Little Puppy Village

Now, this was meant to be quick and easy and here it is completed, BUT: it was started in winter - half a year ago)))

The idea was to make a couple of quilts for my kids to cuddle under on winter evenings, to play on, to take when they are going for a sleepover at their aunt and uncle's place, etc. They were meant to be handled a lot, so I wanted them to be really easy to make and also rally cheap (meaning using my stash only)))

They started with two fat quarters - one with dogs and another with cats (I'll show that one later. UPD: the kitty one is finished too!). Each one had twenty full "portraits" which were the starting point for all the maths as well as the color scheme. The photo below is not the final fabric choice, just the only picture I have before the dog fabric was cut.

I put the tops together very fast indeed, but then I decided I wanted the quilts to be warm enough to sleep under and, having consulted several ladies at the IPS branch meeting, I found out I needed wool wadding. This proved tricky, but eventually the ladies from the Limerick Quilt Center brought some for me for the May meeting. At that time I was too busy with other projects, and it was only in August that I got around to finishing this quilts, one of the incentives was the for which was the upcoming "Pets on Quits" virtual quilt show. And I managed just in time as it started yesterday! Do check it out as there's going to be a lot of eye candy for pet lovers as well as a lot of prizes if you decided to join in the fun (you still have ten days to do so!).

They needed very little quilting to stay warm and fluffy, so I decided to practice my walking foot quilting again, and again used my beloved rainbow variegated YLI thread. I chose wonky lines, firstly, to keep it fast and easy and, secondly, because the top reminds me of kids' coloring pages or something like that. My girls, who have just started trying to use my sewing machine, got to stitch a line each (can you see which are the wonkiest of them all ;)))

I also checked out several quillow tutorials and made a (quick and easy) machine appliqué pillow cover for it. Here is the tutorial by Rob Appell that I used as a basis, the only problem is I made the pillow cover a bit too small and it doesn't look very neat when folded. Anyway, this is the way it's going to look most of the time sitting on the sofa or the armchair.

Also linking up to Main Crush Monday at Cooking Up Quilts.

Goldfish

Another of my curve piecing samples quilted.

As it is rather low in contrast, it just had to get some glitter)) I bought some large gold-colored sequins and bugle beads and found a monster "gem" for the eye. I also had some white sequins left from another project, which worked for the bubbles in the water.

The look changes very much with a change of light.

Here are some views in different light to compare:

I like how the binding/sashing fabric (which I bought for a different purpose, actually) works with the seaweed here.

Linking up with Linky Tuesday at Free Motion by the River

Let's be Social at Sew Fresh Quilts

I'm also going to link it up to the Pets on Quilts linky party on Sunday - check it out, it's a yearly event and promises to be real fun (with prizes too)!

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Throwback Thursday - Lake Baikal at Sunset

It's time for another throwback post about the dark pre-blog ages. Though with me, of course, it's not that long ago)))

I made this quilt in the summer of 2014 as a part of my "Advanced patchwork" course (topic: stained glass quilt) and at the same time as a gift for my father, who lives in a small town on Lake Baikal - the most beautiful place on Earth. We were going there for a visit and so I needed a special gift.

It's picture-like size, maybe 50 by 60 cm or thereabouts and I only have this one photo of it. It doesn't show a particular place, just kind of an impression. I remember going to some "vantage points" on the shore to admire the view with my father, and he said that the mountains on the opposite side at sunset remind him of Nikolas Roerich's pictures of the Himalayas, this kind of thing:

"He Who Hastens" by Nikolas Roerich from Nikolas Roerich Museum website - have a look, the paintings and drawings are beautiful!

I didn't set out to replicate Roerich (although some of his mountains are highly piece-able, as I can see now), but I did use his bold colors)) Actually, as I was working on it, and even after it was done I thought they were too bold and nobody in their right mind would see a landscape in those bits and pieces, let alone recognize what it is supposed to be. I was really surprised (and pleased) when my mum, on seeing it for the first time, asked "Have you made this for Dad?" To my bewildered "How do you know?" she answered "I see this is Baikal."

I now know that the problem is value, as it so often happens - I presumed that if something is made of green fabrics it will be recognized as one whole thing which is the shore))), but it doesn't work like that)) Anyway, I still like this piece and I like the fact that it hangs in my Dad's living room. Looking at it reminds me of Baikal and I long for a chance to go there again. I'll show you a couple pictures from our last visit so you know why))):

I actually made many more gifts for my other relatives and friends when going there, including three potholder sets with raw edge appliqué - really fast and fun to make and produce a great impression ;))

I'm linking this up to Throwback Thursday at A Quarter Inch from the Edge - it's the link up's anniversary, there will be a lot of quilts to see and there are even prizes to be won, so you can still join, I'm sure everybody has nice quilt stories to tell!

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Magnolias - Pieced

Yesterday I finished piecing together the magnolias that I wrote about before. It's still a flimsy, so it behaves like one in the breeze outside))

It's about 1 by 1.5 meters and it's all machine pieced. I must admit, it wasn't that bad as the most of the pieces are quite large and the curves are really gentle. Well done me for an easy design)), although I must admit realism had to be sacrificed for ease of piecing - the parts are quite large, so smooth color transitions were hard to achieve.

On the other hand, viewed as a whole from a distance the shape of the magnolia flower is recognizable, what do you think?

I rather like the little zest added by the patterned fabrics

The large areas of more or less solid background look rather dull for my taste at the moment, but I hope to perk them up by the quilting. I'm still thinking it over, but I want to try improvisational quilting, combining several designs as you go, something that I admire so much in other people's work. I have bought black-and-white variegated thread for this quilt, but I'm now inclined towards getting a solid, medium or dark grey one instead. The flowers, on the other hand, do not need much in the way of quilting, some curves to outline the petal shapes - and they are done.

Linking up to Linky Tuesday at Freemotion by the River and Let's be Social at Sew Fresh Quilts

Fabric Dyeing Workshop

I spent a lovely day on Saturday at the IPS Eastern Branch workshop with Moira Byrne and Lorna Lafferty. Everybody was nice and helpful and there were tons of interesting information and enticing new possibilities))) Although I had played with some tie-dye before using silk paints that I had at hand, there was a lot to learn and to try out for me on Saturday.

First thing in the morning we got to do some ice dyeing, so that it could melt by the end of the day. Although the ice didn't quite melt by 4 p.m., I rinsed my pieces and was delighted with the result:

Here they are the way the were in the container, one on top of another, and I can already see them made into an autumn landscape with little or no cutting. Some bits are really amazing, the way the colors flow is like no other method of dyeing.

I already have two quilt ideas in my head based entirely on ice dyeing))) The best bit is it doesn't require a chemical lab, any hard-to-come-by ingredients, equipment or skills, can literally be done in the kitchen or in the back garden.

Next were various shibori-style tying, folding, scrunching and stitching techniques. Here are some of my samples:

Looks almost like a quilt already with white sashing, doesn't it? I didn't get a lot white in the samples, I think I didn't tie and press them hard enough, but I think they are still lovely. 

We also did gradation dyeing, but I somehow didn't take photos of my pieces. I made a gradation of greens, because I know I always need lots of all kinds of greens, and finding just the right one can be tricky.

The last thing we did was space dyeing, which means scrunching a piece of fabric really tightly in a jam jar and pouring various dyes over it to achieve unpredictable results)) I did this with a piece of white cotton I had bought at Guiney's and I'm happy to report that it took the dye quite well. 

I intended them to go together with this hydrangea panel and I think I got it more or less right (which is almost miraculous when I think of myself just pouring some yellow dye from a jar, then mixing it with with some blue and pouring, adding more blue and pouring...)

I haven't yet decided on the quilt design for these fabrics, so while I'm thinking I might as well make myself a piece of purple as soon as I buy the dyes. Thankfully, the process is also really easy.

By the way, the pieces with magenta in them were the hardest to rinse out, it really seemed to come out endlessly)))

In the meantime the magnolias have finally taken shape on my design wall, and they are quite large - about 1 by 1.5 meters. I've cut all the pieces, the only thing that is left is to start and to finish as they say in Russian)))

I'll be linking this post up to Main Crush Monday at Cooking Up Quilts

New To Me in 2016 at Celtic Thistle Stitches

and Linky Tuesday at Freemotion by the River

IPS National Exhibition 2016 "Evolution"

Another trip to Limerick in one month, another quilt show at the beautiful gallery space of the Limerick School of Art and Design (read about the first one here). This time my husband went with me on a romantic bus ride as the kids were looked after by their aunt and uncle)).

My quilt "Fallen by the Wayside" was there, so an obligatory "artist with quilt" picture was duly taken:

I have written about it and included some close-ups in this post. My birdies were well received and even made it onto the catalogue cover:

I struggled with my camera settings, so not all the photos of the quilts I liked were good quality, but here are at least some of them:

"In the Beginning" by Mary Maguire and "Woods" by Tomomi McElvee

"Fish Evolution" by Irene MacWilliam

"Same but Different" by Ruth Bourke

"Celebrating the Big Bang" by Rita Whelan

"Kerry Dance" by Marie Hooper

"Starburst" by Louise Mullane

The gallery also housed an exhibition of mini quilts on the theme "Distance" by artists from Ireland, Austria and Latvia, which we also enjoyed. Unfortunately, there was no catalogue and I didn't include the quilt and artist's names with some of the photos.

We then went to Limerick Quilt Center to do some fabric shopping (did I mention it was my birthday? no present like fabric shopping)))

You can tell I'm getting ready for Halloween.

We strolled a bit around the city center, saw a sewing and knitting supplies shop with my name on it, had some coffee with very nice cakes and went back home.

Linking up to Fabric Frenzy Friday at Fort Worth Fabric Studio and Can I Get a Whip Whoop? at Confessions of a Fabric Addict

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Rainbow Rose QAL - Finish

This week is the final link-up for the finished Rainbow Rose quilts at Modern Quilters Ireland.  I finished mine yesterday and took it out for a quick little shoot today, as it's been drizzling off and on.

I know it's supposed to be a Rainbow Rose, but for me it's more of a Colorwheel Star))

After a lot of deliberation I decided to quilt it in echo shapes in the variegated thread I have left from my Bubbles quilt. The thread is not a full rainbow, it doesn't have blue and yellow in it, but it's still very fun and bright (incidentally, the binding fabric has no blue either)))

I rather like how it fills the (still dreaded) negative space.

I marked the quilting lines this time, so they are more or less straight and I think I can consider my July monthly goal of walking foot quilting achieved with this and the rehearsal on the Candy quilt. I still have a couple of quilt tops which can also be walking-foot quilted till the end of the month.

I was deliberating the binding for a long time as well and finally decided on that not quite rainbow but definitely multicolored stripe I've had for several years (brought it from a trip to Moscow). I think it plays rather well with the quilting thread. To add some interest I cut the bias stripes in different directions to echo the star rays.

I couldn't find any appropriately rainbow fabric for the back, so I used the light grey piece which I was considering as an alternative to the white background in this quilt. So from the back it looks like a super minimalist whole cloth quilt ))).

Note how the binding has a different look from the back, with the stripes converging, not diverging as in front. Anyway, I suppose it will be more of a wall quilt, so the back won't get seen a lot, instead it will get a hanging sleeve.

If I ever have a sewing room, I think this would be a good thing to have on the wall there, for reference as a color wheel))

Linking up to Rainbow Rose QAL at Modern Quilters Ireland

Fabric, Thread and Yarn at France Nadeau

Off the Wall Friday at Creations by Nina-Marie 

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