Bits and Pieces to Finished Top

I took a one day workshop with Sheila Frampton Cooper through my local guild. She was a good instructor and everyone had a fun day using basic curved piecing techniques. I've done this type of piecing before so the technique wasn't new to me, however, she did have a couple of twists that did make her technique a little different. I generally don't use solid(ish) fabric and was feeling a bit resistant but I wanted to try something different, so I stuck to her rules for the most part. I used a lot of my own solid(ish) hand-dyes, some solid commercial fabrics and one wipe cloth fabric. I'm sure you can guess which fabric that is.

Here are the bits and pieces that I had finished by the end of the one day workshop. At this point, it would have been pretty easy to put them away like I usually do after a workshop and never finish the piece. For some reason, that didn't happen. I kept plugging away, adding pieces until they fit together in a way that felt balanced.

Here's the finished top. It measures approximately 40"w x 35"h. It's not square and it's not going to be. Now I need to figure out how to quilt it. One of my friends suggested quilting each different colored fabric with a different stitch and matching thread. That sounds extremely time consuming and I don't think I want to do that. I'm thinking something simple like vertical lines.

What do you think? How would you quilt this?

One of a Kind Shopping Bags

My husband and I have decided to be more friendly to the environment. It started by filtering our own water and using a metal water bottle, and then progressed to reusable shopping bags. I really didn't want a bag that said Trader Joe's. I decided to use some of my hand-dyed, painted and screened fabric to make a shopping bag that was truly one of a kind.

I started with a set of instructions that was fairly simple and proceeded to change everything about it. I think the only thing that remained the same was the length of the webbing used on the strap! I kept coming up with a better way to do it . . . I just can't help myself. In the end, it's still pretty simple, but the way it goes together makes a lot more sense (at least to me).

Here's the first bag I made using hand dyed denim on the outside. The interior has a beautiful batik.

Once my husband saw the fabric combination below, he decided he would also like a special shopping bag. The fabric on the left is a commercial fabric, the fabric on the right was sunprinted, then it was printed using a thermofax screen.

Here's the finished bag. I'm happy to say that Mike loves it!

This is the fabric combination for the next bag. The purple is a commercial fabric and will be used for the lining. The fabric on the right was screenprinted using blue glue on a screen. Once the denim was dry, I added color in some of the squiggles with Dye-na-flow.

Hope those participating enjoyed their Thanksgiving celebration. Two of my three kids came home for a short visit. Although our dinner was delicious, it definitely wasn't traditional. Somehow, all three of my kids turned into vegetarians. One will eat dairy products, one will eat dairy and fish and one is vegan. We decided to have Macadamia nut encrusted Halibut with grilled tofu, home made applesauce, carrot salad, grilled asparagus and stuffing! Everyone was happy and it was wonderful to spend some time together. What more can you ask for?

Finished Quilt

Well, here are the long awaited photos of the waterlily quilt for Jean. I knew from the start that I was giving this quilt away, and was fine with it, but I've grown quite attached, and will be sad to see it go. Fortunately, I know where Jean lives and can visit the quilt!

It has hand-dyed, hand-painted and commercial fabric. Some of the leaves are 3-D and some are machine appliqued and of course, the waterlily is 3-D. The Chinese letters in the top left corner translate to "Peaceful".