The piecing is progressing well. The sections outlined in lime green are completely pieced. I hope to get a lot more done today.
This technique requires a lot of precision. I’ve learned from experience with previous quilts I’ve made, that the more careful and accurate I am when sewing the pieces and sub-sections together, the better the larger sections will go together.
First, I want to tell you about a new fabric shop, Quilt Stash, Squared. Their mission is “to get 
all the wonderful fabric sitting in quilters’ bins, boxes and closets and market them in an on-line shop”. They are located in the Vancouver area, so have very reasonable shipping costs to Canada. Plus they ship to the US and internationally. Of course, when I heard about this shop, I had to browse through their selection, and of course I found some fabrics I loved. Here’s what I got. And by the way – quick delivery, nicely wrapped and great quality!
I completed my entry to the Quilts Arts reader challenge – Coffee or Tea? This is what I said about my entry:
The only thing better than my morning cup of java, would be to meet a friend for coffee. And of course, our coffee would be served on a mug rug! I assembled the coffee cups with fusible web, then adhered them to the pieced background. I made the steam with two layers of white tulle stitched to the background, surrounded with machine-stitched curlicues.
I’ll find out in about a week if my entry will be accepted for publication.
I’m working on a mug rug for a fun scrap bag challenge and swap through the VMQG, but I can’t post photos yet, because my recipient might recognize her fabric, and that would spoil the surprise. Oh, and check out the VMQG member spotlight (I’m the member featured this month).
And, I’ve got a lot accomplished on the tree quilt. More details here about my progress.
I’m linking up with these blogs for WiP Wednesday. Click on the buttons below to see all the people participating and check out their projects.
I’ve finished selecting fabric for the tree quilt, and starting sewing it together. So far the bottom part of the tree trunk and landscape area behind it, is sewn together.
The technique I’m using for this quilt involves drawing the full size pattern on freezer paper, then cutting the pieces apart and ironing each piece to the back of the fabric. I pin all the pieces on the design wall to ensure everything works together, before commencing sewing. All seam are straight lines (no curves at all), so I leave the freezer paper on the back of each piece as I sew it together. On past quilts I’ve made with this technique, I used my 1/4″ foot. This time, I’m using my walking foot, and it’s working really well. No slippage, even on the really long seams across the width of the quilt.
I got a lot done this week.
To see my progress on the tree quilt, click here.
I finished my entry to the Cloth Paper Scissors reader challenge – Art Supply Doodle. I ‘doodled’ with thread on fabric. Here’s my entry, and its inspiration.
I’m working on my entry to the Quilts Arts reader challenge – Coffee or Tea? I’m definitely a coffee person – at least in the morning – and the only thing better than my cup of java, is sharing coffee with a friend. I’m experimenting with how to make the ‘steam’ using tulle.
I submitted my entry to QuiltCon for these 3 quilts.
I may still enter one more in the Miniature category. The deadline is November 30th – don’t’ forget to enter your modern quilt(s) – it’s all online, and it’s easy!
Last of all – I just want to point out that the coleus quilt I posted last week is a photo I printed on fabric, then enhanced with free-motion quilting around the leaves and on the veins. I’ve had a lot of lovely comments on how realistic my quilt looks, but I think those people may not have realized it was a photo. My art quilts aren’t quite that realistic looking!
I’m linking up with these blogs for WiP Wednesday. Click on the buttons below to see all the people participating and check out their projects.
As I was cutting fabric for the last section of the tree foliage, I realized I didn’t have quite enough. Fortunately, when I got the blue fabric, I picked up a coordinating print.
I’ve used some of it on the left side, and I think it adds even more depth to the foliage. So a happy mishap!
I still need to go back and replace some of the original foliage fabric on the left side.
I’ve selected fabrics for the ground. I ‘just’ need to decide exactly where each one will go, which will somewhat depend on the size of each piece of fabric. Then lots more cutting and pinning. Those little trees – the smallest ones are cut from a piece of fabric. The larger ones I made by scanning the fabric, enlarging it on my computer, then printing them. They are just printed on paper for now, until I decide exactly how many and what size I need. Then I’ll print them on fabric.
Previous posts about this tree quilt can be found here (1st post), 2nd post and 3rd post.
I crossed a lot of completed items of my list this week.
I sewed up some coasters for the Vancouver MQG booth at the upcoming Got Craft? event. I used this great tutorial for the coasters.
Coleus mini quilt – this is now finished and ready to be delivered to its new home.
I added more photos to my Quilt Studio page.
Below is my Kona Modern challenge quilt. This was the VMQG challenge using Cynthia Frenette‘s Kona Modern Quilts fabric for Robert Kaufman Fabrics. We had our big reveal at our guild meeting on Monday.
This weekend, I plan to work on all of the following:
I’m linking up with these blogs for WiP Wednesday. Click on the buttons below to see all the people participating and check out their projects.
I’m working on a new 
commissioned quilt. When I posted this quilt in my Etsy shop, I received a request to make a similar one in a slightly larger size. The original is 8 x 8 inches, and is a photo of a coleus plant that I printed onto prepared fabric, then enhanced with free-motion quilting and accent squares of fabric.
The commissioned one will be 8.5 by 11.5 inches. The challenge is that my printer will only print a photo that’s 8.25 x 10.25 inches – so how do I make it an inch longer? I realized I could print it out in 2 parts, and overlap one over the other. That led me to the realization I could overlap one of the leaves over a border to give it a dimensional look. And, this opens a whole new world of possibilities of what I can do with photos printed on fabric!
The photos below show the photo printed on 2 pieces of fabric, then the top part trimmed, then the top part fused to the bottom part. The 4th photo shows the free-motion stitching done, and the accent squares in place but not yet fused or stitched (excuse the shadow of my arm in the last photo).
Kona Modern Challenge – this quilt is now quilted, and half the binding is done. Sorry, no new photos. I’ll post one when it’s all finished.
Tree Quilt – lots of progress on the blue tree.
I’m linking up with these blogs for WiP Wednesday. Click on the buttons below to see all the people participating and check out their projects.
Lots of progress on the blue tree quilt since my last post.
I have most of the foliage cut and pinned to the pattern on the design wall. I still think it looks fine with just the one fabric for the foliage (although I have used 4 different yellow fabrics for the sky and 3 chartreuse fabrics for the trunk and branches). I’ve pinned up a few triangles of yellow for sky showing through the foliage.
I’m continuing to gather fabrics for the background and foreground. As soon as I have all the fabric for the top part cut and pinned, I’ll start auditioning fabrics for the bottom.
I’m starting to think about a title for this quilt. So far I’ve come up with:
I’d love to hear some suggestions for quilt titles!
My studio is included in the Winter 2012 issue of Studios Magazine. There’s a 3-page spread in the Vignettes section. If you’d like to know more about my studio, click here.
I got back from the Houston International Quilt Festival on Friday night. I had a fantastic time, but now I’m back to reality. I’ve been unpacking, and trying to get caught up. I have several projects with deadlines, so my umbrella people will have to wait for a while.
Kona Modern quilt – I finished piecing this quilt before I left for Houston. It has to be quilted and bound for our next guild meeting, when our guild challenge is due.
Blue tree quilt – I finalized the drawing of the tree top, and took it to FedEx/Kinkos to create a full -size drawing. I’ll finalize the design of the bottom of the quilt later.
I’ve been gathering fabrics for this quilt. So far I haven’t found any for the foliage, other than the original fabric that inspired this quilt. Usually I like a scrappy look (for the Spring Blossoms quilt, I used 5 different pink and white fabrics for the large tree), but this fabric has such a great range of values, I’m going to try using just the one fabric for the foliage. I always cut out and pin up all my fabric pieces before I start sewing, so I can always add some other fabrics later if I don’t like the look of just one fabric.
I’m linking up with these blogs for WiP Wednesday. Click on the buttons below to see all the people participating and check out their projects.
Terry Aske Art Quilt Studio
