Playing with Lines and Stitches 3

I finished my third lines and stitches piece. For this one I just used the pillowcase method to finish it instead of adding binding. It occurs to me that I should be telling you how big these are. This one is approximately 7" by 8". My first lines and stitches piece is a tad smaller than this one and the second one is approximately 8" by 9". So these are all small pieces. All of the fabrics used in this piece came from the box suit wool I was gifted in 2007. The brown piece was probably intended to be lining fabric. It looks like linen - very open weave - but feels like it might have some silk in it because it feels silky. The other two are wools.

This is finals week for me so I am very busy with that. But worse is the fact that my regular schedule is now gone. I am very schedule oriented and it always takes me a couple of weeks to adjust and find my new schedule every time the semester ends or school ends for my son. In addition, my son has a birthday coming up on the 27th and multiple end-of-year activities at school. So I feel like I'm being pulled in multiple directions. I may not post as often or have time to work on things worth posting about as often for a couple weeks.

I am again working on the Cub Scout quilt I'm making for Parker. I hope to have it finished for his birthday, but I'm cutting it close. Tomorrow I will post photos of my progress on that project. The center is done. I've finally decided what I want to do for the border. Now I just have to do it. So I'd better go get on that. I've got about an hour left before Parker gets home from school.

Playing with Lines and Stitches 3, in progress

Somebody stop me! I just keep getting more ideas for these little "lines and stitches" pieces. I've been really busy with work this week, but have managed to find a little time to work on this.

I'm planning to applique some of the woven fabric over the top of the stitched wool when I finish the stitching. I have not yet decided exactly where or how I will applique some of this fabric, but it will go onto the stitched background in some way.

I have also started a sampler of stitches. As I have been working on these pieces I keep getting more stitching ideas. Drawing them just doesn't capture the essence of the stitches for me, so I've begun a sampler piece. I cut a 6" by length of my wool piece and am just stitching up samples as they occur to me. The 6" width is wide enough for me to get the idea of how the stitch looks, but short enough that it doesn't take very long to do the stitching. Here's what I've got so far.

Playing with Lines and Stitches 2

I finished up my second "playing with lines and stitches" piece recently. I liked the pinkish red binding better than the charcoal, so I changed the binding on the first piece.

I did not have enough of this pinkish red fabric to bind both pieces, but my LQS had some pomegranate Kona solid that is pretty close. Click here to see it with the charcoal binding.

On a personal note, today is a special day. Parker came home from school and said, "Mom, do you notice anything different about me?"

He lost a tooth at school today. This is only the third tooth he has lost and he'll be 8 in a few weeks. Many of his friends have already lost all of their baby teeth. He feels a bit self-conscience that he hasn't lost many teeth yet. So this is a big deal at our house. I'm trying to decide if we should go out to eat tonight to celebrate or if I should just fix what I have planned for dinner. I've already got the tooth fairy pillowcase on his bed.

Playing with Lines and Stitches 1

I was so busy sewing, cleaning and out to lunch with friends yesterday that I didn't have time to take photos to post or even get online and read the blogs I follow. This is one of the things I was working on yesterday. I added the beads and the binding. I'm not sure I like the charcoal binding though. It's not bad, but I may have something that would be better. I am also working on another piece using the same teal wool, pink/red variegated thread and beads. I think I will bind it with the other fabric and then decide if I need to remove this binding and replace it with the other.

When we bought this house several years ago there were lots of tulips planted in both the front and back. I removed them from the back because they were in odd places and I wanted the back yard to be a play space for our son. I didn't want him to have to be careful of the flowers - that's no fun. I removed them from the front yard because the deer love tulips. I was trying to remove all plants that they like to discourage them from stopping by our yard. However, every year new tulips come up in random places. Usually the deer get them before the even bloom, but this year I managed to rescue a few. I guess I have a few more to dig up later.

Finished?

I'm done stitching the crop circles. I think it needs a border though. I am auditioning various fabrics right now. I'm also itching to use my new Chubby Markers that came in the mail yesterday. These are marking tools that are removed with a steam iron. They are white, so perfect for darker fabrics. I've already tested them and they work great.

Here is a photo of my view from the sewing room today. Snow! It's been snowing most of the afternoon and the forecast calls for the snow to continue through tomorrow sometime. Parker is getting his snow gear on to go play in the backyard as I type this.

Stitched Crop Circles, Part 3

Here's a photo with all the fields completed. I've added backing and rebasted it for the quilting to go outside the fields. I have not yet decided how I want to quilt it, other than I will be defining the nine patch by quilting the drawn blue lines that run between the fields. I also don't know how I want to bind this. I'm considering a satin stitch or blank stitch or possibly couching some yarn along the edge. I've got time to think about it.

I really like this idea. It has the effect of stitched applique or piecing. I am already thinking about how to incorporate this technique into other projects. I have too many ideas now to list.

My sewing time is most likely over for today. Next on my list is doing a bit more sanding in the laundry room. Then shower and lunch. I need to do some laundry. I have to meet a student at 2 pm and then turn in some final grades for students who have finished up the ALEKS course I was teaching last semester. They got extensions since they weren't quite done at the end of the semester. Then Parker comes home along with his friend Jamie. I've already got dinner in the crock pot, Taco Soup. If there is time I have to continue working on my syllabii for the courses I'm teaching next semester. Yes, I'm teaching two ALEKS courses beginning next week. We'll see how this goes. Last semesters course didn't go as well as I would have liked. I am making some significant changes to the syllabus based on my experience last semester. If things don't improve this semester, I may not have a job after this semester.

Stitched Crop Circles, Part 2

I'm making slow but steady progress on my stitched crop circles. In the bottom right field I used two different blue threads. The vertical stitches are in rayon and the horizontal stitches are metallic. I had better success sewing by hand with the metallic than I have had with the machine. I think the metallic would have sparkled more if I hadn't paired it with a rayon thread. Next time! In the top right field I used a solid green and a Sulky Ultra Twist in green and gold. I really like the Sulky Ultra Twist!

Stitched Crop Circles

I was able to make a bit more progress this morning on my weekly art project. I am considering this a sampler of sorts, making notes about the type of thread used for each "field" and the weight of the thread. I am even thinking about trying to use one of my metallic threads to see how it hand-sews.

Recycling and Playing

I've been a bit grumpy lately and I was trying to figure out why. I think that I haven't been getting enough playtime in my sewing room. So I have embarked on a new attitude adjustment program. I am going to take some advice I have read in a magazine and try to create one piece of art a week. In reality, it will probably be one piece of art every other week. That doesn't matter to me though. I figure that if I get to work on my "art" piece at least 15 minutes every day, I have been successful in my plan.

I put art in quotation marks because I'm not trying to create a masterpiece every week. My goal is to practice my design, color and composition skills along with practicing and trying out new techniques and materials. I started yesterday and this is what I've got going on so far.


The horizontal stripes were cut from one of my husbands old shirts that he no longer wants. The gold vertical stripe is from some fabric my mom gave me recently. I have no idea what the fabric content is, but it's not cotton. It is has some gold metallic threads in it and it frays easily. I am encouraging it to fray. I used some of the decorative stitches on my machine to sew down the horizontal stripes. On the middle one I even used two threads threaded through one needle on my machine. I'll take a detail shot of that later. I have learned that it is difficult to go around corners when doing a decorative stitch. I need more practice with that. I also think I should have cut the stripes from the shirt differently, leaving out the cream lines and circles in between the colored stripes - next time. I am thinking that I will do a series of these using this shirt.

Here's a picture of the shirt.

Twilight in the Garden

I "completed" this quilt in June. I put quotes around "completed" because it doesn't feel done to me. I really like the tree and the flowers. I don't like the background quilting. It doesn't seem to add anything. The quilting doesn't always need to be the focus of a piece, but I think it should always relate to the overall idea of the quilt. I'm not sure it does in this case. I am also not sure about the circles in the sky. I had them left over from the flowers and the background seemed to be missing something. I definitely like it better with the circles than without, but maybe something else (what I don't know) would have been better in their place. Maybe I'll add some beads to the flowers. Another option is to just start over and make another. Artists call this working in series. I've never done that before, but I am starting to see some benefits to this approach.