Center Piece Hexagon

On Friday Karen posted the next step for this hexagon quilt along called "Soupcon". She suggests we embellish our hexagon with embroidery stitches. I had not taken note of anyone else doing this before I saw her work. It's one of the reasons I joined this project. Go here to see her suggested ideas. This is what I've done to my mine ...

I felt all the fine design lines within my chosen fabric dictated a lacy edge.

I drew a scalloped edge echoing the line that frames the leafy shapes onto my background fabric with a fine white chalk pen. I used a buttonhole stitch with a 2-ply strand of cotton floss to embroider a lacy edge, as well as to cover the lines of the small leaf shapes radiating around the center. Nestled buttonhole stitches filled with a knot stitch accent the points. I also emphasized the dots within the fabric pattern with embroidered knots.

The knot stitch that I prefer to use in all my embroidery is the Colonial Knot. It is more stable than a French Knot ... plus it's fun to make. I wrote a tutorial here.

Another element that I have added is a striped black and white wool yarn. It's machine couched to frame the center fabric. Here's a tutorial I wrote about how I couch yarn in my work. There are two methods presented, one for edges and another for the middle of the work. Scroll down to the second one to see how I sewed the yarn to these centers.

I started to edge this motif with the buttonhole stitch ...

I hadn't made it a scalloped edge because I want to keep this motif secondary to the center one. I'm not liking it, so those stitches will be coming out ... I don't yet know what else will be done instead.

PS: The size of these modified star hexagons is 7" from point to point.

Playing With Hexagons

I bought this half yard left on the bolt by the customer ahead of me at JoAnn's in early December.

 My thought was that it would make nice thin strips to transition between design elements. Instead, it's become the star (literally) to my playing with this online project, "Soupcon Quilt Along" created by Karen on her blog, Faeries and Fibres.  Here's my solution to the first step in making my version of her the wall hanging she's designed...

However, I couldn't resist playing with different configurations of the hexagon to make more medallions...

Here's the fabric from which I'm cutting the centers...

I'm intrigued and couldn't resist playing with more configurations...

I'm excited to see where Karen is leading me and the 28 others who are in on this project. It's not too late for you to come join the fun, too. Just go to her blog and leave a comment indicating that you're interested.

Playing with Paper Piecing

I had a few days between my last big project (more about that later) and getting ready to move north for the summer so I dug into my scrap bags and played with this idea I had recently come across at this link.

Making my own pattern for the diamond shapes that create these wonky spider webs based on a Victorian motif was easy. Watching it grow on my design wall was fun ...

At this point, it began to be a bit more work to figure out which scraps to use where ...

 

Further along, I began to think about how in the world all these diamond shapes would be sewn together ... and could see no other way except with "Y" seams. So I finished up with a plan to use this as the center motif for a larger project.

Sewing the "Y" seams was not as bad as I had anticipated. The biggest trick for success is to not stitch into the seam allowances. Also, to backstitch at the beginning and end of each seam ... and each side of the diamond is a separate seam. In these two photos you can see the sequence of my getting those diamonds sewn together.

Here it is all stitched together ... front and back.

As you can see, I marked key diamonds on the paper clad backside so I wouldn't mess up the spider web patterns. The paper was torn away from the seam allowances so they could be pressed before I trimmed the whole piece to size and square it up in preparation for it to be used as the center motif in a future bed quilt.

Last evening I dug through my stash of fabric pieces that had been cut for other projects but had ended up not being used. Among my finds were a baggy full of red hued squares and the cut strips of the striped fabric. Both of those look good with the spider web piece. Ricky Tim's "dancing square" patterning is the perfect wonkiness for working those squares into a border. The same goes for that irregular striped fabric.

It's time to put all this away ... maybe I'll pack it up to finish designing and piecing sometime this summer.

Now to get busy so I can get back to creating in my Studio North.

Cow Tipping

When our friend, Alicia, came for her annual holiday at the beach during August she did a lot of tipping of this paper mache cow sculpture while giving it a new coat of many colors and patterns.

I had given Alicia several pieces of scrap muslin for cleaning brushes and wiping up paint.  Those treasured paint rags hanging to dry on the clothesline will find places in my future creations.

We got the idea for this project while Lee and I were visiting her in Milwaukee.  She had taken us to see a painted cow at an upscale art/craft shop.  We were tempted to buy that very expensive piece until we recalled that we already had a very nice, but rather plain spotted cow sculpture at the cottage.  Our thanks to Alicia for volunteering her talent to turn our cow into a "funky art" piece.

We are greatly pleased ... and hope she's looking forward to painting this cow's calf next summer.

Bra Bags From a Bag of Bras

Do you remember this bag of voluptuousness from a post last April?It was the project my friend and I worked on while she visited from Milwaukee. They became Christmas presents. These were wrapped and under the tree waiting to be opened.
We called them "pin-up potpourri pouches" since we thought few of our friends would carry these suggestive beauties as evening bags.
The recipients came up with some other terms ... "boob bag" being one.
My favorite is "brapourri".
I wish I'd had my camera at the ready when each of them were opened.
All of the recipient's reactions were much like these two ... amazement, delight, awe that anyone put so much work into "this". There were even a couple who declared they would carry theirs as evening bags.
The one made for me by my friend hangs here in my studio.
The one I made for her hangs in her bedroom.

Playing With Alicia

My friend, Alicia, just left after a ten-day visit. I've posted about her visits and our projects in previous years. Having a major project to work on is a tradition for us. It usually involves making presents for our mutual friends. Last year it was the birds. This year it involves this bag of voluptuousness.
Our shopping was done on Alicia's first day. Here she is cutting and stitching.
The weather was unseasonably cool for most of her visit. There were only two days we were able to sit outside to stitch. Between our time out there and in my studio we took a few day trips that included my husband. One was up to the Smoky Mountains.
We had a picnic next to a mountain stream ... just below the Chimney Tops.
At this altitude the trees were still bare, but the wild flowers were blooming.
Near the top was quite a bit of snow ...
... and ice cycles on the shady side of rock cliffs.
As for our project, we each completed seven of these.
The feathered one is created by Alicia. I made this glamorous one.
I cannot reveal the others until they are gifted next Christmas because many of the recipients read this blog. We are calling these "pin-up potpourri pouches" since we think few of our friends would carry these suggestive beauties as evening bags. Besides, even though some of them are "D" cups, they're hardly large enough for all the stuff that we older women find necessary to carry on an evening out.