Glamour Shots for Quilts

Lately I've seen a lot of quilts in "non-traditional" pictures, and it's really interesting.  So I got out my digital camera and thought I'd give it a try.  This seems like a great idea when I want to show a quilt on my blog, and don't want just the straight on picture.

Which do you like better?  Or both together?  They are both just beginner shots, but this may be interesting!

By the way, this is my Colorways quilt, patchwork with machine quilting, made in 2012.  It's alternating Nine Patch and Churn Dash blocks.

Mary

New Way to Paper Piece

Did you know you can paper piece without all the tearing and cutting of paper -- AND you can reuse the paper templates?  This technique has worked so well for me on my Double Wedding Ring quilt that I had to share it!

This is a really simple explanation, not a paper piecing tutorial, because I want to hurry and get back to piecing!  Let me know if it doesn't make sense.

Steps  1-4

1. Copy or draw your pattern onto the non-slick side of freezer paper and cut it out. (you can also use regular paper, and a glue stick).

2. Press Piece 1 fabric lightly onto the slick side of the freezer paper, being careful to stay inside of the lines. Pressing from the paper side helps.

3. Place Piece 1 and Piece 2 together, lining up the edges right sides together, BUT, before you sew, fold back the paper on the seam line.
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4. Sew the seam, being careful to sew next to the paper fold, without sewing the paper.  If your pressure foot wants to stick, put a scrap of paper over the freezer paper.

Steps 5-6

5. Press lightly, carefully pressing Piece 2  to the shiny (sticky) side of the freezer paper. Again, stay inside the lines of piece 2.  Press from the paper side, and you can see your pattern. (If you use regular paper, use a dab of glue stick to hold the fabric to the paper, or pin).

6. Fold at the next line, trim your seams, and sew your next seam (Piece 2 to Piece 3).

7. Continue until you have finished your piece.  When you are finished, trim around the outside, and carefully pull off the freezer paper and re-use!


 -- it's just that easy!

Mary

Double Wedding Ring Quilt - Here Goes!

A Double Wedding Ring quilt has been on my list of quilt patterns I'd like to try for a long time.  Spring seemed like a perfect time to use my new fabrics, too!

I'm in a bright pastel phase, as you can see, love these fabrics, a combination of Joann's, Connecting Threads and Fat Quarter Shop.

So, off I went -- first I went to my scrap stash, and pulled out everything I could use -- I got tough, and if it was too small for this quilt pattern, it got thrown out.

The pattern I used came from Quilt Inspiration Blog - Wedding Ring Quilts Part 1, I love the River City Quilt Guild's quilt, but it will have to wait until I master the technique. Part 2 has some beautiful quilts too!

I'm doing the Double Wedding Ring Quilt by Marsha Evans Moore at Free Spirit Fabric for a collection by Jennifer Paganelli at Sis Boom.  Click on the link for a free pattern.

So  away I went!  I like paper piecing for this pattern, it's more precise for me.

One of my goals with quilting is to enjoy the process, and to SLOW DOWN!  This quilt is definitely going to be a process :)  Here's what I have so far.

I can't decide between making a bed runner or quilt, we'll see how it goes.  Now I better get off this blog and get quilting!

Mary

Paisley Flowers - My Favorite Quilts

It occurred to me today that I've talked a lot about my studio, and have a gallery of quilts, and I've blogged about my quilts for 2012, but I haven't talked about my individual quilts.

Paisley Flowers was an fun quilt for me, because I was able to do some thread painting and fabric painting on it as well as applique and patchwork. The queen size quilt was a gift for my father.

The center and corner motifs were needle turn applique, adapted from a pattern in the book Art Noveau Quilts by Bea Oglesby.  I followed the pattern for the center, but adapted it to fit two of the corners.

For the borders, I used some pretty floral material in my stash.  The inside borders aren't all the same shape and color, which I found interesting and different.

Then, I thread painted the other two corners with colored thread. Just to add some contrast, I also did a little fabric painting on the flowers.  The quilt was machine quilted with a looping design..

I hope you enjoy seeing my quilt and hearing about it, hopefully it will give you some ideas you can use!

Mary