Ah...who designed this fabric?!!

I was recently shopping at a big box fabric and craft store with a friend of mine. She was looking for fabric to make a curtain to go under her kitchen sink. After some searching, she finally decided on one - something that would match her new Kitchen Aid Blender. It was hip and modern - kinda like her. I've always enjoyed looking at fabric. And it never ceases to amaze me what I find printed on fabric. But this one took the cake...

www.mselaineous.com

Hmm.....what could I make from this?

Crazy Boy Pillows...Are Done!

The pressure was mounting when it came to finishing these two pillows. The twins were asking their mom when they would be arriving! 

So here they are! A truck hauling a fan and a pirate ship pulling a sled! Crazy!

I used my Bernina Free Motion Couching foot to create the clouds. I don't get to use this foot that often, but when I do, it's pure joy!

I wasn't really careful or particular when I stitched up the finishing designs on these pillows. I did some fast applique and regular couching with embroidery floss.
 

I also tested out some fancy stitches to create the chain that's used to pull the sled.
















And finished up the fan with some basic free-motion stitching. I drew the circle for the fan cage and sewed on the mark.


Now let's see if I can get them shipped tomorrow!

Crazy Boy Pillows

A few weeks ago, I drove from NY to DC to visit with a good friend who was settling into her new house. She and her hubby have three young boys. I brought my sewing machine and spent a lot of time helping them hang curtains and cozy-up their home. I knew, though, that I'd have to find something for the boys to do. One boy is almost eight and the twins are almost five. 

So we went to work creating pillows! I had them look at some coloring sheets online and they picked the truck and the pirate ship. They traced their designs on to Heat 'N Bond Lite and I cut them out and fused them to the fabric. Once I fine-tuned them, I ironed them to pieces of white twill.

During my visit, I was able to get one pillow done (a truck) but the twins' pillows remain. They left me with specific instructions: The pirate ship needs to be pulling a sled from a big hook and the truck needs to be delivering a fan. 

My goal this weekend is to finish these up and get them shipped. Mom has told me that they've been asking about them!

Caricature Quilt Art

In May 2011 my wonderfully creative mother died at the age of 85. Her death was unexpected but not surprising - nonetheless, it still left a void in my sewing spirit. Several trips, alone, driving back and forth between Michigan and New York gave me a lot of time to process and think. 

When I returned from the funeral, I also returned to my empty sewing studio. The only problem was that I was not ready to be around a lot of people. I wanted to play. I didn't want to  work. I put things on hold and did the bare minimum of business-related tasks. For a while, I mustered up the energy to cut a bunch of quilt blocks, then I decided it was time to laugh. I had ordered a copy of Amy Bradley's Quilters Yearbook and loved the funny caricatures but had never got around to doing anything with it.

Fabric Dyeing

I recently finished up a Surface Design class. It turned out to be more of a basic fabric dyeing class; nonetheless, it was a lot of fun (mainly because several friends were also in it).

Here's a sampling of my final fabric. I had an old sheet that didn't fit my new mattress, so I tore it up and dyed 16" squares. I don't know what I'm going to be doing with them, but I'm leaning toward trying my hand at free-form quilting. I read about it in a book by Rayna Gillman. Too bad my summer is quickly coming to an end and I have to return to work at the end of month!