The Last Bit

Here is the quilt top finished, but not trimmed or fused to the batting yet. While I enjoyed making the medium and large sections, my favorite bit was the little "bubbles" - as I've come to think of them. I think that idea will continue to feature in the next quilt or quilts.


And here I've fused the quilt to the batting. This is the point of no return. It's not impossible to change things if you've only got fabric fused to fabric, but once it's fused to the batting, it becomes a sticky mess to try and change something and I have never tried.

I was tempted to do an old-fashioned binding on this quilt, but it's been so long that I just didn't feel up to it. So I did my favorite escape hatch finish and then quilted it up.

Fizzy Pink Lemonade

17" x 15.75"

$100

SOLD!

Here are some details. You will notice that you can't see the quilting. Isn't that so great? I'm so pleased. My new machine is the bomb.

Fame in Melbourne

This morning on The Toy Society's blog, they have posted an article from The Melbourne Leader. If you look closely, you can almost see me in it:


The altruistic treasure hunt is the brainchild of Bianca Brownlow, an ex-Northcote girl now living in Sydney.

“The last one was found in a carpark at IKEA in Atlanta, and they said ‘the chicken’s been riding around with us in the car’ and they were loving it,” Brownlow said.

“That’s by far and away the most exciting part of it, hearing back from people.”

That's my chicken! Go read the entire article here.

Isn't that so fun?

The Next Bit

Well, after I finished the first section, I felt that the second section needed a difference more than just scale. Too much of the same color scheme in a quilt bores me, I guess. So I decided to make it more about pink and green, with a little yellow.

I was really stymied over the weekend trying to figure out what I was going to do next. I discussed the options with my sister, and she reminded me, "it's only fabric." I'm so glad to have that reminder sometimes. So I went ahead and made this next bit, and it just came together like pie.

When Timothy Botts was here last year, I bought a print from him that says:

"The freedom to fail is the essence of creativity (just as the prevention of failure is the essence of conservatism). The creative act must be uninhibited and marked by supreme confidence. There can be no fear of failure. Nothing inhibits so fiercely, or shrinks a vision so drastically, or pulls a dream to earth so swiftly as fear of failure. Albert J Sullivan"

For me, there has to be an element of play in creativity. That means, also, no fear of failure. Just do it, maybe it wont work, but that's no reason not to try.



And so, I move onto the next part of the quilt, and I intend to have fun!

Sold!

I'm so thrilled to announce that my dear friend, Carol, has purchased Release - after I made her wait months for it. She first expressed interested in buying this quilt in August, I think it was, and I made her wait because I was getting ready to travel to the states for a month. Not too smart of me, but there it is. However, I couldn't dissuade her desire to purchase this quilt, and yesterday it became hers!
The best part about this sale, other than the quilt going to a friend, is the fact that she had a good understanding of what the quilt design meant. I don't usually mean much by my designs, but this one had some significance, and she got it. That is so cool.

Enjoy your new quilt, Carol. And thanks a bunch!

Work In Progress

Well, it makes me anxious to post pictures of works in progress. I'm worried about criticism, about someone stealing my design. Pretty silly, isn't she?

This is actually a sketch that came out of a sketch that didn't work. Often, I make a sketch and go with it without pausing to think. But this is a second attempt, which means I might still need to refine it before it gets made. But for now, I'm totally happy with it.




This design feeds out of the last series I was working on, which I finished yesterday but haven't post a pic of yet. You've seen some of it, tho. But I will get a good pic to post tomorrow.





And here is the design partially filled in. Raspberry lemonade, anyone?

Happiness in Sewing

I am so thrilled with my new sewing machine, it has made all the difference in the world for me.

For those who don't know, last July or August I purchased a Janome 6500 sewing maching off Ebay and had it shipped to my sister's house until such time as I could come and collect it. Well, I had that opportunity recently, and now I have my new machine set up and am using it joyfully. It gives me such better control, handles the different threads so much better, everything about it is superior to the old machine I had. Here's an example.



Over and over again this last year or so, I would come up with a quilt design I was happy with and would execute the fusing part with no problem. The trouble would start when I would go to quilt the durn things. Pay attention to the quilting outlining the circular shapes here - just the outside quilting. The interior quilting I did on the new machine, and it made me want to rip out the exterior quilting and do it over again. So I did.



This machine has allowed me to go from sloppy to meticulous. Now you can hardly even see the outlining on these shapes. And it wasn't any harder than doing it messily. I'm so thrilled!

This has given me new confidence, which I think I needed, and I can't wait to get off the computer and into my studio! Woohoo!

Random Acts of Chicken Giving

It is so thrilling to give something of yourself away, even if it's something cutesy and not life-supporting like say, a kidney. I asked and was invited to participate with the lovely people at The Toy Society. So I made a Little Orange Hen and finally got the chance to leave her for someone when I was in the states last month. I kept trying to do it here in Singapore, but it was always raining, and I was worried that L.O.H. would get moldy.

Well, you just have to go see for yourselves.