One Block Wonder in Blue

I found this fabric on clearance.  I thought the colors were great, but the funky blue roses, yuck!  So taking the advice of one blogging quilter......

There's no such thing as ugly fabric.

If the fabric is still ugly, you haven't cut it in small enough pieces yet.

I wacked this fabric up into little triangles following the One Block Wonder instructions and created my first OBW quilt. 

My first Temari

I have a fascination with all things Asian and love the unique so trying this Japanese craft is perfect.  After a little web searching and book purchasing here is my first Temari.  If you see pulled strings it's because my cat decided it was a great toy, ARG!  (my fault, not the cat's - I know better, she doesn't). 

I took a shortcut and started with a styrofoam ball.  I padded it with strips of quilt batting (don't you love when you can use scraps that you would otherwise throw away), wrapped it with yarn, then thread (a bright yellow that was old and probably never going to get used again) and then started the embroidery using floss and a gold thread (the gold was really hard to work with and not a great idea for a first project, but don't yo love the little bit of glitz it added?)  If they are supposed to be bright and colorful, I think I succeeded. 

Temari てまり (meaning 'hand ball' in Japanese) is a folk craft born in ancient Japan from the desire to amuse and entertain children with an embroidered toy thread ball. The art of temari began as a simple needlework craft, making a mari ball for play. Today the lovely thread-wrapped, Japanese embroidered temari balls are given as tokens of good luck. A stitched temari ball on a stand would be displayed and enjoyed as a striking example of Japanese embroidery. Temari ball craft is unique needlework, an Oriental folk art which is spreading all over the world!
More information and help go here:  http://www.japanesetemari.com/index.html

Fabric Flowers

Trying something new, my favorite thing.  I love origami and fabric and putting them both together to make these flowers was a fun experiment.  Now, what do I decorate with them? I think I need to make more.

Zhu Zhu wedding

And how about a Zhu Zhu wedding.

The little outfits are fun to make I only wish I was there to play, too. 

Easter Zhu Zhu pets

They're Here!!!!  One of the granddaughters has been asking for this since last August.  There are 3 children and 3 critters.  Of course they needed clothes and sleeping bags (that have straps so they double as carrying cases).  the 2 girls were pretty easy, but what does a boy want for his hamster? 

I decided some denim, the logo for his favorite baseball team (Go Cubs), and a red super hero cape,might work with Hot Wheels fabric and flames for the bed/carrier.

sunset & shadows

Check out my latest wall quilt with applique and some elements of Ricky Tims convergence quilts.  I really enjoyed trying some different designs in free motion quilting on this little quilt.  I couldn't get out to get more fabrics so I used some black moleskin for the applique and really like the way it turned out. 

First Leader Ender Project

The idea of Leader Ender projects intrigued me so I tried it.  I was too impatient to wait for a whole quilt and have been wanting to try out this bag idea so this is what I made fom the patches I sewed while working on the Monkey quilt.  More about Leaders/Enders projects here leaders/enders

Monkeys coming together

The Monkeys are coming together.  There was a mid-stream change in the layout.  The original plan didn't look good to me.  Back to the drawing board for borders to get a good bed size quilt. 

Monkey-ing around

Simple fabric and a simple design will highlight the cheerful monkeys.  The monkeys came with a suggested layout, but it is for a crib size quilt and our little guy is outgrowing that size quickly.  Off to the drawing board.

Quilt Collaboration

My mother has been very busy.  When we visited her at Christmas she gave me these 12 monkeys she had embroidered and asked me to make a quilt.  Before we left Q-town I picked out some fabrics to use with these monkeys.  So I will be "monkey-ing around" in the studio to turn these into a quilt for my grandson, her great grandson.