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Showing posts with label Octi-Hoops. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Octi-Hoops. Show all posts

Sunday, May 20, 2012

Sunflowers and Tea

January 2011 at Road to California I took Terry Waldron's class called 'Scavenger Hunt Art Quilt'. She sent a list of 'things' we should find around the house that might be incorporated into the quilt that would come out of the class.. Here is the list from her email:
THE SCAVENGER HUNT ART QUILT
with Terry Waldron

Using your BEST sense of humor “funny bone”, you have until the day BEFORE our class to find:

1  NEW ITEM THAT EXCITES YOU AND YOU WANT TO HAVE ON THIS QUILT
  (example:  a glorious bead, some specially dyed cloth or yarn, an antique doily, some alpaca hair or spun yarn,,,,)

1 ITEM THAT IS OR WAS ALIVE
(example:  a flower, a leaf, some tufts of grass, a nut or pod,
a silk worm cocoon, a unique scrap of paper, a natural fiber like silk, a piece of bark from a tree!!!)

1 ITEM THAT WAS THROWN AWAY BUT INTERESTS YOU
It will probably be some sort of paper item like some newspaper or a ticket or a sales slip or a napkin, but it could be a snipped scrap of fabric or ribbon from a present or a piece of sandpaper or… ?

1 PICTURE – BLACK & WHITE OR COLOR
This can be a photograph or a printed logo from a package or a picture from a newspaper or a design on a piece of cloth or a magazine page or something from your wallet.  (I am going to bring my copier for you to use to transfer this to cloth.  I will have fabric that is ready for copying.  It will cost $1 per sheet, or you can bring your own if you want to.)

1 ITEM THAT IS LONG AND WILL CREATE A LINE
(example:  string, yarn, wire, ribbon, torn paper or cloth.
 You could even fold twist-ties together to make a long line!)

Oh..the possibilities!!

My scavenged items that ended up on this quilt are an antique doily (it has a small hole in the center...), the fabrics that make up the sunflowers are decorator fabrics from a huge bag of scraps from the Fullerton Civic Light Opera, the green ribbon along the left side and the sunflower 'paper' that was wrapped around a pot of flowers that my son gave me when I was in the hospital... 

I knew going into the class that I was going to do 'something' that had sunflowers on it..It turned out to be a modern-ish tea table with a pot of cheery flowers..I know the perspective is not quite 'real' but..it is pleasing to me..and I hope..to you!

Here is what the quilt looked like the first day - the elements are just pinned onto a piece of batting over a foam core board:

The cup was odd..and the background swallowed up the pot..so I changed out those elements once I got home.
 
Here is what the quilt looked like after I stitched all of the elements down with Monopoly at Retreat:


And....here is the completed quilt...I quilted the leaves and the rays from the sunflowers with my Octi-hoops...and hand stitched on the buttons into the flower centers and added the tiny ladybug seeds.
Front: (click to view larger)


Back:

 
All the pieces were free-hand cut - even the borders. I fused the plastic-y sunflower paper from the pot of flowers to muslin - that became the saucer liner under the tea cup and the backing to the quotation on the reverse of the quilt. The tea bag tag was a piece of trim that the lady who was sharing my table cut off for me. The saying on the back was a quotation that Terry had us pick out to help our creative juices get flowing (hence the cup of tea!)...the two 'ladybug' seeds were in the packet of interesting 'stuff' she gave us at the start of the class..as were the pieces of yarn over the cup of tea, the stems for the sunflowers and the border of the flowerpot. The buttons were from my button collection. The backing fabric was a remnant that I found fascinating because of the scarab-like graphics.

All in all...a very satisfying class...Thanks, Terry!

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Hi Ho, Hi Ho, It's Off to Retreat I Go!

Its been a busy month..and I am SOOOOO ready for my week in Arizona!


A dove in the Arizona desert

Stuff for Show and Tell:
A Hug from Chris..quilt was made from bright wedges that I got last retreat from Chris's stash..(Chris was one of the Arizona Retreat's Hostesses..she passed away from pancreatic cancer just before last year's retreat...)

Will also be showing Heart's Garden and the table runner I made using Aurora.

Stuff I am going to work on:
Finishing the stitching except for the label ** on Heart's Garden..it has the borders on it and I need to hand stitch the joining strips down..it needs the binding cut and applied..and hand stitched as well..that will be my major project.

I am also taking Alis (the 99..I keep thinking maybe I should rename her to Agent 99, yanno like Barbara Feldon from Get Smart)...and am going to do her 'motorectomy'...and turn her into a hand-crank machine. Hopefully that won't take a bunch of time..

I also have both of my projects from the classes at Road to finish off..almost done with the Happy Village - just a wee bit more FMQ and it will be done..

And I have a couple of other projects I can work on..a pillowcase kit..a table topper using the wedge ruler from Phillips Fiber Art that I got for Christmas...my wee Hexie basket:



And..the OctiHoops..practice, practice!!

______________________________
**  I still don't have a printer to print the label with..the Epson I was using broke..they didn't have the replacement one I wanted at Fry's when we went shopping, so I have to wait for it to come in...

Monday, January 02, 2012

Goals for 2012

These are some things I want to reach for this year:

Publish more posts on what I am doing.
Not a daily post, but a few more than I have averaged in the last few years.
2010 was a bad year health-wise...in 2011, I focused mostly on recovering, but I am getting stronger and stronger.

Lose around 5 more pounds.
It gets harder to lose the closer you are to target..
I am up-ing my exercise level.. Have added wind sprints to my daily 30 minute walk.
I would like to actually be able to do a 5K run some day.
Using the treadle counts as mild exercise!

Finish my Hearts Garden quilt.
Borders, binding and label..just need to do them.

Get my tub of UFOs whittled down.
I am shocked at how many projects are in PIGZ status...(Project In Gallon Zippy)
I have to get at least a FEW of them done!! (in another post, I will try to list them out)

Learn to do lace embroidery on my treadle.
Step one..master the Octi-Hoops I got for Christmas.