Dragon on the Wall

 I am calling this my "design table" and on it is a very special  UFO.

I started The Dragon in 2012 and worked on him for several months.  Then I was completely stymied when I couldn't figure out how to do the applique. 

 At  first I tried to do hand applique but I found that it was VERY difficult to get a needle and thread through three layers of batiks.  Then I decided to do machine applique.  It went OK except that the pieces crept around the background.  You can see the thread I put in to try to hold them in place.

 Now this is my new attempt to "pin" down Mr. Dragon.  I am adding pins to every tip and join.  It takes forever to put all those pins in but I really want to finish this quilt.  Everything is on the background except the additional fire; you know, "fire breathing dragon."  If I can get this top done it will push me to finish quilting the quilt that has been on the frame forever.  And maybe I will finally get on a quilting roll.

As you can see I have two helpers who are overseeing this work.  They are really taskmasters and make a lot of noise when I slack off.  With their help I should be ready to return to the machine applique and heading to the quilting frame.  Yay!!    Gari

Linking with Patchwork Times.

Design Wall 2/11/13

Today’s design wall is highlighting “the dragon”.  I have appliqued about 2/3rd’s of one side of him.  But this is going to go slow because I get really tired of wrestling with him.  So I am going to give him about 1-2 hours a week until he is complete. 
Beside the dragon are three strips of leftover pieces of Easy Street: those strips are really doubled.  My plan is to sew these into the backing for Easy Street, maybe even this week.






I finally got a pretty good picture of the center of Easy Street, complete. 











And here it is again, with the three borders I have decided on. 











I only got the outer border fabric last Friday.  I went to look only for the border fabric, BUT, when I walked in the first thing I saw was a sign for 20% off all batiks.  I was really good and looked for the border fabric first but once it was in the cart, I was on the hunt.  I didn’t buy a lot of each fabric but I did add to my batik collection.

The browns on the left will be used for an owl BOM I plan to start this week.  The rest were just because I couldn’t not buy them.


And DH has found a new job at home.  He has “thousands” of slides.  He began teaching over 45 years ago and putting on high school/college musicals and plays .  And he took slides of all of his productions until video came into being.  So for Christmas I gave him a device which allows him to upload slides into his computer.  And this week he got a slide viewer so he can sort his thousands of slides.  This is our dining room table: we may never be able to eat there again. 

So as you can see, we are both keeping ourselves busy and having fun.  You can have fun, too, by going over to Patchwork Times to see what other quilters are up to.

Other Stuff

How much fun it is to, once again, be able to work on more than one thing at a time.  I finished my FatCatPatterns.com second fish.  I am also enjoying figuring out which square of the background fabric to use: the colors are so different from square to square. 
















I also completed the February teapot from Rhonda.  If you have seen my feathered star table topper, you will see that I am using some leftovers for this pot.  As I look at it I am thinking that I may applique it with two different threads: I have used only one on the others.  I guess we will just have to wait and see.







And part of the reason for waiting is The Return of the Dragon.  Monday afternoon I pulled him out and began machine appliqueing him down.  I had originally planned, and begun, hand appliqueing him but the batiks are so tight that my hands would give out after three spikes.  Now, it is not easy to machine applique a whole cloth piece, either, but I am more likely to get it done this way.





I am zigzagging with a bright variegated thread so the stitching will have different colors on the different spikes.  I think overall it is going to look really good.  But don’t hold your breath until it is done: it is really a come and go project.








Yesterday was also the “finish up the laundry” day.  So as I was putting a new load in the washer, Ms. Murphy decided to investigate the dryer.  At first all I could see was her tail but by the time I got my phone out of my pocket she had turned around.











Then it was time for her to come out: she refused.  And when I reached for her, she moved to the back.  So I started throwing wet clothes in around her.  It took 5 handfuls of wet clothes before she decided there wasn’t enough room in there for the clothes and her and jumped out.




See, I may live in the middle of nowhere, not have a job, and not get much done in any given day, but my life is just one adventure after another.

It Was A Very Good Week

This past week was a really good week.  I’ll start with the last part when I got another Funky Chicken (#10) ready for applique.



Isn’t he cool? 














This is going to be such a fun quilt.  With only two  more blocks to come it is about time to start thinking about a setting for them.  I want it to be unique so I will need to give it some thought.
I also got Teapot #3 drawn and the fabric chosen but that’s as far as I got when DH invited me out for lunch and some antiquing.  How could I resist?








I got the backing done for the first of the Christmas quilts.  I sewed these strips together while I was embroidering the back of a shirt (see below) so I had two machines going and loved the sound of being productive.








The black fabric has been in my Christmas stash for a couple of years but never has suggested what it wanted to be so I used all I had as the center of this piece.  The outside “borders” are what is left from the front.  I’m not doing stash busting but if I were this would really be a coup. 
This backing made it to the quilt frame but that’s as far as I got. 







This was what I was working on while I was sewing the backing.  Isn’t it great?  I was so pleased with it while it was sewing out.

Until………..












This happened.  Can’t see what I mean?











Take a closer look.  It seems the shirt “jumped” onto the embroidery bed and got itself stitched into the embroidery foot.  Stuck good and proper.  I finally got it off the bed and finished the embroidery but there is still a big lump of fabric sewn together that I will need to do something about, later.

I did stitch out two owl t-shirts, see the last post, and I really like these designs.




Friday I went to a machine embroidery workshop where Mary Alice Smith was teaching some great software.  Can you see her face there in the center?








I was sitting way in the back but could see what was going on because of the monitors which were connected to her computer.  Ain’t technology grand?














Well, I had decided that I could use my time well by working on the hand applique for The Dragon.  I didn’t get a lot done but that was a whole lot more than I had done in the last couple of months so I felt pretty good about it.  Once I had it out again I realized how much I really want to get this quilt done so it will be on the top of my “to do” list soon.









Lastly, I finally got the label sewn onto the quilt I am sending to Gene Black for a children’s charity he is donating to.  This is a Jelly Roll Race quilt I made last Spring but hadn’t decided to whom it would go.  I love the cheerfulness of it and hope it brightens the heart of the girl who receives it.

Oh, one last thing.  Last week I finished the 22 lessons in EQ7.  It was a lot of work but I learned a lot.  Mostly, I learned that the program does a lot more than I knew and that there is still a bunch I still need to learn.  Maybe I will begin this next stage in my learning while I design my new chicken quilt?

Design Wall Preparation

My design wall was abandoned last week in favor of a vacation trip to North Carolina.  However what would be coming to the wall was uppermost in my mind: please check out my last post.  Here you will see how I worked to make sure I am supplied with the wherewithal to keep that wall alive.


I had a great time at Mary Jo’s in Gastonia, NC.  All of the top fabric is batiks.  I tend to buy darker batiks so I made myself get lots of brights and even some lights.  The bottom three are fabrics that I just couldn’t pass up.









Then I added new quilting threads from Long Creek Mills, also in Gastonia.  I tried to choose colors I don’t already have.  These were $4 each and are first run.












And for additional inspiration I brought home these lovelies from Wanda’s show (again see the last post).  I could find the same triangles in one of Wanda’s pieces so I figured I had brought home a piece of one of her “real” quilts.







All of that happened in one day.  Then we began 5 days of doing this.  Here you see our granddog, Ponce, doing what he does better than the rest of us.









Here are the guys, DH and DS#3, doing what they did best…resting.












And here is our DIL doing  a crossword.  She made us hunt down new papers every day just so she could work a new one. 












And what was I doing while they were all relaxing?  Well, this is my sewing station, set up on the back deck.










And I began appliqueing the Dragon. 













See my tiny stitches?  Because of my arthritic hands I can only stitch for short periods (no more than an hour) so I will be working on this for quite awhile. 

I did work on a couple of other projects, one new and one a UFO, and hope to show them later, maybe even on that design wall.







The week was one of rest, eating great food, antiquing, eating some more, and fun.  I took this picture on our last night in NC.  I was outside, walking Ponce, and the others were inside playing a board game.  I thought this was a beautiful sight, fun with family.

Enter the Dragon

But first one has to do the work.  This was my dining table this morning as I worked on my Weight Watchers paperwork.  I had to get it done before I could let the dragon out of it’s slumber.











This is my craft table, set up in the living room for this special occasion.











So, off to the studio to applique the dragon’s nose and eye down.  I think he is about 9’ long, a little ungainly for applique but we got that little part done.








Then back to the table where I laid out the backing and began pinning my lovely dragon on to it.











Smooth it out, pin, smooth, pin,













smooth, pin, smooth, and pin, etc. 

I thought I would never get it done since every once in a while I had to remove pins in order to re-smooth.








And once that was done (after several breaks for back  aches) I began basting.  I knew I couldn’t do the applique on this big a project with pins (ouch a lot) so the whole thing has to be basted.  I only got a small part basted before I had to quit for the night but I will say I have gained a whole new respect for people who do hand quilting.  Whew!

I had to put the dragon up for the night because the cat came in and the first place she chose to light was on the craft table.  But tomorrow morning, after the cat goes out for the day, he will be back out and the basting will begin again.  I am really excited to see him coming to life.  Now I just need a name for him.  Any ideas?

Fabric Play

OK, this will be a short rant:  I HATE PRE-WASHING FABRIC.  Here you see the fabric for one of the two block swaps I am in.  The first "rule" was to pre-wash the fabric.  Well, the washing isn't so bad but then there is the folding of wrinkled fabric, ironing the wrinkled fabric, refolding (wrangling) the fabric in order to cut it into submission for sewing. 

So, because I agreed to two swaps, I got to spend one entire day just doing the full washing routine.  I had planned on getting all that fabric cut but it just didn't happpen.         

The top picture also includes the embroidery that will be in the center of the blocks.  The embroidery is 5" and is tone on tone.  I have all 12 of these embroideries done and ready to be sewn into the blocks. 

In the second picture is the embroidery for the second swap.  These embroideries are 4" and I have 6 of the 12 done.  Everything is now cut for both swaps and I hope to be sewing them next weekend.

I also got all the fabrics ready for putting together my Carpenter's Star quilt but decided I needed to check the cutting directions first so that cutting will be done on Wednesday.

I put the dragon back on the wall to see if the fabric I had would work.  Well, I really like it but there is not enough.  So, I spent all Saturday afternoon visiting fabric stores, trying to find something similar.  It was a no go so today I am going to do some traveling with DH and visit at least 3 more before I go with plan B.  The funny thing is that I found a new fabric for the flames so I may be making them on Wednesday, too. 

For those who had checked in with me last week, I am feeling much better.  Since I was sick I have heard from several others that they have experienced the same "crud" I have had.  I still have some cough but it is so nothing compared to last week.  I am so happy to be feeling better and getting back to the studio and to fabric play.



Enter The Dragon

As of this morning, the dragon is done.  All the parts are sewn together and he was allowed to come down from the wall and venture out into the real world.  Now, of course, we have to find a home (background fabric) for him which means a trip to the lqs.  Oh, my!

I have to say I have enjoyed all the really positive comments about my dragon.  He has come a long way from the dresden plate quilt he was originally going to be.  So often we hear that the quilt tells us what it want’s to be but this time it is more than true.

This is the other thing I worked on before taking my new cold to bed.  This is my response to Vicki and Judy’s Color Challenge.  I think this is a mug rug on steroids: grew a little more than I planned.  The strips are from a bargello that never got made and the idea came from somewhere on a blog but for the life of me I can’t remember where.  If someone knows, please tell me so I can give credit.

Anyway, this one is pieced, appliqued and I put some decorative stitches on the flowers.  Right now it is on my DSM and about half way quilted.  I plan to bind it with some leftover binding that will match the stems and then I will have kept up with the challenge. 

Now I am going to roll over and let my sick body rest.  I accidently volunteered to stand in for another WW leader tomorrow and do her meeting.  The interesting part is that it is 110 miles from here and at 5pm.  I really need to get better and “get my voice back.”  Yes, I have also lost my voice, or almost.  I really don’t feel too bad, just tired and a sore throat, but I would like to feel rested, no hurting, and have a voice by tomorrow morning.  Wish me luck.

Design Wall vs. Life

With the little time I had in the studio I found myself “needing” to work on the sleeping dragon.  I think he had been calling to me because I had ignored him for such a long time.  And he was telling me that I couldn’t use the DW until I get him put together and basted/pinned on the background fabric.  In this picture I have sewn several 2 piece sections together.

 Prior to that I turned the raw edges of the inner pieces and sewed them with mono-poly.  It isn’t an excellent job but I think when this fellow is completed, no one is going to be checking too closely. 

Anyway, when I went to put the tail together I found that I had moved the blades I was going to use and all my planning was gone.  So I shuffled and shuffled the blades until I found what I wanted and made what I think looks like a really good tail.

And then I moved on to what has been the hardest (so far) for me, the head.  I cut the eye and nostril from fused fabric and then fused other fabric to begin the flames.  Nothing has been permanently fused down yet as I haven’t finished figuring it out.  One of the things putting this together did for me was to decide the eye was not prominent enough.

I decided to add some black behind the red eye and that seemed to make it stand out more.  The flames are not arranged enough, just stuck up there so I could see if they could be seen. 

I did complete all 12 of the embroidered centers for some swap blocks which I hope to work on this week.  I have another set to start but that will have to wait until next month.

Without a picture I can say that I also started working on my Color Palette Challenge.  I was called away in the middle of a step and never got back to the studio, life, you know.

 

Monday I was doing housework all day (perish the thought) and Tuesday I was gone all day doing my WW part-time job.   DD and I had made arrangements for lunch on Wednesday but then she called and suggested we drive to another town for lunch and a little shopping which took up the whole day.  Above you see the fruits of my day in the studio and Friday I had a little time there prior to being called away by DH for lunch and puttering around town.  Saturday morning was WW again and then in the afternoon we drove to another nearby town looking for a bird toy (one of our birds loves to tear her toys apart).  While there we looked into a new printer but didn’t buy it.  Sunday we were on the road again, eating at the Mellow Mushroom and then getting said printer.  Sometime today I hope to be able to print from my iPad and iPhone as well as print from anywhere using my iPhone.  We’ll see how good I am at getting this device to work: things get harder and harder to figure out, you know. 

So while I am working on this, why not go on over to Judy’s to see all the beautiful things others are working on?