adventures of a quilting diva

I don’t know about you, but somehow we ended up with literally mountains of candy after Halloween was all said and done. That got me thinking about candy quilt blocks … maybe some orange and black taffy would look nice.

I always like to consider the shapes of the designs I choose. Chocolate bars are delicious, but their shape is slightly on the boring side. Unless of course, you have some fantastic fabric to spice up their wrappers!

Taffy makers come up with all kinds of neat designs for their candies, and even the wrapper itself adds a great deal of interest to the shape. Salt water taffy is just as fun to look at as it is to eat!

Here’s the sketch I came up with. You can see my first attempt through the other side of the paper. I was trying not to make it too tiny, but that pattern would probably turn out an 18″ block, and I’m more of a small block gal.

My second sketch was just what I wanted: fun, a little bit wonky, and exactly the right size. That’s unusual for me. Most of the time I draw dozens of sketches and then have to scan and resize my favorite one on the computer.

I only drew the one side of the wrapper firstly because I ran out of room, and secondly you only really need the one pattern piece anyway. You can just trace it twice. If you turn the drawing just a little so that the wrapper sticks straight up it could be a radish or a perfume bottle!

Don’t the candy appliques look yummy? I decided to go for Christmas taffy instead of Halloween taffy. Halloween is all finished for this year and I just know my enthusiasm wouldn’t last long enough for me to make much progress on this quilt.

These candies are a lot of fun to make. I might even finish this quilt in time for Christmas. I can’t wait to try the taffy pattern out on other fabrics in my stash.

What could be more fun for an autumn quilt design than a peck of pumpkins?

Rather than centering your pumpkins in the middle of the block, try placing your pumpkins off center and crop off an edge or two for a creative composition.

Zoom in for a closer view.

Or come in really close for a modern, abstract art feel.

For extra personality, give your pumpkin a jack-o-lantern’s face if you wish.

Just remember: like flower petals, no two pumpkins are exactly alike so don’t worry too much about making each pumpkin the same. (see my September 29, 2009 post, Tip Tuesday: Floral Quilts) If your pumpkins don’t come out exactly like your pattern or photo, that’s OK too.

Have fun and see where your pumpkin quilt takes you!

For this week’s inspiration try taking a treasured memory or two and incorporate them into a quilt. This cool cat block is made from my family’s old clothes and sports my daughter’s baby sunglasses for embellishment. Whether you literally sew the “memories” onto your quilt or use them as the inspiration for a quilt made from new materials, you’re sure to end up with something special!

Click here for more about this quilt.

Click here for more “memory” quilts.

Last week I went to the L.A. County Fair, and since I couldn’t bring you back any cotton candy, I thought I’d share some eye candy with you. These photos are from the Home & Gardens: Gateway to Africa exhibit.

Here are some wonderful botanical masks (by Jacquelyn Guffre). I always thought it would be fun to create a mask quilt. I love the colors, designs and expressions on these masks.

This elegant floral display (by Susan Ayala, AIFD) looks like it might have been inspired at least in part by a patchwork quilt!

These lovely gerberas seem to glow. Whether you prefer realistic, stylized or whimsical, gerberas would make a great subject for a quilt.

happy quilting! =(^_^)=

I am a big fan of applique and love to draw my own patterns and stitch it down. But whether you love to applique, piece, or paper piece your pictures, sometimes we all just need to just relax and let the fabric do the talking. After all, those charming and fun prints we love to collect need to come out of the stash closet sometime and shine in a quilt of their own.

You could stitch a simple coordinating frame around a rectangle or a square.

Or try an Attic Windows block.

Square-in-a-Square is one of my favorites.

You could even create a Square-in-a-Square variation …

… or two.

What do you like to do with your novelty prints? (Quilt blocks above are from my Dear Diary quilt.)

Today for Muse Monday, I’d like to ask for your inspiration. The following are blocks from my guild’s 2008 autumn block exchange. It’s about that time of year for some good autumn projects so what would you do with the blocks below? More about the blocks here.

(The unfinished one on the left is my unfortunate basket. I pieced it wrong and didn’t have time to fix it before the exchange deadline. Luckily all the others turned out OK and I had enough good blocks to exchange. I’ll have to finish piecing it before I turn them into something though.)
So, any ideas?

In 2005 I created this quilt, Thai Dreamin’, for the Hancock Fabrics/St. Jude Hospital Quilt of Dreams contest. It was inspired by a patient’s dream to go to Thailand. Another inspiration was Japanese Manga-style comics. Can you tell that I dream in color?

The top panel is riding an elephant in Chiang Mai and the bottom panel is of flying kites in Sanam Luang (a park in Bangkok).

This quilt is double-sided and has a map of Thailand appliqued on the back.

The deadline for this year’s Quilt of Dreams contest has already passed, but there’s no reason why you still can’t make a dream quilt. Choose a dream of your own or of someone you love and design a special dream quilt.

Or mark your calendar for the 2010 Quilt of Dreams contest because the new Quilt of Dreams fabrics and brochure will be out early next year. Plan to make and donate a Quilt of Dreams. All quilts entered are given to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital patients or sold by auction. More than 15,000 quilts have already been donated and nearly $5 dollars raised by Quilt of Dreams over the past seven years.

Click here for more about this quilt.

I like to doodle in meetings and stuff. When I’m stressed I tend to doodle skulls … lots of them. Not because I’m dark or morbid, but just cause they look like they’re clenching their teeth to keep from exploding. It makes me feel as if I’m not the only one.

Here are some recent sketches I did on my computer. Then I dressed them up a bit. First I tried it sugar skull style. While I do like sugar skull art, my personal style is a bit simpler, so I went with a single bow.

I tested the design on some different fabrics. This combination was one of my favorites. I didn’t cut any bows or teeth out of fabric yet, that’s a paper bow I cut out of some junk mail.

I’m thinking of trying a dimensional appliqué bow. In a few weeks I’m taking a workshop on making dimensional fabric flowers for art quilts. That might be fun to use with the skulls.

Although the teeth are what inspire me to sketch skulls in the first place, I am leaning towards leaving the teeth off, at least for this one.

(Maybe I should give her a sunbonnet and I could call it “Bees in my bonnet”.)

For a little quilt-y inspiration this week, why not choose a song? Pick a favorite song to play in your studio or sewing room and see what images and ideas pop into your head.

You don’t have to write or embroider the actual song lyrics onto your quilt, in fact it’s better if you don’t. Then you won’t have to worry about copyright. Song writers have rights regarding their lyrics just as quilt designers and other visual artists do with their designs and images. Just listen to the song with a pencil and sketch pad in hand or choose a palette of colors and a traditional quilt block to go with the melody you hear.

In the end the connection to the actual song may not even be apparent to viewers unless you explain it to them, and that’s OK. Just use the song as a starting point. Let the end be a pleasant surprise.

My 2007 quilt, “It’s not easy being green” (above) was inspired by the song of that same title sung by Kermit the Frog. I went from Muppet frog to red-eyed tree frog. Although the red-eyed tree frog is not actually an endangered species, its rain forest home is shrinking at an alarming rate (National Geographic). Although it may not always be easy, there are a lot of things each one of us can do to be “green”. Check out National Geographic’s Green Guide for green ideas for everyday living.

Click here for more about my quilt, “It’s not easy being green”