Lights Went Out

Sunday, August 25th, 2013

I had a fairly productive day yesterday. I took some photos to share and was ready to blog about my progress after dinner. In the middle of dinner prep, the lights went out. This is a rare occurrence. We have lived here for more than 7 years and we have had very few power interrupts. Apparently, a tree was down in the neighborhood. First it was to be back at 9 and then 11. We finally went to bed at 10:30. I think it came back on at 1:30 this morning.

Anyway, I went back to stitching the organza to the wool pre-felt. It has such a luxurious tactility. I just love touching it. This is why I work in textiles.

I think I can finish stitching it today and do the shrinking. The Barnes’ are coming over for pizza so I may not get totally done.

I also made a quick trip to Mill Ends to get some yarn to make a chemo hat for my friend Judy who starts chemo this week for breast cancer. She is so upbeat and positive about this whole experience — she makes me smile when I want to cry about it. I promised her a chartreuse hat and I found this yummy mohair:

But, in the end, she is such a colorful person, I had to go with this:

It is really soft. I think it will look great. I was going to start knitting last night, but that didn’t happen!!

While I was at Mill Ends, I saw this colorful burlap. Have been wondering what I could do with some of this.

Posted in indigo, knitting, Machine Quilting, Quilting Friends, Uncategorized | 2 Comments »

Such a Good Day

Thursday, August 22nd, 2013

Some days are like that, you know. The stars align or your karma is on the upside. I did some SDA work in the morning and then hit the studio. I want to get started on another moonstruck quilt with the indigo organza. The first thing I do is get the organza pinned to the wool pre-felt. Then I stitch around the moon shape to define it.

Then I do the stitching vertical and horizontal for the texture when it is shrunk. I am using a blue to white to yellow variegated thread. I think it will give some nice color to the moon.

Tonight was the opening reception for the Sur(face) Forward juried show at the Corvallis Art Center. It is housed in a sweet building, a former Episcopal Church. This photo is a bit blurry, but it was raining and I was afraid of melting.

There was a large turnout for the show, many of the artists were there as well as local art lovers.

My piece, Kelp Dance, was at the far end of the room on the stage area. It was very well lit and I was happy with how it hung. It is the one on the right.

There were many pieces juried into this show, all of high quality and such a wide variety of textile work. It was exciting to see. I do love being in a show of this caliber, meeting the other artists and feeling so good about it all.

Here are three of my friends with work in the show: Jae, Barbara and Janet. That big piece behind them is a weaving.

And here are two good friends from Portland, Bonnie and Jill.

Here is Bonnie talking about her work with the delightful juror, Barbara Pickett.

After the reception, Mr C and I went out for a nice dinner before our hour and a half drive back to Portland. When we left the restaurant, we were treated to this beautiful sunset.

Posted in Juried Shows, Machine Quilting, My creations, Quilting Friends | Comments Off on Such a Good Day

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