adventures of a quilting diva

Finally finished! You might remember the sneak peak of this quilt way back from summer 2009. (Read the post from July 15, 2009)

The pattern is The Gift by Brandon Mably, found in the book, Kaffe Fassett’s Country Garden Quilts. I made this quilt for a book report at my guild. Now I’m not going back to school and presenting you with a formal book report, but I will tell you a few things about Country Garden Quilts: The whole first third of the book is chock full of gorgeous photos of vibrant quilts that look like they just sprouted out of magnificent gardens (set at Great Dixter in Sussex, a 15th-century English manor). It’s enough to just sit back in a comfortable chair and flip through the pages. Pour yourself a glass of lemonade and enjoy!

If you must break out the needle and thread, this book is more than just eye candy. There are clear instructions, great tips, full views of the quilts, alternate colorways and suggestions for quilting. Projects are divided into easy, intermediate and difficult. I really like that with not just one, but a whole team of quilt designers, you get a wide variety of styles to choose from. Mostly pieced, but a bit of applique as well.

I chose The Gift not only because it was so charming, but because it combined fusible applique with the piecing. A little secret: I made my version at half-size, 13.5″x16.5″ because I didn’t want to take the time to find a copy machine and enlarge the pattern pieces. It worked splendidly right out of the book, and the math to reduce the block sizes was quick and easy to do. I included some of the Kaffe fabrics from my stash, as well as some other prints that I thought were in keeping with the overall feel and scale of the original. I hand-quilted it with salmon pink thread like the original, and added hot-fix crystals for a touch of bling.

I wholeheartedly recommend Kaffe Fassett’s Country Garden Quilts, whether for actual quilt-making or simply the sheer beauty of the book.

Speaking of Kaffe quilt books, I’m reminded of Kaffe Fassett Patchwork: Over 25 Glorious Quilt Designs, one of the very first quilt books I ever owned. One of the very first quilted objects I ever made uses several of the quilt blocks from this book as well (including that glorious cover quilt) … but that’s another story for another day.

Just when you finally set your fabrics down to go mop the floors, along comes a cleaner that tempts you back to the studio … not to work, but to play.

Meet CitraSolv, natural cleaner, degreaser, and fabulous fabric photo transfer solution. I’m sure that CitraSolv is a very effective cleaner, I’m just too busy having fun with photo fabric transfers to find out.

Here’s Maneki Neko, my first CitraSolv experiment (and another Dear Diary 2010 block).

After transferring the black and white image to fabric with CitraSolv, I added a dash of color with Tsukineko All-Purpose Inks and finished it off with machine stitching and hand sashiko. Check out the CitraSolv Artist Site for inspiration and how-to’s. I was too excited to stop and take step-by-step photos, but that’s OK, CitraSolv has some great tutorials.

I’ve transferred some images onto some solid color fabrics and will be doing some bleach discharge dyeing on those, so you can look forward to photos of more CitraSolv experiments in the very near future.

Until then, happy quilting! ^_^

Because every binding should be fantabulous, check out my Easy Lesson article in the April/May 2010 issue of Quilters Newsletter Magazine, Bead-Dazzled Bindings.

Find out how to make the embellished binding in my Zéphirine Drouhin and Latte quilts (Latte shown at right). Or take my new workshop, Bling Your Bindings! and learn eight fun embellished binding techniques.

If you’re looking for the QNM Online Extra step-by-step photos of my silk dyeing adventures, click here.

It’s true, I’ve been taking a vacation from blogging, but that doesn’t mean I’ve forgotten about my blog. I’ve been busy collecting new inspirations and ideas to share with you!

Here’s a peek at one of the most exciting things I’ve been doing recently: taping some episodes for the Creative Living with Sheryl Borden Show.

I thought it would be a breeze, since I’m used to teaching quilting and crafting techniques, but there are a few significant differences between TV and the live classroom. For one, your time limit is minutes, not hours. And two, if you mess up, you have to start all over from the very beginning. But Sheryl made the taping easy and fun, so I wasn’t stressed at all. I’m so excited to share my fabric cover-button techniques in hi-def!

dressing your coffee cup in style

blooming button jewelry to embellish clothes & quilts

vintage fabric fabric cover-button crafts

fun fabric appliques for card making & scrapbooking

These segments will air on Creative Living in 2011, but I’ll give you a YouTube preview soon!

More CHA fun! … Without further ado, here’s #1-5 of my top ten cool stuff at CHA 2010:

#5. Grungepaper Coat: Great patchwork coat made from scrapbooking Grungepaper. Check out the fab flowers on the detail photo!

#4. Petaloo Color Me Crazy: Fun paper, cotton, velvet and mulberry flowers to color and decorate for all your creative projects!

Take a closer look at some of what you can do with these flowers. I’d love to embellish some wearable art with Color Me Crazy flowers. What would you do with them?

#3. C&T Publishing’s Liquitex Soft Body Acrylic & Canvas Books: These are the terrific paints I did my CHA demo projects with. (Get the tutorials here: fabric painting | fabric ribbon rosettes.)

Lots of pigment, brilliant colors, and permanent with no heat setting required. Can be used for many different techniques.

Want a fun surface to paint on? Try these nifty canvas books! They’re ready for your creative touch.

#2. Rabinowitz Design Workshop’s Waxmelter Electric Batik Pen: How fun is this? Melt crayon bits or batik wax to make fabulous fiber art or scrapbook pages.

Drum roll, please … The most wonderful thing I found at CHA, the best thing ever for applique-quilters since fusible web …

hands and scissor free applique!

#1. Making Memories‘ Slice Craft Cutter: Why should scrapbookers have all the fun? Now the fantastic Slice craft cutter can cut fusible fabric appliques!

Place fusible-backed fabric and the Slice cutter onto the magnetic board, select your design, size, press the button and …

Voila! Fusible applique piece ready to be ironed to your background fabric. (Note: The Slice cutter does not dye your appliques and change their color for you. Two different fabrics are shown in these two photos.)And here’s a tea towel to show off the quick and easy Slice applique project. Want to see the Slice in action? (you know you do!) Check out this video from the Making Memories blog.)

That’s all for CHA 2010! Thanks for joining me! ^_^

What’s more fun than Disneyland and crafty too? The CHA (Craft & Hobby Association) Craft SuperShow and Winter Convention & Trade Show at the Anaheim Convention Center.

Quilters know quilt shows, but in case you’ve never been to a CHA show, here’s my Top Ten List of Cool Stuff you’ll find at CHA:

#10. Lyra Rembrandt Polycolor Pencils: Fabulous oil-based colored pencils: Strong, smooth, sharp, gorgeous colors, great for blending, plus no fading or waxy buildup. Need I say more?

#9. Soft Flex’s Trios: Love color? Love to make jewelry? Soft Flex colored beading wire now comes in fabulous variety packs. Here are two of my favorites from the new 2010 collection: Egg Hunt and Be My Valentine.

#8. Halina Tepper, Button Sculptor: Halina make amazing sculptures from buttons and recycled materials.

20,000 buttons are sewn onto this lion!

The cute mouse pincushion has slightly fewer buttons than the lion, but would make a fun addition to any sewing room.

These little kangaroos give you a peek at how the button sculptures are made. The buttons on the finished kangaroo are made from the same used glue bottles that form the base.

#7. Provo Craft’s Cricut Cake: Use scrapbooking Cricut cartridges in the Cricut Cake machine (specially made to be food-safe, don’t try this at home with your Cricut Expression!) to make sugar gum paste cutouts to decorate cakes with. These super cute animals look like “cake appliques” to me. Peel and stick. How cool is that? Now anybody can be a cake decorator! (Available April 2010)

#6. Epiphany Crafts‘ Button Studio & Shape Studio: As easy and fun as paper punches, make paper- or photo-backed epoxy scrapbooking charms and buttons. (Available April 2010)

Come back tomorrow to find out #1-5!

Today I demonstrated fabric painting and fabric ribbon rosettes at the CHA Winter Trade Show. For those of you who couldn’t make it, here’s an online tutorial for fabric ribbon rosettes just for you. (Click here for my CHA fabric painting tutorial)

To make a really special rosette, add a beaded fabric cover-button (button-beading techniques can be found in my book, Fast, Fun & Easy Fabric Cover-Button Jewelry, by C&T Publishing.)

1. Choose two contrasting fabrics and a coordinating button.
2. Cut the fabric 18″ wide by as long as you wish. You can use one painted fabric piece and one paint-free, or two paint-free pieces. I don’t recommend using two painted fabrics back-to-back unless you plan to use glue to secure the rosette. It’s a little tough getting the needle through two layers of painted fabric. (I bent a very hefty needle trying.)
3. Fuse a sheet of Wonder Under to the reverse side of one of your chosen fabrics. (Wonder Under is 17″ wide so it will fit nicely on a piece of fabric 18″ wide.) Trim off the excess fabric with a rotary cutter and ruler.
4. Peel off the paper backing and fuse the reverse side of the other fabric to the first piece of fabric. Trim off the excess fabric. You now have a double-sided piece of fabric.
5. Use a decorative blade rotary cutter to cut fabric ribbon strips 1/2″ – 5/8″ wide x 17″ long.
6. Sew two lines of contrasting thread down the center of the fabric ribbon if desired. Use a different color in the bobbin for the fabric on the reverse side. (This stitching is more decorative than functional. The Wonder Under and fabric paint do a really good job of discouraging fraying.)
7. Thread a large needle with strong thread and make a big knot near the end. (Big needles make big holes and you don’t want the knot pulling completely through.)
8. Find the center of the ribbon’s length and pinch to mark the center.
9. Make a loop at one end to form the first petal. With a 17″ long fabric ribbon you can make six 1-1/4″ petals.
10. This is the view from underneath your petal. Fold the ribbon at an angle to start the second petal and show the contrasting fabric.
11. This is the view from the top again. Fold the ribbon back to the top to make the second petal.
12. Fold the fabric ribbon on top to start the third petal and bring the ribbon to the back again to complete the third petal. Look for the center crease you made in step #6. If the crease is part of the third petal then your first three petals are too large for the length of your fabric ribbon. You won’t have enough ribbon left for three more petals. If the crease is at or beyond the fold of the third petal, then you will have enough fabric ribbon for three more petals.
13. Continue folding the fabric ribbon from front to back and back to front until you’ve completed all six petals.
14. Pick up the needle and thread and make several hand stitches through the center to secure all the petals. Make sure the stitches are close enough to the center to be hidden by the button. If you have a large button you can spread your stitches out further where there are fewer layers of fabric.
15. Finally stitch the button on the side you want to call front.

Voila! Now all that’s left is to decide what to do with your fabric ribbon rosette. Sew a pin back on, glue to a round magnet, or embellish a quilt or purse.

More CHA  fun to come!

I’ve been doing a lot of bead embroidery these days so here are some tips for those of you who’d like to do more bead embellishment on your quilts but might be intimidated by all those pesky supplies you have to go out and buy.

Conventional beader’s wisdom say that you should always match your beading thread to your beads. That’s nice in theory and works well when you’re stitching down a lot of beads that are the same color.

However, if you’re anything like me, you can’t resist those yummy bead soup mixes. How do you match your thread to that? Are you really supposed to buy thread to match all the hues in your bead box? Even worse, imagine switching your needle and thread with each and every bead you stitch down!

Smile, beading is supposed to be a stress-reducer, not a stress-inducer. Here are some easy things you can do to save both your sanity and your wallet:

• Buy your beading thread in a few versatile neutrals such as gray for medium to dark beads and cream for light beads.
• If you’re a hand quilter (or even if you’re not), hand quilting thread is strong and works great for sewing beads onto quilts.



• Try matching (or blending, it doesn’t have to be exact) your thread to the background fabric instead.
• Go wild and use contrasting thread as a design element.

Whatever you do, have fun and just bead it!

More bead embellishment tips here ~ Tip Tuesday: Just Bead It! Sep. 22, 2009

Gill from the UK asks what kurumi buttons are. Great question! Kurumi buttons are a kind of fabric cover button that you use for embellishment, not as actual working buttons. They’re rounded plastic discs that you gather fabric around (like making a yo-yo). You can then hand applique the covered kurumi button onto your quilt or even make fabric jewelry out of them.

See my Pocket Full of Posies post for step-by-step directions on how to cover a kurumi button. Want to see kurumi buttons on some quilts? Check out the Pocket Full of Posies block on my Pocket Full of Posies post and my Bling Your Bindings! sample quilt on the Muse Monday: Bubbles! post.

These are my all-time favorite earrings, the ball & chain kurumi earrings, made with kurumi buttons and some fab vintage fabric I recycled from a thrift shop house dress. They’re super light, super fun to wear, and go with just about everything.

See my book, Fast, Fun & Easy Fabric Cover-Button Jewelry for more about making jewelry from kurumi buttons. {You can find my book and kurumi buttons in my online shop.}

Happy dance! I’m featured in Quiltmaker’s 100 Blocks from Today’s Top Designers. Want a peek at some of the fabulous quilt blocks inside? Follow the 100 Blocks Blog Tour daily Nov. 9-13 at quiltmaker.com/quiltypleasures for inspiration, ideas and giveaways galore!

Look for 100 Blocks from Today’s Top Designers in your local quilt shop, or purchase it at quiltmaker.com/100blocks. Besides having 100 fantastic quilt blocks to choose from, there are layouts for quilts in sizes from lap to king, fab free-motion quilting designs, and ideas for neat stuff you can make with just a single 12″ block.

Here’s my block,#41: Pocket Full of Posies. It’s a fun block, combining simple piecing with paper piecing, applique and button embellishment. This block would look great in many different color palettes. Here I’ve used one of my all-time favorite palettes: black & white with brights.

The centers of the flowers are 30 mm Kurumi cover buttons. If you’ve never tried Kurumi buttons, they’re great for making easy perfect dimensional circles. You could also substitute a regular circle of fusible-backed fabric or a yo-yo for the flower centers. Use your imagination and have fun!

Wondering how to use a Kurumi button? It’s easy!

1. Cut out a circle of fabric a bit larger than your button.

2. Sew a running stitch all the way around the edge as if you’re making a fabric yo-yo.

3. Gather the circle of fabric around the Kurumi button and tie a knot.

Voila! Now just hand applique your covered Kurumi button to your quilt block with matching thread.

Want a chance to win a copy of Quiltmaker’s 100 Blocks from today’s top designers? Just leave a comment on this post and tell me your favorite color palette. Have too many favs to choose from? That’s OK, flip a coin, roll a pair of dice, or simply list them all in your comment. You have until the end of Thursday, November 12, 2009. I’ll draw a number and announce the winner on Friday morning, November 13.