T-Shirt quilt part II

Project time found ... finally! I finished the first block of the "t-shirt" quilt. It turned into a 9.75" square pinwheel -- but very liberated! Straight stitches not necessarily followed requiring extra trimming but I'm better at the trimming than the sewing! There was several episodes of ripping seams out though!

The first block - three to go - stay tuned.

I tried something that has been around the last year or so in the "fiber art" world - Ephemera post cards. So being the francophile that I am... I had to do one. I had found this upholstery fabric that is so quintessential French -- fashion and iconic locations all over. I added a layer of rose silk ala Eleanor Burns style as the frame.



















Then I looked at some "vintage" post cards from Cavalli papers, selected one with the right color tone and style I wanted and added a fusible post card back (from ribbonsmyth.com) that is also vintage in style......











Choosing embellishments is not easy! Too many to choose from... but I narrowed it down to so hand dyed silk ribbon, paper clips to hold the paper post card on, and charms that symbolize some of the ab fab culture of Paris -- perfume bottle, shows, and bejeweled handbag!










So I got to use the stamps I bought (see my post on 1 June) :) Loved them!!













The Finished Project! --- all of about 3 hours but could have done it faster IF I hadn't taken so much time picking the embellishments... but isn't that most of the fun!

Well -- it's been a long July and August is almost over. I've been doing a lot of designing and such for that t-shirt quilt I mentioned. Here's a sample of the plan... I'm showing the sample to the client Tuesday. We'll see if she likes it.

It's meant to be VERY colorful. She didn't want the typical memory quilt focusing on those t-shirts but didn't want to "throw them out" so we're going down this path to recycle them.

Fingers crossed. .... check my next entry because I couldn't wait to do this other small quilt that has been trapped in my head........

struggles

I've got an opportunity to make a "memory" quilt with t-shirts that isn't the standard look of a memory quilt. Soooooo you see the dilemma! I'm a huge fan of Gwen Marston's quilting style -- liberated. Using this method with the t-shirts incorporated into the overall design as just one element. I'll be posting some ideas on that soon.

Well, I'm winding down on my assignment for work (the one that took me to the UK again) and I'm headed to spend some time this afternoon/evening with my best friends. While I'm physically exhausted and I badly twisted my knee on this three week trip, I've gotten a ton of inspiration including a new book of photography of the colors of Sicily -- everything on the island photographed and categorized by color. The textures! WOW! I cannot wait to translate that....

Then I just got a glimpse of Lyric Kinard's new book coming out in September "Art+Quilt: Design Principles and Creativity Exercises". It is EXACTLY what I need to see right now! I've missed quilting severely -- actually creating! I have my creativity journal with me.

I've combined my regular journal with the creativity one -- just too many books to carry. And my colored pencils are with me too!

A few days of R&R the home to my new hubbie!

The wall in my sewing room/husband's office..... The hanging pieces are finished.....

OKay one more thing.... this isn't finished... but I'm planning to "float" it in a frame or "shadow" box. Not sure ... just need to take it to the frame shop and get it done. It's about 24" square and while this photo isn't the best ... I'll get a better one... promise..... you can see how I've used scrapbooking brads to "quilt" this piece as well as beaded yarn, free motion quilting. The base fabric is from a series titled "Mirror Ball". One of my favorites.....

Inspiration

With work being so ridiculously busy, little space is left in my head to fit in design or planning the next quilt or project. That being said.... :) Inspiration is striking everywhere! The picture at right is from the Benziger Vineyards in Sonoma County - where we spent our honeymoon. The spots of colors and the texture of the different plants (I love the lavender plants) are phenomenal!

Other inspirations include photos of simple flowers and new stamps I've found for one project I've gotten stuck in my head -- a French travel quilt - written post cards to a friend with photos and specific stamps. I have a fusible postcard back (on fabric with antique script) that I can use the photos of Paris and stickers as well. I'd call it a souvenir quilt as I'm an obsessed Francophile and have spent several different vacations and a semester abroad in France and am always ready to go back!

So off I go to my design journal to figure some of this out! The real job AKA the mortgage payin gone will take me out of town for three weeks so no actual work at home but I'm putting together a couple "take along" projects... Who knows what I may come up with when I return.... I'll keep sharing! Promise......

Here are the cakes! The wording around the logo is "When Sox Fans Grow Up"......

Well, it's 16 May and we survived our wedding! IT was a mad dash somewhat for the final details and I'm talking more at work that for the wedding but with the help of my sister, mom, cousin and others I made it without misshap!

It was gorgeous and fun and full of twirling little girls! The cross town feud was alive and well with the groom's cake (we're Chicago Cubs baseball fans -- Mike's family favors the Chicago White Sox) and all in good fun!

The florist did amazing work as did the hotel! WOW! I loved it and it was exactly what I had always wanted (not sure about Mike).

Work has me travelling 5 weeks out of 8 until the end of May (off tomorrow for the UK) but then I'm back in to the art work.... I really want to be doing it!! Keep grabbing my design journal to add things in or tweak a design or glue fabric or test paint or a stamp or or or. All is waiting for my time!!!

Later.....