Welcome to Dive Trip, the name of my latest batik quilt. The hexagons, my coral reef, were originally made for another project. However, I decided I did not like the way the project was turning out. So, I undid all the stitches and came up with this design. All batiks came from my stash (lucky me!). I added extra batting under each fish. The quilting is very simple - wavy lines reminiscent of the ocean water. It would look so nice hanging on the wall of an ocean front property... Maybe … [Read more...] about Dive Trip
Another reason to paper-piece
True to the saying “Before Prozac there was quilting”, I often patch my sorrows in my quilt room. When I need respite but cannot get away from home, the answer to my frayed nerves is almost always a paper-piecing project (applique’ is my next choice), in the form of a small wall hanging or simply finding a way to add it to a current project. It is precisely the repetition and attention required at each step which takes my mind away from worries, relaxes stressed muscles, and heals wounds as it … [Read more...] about Another reason to paper-piece
Busy week!
Phew! The week is coming to an end. Not much quilting done - just handwork, which I cannot show yet as it is for a tutorial I am preparing for another blog. I am focusing right now on tonight's birthday party for my now 13-year-old. We had our quilt guild meeting yesterday. How fun! Geri showed us the beautiful things we can make with salvages, the ultimate in upcycling in my opinion! Then, we had a quilt show judge come and give us some tips on how to improve our workmanship and quilt design. … [Read more...] about Busy week!
Iris quilting wall hanging
This is the wall hanging I made featuring Maruscha Gaasenbeek's iris folding technique. The heart block is from her book "Iris quilting" (see my previous post). Here is the story behind this quilt: I had tested my Big Shot machine as soon as it arrived, and cut some hearts out of a pretty fat quarter I had. Satisfied that the machine worked, I kept the heart cutouts near it, hoping to use them in a project. When I read Maruscha's book and saw the Heart to Heart pattern, it was love at first … [Read more...] about Iris quilting wall hanging
Iris Quilting
What a cool book! Iris quilting by Maruscha Gaasenbeek features 16 designs, and I have already turned one of them into a wall hanging! Maruscha started using her iris folding technique to make greeting cards, and later used the same technique with fabric. The results are beautiful. She copies the design onto lightweight interfacing and sew pieces of fabric onto the interfacing. Are you thinking paper piecing? That is exactly what I did... I chose the first design, Heart to Heart, but traced it … [Read more...] about Iris Quilting
Finger pads
Connie, a friend of mine who loves handwork, introduced me to these awesome finger pads. I don't know about you, but when I am hand sewing, the middle finger of my right hand gets stabbed as it is pushing the needle towards the fabric. I used to work with Thimble-It, but these are much softer, last a long time, and are very convenient to use. Thimble-It is made of plastic, so often the needle would slip and hurt me. ThimblePad is a piece of soft leather with adhesive on the back. The adhesive … [Read more...] about Finger pads