Shades of Pink and Coral

This is my latest piece.
I find it very calming and decided to call it "Early Sunday Morning".
Sunday mornings around my home are generally very low key and easy going. Early in the morning there's a feeling of tranquility which even seems to translate into the light that shines in through the windows. I get the same feeling from these gentle shades of coral and pink.


I love how the quilting turned out. It was one of those splendid accidents. I had just oiled my machine and was sewing a piece of scrap fabric through, something I always do after an oiling... it helps to get all of the oil distributed... and my hand accidently hit on a stitch that I never use, and as I moved my hand away I wound up accidently swiping the stitch length control. Because I was just doing maintenance, I went ahead and started stitching on the scrap fabric... And to my delight I loved what I saw being stitched! Amazing what a little adjustment in stitch length and width can do. Note to self: Explore more stitches and variations of the stitches on sewing machine.


I am putting this one in my functional art quilts category, because I think it works equally well on the wall and on the table.


Early Sunday Morning-Modern Functional Art Quilt measures 23.5" x 36.5" and is available in my
Silly BooDilly shop.

Note: This quilt has been sold.

In Search of Simplicity

"Think simple" as my old master used to say - meaning reduce the whole of its parts into the simplest terms, getting back to first principles.”
~ Frank Lloyd Wright



I am in search of simplicity.

Simplicity in design. Simplicity in form. Simplicity in function.

This new functional art quilt is back to the basics, with simply block piecing and straight rows of quilting. I hope that the simplicity of the design, coupled with my best craftsmanship and fabric selection, translates into a touch of eclectic elegance in which ever way it is used...



“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” ~ Leonardo da Vinci


"Simplicity, carried to an an extreme, becomes elegance." ~ Jon Franklin


“Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.” ~ Albert Einstein

Note: One thing that is not simple is getting the colors to show true in each picture. Something I was not able to achieve here due to fluctuating lighting as I took the pictures, as well as the various places the photos are loaded on. Blogger, Etsy, and Flicker all show the colors differently. Drives me crazy! I would say, at least as far as my monitor is concerned, that the 1st and 3rd pictures shown here, are most accurate in representing the quilts true colors.

New Work

I set out last week to make some new functional art quilts. My plan was to continue with the Mid-Century inspired work that I recently embarked on, (see here, here and here). However when I shut my eyes to see what this new quilt would look like, (now you know my highly sophisticated process of design) I didn't see stripes, and lines, but instead saw circles and flowers.


I opened my eyes and politely explained to my brain that it had made a mistake, and to please try again. Closing my eyes I saw the same image as before. After several more attempts to redirect my brain, I finally gave in, (which is always the smart thing for me to do, for whenever I try to make something that I am not seeing, even if it something that I made before, it never turns out right. When an idea wants to be born, it wants to be born. My job is to get out of my own way and let it happen!)


As in the previous quilts, this to is meant to be both functional and beautiful. Use it as a table runner, hang it on the wall, or drape it over a hanger or chair. I have another one of these contemporary circular designs lined up to be quilted this week, and I hope that they will be as well received as the Mid-Century designs, (I am delighted to say that two of the three have already sold!)


For more information, you can check out this quilt in my shop, here.


One more bit of lovely news, I was again awarded the Brillante Blog award. This time from the very sweet and talented Gunnel. Thank you so much Gunnel, I truly appreciate it! And I once again am going to pass on the official passing on of this award to 7 worthy bloggers, (due to well documented phobias in this general area) and instead pass it on to all of you because you are all so delightful, and because it is my blog and I can do what ever I want!

New Color, New Work

I hope everyone had a lovely long holiday weekend. I know that for a lot of folks in the New Orleans area, the only thing lovely about it was that they weren't hit as hard as originally feared. Thank goodness for that, however they still got slammed pretty good, and I am keeping my fingers crossed that all future storms spare them. They have been through enough. And by the way, thanks to everyone who left such thoughtful comments on my hurricane quilt from the previous post.


We spent part of the weekend giving our kitchen a much needed paint job. I choose this pale sunny yellow color, and am delighted by how cheery the kitchen now looks. Seeing as it was on my to do list for the last 5 YEARS, (!) I am thrilled that it is finally done! Hoping to tackle the dining room next week!


And this is my latest mid-century inspired
table runner/wall hanging/art quilt, which I posted a few days ago here in my shop.


I am really enjoying designing and constructing these pieces, and am looking forward to doing more!
(But now I need to go blog hopping and catch up on everyone else's weekend!)

Wall hanging

The last few 100 details have been added to the wall hanging. It's time to add some more fabric which will be in a lighter maroon/red. I was hoping that clicking this photo would enlarge it, but this time it didn't work.


This is a really pretty stitch. The thread is a pink varegated with pink pearly beads a little larger than seed beads.

Mid Century Utilitarian

Introducing the 2nd piece in my newest line of functional art quilts. (Wow, 2 new pieces in 10 days... the devil must be ice skating!) Just like the one previously posted here, this too was inspired by mid-century design and also by those beautiful, faded utilitarian quilts, often made in the past by farm woman, from used pieces of wool and dyed indigo cloth. (Although mine is 100% cotton).


I tried to emulate the look and feel by choice of color, and simple construction. I also washed this piece as a final step in its construction to give it that puckered, aged and worn look. And just like my first quilt in this series, this one also functions both as a decorative piece of art which can be hung on the wall, and as a functional object that can be used. Available now in my Silly BooDilly Shop.

And one more "Thank You" to everyone who left comments on my last two posts, and/or sent me emails. I treasure each and every one of your responses. It is nice to know that there is so much thoughtfulness, kindness, support, love and understanding out there!

Details 35, 37, 38a & b, 39 and 40.

I had a few days in hospital last week which put me a bit behind, but now I'm caught up again!

Detail 35

Detail 37

Detail 38a

Detail 38b

Detail 39

Detail 39 was supposed to be " Up and down buttonhole worked in a feather stitch formation" but I kept getting mixed up on the feather stitch formation, which moves the 'v' from left to right. I tried a lot but I didn't succeed, I need help here!

Detail 40

The left side of the wall hanging is filling up nicely.

Details 34b, 36a and 36b

Detail 34b
This was fun to do with the varigated thread, it filled a large space, and I tried to match the thread with the beads.

This is 36a and b.

And I finally found the way to do bullions without having an extra thread. Well, all it took was to read some instructions and follow them! Sharonb's original detail was done with wool, I used 6 strands of variegated floss.

These recent details are part of a big wall hanging I am doing for my living room. When it is finished it will be 4' x 2' 6". This is about 9" wide.

Finally!

I am finally getting some time to start some new work! This is the first in a new series of contemporary table runners/wall hangings. My original plan was to just do table runners, but then I thought "why not sew a hanging sleeve on the back, so they can also double as wall hangings?" So I did. Easy!


Please forgive this not so great photograph! It has been overcast and rainy all day. Once I can get some decent photos, I will post this baby in my shop, and hopefully will follow up with some more very soon!

Falling Behind!!!

Maybe some of you have noticed that I haven't posted any new details of the "100 Details in 200 Days" in a while. The problem has been that I have run out of seams to work on. I have no blocks "on the go". Since I started CQing in March I have accumulated six completed blocks (which I think will make a nice wall hanging for my bedroom), but I don't want to start another block unless it is for a gift or RR. So this evening I decided to begin my big wall hanging for the living room, just so I could get some seams to work on. I hadn't planned on starting this big project so soon, but, hey, I 'm up for the challenge!

It will be 4' x 2' 1/2". The maroon bit that I have laid out above is about 8" wide and should provide plenty of seams for the next month of details.

New Project

I'm just thinking about it right now, but it's taking shape. I have a lot of Asian/Indian stuff in my living room. For instance, some furniture from Pier 1 that have touches of rattan, curtains that look like sari material, a decorative wall hanging that I made on the lines of one from Pier 1, and a wonderful hand hooked rug in the colours of my curtains. Well, my sister was visiting this weekend past and put the idea into my head that I should make something for the wall behind my sofa in crazy quilting. It would have to be quite different from the wall hanging.



It would be a huge project. The piece would need to be 4' x 2' 6" and I would have to do it in one piece. All I have done so far is to get a piece of plain newspaper print the correct size and roughly mark a grid. I have a piece of muslin the right size too. I'm going to think about it awhile before starting just so I don't make any silly mistakes. Has anyone else done a hanging in CQ this big?