Bead-a-licious...

These 20 beads are handmade ones I made for another of Lenna Andrews' Creative Swaps. Lenna comes up with some great ideas, good how-tos and instruction, plus resources to share on the chosen topic. And then the swap participants go to work, this time creating embellishment beads from paper and fabrics. I even used some of the fabric paper I made way back here. Clockwise above: the green beads are sheer nylon ribbon; the next ones are shaving-foam printed fabric and wrapped with red metallic thread; the pink/orange ones are fabric paper and wrapped with neon-color sewing thread; the grayish ones are another section of the shaving foam fabric and wrapped with gold metallic; and the last ones are black printed fabric rolled in gold glitter.

Of course there's no such thing as making just one kind of bead. These are the "also-rans". They didn't make the cut for swapping, but still, they're interesting. The canape skewer gives you a sense of the size of these beads, about 1/2" to 1". Skewers were useful to hold the beads until they were dry after forming them. I put some notes below on how I cut the pieces for my beads, just in case you were wondering. Also, Lenna asked us to share notes if we could, and we'd have a chance to win some of her own handmade beads.

The materials shown at the left are just two that I used in making beads. The pink is an ad for cereal cut from a magazine. The multi-color print is the shaving-foam printed fabric. It was given to me by a quilting friend who made it, but wasn't fond of it. The fabric been waiting for just the right project.

At right you can see three of the shaving-foam printed fabric pieces once they were cut into triangles for bead making. Next is a text-printed fabric, a colorful hand-dyed piece, and the magazine photo from which I made even more beads. Beads from each of these materials are in the 2nd photo above.

These are the fabric paper triangles ready to roll around a wide chop stick or skewer (about the diameter of an orange stick). Below are some of the how-tos, if you'd like to look them over. Hope you can follow... just ask if you have a question in case the instructions aren't clear. And this is just Part One of the swap... once we get our swapped beads, the next challenge will be to make something using them. So I'll be back with a "something"!

Cutting notes:

I used the marks on the cutting mat, an acrylic ruler, and a rotary cutter to make the long, skinny triangles of fabric which could then be rolled up around a chopstick to form each bead. Lay a rectangle of fabric on the mat so that adjacent edges are lined up vertically and horizontally with marked 1” lines on the mat. Place the ruler at the corner closest to you, align the ruler at a slight angle to intersect with the mid-point between two marked lines on the mat at the other end of the fabric rectangle. Cut along the edge of the ruler with the rotary cutter. Leaving the ruler in place to anchor the fabric, remove the trimmed bit and discard it. Pick up the ruler carefully to avoid moving the fabric and place it at the next marked line, extending the ruler at a slight angle to the same halfway point as before. Again, cut along the edge of the ruler. This creates the first triangle. Carefully remove the ruler, pick up and set aside the triangle of fabric. Without moving the fabric, cut the next triangle by working from the far end of the fabric. One side of the second triangle is already cut at the proper angle from cutting the first triangle. Simply position the ruler at a point halfway between the next two marked lines and extending to the point where you started the last cut. Cut along the ruler edge. This forms the next long, skinny triangle. Continue, alternating the ends of the fabric from which you cut to form as many triangles as you can from the fabric. Discard the last trimmed bit.

Stupendous Stitchery ...



Doing your homework pays off! Here's the completed piece from the online course called Stupendous Stitching on Craftsy. I wrote about it in the previous post. In this final project, we selected a background fabric with some gradation to begin. Then we applied rows upon rows of both couched yarns and fibers along with decorative machine stitches, referring back to the stitch dictionary to choose our favorites. It really was helpful to have that reference tool and I'm glad I did my homework.  



Once the machine work was complete, our next step was to add some further interest by using hand embroidered details. Everything from French Knots to Lazy Daisy stitches made this piece a lot of fun to create.

Here's another detail shot. What a great opportunity to explore and make use of all the pretty stitches on the machine and the decorative threads and yarns in my stash! I'm envisioning some fabric postcards or notecards that include some of this Stupendous Stitching. Taking Carol's class added to my appreciation for the things my trusty Bernina is capable of. That alone was worth the price of admission. But I also believe the class has unlocked more ideas for using the stitches creatively. And that's the payoff for the future.

Behind the Scenes...

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Well I found out what's behind all those numbers and symbols on the sewing machine. Have you ever taken the time to stitch out all the decorative stitches on your sewing machine? That was the groundwork of an online course I'm taking on Craftsy called“Stupendous Stitching” taught by Carol Waugh. Before getting into the fun of making the class project which I'll show in the next post, I first explored the decorative stitches on my Bernina by making this stitch reference. Class instructor Carol Waugh had us stabilize fabric rectangles, and then sew rows of the numbered stitches in order. We also varied the width and length of the stitches just to see the effect, and numbered each stitch

It was a time investment that yielded a very useful tool. So often the stitch images shown on a machine or a reference card bear little resemblance to the actual results. Now I can see what they look like, and I confess I had never even glanced at many of the available stitches before. Next Carol showed us how to assemble these stitch samples into a booklet to keep handy by the sewing machine. She even made a pretty cover for hers, but I was too anxious to get to the project so mine remains cover-less for now.

While I missed the mark and wound up with pages that vary in size, it won't diminish the usefulness of the project. There are nearly 200 stitches, but taking the time to sew all of them was well worth it. It's easy to spot favorites, it helps to know which stitches use up a lot of thread or take a lot of time, and it provides a great visual tool for sewing. I have the stitch settings for a couple of often-used stitches like the buttonhole and feather stitches memorized, but now I can vary the stitches I use by glancing through my stitch dictionary and making an informed choice.

Two More Blocks for February...

Amy Gibson at Craftsy has presented two more blocks in her free block-of-the-month class. The one above is "Balkan Puzzle" which is also known by other names. When I took the photo, I couldn't recall what Amy titled the block, so I saved it under the name I remember which is "Wind Blown Square." She notes yet another name of "Wind Blown Star." Since both blocks are made using half-square triangles, Amy demos two easy methods for piecing them in her class video. 

This block is called "Chunky Chevron". I'm really liking the prints in the Free Spirit "California Dreaming" fat quarter bundle purchased to use for this project. However, I need to get more of the cream color background fabric. I don't have enough left to piece the remaininig monthly blocks. You can see the companion blocks from January in this post. The Craftsy online class also features places to discuss, ask questions, and post photos of the blocks. It's always interesting to see the fabrics and color combinations other quilters select for their projects. All good quilting fun!

And the Winners Are...

This striking "Purple Pineapples" quilt by Vee Jenkins earned first place in the Large Quilt category at the Stepping Stones Quilters' show.

"Da Market" was the artistic entry by Ruth Lightbourn that was awarded second place in the small quilt category.

Junko Yamaguchi made "Ulu and Happy Family", which earned second place in the large quilt category.

Vee Jenkins also won first place in the small quilt category with this quilt, "Butterflies for Baby." Below is a view of Trinity Methodist Church where the show is held each year. A lovely display of a wide variety of quilts. Well done!

More from the Quilt Show in the Bahamas...

The short walk from the ship's pier in Nassau to the church where The Stepping Stones Quilters' show was being held presented us with lots of color to whet our appetites. These vibrant paintings adorned the sides of buildings along our route.

 The first display that met us inside the show was the group quilt challenge. The rules for the entries included using 5 different fabrics (linen, wool, cotton, silk, and synthetic) and 5 different embellishments, plus an ovoid shape. Here are the creations of some of the quilters.

From this spiny "Lionfish" by Lisa Knowles, that even included sand and small shell embellishments, to Faberge Eggs, to undersea life ... the group really exercised their imaginations which is what a challenge is all about.

There was Viewer's Choice voting in several categories, and for the challenge category, Lisa's "Lionfish" was the winner.

My apologies... after checking my notes I realized I had incorrectly credited the Star-in-a-Star quilt, shown below, in my last post.. it's actually the work of quiltmaker Junko Yamaguchi who had many beautiful quilts exhibited.

Quilting friend Maria Chisnall is a driving force behind The Stepping Stone Quilters Guild and the quilt show, which has been held for more than 20 years. Five photos of her work are shown below. One thing that impressed our traveling band of quilters was the variety in techniques represented by the show quilts, and Maria herself employs many different methods in her work.

This bed-size quilt was large enough that I was unable to capture all of it in a single photo. This is just the quilt center, featuring piecing and applique. The quilt also had a wide white inner border with a scrappy pieced outer border.

Maria had several entries in the wall quilt category. I found this one especially appealing, and like her use of color, along with the use of stripes and florals in the sashing.

  Maria, who has some Scottish ancestry, also created this series of seasonal Scottish landscape studies.

I learned from Maria which were the winning quilts in the other categories, and will share them here next time.

A Quilt Show in The Bahamas...

Fourteen members of Country Road Quilters, our Ocala, Florida, quilt guild, went on a cruise recently. Our main reason for choosing the Carnival Fascination out of the Port of Jacksonville was because the itinerary would take us to Nassau, Bahamas, to attend the annual Stepping Stone Quilters' show. We were delighted by the variety of quilt styles and techniques displayed by this talented group. While it's a small group of about 20, the guild members manage to hang more than 60 new quilts every year. Here's just a sample of what we saw. I've got lots more to show you, including some of the Viewer's Choice winners. It was hard to choose a favorite from the many beautiful quilts like this one. Bright, happy colors abound in the Star-within-a-Star quilt, above. It was made by quiltmaker Irene Knowles.

Also by Irene, "Going Overboard with Androsia" is made using some of the hand-printed and hand-dyed fabrics from Androsia Batiks on the Island of Andros. The fabric company is known for designs inspired by nature, sea and plant life of the Bahamas.  You can see some of the batiked designs in the detail photo below- turtle, shells, fish- done in clear, bright colors.

This quilt which combines piecing and applique is a fund-raiser made by the group members.

One feature of the show which everyone enjoyed was the guild boutique. The group offered grab bags, totes, purses, knitted items, notecards, and notions. The striking Churn Dash quilt hung on the wall behind the boutique. More photos of this wonderful quilt show coming soon. What a treat it was to see and appreciate the work of The Stepping Stone Quilters! Everyone agreed that we need to visit here again.