Tag Archives: crafts

Fabric Landscapes

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I have started to just experiment and play with fabric for the purposes of not creating something practical, like a table runner, but art. I have bought fabric, a lot fo fabric really, that I love because the fabric itself is beautiful, but I did not exactly buy it for the purpose of creating something specific. I bought a book “Intuitive Color & Design” by Jean Wells that among other topics discusses cutting fabric without measuring it and just creating.

I wanted to try that a bit with some of the beautiful fabrics I have bought. I started first with a bunch of green and blue batik fabrics. I cut and sewed them in unmeasured strips to sort of resemble a landscape or perhaps something else. I just sort of cut and sewed them in a manner I liked. I then glued the whole piece to a pre-stretched 10 inch by 10 inch canvas.

Blue and green free cut landscape

I rather liked the way it looked, so then I tried something a bit less abstract. I own several paintings by amazing artists whose paintings are quite literally three dimensional. I have both a pointillism and floralism painting by Sara O’Connor. I love her use of color and the way she literally gets the paint to stand up off the canvas. I also have a painting by Diego Lukezic, which he calls floral sculptural paintings. I think the term is appropriate as the paint stands off the canvas. I used their paintings, or at least the ones hanging on my walls, as inspiration for an experimentation with fabric. I cut and sewed a bit more of a simple landscape as before. Although I used a beautiful pattered batik fabric for the foreground that resembles greenery with leaves and flowers. I then cut, sewed, and sculpted fabric strips to somewhat resemble flowers. I hand stitched them to the landscape fabric, and I also sewed a glass bead for the center of each flower. I then glued it to a 10 inch by 10 inch pre-stretched canvas as before, but for this particular piece, and I glued a piece a batting between the fabric and the caves, and I thought that would help soften any issues with the fabric from the flowers sewed onto the landscape. I am rather happy with the way it came out. I want to play some more with this type of art, but it was enjoyable to create.

Blue and green landscape with roses

Up close view of roses on landscape

 

Quilted Wreath

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I like to decorate my front door with wreaths (Halloween, Easter, Mardi Gras, etc.) and other holiday decorations. I bought some spring and Easter fabric for some projects, and two of the floral fabrics in the collection reminded me of cherry blossoms. [The fabrics are from Dear Stella’s Hop to It collection.] The D.C. area loves cherry blossom season, and we are currently waiting for them to bloom in a few weeks. I decided to use those floral fabrics to make a quilted “wreath” for my front door to celebrate the cherry blossoms. The wreath has an approximate outside diameter of 18 inches with an inner diameter of about 6 inches. This is the first project I have made where I attempted to sew on a curve, and it shows, but I continue to practice and improve.

Finished quilted wreath hanging on front door

Making it was fairly simple. I wanted the wreath to be about 18 inches wide in total, and I wanted a 6 inch hole in the middle. That would make the fabric wedges have about a 6 inch radius after being cut. [My math, geometry, and drafting skills came in handy in designing this.] I started with two 9.5 inch squares of each fabric, and then I cut all four blocks on the diagonal.

Fabric squares cut on the diagonal

I then sewed two triangles of the different fabrics together and repeated four times to give me four complete squares.

The two different fabric triangles sewed together to make a square

I sewed all four squares together to give me a classic pinwheel design. I got the pinwheel point near perfect, and I was shocked and ecstatic about that, even though I was going to cut it out.

Complete pinwheel square

I then cut a six diameter circle out of the middle. I had a cutting template for that portion, so that was relatively easy. I couldn’t find a template for an 18 inch diameter circle. Instead I folded the square twice into quarters, measured a 9 inch radius, and then freehanded the cut. It came out fairly well.

Top fabric cut into wreath or donut shape

I then layered the fabric with batting and a bottom fabric and pinned together. I then free-motioned quilted.

Top fabric donut basted with batting and bottom fabric

Once it was quilted, I used the top layer as my guide to cut the batting and bottom fabric to give me a donut shape again.

Quilted sandwich cut into wreath

I added binding and a ribbon with which to hang the wreath. I also added fabric pockets like you would to insert a dowel or similar to hang a quilt. I added four pockets, but it does not work quite as well on a circle. I used wire to make a ring to fit inside the pockets, so that the wreath would keep its shape. I couldn’t get the wire ring to stay inside because the pockets were too shallow and the wire was not stiff enough. Thus I used the old stand-by of safety pins to pin the wire ring to the pockets. Somewhat messy on the back, but it works.

Quilt sandwich with binding and fabric pockets on back to hold wire ring

Mardi Gras Table Runner

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I was able to spend a couple of days in New Orleans on my way back home from spending the holidays with relatives. One of the top things I wanted to do was find a fabric store with New Orleans theme fabric, especially for Mardi Gras. Outside of New Orleans, finding Mardi Gras anything really, can be difficult. I found a fantastic fabric shop on Magazine Street (a great shopping area if you are ever there) called Chateau Sew & Sew. They had so many wonderful Mardi Gras appropriate fabrics, and I went a little crazy. Anyway, I just made some simple table runners with standard 2.5 inch strips. I made one for me, my mom, and a few extra. I am thinking of trying to sell an extra on Etsy or something, just to recoup the cost of the fabric. They were so easy to make, and they are just so fun. I am so happy to finally have some Mardi Gras decorations inside my house. I did make a Mardi Gras door wreath and a couple of cross-stitch pieces, but still I needed more decorations.

They are, of course, mainly green, purple, and yellow, the colors of Mardi Gras. I found two different fabrics with fleur de lis, a constant symbol in New Orleans. I used the fabric with irises for a couple of reasons besides the colors. Louisiana iris is the state wildflower of Louisiana, but also my mom was in Krewe of Iris. In the below photo, the one of the right, is the one I made for me. I just love the fabric that looks like Mardi Gras beads, so I used that to border the rest of the strips. It makes the whole runner a bit wilder, but I love it. I also used several different green, purple, and yellow strips for the binding instead of one fabric for binding. That also makes it a bit wilder, but it is for me. Finally, for all of them, I used a programmed stitch in my sewing machine that I think looks like Mardi Gras beads for the quilting stitch.

Mardi Gras themed fabric sewed in simple strips to make table runners

Three of the Mardi Gras table runners

Mardi Gras themed fabric sewed in simple strips to make table runners

Three of the Mardi Gras table runners

Mardi Gras themed fabric sewed in simple strips

Part of one of the Mardi Gras table runners

Mardi Gras themed fabric sewed in simple strips

Part of one of the Mardi Gras table runners

Mardi Gras themed fabric sewed in simple strips

Part of the Mardi Gras table runners I made for me

 

My second quilt

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After I made my first quilt, which was a Christmas gift for my mom, I made my second quilt, which was a Christmas gift for my sister. I think I am more proud of my second quilt because it is a patchwork quilt of completely original design. The independent fabric store where I spend way too much money had a sidewalk sale in October with lots of fabric remnants for sale. It was perfect for what I had planned for the quilt. My sister and I went to Alaska for vacation this summer, and this photo below that I took in Tracy Arms was the inspiration for the quilt.

South Sawyer Glacier

I wanted the quilt to essentially have three sections. The middle and biggest section would be the glacier. The bottom section would be the water, and the top section would be the sky with a bit of the mountain behind the glacier. Other than that, the only other real design was to vary the blues and greens in the glacier to reflect the dark blues visible at the front of the glacier. I also used some black fabric to represent glacier moraine. There was no real pattern to pieces. I just cut and sewed the fabric to make it look the way I liked it. I also challenged myself to have as few scraps leftover as possible. You kind of have to squint your eyes and use your imagination, but I think it looks like a glacier. I am happy with the way it came out, and my sister likes it too.

Front of the glacier patchwork quilt

I used remaining scraps left over from the front on the back as well as whatever blues I had left from the remnant pile from the sale. Once I looked at the finished back, it kind of looked like I sewed a message on the back, but that was not intentional.

Back of the glacier patchwork quilt

A few up close photos of the front are below to show the patchwork.

Up close view of glacier patchwork quilt

Up close view of glacier patchwork quilt

Up close view of glacier patchwork quilt

My first quilt

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I finished my first quilt a couple of months ago, but I couldn’t post the photos until now as it was a Christmas present for my mom. I found the pattern at Jordan Fabrics after watching her videos describing it, which was really helpful. It is called a race quilt, although I have also heard it described as a race track quilt. It is easy as most of field pieces are made of pre-cut fabric strips from a jelly roll. For the most part, it is made just by sewing long strips together. I used a Kaffe Fassett Classics Design Roll called Ocean, and the rest of the fabrics are also from Kaffe Fassett. I was happy with the way it turned, and it was an easy first quilt to make.

Front of the race quilt

Back of the race quilt (those are octopuses)

Detailed view of the quilt top

Detailed view of the quilt top

Patchwork wall hanging

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After I made the wall hanging with the three cross-stitched roses, I wanted to experiment a bit and make another wall hanging with a variety of fabrics. The main purpose of the wall hanging was to find a way to display a large cross-stitch with flowers (upper right). I had two other small cross-stitch flowers that I added to the wall hanging. These are the rose bud in the upper left and the rose in lower center. I used it as an opportunity to patch together a couple of different types of fabrics. The lower left corner rose is an appliqué that is on a cotton towel that I cut. The flower garland embroidery pattern piece from a linen towel. The two vertical center solid pink pieces are from old clothing. The top pale pink is from denim jeans, and the lower bright pink is from a cotton shirt. The rest of the fabric is quilt weight cotton fabric. The different fabrics made it a bit more difficult to sew and square things, but it was a learning opportunity.

Patchwork wall hanging with several fabrics and no set pattern

Wall hanging with three cross-stitch projects and a patchwork of fabrics

Cross-stitched roses wall hanging

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During COVID, I have been doing a lot of cross-stitching. Then of course, the question is what to do with all these finished cross-stitched projects. Wall hangings are rather easy and give me a way to display them. I found patterns for three lovely roses on Etsy by the same artist, so I decided to finish them as one wall hanging. I used coordinating green fabric to frame each with four different colors of reds and pinks to emphasize the colors of each rose.

This wall hanging also gave me practice sewing. If you look carefully, you can tell, I still need practice sewing. [Although I have done a lot of sewing since I made this months ago.] My main issue is getting pieces to meet and square properly. I think part of the problem, at least for the below project, is that the framing fabric is standard cotton fabric, perfect for quilting. The cross-stitches are obviously done on a different type fo fabric. These are on linen. The fabrics stretch slightly different, and I think that is leading to some problems. Clearly I just need to keep stitching and sewing and practicing more.

Fabric wall hanging with three cross-stitched roses framed in fabric

Finished project of three roses wall hanging

Cross-stitched rose

Up close view of middle rose

Cross-stitched rose

Up close view of left rose

Cross-stitched rose

Up close view of right rose

Easter/Spring Wreath

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I was really happy with the way my Halloween wreath looked, so I decided to do something similar for Easter. As before, I selected twigs from my yard to form the base of the wreath. The starting supplies were twigs that I painted in pastel colors, lots of pastel colored ribbon, and metal wire formed into a ring. I splurged on some fake flowers and painted foam (or some such material) eggs. It should be noted, I completely overestimated the amount of flowers I would want to use.

Starting materials for my Easter wreath

I used some of the thicker and straighter twigs to start the wreath by tying them with ribbon to the metal ring. I tied a long ribbon to a long straight twig that will serve as the top of the wreath.

Using straight twigs to start the wreath

I kept adding the twigs until they were all on the wreath. All twigs were tied to the metal ring or each other in several places with ribbon.

All twigs secured to the ring and each other with ribbon

I then added the fabric tulips. I was initially going to use more flowers, but it looked too crowded.

Fabric tulips added to the wreath

I then attached the eggs to the wreath via a thumbtack through ribbon. In some cases I attached them to ribbon already on the wreath, but in some cases, I added more ribbon.

Eggs attached to the ribbon with thumbtacks

Then the last step, hang it on the door.

Finished wreath

Mardi Gras wreath

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Half my family are from New Orleans, which means I have been to Mardi Gras many times. It also means I have pounds and pounds of Mardi Gras beads. Aside from bringing them out while holding a Mardi Gras party, I am not really sure what to do with them. I decided to make a wreath with some of them.

As a part of Christmas decorations, I had bought a greenery wreath. The greenery was attached to a metal ring that has prongs evenly spaced around the circumference. I opened up the prongs, so I could remove the greenery and compost them. Then I decided to repurpose the ring to serve as the base of the Mardi Gras wreath. The prongs worked perfectly to hangs the ends of the Mardi Gras beads. I then just kept the middle part of the bead necklaces between the prongs. I kept adding more and more beads to fill in the wreath.

Adding beads to metal wreath base

Once I had added plenty of beads and the wreath felt complete, I added a few necklaces that have the krewe’s medallion on them. I spaced those out so that they would hang evenly along the wreath. I also added three necklaces (gold, green, and purple because New Orleans Mardi Gras) to the top. Instead of wrapping them through the wreath, I placed them inside the top three prongs and pull the rest of the wreath, so they could be used as the wreath’s hanger. Finally I added a mask near the top. I used pliers to pull the metal prongs back together. I then used ribbon to wrap around the wreath at each prong location. I also wrapped the ribbon around the prongs as they did not close fully.

Then voilà, I have my finished Mardi Gras wreath. Laissez les bon temps rouler.

Mardi Gras wreath

Halloween Wreath

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Like many, my neighborhood likes to decorate for Halloween. I never have before, except for maybe putting a couple of pumpkins on my door step. This year, since like most people, I am home mostly, I decide to decorate a bit. I really wanted to create a Halloween wreath, but I didn’t like the store bought ones that are rather gaudy and mainly plastic. I decided to create a rather simple wreath mainly with materials I already have. I am rather happy with the way it came out, and here it is hanging on my front door.

Finished Halloween wreath hanging on my door

It was fairly easy to make. First, I went into my yard and gathered a bunch of twigs that were relatively smooth. As there is a large sycamore in my yard, and sycamores are famously self-pruning, so finding nice smooth twigs was easy.

Branches I gathered in my yard

Then I painted the twigs black with acrylic paint. I found some thick, but pliable wire in my boxes of crafting supplies and used it to form a ring about a foot in diameter. Then I bought some black yarn.

Branches painted black with black yarn to tie them to the wire circle I made

Next, I used the yarn to tie some of the thicker twigs onto the wire to form the wreath base.

The larger branches tied to the wire circle to form the base of the wreath

I kept adding the twigs, and I started using black ribbon to tie the smaller twigs to the base twigs. I wanted the black ribbon to visible but not the yarn.

All branches are now tied together with yarn or black ribbon

Then I embellished with orange and purple ribbon. I also used this extra ribbon to tighten how the twigs were tied together.