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Dawn's Quilting Room
a quilt happy blog
Friday - April 21, 2023 Bird Joy I had so much fun creating this bird wall hanging.
Since the quilt challenge required words on the quilt, I added small square silver beads along the ground that spell "joy". This is my own quilt design. Enjoy the day and some time in the sunshine!
Tuesday - April 4, 2023 A Very Red Hat Having fun knitting. Just finished this bright red hat. I donate the hats I knit to those who need them. Hope someone doesn't mind glowing in the dark. Maybe someone who enjoys night walking or running? They will be seen!
I've also begun knitting an infinity scarf on my oval loom. It's easier than I thought it would be. The stitch is called a mock crochet stitch. Here is a YouTube video of the process if you are interested in trying to loom knit an infinity scarf. The video shows the scarf being knitted on a round loom, but I have an oval loom with the correct amount of pegs along one side ... so no going in circles for me. https://youtu.be/2B29MDn-qes Hope the day is good to you!
Saturday - March 11, 2023 Bird Beginnings Our quilt guild has a challenge that combines a memory with adding words to a quilt. I remember my father and I working in the vegetable garden when a bird landed atop his head .. and his surprised "Ouch!" when the bird yanked out some of his hair for its nest. He wore a hat outside after that encounter!
I'm thinking of layering two buttons for the eye. I also plan to add a curling flower stem and some butterflies. I spent a lot of joyful time in the garden watching nature as I worked. So the word "joy" is probably going to appear somewhere on the wall hanging. Enjoy your creative time!
Thursday - February 16, 2023 Flower Basting After wrestling with fabric choices ... blue won for the fourth flower. I now have flowers in red, purple, orange and blue. I didn't want to buy fabric, and these choices worked best from my stash.
I selected a green "leafy" fabric as the backing. The wall hanging is pin basted and ready for quilting. I'll keep the quilting simple, following the outline of the flowers, leaves and walkway. Time to thread the sewing machine! Enjoy the day. More Flowers I don't have enough scrap fabric in the color I need, so I must create some crumbs. Today I am ready to construct the fourth and final flower for my crumb quilt wall hanging. I pulled a bunch of yellow fabrics, but the brighter yellows did not show well against the pale background fabric. And the darker gold-yellows look too orange. So I raided the blue fabric stash to see what I can come up with. If I go with blue, I need to make sure they don't have a purple hue.
In the meantime, here is a photo of the latest block. Love this purple flower.
Eager to return to the sewing machine. Enjoy a creative day!
Time for Class! What a fun day ... tiring but wonderful. The Zoom workshop worked out well. My quilting friends and I set up our computers to view the class, and the instructor had several cameras so that we could easily see what she was demonstrating. By the end of the four-hour class, I had one block completed and had begun piecing crumbs for a second flower.
When sewing the greens to make the leaves, I didn't realize one of the green fabrics would appear much lighter than the others. I learned to be careful if a fabric crumb has white in the design (like the green fabric above). I'll construct the rest of the blocks and then lay them out. If the lighter fabric in these leaves is too distracting, I'll darken the white areas with a green fabric marker so that the fabric blends better. (I'll experiment on a scrap first.) Onward! I have a garden to create. Wednesday - January 4, 2023 A New Year & Workshop Prep Can't wait for the workshop on crumb quilting. Part of the workshop prep is sorting scrap fabrics into color groups and then ironing the scraps. In the class, we are creating flower blocks using bits of fabric to piece the flower and leaf sections. The class goal is to complete one or two blocks. I want to make four different color flower blocks for a wall hanging. Other project options included potholders or a table runner.
I need one more flower color. I selected red, orange and purple fabrics. Debating between a blue or yellow flower for the fourth one.
I also prepped my sewing area so that I had plenty of room for the sewing machine, cutting mat, ironing board, acrylic rulers and scraps ... plus room for the computer so that I could view the Zoom workshop instructor. Here is a link to the workshop supply list if you are curious. Friday - December 30, 2022 It's Almost 2023! Looking back on 2022...So many accomplishments and more things added to the to-do list. I participated in my first online Mood Board writing pitch, which required learning a few more tech skills. I visited Cape Cod during the summer. There were more Zoom meetings and workshops (quilting and writing). I joined a local knitting group. Added new quilt block clip art to my website for free download. Helped several friends gain a foothold in social media. Enjoyed celebrating a friend's first published picture book.
So what's on the agenda for 2023? I've been eyeing my unfinished project pile while also adding new projects to my "want to make" list. Once again I am joining the All People Quilt UFO challenge. However, my list includes both unfinished projects as well as new things I really want to create.
My first project in 2023 is to take a Zoom class on crumb quilting in early January. What especially interests me is creating new "fabric" from scraps and incorporating it into a quilt design. As part of the prep work, I've been sorting my scraps into color piles and ironing them. I also need to select a background fabric. I hope you are filled with creative inspiration. Have fun in 2023! |
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