New Button/Logo

This week I haven't sewed much. That does not mean my creative juices have stopped. I have been experimenting with vector art.

I have had this idea in my head for a logo. I drew it up. This is the final draft.

I then downloaded a free trial version of Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator.

Learning these programs was not easy, and I am sure I have more to learn, but I got the jist enough to do what I need to do. And yes, I spent HOURS, 2 whole days to be exact trying to teach myself. But here is my final product.

Here is a few others I thought about.

I really wanted the zig-zag font in this one, but It just didn't show up well enough.

I did this one on PicMonkey.

 I tried color, but decided I liked black and white better.

Sooo, I am thinking tags/labels in the future. What do you all think?

Blogger's Quilt Festival

If you haven't heard of the Blogger's Quilt Festival from Amy's Creative Side, you may very well  be living under a rock. Just in case, you can find it HERE .

This mini quilt is called Good Morning Sunshine. I originally made it to enter Ellison Lane Quilts Modern Mini Quilt Challenge.

This Quilt had a lot of "first's" for me. First Challenge entered. First FMQ quilt. First attempt at improv/curved piecing. First time using dresden ruler. First time using all solids.

It went through many changes from the original design. I live near the Ohio River, so my first draft of this quilt included a barge scene, with the barge as the focal point. I soon realized I was being over ambitious in my design given the time frame and my skills :P Edit, Edit, Edit...a bit of mulling for a few weeks and this is what I came up with.

I love this little quilt. It's a keeper. I usually end up making my quilts for other people, but this one is mine:) Sooooo, here goes again. I'm gonna give it a second chance and enter into the Blogger's Quilt Festival! :D

FMQ Challenge

Here is my May entry for this months FMQ Challenge bySewCalGal. You can find it here. The lesson this month is by my favorite FMQuilter, and teacher extraordinaire, Leah Day. If you haven't checked her out yet, do so!!! You will learn loads!

First I stitched Railroad Tracks.

Then on to Double Stippling. I enjoyed stitching both of these designs. They were just fun to do. They didn't require a lot of thought once you got the foundation stitch down. Now, I have to admit, I did cheat a little bit drawing a chalk line on the initial foundation line. I did this because for one, It's my first time stitching this design, and 2 , I have plans of putting these big 12 1/2 in. blocks in a QAYG quilt. I promise, I will stitch these again without cheating :) Or wait, maybe not. You see, my definition of a Modern Quilter is a quilter of the current times who doesn't follow the rules! ha!

I also finally tried Zippling. I love the way it turned out, but I have to say, I did not enjoy stitching this design as much as the first 2. I think it is because of all of the stopping and starting. Although, you would have that in Railroad Tracks too. Railroad Tracks just seemed to be more fun to stitch:P

Anyway, I am getting smarter. I am cutting all of my practice FMQ designs ALL THE SAME SIZE, so I can use them in a QAYG quilt! I have never made a QAYG quilt, but I really like quilting manageable sizes. I went with the size of 12 1/2 in to have a nice big size to practice on and so I will have a nice size quilt in no time(hopefully).

Linking up with Leah: FUN Projects

 I work at Scott Elementary as the Head Custodian. This school has one of the most AWESOME PTA's you will find. I wouldn't hesitate to put them against any PTA in the nation. They are truly top-notch. Every year, at the end of the year, the PTA buys every student a T-shirt for our big end of the year fun, Field Day. The T-shirts  feature a students art work. The 6th graders get to submit their artwork, and then one is chosen by the teachers as the new Field Day logo for that year. This year, the PTA has been asked to buy new computers for the computer lab, which is great, but cuts in to the T-shirt budget. Sooooo, they decided to instead, tie die. I was kinda bummed out, because I always look forward to those T-shirts. Little did I know how fun this would be. Every student got to participate. The PTA helped the students during art class for a full week to get them dyed. Everyone had a blast with it! Amy, the PTA mom in charge of this let me take dyes home last week so I could make my own(I'm just to busy at work to stop and dye a t-shirt).Of course, I couldn't do just one. These are the ones I did. The heart is my favorite!!

 This one is using the shibori technique.

 Made this one for my 16 year old son. He didn't like it. I loved it, so I wore it to work, then he decided he liked it...hahaha :)

The alien turned out pretty good except one eye is darker than the other.

I was planning on getting some bleached muslin and going to town dying fabric, but Amy needed the bottles back to re-do some that didn't turn out. But.. she said she would hook me up when she is done! :D

 Last minute Mother's Day Projects :P

Here is a quick fun project I did for my Mom and Mother-in-law for Mother's Day. These cute little box pleat bags. I found lots of tutorials online and whipped these up in about 2hrs a piece. I stippled one and quilted lines on the other. I used my zipper foot for the lines because I liked using the foot as a guide for the lines. I realized very quickly, that this could be potentially dangerous. My machine produces 1600 stitched per minute. Very fast. I had a close call. My finger got very close to the needle. So I just widened my grip and zipped through those lines in nothing flat :) These bags were fun to make. I highly recommend;)

Hadley's Quilt

I haven't had time to blog lately, but I thought I should post that Hadley's Quilt is done! Got it done late Wednesday night.

I used a Vintage Modern charm pack and Kona Snow.  Every charm was put in the quilt with 38 on the front and 4 on the back. Unintentionally, the design looks like an "S".  I just wanted a couple of super-sized granny squares and use as many charms as possible. The baby shower is tomorrow, and I have it in the washer now to get all that crinkling loving. I am crossing my fingers that none of the red bleeds on all that white! I pre-washed all my fabric, so we will see. Edit: I prewashed the Kona Snow and the binding, but NOT the charms! That's why I was worried! But nothing bleed. Whew!

   The quilt measures 50X60in. Not  a standard baby quilt, but at least Hadley can use it well in to her kid years:)

   It was a fun little quilt to make and I got loads of FMQ feathers practice. This brings my total finishes for this year to 4! Woohoo!! Not bad. Not bad at all for me;)

   

A Giveaway from Mike!

My good blog friend, Mike over at  The Amateur Quilter is having a giveaway! All you have to do is follow him and comment. He gives extra chances too. First obviously blog about it. Second, if you blog about it, and someone follows him because of your blog, you get extra chances! Sooooo, if you follow him because you found him through me, ahem, pleas mention it in your comment:D!  The giveaway link is HERE! Now, go check him out!!

Until June

These days, I have been working on a quilt for the expected Hadley. My friends daughter is expecting in June. I got it basted using 505 basting spray. This was the quickest basting job ever!

I am now in the quilting stage. I am doing a feathering directional texture design. It can be a bit tricky at times. I have to stop and think about where I am going.

I found myself getting a little sloppy tonight. So I decided to put it down for tonight and come back to it tomorrow. (I think I'm just sleepy....). I also am having trouble with a lot of my pieced seams. I think I need to work on piecing, and perhaps, piece an entire quilt with open seams. I found that with seams to one side, I am getting "stuck"(while FMQ), so I jerk on the fabric, causing stitches to go where I didn't intend! I am also getting a few puckers on the front. Probably from all that jerking and tugging!

Anyway, I have to get this sucker done by May 12. That's the baby shower. I have one more dilemma. I used Moda's Vintage Modern charm pack for the piecing. I though I could get yardage of the fabric for the binding, no problem. But, NO! The yardage won't be released until early May. I called the FatQuarter Shop. She expects it to ship out to the store on May 4. Maybe she gets it in a couple of days. Then maybe I get mine in a couple of days. Whew! That is cutting it waaaaaaay close! I may have to find something to coordinate for my binding. I guess I will figure it out when I get the quilting done.

One last problem. I miscalculated when I would be done with this quilt! has anyone else done this. Well, problem is, it's on my quilt!

I know, it's May. Not done! I know the pic is bad. I know it's upside down(rotated it, but still uploaded this way). But I am tired, and my pillow is calling my name. The label is obviously staying. It WILL be done in May, and it's close enough;)  That's what I have been up to......goodnight. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz