Here are 2 projects of late where I just started with either, a subject (robot) or a fabric (dollhouse) designing as I went – laying out pieces on the floor or table and ‘figuring’ out the next piece, then row, then boarder – you get my drift.

Malcom's Robot Play Quilt

The Robot is pieced with each piece 2 1/2 inches wide by 2 1/2, 3, 4 or 6 inches long ~ the 2 1/2 size was my constant.  I used flannel, cotton and shirting fabrics and for the backing (not shown) I used a very soft corduroy.  I wanted it sturdy but durable for play on the floor or outside in the grass.

Doll House Quilt

Project 2 the Dollhouse quilt started with some fabric I found in my stash that had been part of a ‘grab bag’ of fabric at a yard sale.  I knew I wanted to cut it apart and make a ‘dollhouse’  wall hanging or doll baby play quilt for my granddaughter.  I cut apart the fabric by ‘rooms’ and where I couldn’t get a full room I cut another full piece and appliqued it on by just zigzagging around it. I also cut out a cat and dog, whatever I wanted and stitched them in place.   Where the staircase met up with a hallway I stitched them together instead of framing them with the pink gingham pieces.  I used a darker rose for the boarder but the same pink gingham for the backing.

I quilted the robot on my regular sewing machine going diagonally every 2 inches.  For the doll house I put it on my quilt frame and stitched it with one of my pantographs – Noteable Flowers – a very easy and quick 4 inch pattern that required only one bobbin change.

See what you can make from what’s already in your fabric stash.  Just keep creating!  ~karen

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.  ~karen

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

]]> http://wendlo.com/blog/?feed=rss2&p=329 0 http://wendlo.com/blog/?p=241 http://wendlo.com/blog/?p=241#comments Tue, 17 Jan 2012 12:00:21 +0000 admin http://wendlo.com/blog/?p=241 [...]]]> 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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.