Take It Further, March...Piecing and Collage

Kathy over at Out of the Basement commented that she thought the little ants that you see on the title bar of my blog would be good on this quilt. How right she was...as the subject of this piece is the little things in nature that delight us so when we take the time to look for them. So there will be ants!

I had a great time piecing the frame that surrounds my flower picture. I seem to be working in this format a lot with my inkjet printed imagery (the "N is for Nora" and the "K is for Kreinik" pieces come to mind).

May and I had a very pleasant morning getting the piecing underway.

This measures 16 1/2 " X 22".
I realized quickly that I wanted to keep the values in the frame lighter than the colors in the photo image. I just like the contrast this sets up,and the way it keeps the attention on the flowers.
Also I cut up and used a little of the felted background fabric from the photo in the piecing, which was something I had wanted to try.
But the frame itself is intended to serve as a background of sorts...

I wanted to add some collaged elements on top of the crazy piecing...I haven't tried that before, either.
This 505 Spray and Fix is just great stuff for collaging fabric. I spray the back of my cut out leaves (on newspaper to protect my table) and then am able to smooth them into place on my crazy quilt, moving and rearranging them as I need to.

Which brings me to here.
I toyed with the idea of felt-appliqueing these on with the embellisher...but decided I didn't want that frayed edge look here. I don't want to use my usual clear thread in a free-motion zigzag either. So I am going to try machine buttonhole stitching these leaves into place. I want to see how well that will work with the hand-done seam treatments that will go between the patches.
So tomorrow is for machine applique....

Jump Start Fabric Packs, Continued

I hit the wall at #63, I think. My back just said, "Enough!" But I have had a blast putting together these fabric packs, with trim, floss, buttons, and a few pages of instructions--to offer for sale at the guild lecture I am giving in a couple of weeks.
They are intended for Newbies at crazy quilting who want a quick and easy way to dive in without having to do a lot of unfamiliar supplies shopping (but if they get into it, that shopping will become VERY familiar).
Some of you have asked what I am pricing them at....I've researched on the web, consulted with some of my pals, weighed my costs and intentions etc and have decided to lowball my price to encourage ladies to pick up a couple of packs, so they are a bargain at $10.00 each. If I ever go into production, I will have to charge more and get much more efficient, that is for sure!
Meanwhile, here are several of them for you to cruise through, just so you can see how much fun I had. I suppose I am offering them for sale here, too, but would have to add postage. Email me if you are interested....















Phew! Time for a stroll in the garden with a cup of tea....

"Jump Start Packs"

I am feeling like Santa Claus filling Christmas stockings these days. Assembling the "Jump Start Packs" for my upcoming guild lecture has been so much fun. Each one is a slightly different combination of fancy fabrics, trims, floss, and MOP buttons...not enough to really fill in a CQ block as we old hands would, and I am not including the foundation fabric or needles (as I would in an Official Kit), but there is plenty here to get a sane quilter started on a couple of blocks just to try out our glorious art form, if she chooses to purchase a Pack.
I will have a couple of block patterns, stitch diagrams, and tips printed up and inserted into the packs too.
I have twenty done, with somewhere around fifty to go....

1000 6" Squares

Just getting started, here...


Will I get to 1000?
I am in the initial stages of putting together some fabric packs to bring along to the lecture I will be giving at the Mid-Valley Quilt Guild in Salem, Oregon on June 26th, "From Sane to Crazy". This will be a talk about how one quilter found her way to crazy quilting...and just merrily sailed off the deep end forever.After the talk I hope that ladies are going to want to at least give CQ a try...I was encouraged to bring anything I wanted for sale by my guild contact, so I will put together these packs to make it easy for the ladies to experience working with all the luscious fabrics that sane quilters miss out on...and some embellishment packs too...price them so that the buyers get their money's worth...and hopefully send them home all eager to enter our universe...
I will include diagrams for 4 blocks with the fabrics, and a stitch guide for the Basic Fab 5 Stitches--herringbone, blanket, chain, chevron, and cretan--and just a few construction tips (you all know how I feel about interfacing, for example).
And I will have a hand-out for all who want it of websites for CQ inspiration and information...

So I'll be cutting squares etc. in the mornings and embellishing my Floral 9 Patch in the afternoons.
Thank you all so much for your sweet and encouraging comments about this latest project!