Wednesday, December 30, 2009

The Broccodile

Here's a fun project that I did over Christmas vacation...a baby blanket for my 1-year-old nephew Brock, also know as "Brockoli" and "Brockodile". First, I made a montage using images from the internet, then printed it out in pieces...






Then I sewed several layers of jersey fabric over quilt batting and pinned the printouts to it, sewing over them to create broccoli and crocodile shapes. Then I tore away the paper, leaving the shapes stitched in thread.






The cats love to sit on anything I'm working on, especially something soft and cat-sized, like a baby blanket :)





Then I cut away layers of fabric to reveal different colored parts of the pattern.






And lastly, I throw it in the washer and the dryer to get the edges to shrink and tighten into a cohesive-looking whole. Here are pictures of both sides of the finished blanket, different due to cutting away fabric in different areas:







Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Clouds n Trees



After finishing the cloud quilt (it went to live with Mom), I wanted to try more shapes from nature. I LOVE this quilting technique! It takes a little planning, but I enjoy the analytical, problem-solving aspect of creativity.

Basically, I start with 3 sheets of fabric layered one on top of the other, then start sewing the pattern, cutting away portions to reveal the different colors of fabric. I wash and dry the quilt a couple times during the process to see how the edges will curl up. This Tree Quilt is about 18" x 24"—I think this technique really needs to be used on bigger pieces. The tree motif would be great on a blanket.