Thursday, January 2, 2014

What have I done lately?

Happy New Year!

I hope you find time to do things you love, things that bring you joy.  For me, that's quilting and sewing, and selling what I make, and sharing what I know.

My recent sales were for a custom Pirate shirt, and a Greek Flag quilt.  These were finished and shipped to Canada (shirt) and Wisconsin.  The flag was a Christmas gift for her friend.  She let me know she got it, and that the gift was "priceless".  I'm so honored that my work is appreciated.

Here are some pictures of the shirt and the flag.


I did a little fancy stitching around the placket on this one.  Making custom items is fun.  This is my third shirt. I think Aurifil 50wt makes such a pretty accent in these stitches.  It's not super shiny like many embroidery threads, but the perfect accent to the fabric.

Each flag comes out a little differently.  I think it's cool how it looks like it's blowing in the wind, That's the part that changes. After I make the top, I chop it back up into strips, then sew the strips randomly back together.  I do make sure the edge will work (nice curve, not too jagged) but the size of the strips and shape of the curve is random.  That's fun!  
I add the word "Hellas" in Greek, which is the actual name of the country.  Most other countries call it Greece.  Remember studying the Hellenic wars?  The blue is a wash-out marker.  I use it here to make sure the letters are even.  If you look above, the white is quilted with white Aurifil 50wt thread, and the letters are just shadows in the design.  I want them to be visible, but not blatant.  It's just an accent.  The blue part is a matching Aurifil, too.

My current, almost finished work in progress is my snowflake quilt.  I have to finish the borders, and put the binding on.  You've seen some pictures of it in recent posts.  Here's a detail of the quilting, with Superior's Metallic in Silver.  This thread is behaving better.  No broken needles.


This is the top, before quilting.  I'm having fun making 8 pointed snowflakes and swirls and feathers to accent the blocks.


I'm pretty sure I'm keeping this one.  I love it too much to list it.  Finding the fabrics with silver accents was fun, and not easy.  I collected for a while before I had enough of prints that worked together to make this design.  So, watch for other snowflake fabric items in my store.  I may make a second one, if I can find similar fabrics or colors.  I had seen a similar design online, but I changed it a little.

Watch for a blog about Moonlight Snowstorm soon!  And new items to my store, soon, too.
I'm linking up with Quiltsy's WIP.

3 comments:

thebutterflyquilter said...

Love the one you are thinking of keeping. It is a keeper!

Christine said...

The snowflake quilt is coming out lovely!

Kathy Kinsella said...

Beautiful snowflake quilt ... And the pirate shirt turned out gorgeous!