Feathered Dahlia

It has been a long wait…… but it finally happened.  My Feathered Dahlia quilt and pattern have been published in the Dec/Jan issue of Quilters’ Newsletter Magazine.

Make sure you pick up a copy so you can make your own.  I would love to see what you do with this pattern.  Please let me know if you make one!

 

working

Another typical work week with a finish:

Another finish:

And a start:

Playing with Texture Magic

I bought some Texture Magic at MQX in April.  I finally got around to trying it a couple of weeks ago.

Texture Magic is a product sold by Superior Threads.  It looks and feels like lining fabrics.  After you quilt it, you steam it to make it shrink 30% in each direction.  The shrinkage creates more texture.

I used batting between the Texture Magic and cotton fabric, but the directions say you can do it with no batting.  I will  try that another time.  I  need to play and experiment more to figure out if I want the quilting lines to be closer or not.  I also want to try straight lines and a grid.   It will depend on the project as to what effect I am after.

So this is a little tutorial on what I did.

I basted it on the top of batting and backing on my longarm.  You can make a similar sandwich (with or without batting) and baste or pin together.

Then I quilted it on my longarm.  You can use a sewing machine, longarm or even by hand.  The key is to have fairly dense quilting to get more texture.

Here is the other side:

Then I steamed it.  You steam it on the Texture Magic side.  I used my 35 year old Steamstress that still works well.  I love that thing!  I doubt you are lucky enough to have an old Steamstress, so use a regular iron that steams well.

You can literally see it shrink before you eyes.  (hmm, maybe I should wrap my body in it and steam away the pounds)

Here it is all steamed and shrunk:

And the fabric side:

See the Magic???

I can see lots of possibilities for this product.  Purses, tote bags, or vests.  I dont ever make those kinds of things, so I will use some on a pillow for my first project.

Let me know what you use Texture Magic for.  And please share any tips along the way.

Finis!

2 finishes today.  One for me, one for Steve.

Here is the one I finished.

The back doesnt show the quilting much, you have to enlarge it to see.

And this baby quilt is what Steve did today.  I think it is adorable.

Arent those baby buggies cute??

Pumpkin Seed quilt

Just realized that I never posted the quilt that I did so much leafy background fill on. Here it is done:

Sometimes I dont know what secondary design will appear on the back.  This time it was a happy accident.  (click on any photo to enlarge…. particularly one of the last two.)

I will be gone to a quilting retreat most of this week.  Doubt I will have time to post much.

Stimulating the economy

I did my civic duty today, and helped to stimulate the economy.  I went fabric shopping.

These are for a feathered star quilt.  I will be taking a class at MQX on how to do it.  Ronda was supposed to teach, but she is recovering from a total knee replacement.  Linda will be teaching instead.  Tomorrow I hope to start cutting.  I have to have “homework” done before I go to the class in April, so want to be sure I get it done before hopping a plane to New Hampshire April 12.

Washington Post…. Uncertainty

My quilt, Uncertainty, was mentioned in the Washington Post today.

The article is about the controversy with Mark Lipinsiki’s Quilter’s Home Magazine and JoAnn’s Fabric not carrying the latest issue with shocking quilts.

Anyway, if you are interested, the article is here:

Apple quilt

Steve quilted this one the other day.  I think she will use it as a tablecloth.

The quilting design is called Double Bud.

Leaving in my sleep

I will be leaving in my sleep this week:

Maybe the correct spelling is leafing.  Lots of white background on this quilt…. all getting a leaf fill.

Raffle Quilt Done

I finished the raffle quilt yesterday.  Someone else has to bind it, so these pictures are from when the quilt was hot off the machine.

Lousy pictures…. and I hadnt even been drinking.  Oh, I dont drink.  I must have had tremors or something.  Sorry.

And here’s the back.  I like it!

The technical part:  Quilter’s Dream Puff batting, So Fine thread, all work done freehand…except for the vein of the feathers in the setting triangles, that was done with a ruler.