Mini Art

 

 

I decided to try making some little 3 x 3 inch watercolors inspired by Kirstin Van Leuven.  She's doing 100 mini painting this year, but I'm not necessarily painting along.  I like the idea of the small painting, but I'm not planning to do 100 of them or to necessarily do the same subjects that she's painting.  Just taking her idea as inspiration, mostly.  My goal right now is to do at least 2 per month for the rest of the year.

These are the ones I painted this month (Not today). From left to right, some trees inspired by a tutorial from Rebel Unicorn Crafts, a tree inspired by the tree in my front yard, and a sunset inspired by one that my husband and I saw taking our evening walk one day.

Watercolor Again

 

 

For the month of March, I decided to pull out my watercolor paints and try to paint at least a little something every day.  Mostly I did Zen Tangles, but I did try a few other things as well.  I decided I didn't want to post about it every day on social media like I did for Inktober several years ago, but I thought I'd share a few of the highlights now that the month is over.

Mostly it was pretty fun to do.  I plan to try to keep painting some, but not every day.  Maybe I'll do some more sewing now that all my creative time isn't focused on watercolor.

All Star

 

This quilt is a baby shower gift for my daughter-in-law's sister.  I actually finished it over a week ago, but I forgot to post about it.  I still need to attach the label, but other than that, it's done.  Which is a good thing, since the baby shower is this Saturday.

I decided to name it "All Star" because the pattern is obviously a star, and it is quilted with a stars and loops motif.  I used an off-white thread from Hobby Lobby to do the quilting.  The binding was attached by machine and hand turned to the back.

Watercolor Zen Doodle

 

YouTube suggested a video to me a few days ago of a person painting a watercolor zen doodle.  I was inspired by the idea, so yesterday I painted one of my own.  Hers is much better, but it's not about comparisons.  It's about motivation and inspiration.  It felt like a do-able watercolor project.  Maybe it's a way for me to learn a little bit about how watercolor paint and brushes work, without stressing out (too much) about what the end product looks like.  It's not supposed to look like anything in particular.  It's just supposed to be paint on paper, and that's what it turned out to be.

Running total of goals accomplished: 

1. Finish UFOs = 2 of 4
   
2. Use pre-cuts = 1 of 3
   
3. Do window paintings = 0 of 2
   
4. Do non-window painting = 1 of 1 (completed)
   
5. Sew sets of coasters = 5 of 5 (completed)
   
6. Sew small bags = 0 of 2
   
7. Sew tote bags= 0 of 2

Sports Star Baby Quilt

 

 

My daughter-in-law's sister is expecting her first baby a couple of months from now, so I decided to make a quilt for them.  They are having a little boy, and I was told they are going with a sports theme. 

I looked through my stash and found the blue sports-themed fabric.  It was left over from a soccer quilt I made several years ago (It was the backing fabric).  I found the background fabric at Hobby Lobby.  

I modified my Charm Square Star pattern so that the center and star points would be solid pieces instead of patchwork.  I wanted the footballs, etc. to be as intact as possible.  

The next step is to get the backing fabric pieced, so that I can get it into the quilting frame and get it quilted.  I'm planning to quilt it in an all-over stars and loops (or meanders?) pattern.

The top measures 40-1/2 inches square.

Little Ladies

 

I finished the binding on this quilt about a week ago, but I just got the label on it Saturday night.  I named it Little Ladies because of the cute little girls on the fabric.  I started this quilt back in 2015, and I was planning to finish it then and donate it to the blanket drive that my church was doing at that time.  But my sewing room flooded while I was working on it, so I didn't have the opportunity to finish it for that purpose.  Ultimately it got stashed away and became one of my many UFOs.  Fast forward 10 years, and my 7 year old granddaughter decided that it was "adorable," so I've decided to give it to her as part of her birthday present when she turns 8 in a couple of months.

I quilted it with my long-arm quilter in a hearts and swirls all-over pattern.  The top thread is a denim blue color (Isacord Ash Blue #3853) and bottom thread is a cream color (Isacord Twine #1760).  The binding is attached to the front by machine and turned to the back by hand.  This is my second finished UFO for this year.

Running total of goals accomplished: 

1. Finish UFOs = 2 of 4
   
2. Use pre-cuts = 1 of 3
   
3. Do window paintings = 0 of 2
   
4. Do non-window painting = 0 of 1
   
5. Sew sets of coasters = 5 of 5 (completed)
   
6. Sew small bags = 0 of 2
   
7. Sew tote bags= 0 of 2

Three More Coaster Sets

 

Not a lot to say about these.  They are three more sets of coasters that I made from the Pinkerville charm pack.  They are made just like the last set. That basically uses up that charm pack.  There were two charms left over that will just go into my scrap pile.

Running total of goals accomplished: 

1. Finish UFOs = 1 of 4
   
2. Use pre-cuts = 1 of 3
   
3. Do window paintings = 0 of 2
   
4. Do non-window painting = 0 of 1
   
5. Sew sets of coasters = 5 of 5 (completed)
   
6. Sew small bags = 0 of 2
   
7. Sew tote bags= 0 of 2

Second Coaster Set

 

Here is my second set of coasters from the Pinkerville charm pack.  As I mentioned before, I limited the quilting to just the flower petals in the corners. I think it looks nice that way and it was much easier to do.  I used light purple thread for the quilting.

Running total of goals accomplished: 

1. Finish UFOs = 1 of 4
   
2. Use pre-cuts = 1 of 3
   
3. Do window paintings = 0 of 2
   
4. Do non-window painting = 0 of 1
   
5. Sew sets of coasters = 2 of 5
   
6. Sew small bags = 0 of 2
   
7. Sew tote bags= 0 of 2

Pinkerville Coasters

 

I'm attacking two goals in this one project.  These coasters are made from charm squares of Pinkerville fabric by Tula Pink that I received as a gift in 2019. I've now sewn a set of 4 coasters from that charm pack, so it is no long unused.  So that means I've used 1 pre-cut and made 1 set of coasters.

There are two charms for each print in the charm pack, so I paired like prints together to make a single coaster.  Then I grouped them together by color to make a set.

To make the coasters, I trimmed the charms down to 4-1/2 inches square; added a layer of batting that was cut to 4-1/4 inches square (to reduce bulk in the seam); and then sewed them together with a 1/4 inch seam, leaving an opening on one side.  I turned them right-side out; pressed them; and top-stitched close to the edge, closing the opening in the process.  I then quilted a flower motif in the center using a flower petal ruler and pink thread.

The ruler fit perfectly into the corner, but then to make the petals that go out to the side, I had to slide the ruler around which was a pain.  Going forward, I plan to just do the four petals that go out to the corners and forgo the ones in between.

Running total of goals accomplished: 

1. Finish UFOs = 1 of 4
   
2. Use pre-cuts = 1 of 3
   
3. Do window paintings = 0 of 2
   
4. Do non-window painting = 0 of 1
   
5. Sew sets of coasters = 1 of 5
   
6. Sew small bags = 0 of 2
   
7. Sew tote bags= 0 of 2
   

Charmed

 

This is my most recent finished product.  I decided to name it "Charmed" because the pattern was called Layers of Charm.  Charmed seemed appropriate.  It is made from a layer cake of Healing Hearts fabric and some red yardage for the diamonds and binding.

I quilted it on my long-arm machine using Aurifil thread in Bright Pink (#2425).  I outline quilted the diamond blocks and quilted flower motifs inside them.  I also created "ghost" diamond blocks with outline quilting and flower motifs.  Then I quilted a long feather across each row, curving it around the diamond and "ghost diamond" blocks. 

Here are some close-ups of the quilting.

 

I decided to attach the binding completely by machine.  It's not my favorite way to bind, but I wanted to get it finished in time for February Valentine's decorating.  Plus I had bought thread that exactly matched the red fabric in the diamonds and binding, and I didn't want it to go to waste.

This is my first finished UFO for the year. I started it in 2017.

Thoughts for 2025

I'm having trouble coming up with goals for this year.  I did well with my goals last year, and I think setting goals is probably a good idea, but I'm just not sure how I want to focus my creativity this year.

I know that I want to continue to work on finishing my UFOs.  There are 5 left from my original list, plus one top that I completed last year that still needs to be quilted.  Finishing all of them would be nice, but I don't want to lock myself into that as an official goal.  One has been giving me fits as to how to quilt it, and I want to feel a little more free to do new things than I felt last year.  So I think I'll set this goal at 4. 

I also have a long list of pre-cuts that I own but have not yet used. (The oldest were purchased in 2013.) I'd like to make something with at least 3 of these.  More would be nice, but I think 3 is a reasonable goal.  

Beyond those, I'm just not really sure.  

I enjoyed doing the window painting at Christmas, so I thought that doing more painting might be nice.  "More painting" isn't really a measurable goal though.  Maybe I'll set a goal for doing 2 window paintings this year, plus one painting on paper or canvas. (Yikes!)

I also want to create some inventory to possibly have a booth at a craft show.  Again, "create some inventory" isn't measurable.  The problem is that I have no idea what is reasonable in this category.  I'll say 5 sets (4 each) of coasters,  2 small bags, and 2 tote bags as a start.

In summary, that makes:

1. Finish 4 UFOs
2. Use 3 pre-cuts
3. Do 2 window paintings
4. Do 1 non-window painting
5. Sew 5 sets of coasters
6. Sew 2 small bags
7. Sew 2 tote bags
   

2024 Recap

Last January I wrote a blog post about what I hoped to accomplish in 2024.  I'm happy to say that I actually mostly succeeded.  

I started last year with 14 quilt tops that I considered to be UFOs.  My goal was to complete at least 6 of them.  I actually completed 9.  One more has been quilted, but still needs to be bound. Getting the long-arm quilter was a big help here.  I feel really good about this goal.

I wanted to start some new quilts and see them through to completion.  This one was a little more mixed.  I started 3 quilts last year - a small wall-hanging sized quilt, a baby quilt, and a throw sized quilt.  I finished 2 out of 3.  As the late Meatloaf famously said, "Two out of three ain't bad."

Lastly, I said that I didn't want to let finished quilts just pile up, and I hoped to maybe try to sell some things.  I made several things that I gave as gifts to friends and family - both bags, quilts, and other miscellaneous items.  I donated a couple of things to charity.  And I actually put a quilt up for sale on my Etsy shop.  It hasn't sold, or even gotten very many views, but that wasn't the goal.  The goal was to offer something for sale, and I did that.  I didn't try to get a booth at a local craft fair, like I had thought I might, but I'm still calling this category a win, too.

Overall, I feel pretty good about my crafting and creativity in 2024.

Casssiopeia

 

This will certainly be the last quilt that I finish this year and it's my 9th finished UFO of the year.  I decided to name it Cassiopeia because I wanted a star related name.  Cassiopeia is actually a constellation, not a single star, but since there are actually two stars in the quilt, an inner and outer star, I thought it worked.  Plus, when I was a little girl, there was a character on a show I liked named Cassiopeia, and I've retained a fondness for the name.

I quilted it on my longarm with a hand-guided all-over flower, leaf, and loops design. The thread is Isacord Spring Frost, and the batting is Quilter's Dream Cotton.  The binding is attached by machine to the front of the quilt and hand stitched to the back.  The label was stitched using my embroidery machine, and hand stitched to the back of the quilt.

More Door Art

 

 

This morning I finished the door art for our front storm door.  This one is less intricate than the Garfield, but also significantly larger.  This time I used mostly interior wall paint.  The white is actually ceiling paint that we already had in the shed, left over from our renovations a few years ago.  The red, brown, and greens are from small samples paint containers I bought at Lowes.  We had some yellow left over from painting my quilting room, and I used that at first, but I decided that I wanted something brighter.  I painted over that yellow with some yellow acrylic I had left over from painting Garfield.  The outline is done in black acrylic.

First, I drew out my idea on an index card and colored it with markers.  Then I took the drawing to Lowes to match paint colors, which wasn't fully necessary, but I liked the idea of matching my original drawing.  I drew the same basic shape onto the door with a dry erase marker, but the proportions turned out a little different because the height to width ratio of the door was different from the card.  I painted a base layer of the whole drawing in white and let that dry overnight.  The next day, I painted all the colors, and a second layer of white where I wanted it to be white.  I had to be pretty careful because the white base coat would smear once it got a little wet from the new layer of paint.  No adding wet on wet!  This morning I added the black outlines to everything.  I think the outlines really made it pop compared to before I added them.  So with the exception of the yellow (because I changed the color), and the white (which has base coat and top coat) each color was just one coat, unlike with Garfield where everything needed 3 coats.

I'm really happy with how it turned out.  Assuming that it isn't too much trouble to remove it, I'm thinking about doing different ones next year.  I'm thinking about either Christmas ornaments or wrapped presents.  It's been really fun to do some painting.

Christmas Door Art

 

 

On the day after Thanksgiving, I took my cat to the vet (like I do every Friday), and one of the employees was painting a mural on their front windows.  That inspired me to try doing a little Christmas window painting of my own.  When I was in high school, I used to draw Garfield all the time.  He was sort of my go-to doodle.  Also, when my kids were little, they loved to watch the Garfield Christmas movie.  So, I thought that painting Garfield on my door would be a fun way to tap into a little of my creative side with a nod to family history at the same time.  I think he turned out pretty good.

I started by finding a Christmas picture of Garfield online.  Then I sketched him out in my sketchbook.  I then scanned my drawing into the computer, enlarged the image to a size that would fit my window, and printed it out.  I had thought that I would tape the print out to the inside of the window and then trace it on the outside using a dry erase marker, but that didn't really work because of the nature of the window.  It has two panes of glass with blinds in between.  That made the image seem too far away to actually trace, so I just used it as a placement guide and drew it free hand with the marker.

We wanted the image to be seen from both inside and outside, so I went over the outlines in black first.  Then I added the color, and then went over the black line again last thing.  I tried chalk markers first, but I didn't like how that looked (too thin and runny), so I used artist acrylic paint instead.  All of the colors needed 3 coats to really show up nicely.

I'm thinking about trying something larger on my storm door at my front door (this door goes to the carport). If I do that one, I'm planning to try using interior wall paint and starting with a base of white.  It won't be viewable from inside, but that doesn't matter on that door, and I hope it will have better coverage that way.

Checkerboard and Diamonds

 

I don't actually have a name for it yet, but I call the pattern checkerboard and diamonds.  I machine quilted it on my long arm quilter, using Isacord thread in Chiffon color.  It is actually custom quilted, unlike the others I've done so far.  The border is done in a continuous feather.  The diamonds each have a flower motif.  The checkerboard center was quilted using the Elvira quilting ruler by Angela Walters.  The white space around the diamonds have a feather motif (I guess that's what you'd call it).  And the border and outside of the checkerboard are outlined using a straight-edge quilting ruler.  I finished the binding on it today, which was done totally on the sewing machine.

It was my first time using quilting rulers on the long arm machine.  I've used them a little on my domestic machine.  It takes a bit to get used to, but I feel like I was getting the hang of it by the time I was done.  It is far from perfect, but I'm happy with how it looks.  I don't know what I'll end up doing with it.  There is no plan for it at the moment.

This is my 8th finished UFO for the year.  It actually leapfrogged over a quilt that I'm in the process of hand binding.

Update: I decided to name it "Let's Play."  I even made a label for it using free-motion embroidery done on my domestic (not embroidery) sewing machine.  It turned out okay.

A Bag for Ruthie

 

 

Today I finished up the last bag officially on my to-do list.  It's a bag for my youngest son's girlfriend, Ruthie.  She likes wizards and her favorite color is purple.  I made it the same size as the one for Gus, because my son said that she liked to be able to carry big things.

The fabrics that I used for the outside of the bag were fabrics that were already in my stash.  I bought fabric for the lining and thread for top stitching and quilting.  

I quilted the top fabric to the batting using my long-arm machine, just like I did for the last one.  This one is quilted in swirls to match the swirls in the fabrics. 

I'm planning to send it to her for a Christmas present.  Nothing says Christmas like wizards, right? LOL!

A Bag for Kim

 

When I was at Missouri Star Quilt Company, I saw this floral and skull fabric and it made me think of my daughter-in-law, Kim.  She paints flowers and she's into goth/morbid motifs, so I thought it was a good combination for her.  The accent fabric is from the same fabric line and has a spider web design.  The lining of the bag is black skeletons on a cream-colored background.  

I might try making a small twist bag with the leftover fabric, if there is enough.  I'll have to see.

Birds and Flowers bag

 

When I was at Missouri Star Quilt Company, I bought some fabric to make myself a book bag.  I used the same pattern as the bag I made for my mother for Mother's Day.  This time I decided to try something new.  I quilted the fabric using my long arm machine.  It's still just the outer bag fabric quilted to batting without a backing fabric, so I wasn't sure how it would do on the long arm, but it worked just fine.  The quilting is mostly a simple meander with a few flowers thrown in.  I'm happy with how it turned out.

Kitchen Towels

 

 

Earlier this year when my younger daughter was visiting, she saw a kitchen towel that I have which buttons onto the handle of the oven door.  She commented that she needed towels like that for her kitchen, because her toddler is always pulling the towels off, and they end up on the floor.  The one that I have was made with a hot pad and a towel sewn together.  When we were out in Washington, where she lives, I was going to make her some, but I couldn't find any towels and hot pads that I liked and thought would actually work in this application.  So I decided to use some left over quilting fabric and make little quilted hot pads (with regular batting, not heat resistant).  I think they turned out really cute. The way the towel is gathered where it is sewn to the hot pad, they almost look like little dresses.  Here are a couple of them hanging on my oven door.

 

I hope she likes them.  I hope that having them attached to the oven door doesn't upset my grandson too much either.  I'm sure he'll learn how to unbutton them pretty quickly if he really wants them down.  He's a real problem solver in situations like that.