LuAnn Kessi: June 2009

Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Quilt Exhibit Postcards

Click Image to Enlarge

I am playing around with a few different designs for postcards. I just taught myself this morning to use the Picasa FREE MAC program. In just a few minutes of downloading the program, I was importing images and placing text on them.......how fun is that!

I printed this image out on photo paper and it is much better than what you see on the screen here. I was afraid the white writing would be difficult to read, but on the printed version it is clearly visible.

I plan to send the image to an online printer and have postcards made. So.......please comment and let me know what you think of this first postcard. Anyone out there experienced in postcard design? I need to design a poster ......but Rome was not built in a day. The comment link is directly below this post. Hoping to hear from you soon.

In Computer Land,

LuAnn

To see my New Work CLICK HERE

To see the Thread Shed CLICK HERE

To see my Exhibit Quilts CLICK HERE

To see Tutorials CLICK HERE

Sunday, June 28, 2009

Woven Sunshine Quilt............DONE

I had a day to myself today.............and it was a fun day!

Thread Shed, Music & Machine Quilting

My needs are few...

Click Images to Enlarge:

With the exception of the stem in the middle of the vines, this was all free motion quilting without any marking. If you click on the image and enlarge it.....you can see the faint white chalk line down the center of the vine. That line keeps me going in the right direction as I move across the quilt stitching 90 mph.

I LOVE these Chubby Crayons for marking. They are made by Miracle Chalk. I purchased mine at my local quiltshop: JanniLou Creations in Philomath, OR.

They are soft and yummy and glide over the fabric effortlessly.

The BEST part of Chubby Crayons is...........you just iron the chalk off when you are done! As soon as the heat from the iron touches the chalk......it disappears completely!

You can quit reading this post now if you like.......because that was the best part of it!

Here is a peek at some of the whimsical vine quilting on the woven background area.

I learned the whimsical vine motif from Patsy Thompson. I purchased her DVD's a couple of years ago........and my machine quilting has improved more than I had ever hoped.

I chose a botanical quilting motif for the background and it was a good fit. I am happy with the way it turned out.

After all the machine quilting was done.......I blocked the quilt.........and was ready to trim it up square. This 20 inch Ominigrip Square Up Ruler is the absolute best and most accurate for squaring up those corners. I am sorry I waited 15 years to get one.

This 2o inch ruler makes it easy to have perfectly square corners on your completed quilts.

Here is the Woven Sunshine Quilt all DONE and ready for a binding. I am looking at all this leftover green batik fabric..........hmmm.........I also have a lot of leftover black fabric........that might work for a binding? After 9 hours of quilting today I am done making decisions.......the binding fabric will have to wait for another day.

Good Night,

LuAnn

To see my New Work CLICK HERE

To see the Thread Shed CLICK HERE

To see my Exhibit Quilts CLICK HERE

To see Tutorials CLICK HERE

Friday, June 26, 2009

Woven Sunshine......Machine Quilting

At this point all of the applique stitching is complete

Click Images to Enlarge:

The contrasting applique thread colors help define the separate sunflower petals, black crow and dead leaves at the bottom of the quilt.

The invisible thread applique stitching is barely visible in the background

This is the backside of the quilt top.....yes.....you are looking at batting.

I followed the instructions in the Simply Stunning Woven Quilts book...."fuse the woven strips to the batting." If I had it to do over again.......I would not have done this. It has left the quilt top very stiff and very difficult to manage under the sewing machine during the applique work.

Next time I will fuse the woven strips to a very, very thin piece of interfacing. I think the quilt top would be softer and more drape-able and easier to scrunch under the throat of the sewing machine.

This tape roller worked great to keep the threads and batting fibers cleaned off the quilt top as I worked on it.

The quilt sandwich has been spray basted and is now ready for machine quilting. I have chosen a lightweight bobbin thread that will blend in with the backing fabric.

Bobbin Thread: Bottom Line 60 wt. Taupe by Superior Threads

This leaves NO build up of threads on the backside of the quilt, even when you are heavily quilting.

I tightened the tension a bit on the bobbin to accommodate the thinner thread

Righty Tighty.....Lefty Loosey

I warmed up on a practice sandwich before I started on the quilt.

This is my favorite free motion foot.

The cut out circle gives me more visibility.

Sunflower BEFORE quilting

Sunflower AFTER quilting

Sunflower 2 ........ quilted

Burgundy red thread on the petals

Teddy brown thread on the center of the flower

Sunflower 3 ........ quilted

Quilting on some of the dead leaves at the bottom of the quilt

The quilting gives these leaves the definition that they were lacking earlier.

The machine quilting is complete on the sunflowers and leaves.

Today's threadwork is bringing this little quilt to life...

As I lean over my sewing machine to turn out the lights and call it a day....I give thanks for my little Thread Shed......thanks for my favorite guy who built this room with his two hands.......and thanks for living a beautiful farm life here in Western Oregon.

With Gratitude,

LuAnn

To see my New Work CLICK HERE

To see the Thread Shed CLICK HERE

To see my Exhibit Quilts CLICK HERE

To see Tutorials CLICK HERE

Woven Sunshine.......Applique Tips

Keeping the digital camera on the sewing table has become a good teaching tool for me as I work on a project. Here are a few images I captured while working in the applique process yesterday on the Woven Sunshine Quilt...

Click Images to Enlarge:

The very first applique stitching to be done was the woven background strips. They are all raw edge and need to be stitched down. I used invisible thread.

This is a MonoPoly invisible thread by Superior Threads.

I also like Sulky Invisible Thread.

Both products are a very soft polyester thread that will not burn when ironed.

Why use invisible thread?

This is a very busy background for a quilt. I plan to free motion quilt all over the background later. I did not want the applique stitching to draw any attention to itself and compete with the free motion stitching. This applique stitching is merely to hold down those raw edges of the woven background.

I have found size 60 needles to work the very best for invisible thread. They create the tiniest hole possible in the quilt top. The very thin invisible thread barely fills up the hole created by the needle. A larger needle creates a larger hole, that the invisible thread cannot fill. I tried my standard size 80 needle.......it made holes that looked like a shot gun blast.

At this point the background is stitched down and I am working on the applique stitching of the stems, leaves, flowers & birds. I am no longer using invisible thread. I am using a polyester thread. I have switched over to a different needle.

I tried a size 80 needle, but the hole it created was too big for the polyester thread. I found these size 75 needles to be the perfect size for the thread.

The green thread filled in the needle holes nicely during the applique stitching of the stems.

If you click to enlarge this image.....you can barely see the invisible thread stitching on the woven strips of the background.

I am using Grass green YLI Variations Trilobal Polyester.

The image of the crow needed some definition.

This lemon yellow thread worked perfectly to outline Mr. Crow

He will get lots of threadwork when the free motion quilting begins!

I chose a deep red variegated thread to applique the sunflower petals. It helps to distinguish the individual petals from each other, if not they all blend together into a yellow mob.

The red thread plays nicely with the rust color in some of the yellow fabrics!

Yesterday......after 12 hours of applique stitching, I called it a day. I have one sunflower left to applique.....then I can move onto basting the quilt sandwich and get into the free motion quilting.

On my way back out to the Thread Shed today I stopped by our Summer Rental House. Yes, we have birds nesting in both levels of the new bird house.

The hollyhocks are nearly 5 feet tall growing along the right side of the Thread Shed. The new bed frame fence is working perfectly to support them.

I will not be alone as I stitch today.......Suzy is the very best sewing dog. She is in her 15th year of life........I treasure each day she shares with me.

May Your Bobbin Always Be Full,

LuAnn

To see my New Work CLICK HERE

To see the Thread Shed CLICK HERE

To see my Exhibit Quilts CLICK HERE

To see Tutorials CLICK HERE

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Shaving Cream Stenciling at Permission 2 Play Class

Lastnight the Permission 2 Play group played with shaving cream again......this time we stenciled with it. Intrigued? Keep reading.......

Click Images to Enlarge:

Instructor, Virginia Gregory's Class Sample: Stenciled Leaf Quilt

Tsukineko Fabric Inks

Shaving cream sprayed into a plastic cup....then Tsukineko fabric inks were dropped onto the shaving cream........looks good enough to eat!

Gorgeous stenciled leaves.......notice the 3D quality........the darker leaf looks under the lighter leaf.

Virginia cut the leaf stencils out of freezer paper

Class Sample: Circles Overlapping

This process leaves the fabric very soft.....if you close your eyes and rub your hands across the stenciled surface, you would not know there was any ink on the surface of the cloth.

Circles on Squares

The circles were stenciled first.....then squares of freezer paper were ironed over the top of the circles.......then the blue shaving cream was applied over the top to create the blue sashing strips.........then the freezer paper squares were removed to reveal the pattern.

Rylee mixing up purple shaving cream

Applying the purple shaving cream with a foam brush over the ironed down freezer paper stencil

After stenciling.....Rylee removed the freezer paper........brought the fabric over to the ironing board........pressed it to heat set the inks.......they are now permanent and washable with no fading.