Wendlo Designs ~ By Karen

Susie ~ A Long Time Friend

Posted by Karen Fabric, Quilting, Sewing

May 092011

Many of my family and friends enjoy sewing and crafts as much as I do. One of my oldest friends, Susie had held onto some fabulous Hawaiian fabric for many years looking for just the right project. She decided to take a stab using my quilting frame and machine to make about a dozen placements for some special people in her life.

Loading the fabrics and batting onto the frame took most of an evening, leaving only a short time for actual quilting. We rolled about 4 yards of the Hawaiian print on as the backing and 2 yards of the funky fish fabric as the top.

Getting everything straight and pinned took some time as it was her first quilt on the frame. She chose my Dancing Violets pantograph in a 6-inch height so we took time taping and marking it. She was able to get 2 1/2 rows completed on one bobbin.

We decided loading a quilt on the frame is best with 2 people; especially good friends who have a good time doing it together. It took another 2 hours to complete on additional evenings but the results were just as she expected. After binding the edges in black she was able to send a set off to her Hawaiian pen pal of many years. She’ll be back to finish up another set now that the quilting frame is empty again.

Patterns All Around

Posted by admin Fabric, Quilting, Sewing

Apr 102011

On my drive in to work each day I usually have to stop at the light where several streets converge. Rt 52 splits into Pennsylvania and Delaware Avenues to go around a small park and a couple blocks of the DuPont Company offices.

The Brandywine building faces me as I sit at a light that is so often red. It is an office tower that has curved edges giving it the appearance of a semi-round building. It has the creamy concrete color like many office buildings; but the way the dark paned windows are set in and the light hits the curves it creates an interesting block design.

I like patterns and so I drew up these ‘window blocks’ as a 5 inch quilt block. It’s comprised of just 5 pattern pieces for 9 parts per block. There is an endless number of color/print combinations.

Check out the patterns in the world around you. See if you can create a pattern from the shapes that present themselves.

And let me know if you’d like the pattern for my Brandywine Block.

The Art and Beauty of Tatting

Posted by Karen Crafts, Sewing

Apr 022011

My sister Janet, began Tatting in the 1970′s when staying with our Grandmother who was recovering from surgery. Grandmama’s best friend was a Tatter and thought that my sister would like to learn. She did and is now such a gifted and talented Tatter.

Janet is left handed, and I use that as an excuse for not learning how to tatt, even though I’ve tried, but its also because Janet makes it look so easy and creates such beautiful lace art that we all leave it in her hands. Plus, she is so very generous in giving us all tatted pieces. Here is one of my favorites: a Tatted ‘girl’ that is framed against some black velvet and hung in my dinning room.

To tell the difference between tatted lace and other types of lace is its ‘knotted’ look.

I’ve picked up so many pieces at antique stores and estate sales that I now have quite a collection, as often tatted pieces are in with the crocheted lace and other machine laces. You’ll find tatting on pillow cases, hankies and all kinds of table linens.

Next time you’re looking over a collection of linens at a vintage or antique shop see if you can find something tatted.

Who Wants Some Alphabet Soup

Posted by Karen Crafts, Fabric, Sewing

Mar 022011

This no~sew project, well you can sew a little if you want, is quick and easy to cook up. It’s inspiration came from a friend as we were brainstorming fun creative toys that could also be educational.

The instruction kit comes with detailed directions, the ‘soup can’ fabric panel and either an alphabet fabric panel or small foam letters.

Just like any good soup you will need to add some more ingredients. It takes a small amount of cotton batting, a small cardboard lidded container, a button and the best ‘binder’ to use is a good tacky glue.

The letters & numbers are ironed onto felt with some double~sided fusing and then cut out. If you want to zig-zag around the edges you can. I used several different colors of felt to make it as colorful as I could. It takes about an hour to make and should dry for several hours before playing with it.

Note: The fabric panels were printed by Spoonflower. Enjoy!

Flower Garden ~ In Time for Spring

Posted by Karen Crafts, Sewing, Toys

Feb 172011

This toy flower garden is soft as a pillow and a great way to bring spring and summer inside, especially with 2 feet of snow outside. The four flowers pop out when pulled and can be replanted over and over. It takes some time to put together so its a great rainy day or group project. The instruction sheet is clearly written and working with stretchy fleece is so easy; especially when sculpting the ‘flower’. Here’s the garden with one of the flowers pulled out.

The flowers each have 5 petals but you could add as many as you want. One pattern piece is used so cut as many as you want your flowers to have.

Hand stitching the flowers into the stem and then the bulb is free form and takes some practice but working with fleece makes it easy. If you’ve ever done any soft sculpture work you’ll use those skills here. Be creative.

Check out the Toy page for more information.

Puzzle Pieces Quilting Design ~ Pantograph

Posted by Karen Fabric, Quilting, Sewing

Feb 082011

For Christmas my Mother made my grandson a ‘bow tie’ quilt. To make it even more special I created the quilting design and quilted it, and his Aunt Tracy put the binding on it ~ making it a four generation quilt. The repeat of the pattern makes the quilt look like a puzzle.

I have a Viking Mega-Quilter with the Inspira Quilting frame, used the 5 inch pattern, and by having a partial overlap the pattern created the overall puzzle appearance.

The pantograph is available in sheet form and if anyone would like it for computerized quilting I’ll be glad to have digitized.

~karen

Sewing Project ~ Animal Crackers

Posted by Karen Crafts, Fabric, Quilting, Sewing, Toys

Feb 062011

Check out my Animal Crackers Box on the my Toys page. It’s so much fun to make and only takes about 2 hours once you have your fabric panel, lining and selected an animal fabric. (The actual animals that fill the box take longer, but I made them while watching TV one night.)

Enjoy the time making them and then matching the child play with it. A good friend and I ‘craft’ on Tuesday evenings and we were both able to get one completed, except for the crackers - but we did get them started.

The fabric panel comes without the ‘animals’ so you can pick an animal fabric then cut them out and iron them on with double adhesive. This way every box is personalized.

See some of the ‘crackers’ I’ve made. If you make two or more of each a matching game can be played. I also cut them to the animal shape but a more cracker shape works also.

Note: I had the fabric panel printed by Spoonflower. Please check them out by clicking on the link on the left.

2011 ~ What A Good Year It Will Be!

Posted by Karen Crafts, Fabric, Quilting, Sewing, Toys

Jan 282011

I’ve started this blog as a journal of my creative adventures – both old and new! I don’t believe that there is a craft that I’ve tried that I really didn’t like, but there were some that didn’t turn out as expected and then there are those best left to the creativity others. My favorite creative endeavor always involves working with fabrics and textiles. If I can visualize it I can make it. If I can make it I can create a pattern for it then others can make it too.

I hope that all who read this will be inspired to further develop your creative side or contact me and we’ll collaborate. I can be reached via email at: creativedesigner@wendlo.com.

Follow all year long for some great new ideas, patterns, designs and hopefully some inspiration.

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