French Knots and Art Quilts

This art quilt, Kamchatka, by Nancy Steidle, shows just how wonderful and diverse French knots can be.  Nancy used wool yarn, pearl cotton and french ribbons in her quilt.



Here's a closer look at those knots and the bead embellishments on this quilt, which was the first place winner in the category of Large Pictorial quilts at Fiber Arts Fiesta.


During the month of June, while I am scrambling at home (where a move and a job change are in the works), I am sharing images and thoughts from Fiber Arts Fiesta, which took place in Albuquerque in May.

Catching up with (slow) handwork projects

The sweet Welcome Spring embroidery that I started a week ago is complete.  (Gail Pan's free pattern is available here.) I've been thinking about some improvisational pieced borders ... but haven't yet made any forward progress on making/adding them.

This finish is timely... it is definitely beginning to feel like spring around here.

I have made some progress with the hex rings and have now moved onto the next step–appliquéing them to a background.

I have been working on these projects slowly, by hand, in the evenings while I watch (probably too much) television.


The process is relaxing, meditative and gives you lots of time to let your mind wander and think about things like how I will quilt this little piece.

Last night, it was an opportunity to get my creative mind to calm down after a day of sewing with the Northern New Mexico Quilt Guild–come later today to read about that adventure :-)

Last night while I was stitching away, I had a new idea for the quilting design–it was an a ha moment and now I feel ready to jump into quilting this ... as soon as I finish the slow stitching needed to finish the appliqué.  So that's what I'll be doing for Slow Stitch Sunday.

Do some aspects of quilting wind you up or help you unwind?

Two New Handwork Projects

I started two new little projects this weekend and all the blame credit goes to the two bloggers who inspired me.

Earlier this week, Gail Pan shared a sweet stitchery pattern, Welcome Spring, that I found irresistable. Click over to see the blue pillow and red wallhanging she made from the design and download the free pattern.  It's a quick bit of stitching, I expect to finish this tonight.

My plan is to feature it in a small pillow with some Springy blue and yellow print fabrics.

A couple days ago on her blog, Angie mentioned picking up a Fiskar's hexagon punch at half price ... and I thought that was such a good idea, I bought two.

I quickly opened the smaller one and repurposed some junk mail.

My yellow scrap bin was sitting on the worktable–yes, I am finally getting around to making some rainbow scrap challenge blocks–so I grabbed some small scraps and made a sample for an idea for a new small quilt idea.

I will be slow stitching away later today on these and am joining Kathy's Slow Sunday Stitching list with this post.

  

Hello My Name Is Sophie ... And this is my 1000th Blog Post

Hello, my name is Sophie and this is my 1000th blogpost at Sophie Junction.

For an occasional blogger like me, it feels pretty impressive. Considering I started blogging here in October, 2005, it's probably less impressive, but still shows some sort of perseverance, I suppose, and is worth mentioning and, maybe even, celebrating a little.

Of course, since 2005, I've blogged in other places–some old and new blogs on Blogspot, some group blogs, and on the BlockLotto.com and so I know the real number of posts by me in blogland  could easily be double that number ...

Yesterday, I made the name badge above for guild meetings, it measures 2 3/4 by 3 1/2 inches–close to the size of the stick on labels on which it was based. Although I purposely placed the letters in HELLO askew to make it clear that it was made from fabric and thread, at least one person was surprised when I said something about adding that binding.

Sunday night, I finished stitching down the piped binding on the 6 by 8 inch Sophie Junction stitchery.

It has replaced the old street sign at the top of this blog ... though I have some ideas about tweaking the design a little more.  After 1000 blog posts, the design probably deserves a little attention.

While I haven't given up working on my technique with that faux-piped binding technique, this little piece has REAL piping ... which is still much more in my comfort zone.

You can also get a close look at some of the free-motion quilting here.  My intent was to create quilty texture, though if you look close you can see that I was thinking about the pine covered mountains, low clouds, scruffy grasses and occasional flowers that I can see from my studio.


A giveaway seems to  be in order.  Since something shiny and new is not in my budget these days, I thought I might offer a collection of fabrics from my stash in a color-way of your choosing in a quilted tote with along with a little something made by me for you.

I was thinking of a plain, functional tote like this one, though this will be made for you and so I'll want your input.

I's also like to include a little something, a pin a pincushion,  a sewing kit, a small pillow cover, a mug rug, a little doll-sized quilt, or even a skinkin' name badge of your very own ...  or some other small thing that I've made or that you'd like me to make for you that you'd like to have.

Here are some of those little things I've made for myself and others that might give you some ideas about what you'd like to find in your tote if you won.

To enter, leave a comment telling me what color fabrics you'd like from my stash and what little made-by-me surprise would put a smile on your face and would be useful to you.  I'll pick a winner when I wake up next Monday (5/26) morning.

I considered joining the massive SMS giveaway train last week, but decided that this giveaway is a thank you to those that already follow along with my mis-adventures in quilting and life, not a carrot to attract new followers.  Perhaps I have lasted through those seven and a half years and 1000 blog posts because I do this for fun, not personal or commercial gain ... and I do believe that if you're not having fun, you're not doing it right. (I even have that quote engraved on the back of my iPad.)

Slow Stitch Sunday at Sophie Junction

On Sunday nights, you can almost always find me curled up in the den, watching TV, with some sort of hand work or paper and pencil in hand.  Sometimes I make lists or doodle ideas; sometimes I pick up some knitting; sometimes I hand piece quilt blocks.  Lately, simple stitchery has appealed.

A couple weeks ago, when I finished stitching Purple Nina on the sewing machine cover I shared yesterday, I picked up some lined paper sitting on the table and doodled another idea that's been floating around in my head for a while.

Here's how I went from (very) rough sketch to cleaned up drawing to embroidery to quilted piece.

Today I'll trim it and add a skinny (real) piped binding, so it will be ready to have that binding stitched down tonight.  It's only about 9 inches square, so it won't take long and I'll be looking for what's next  . . .  

This morning I'm thinking that something like Beth's Cat softie would make a great contribution to the guild's gift shop for their quilt show later this year so I may be stitching a few of these cute kitty faces later tonight.

I am joining Kathy's group of Slow Sunday Stitchers and then checking out what everyone else is slowing working on today. 

Playing on the Design Wall

I always tell quilters that sorting my fabric stash (and scraps) by color was so enlightening for me.  I was reminded of this when I pulled out some I-spy charm squares and sorted them  by background color.

I needed eight 5-inch I-spy squares with a similar colors for background for each block.

• I didn't have but a few orange ones.  
• I only had enough of purple ones after cutting a few more squares from my stash. 
• I probably could have made a few more blue blocks, and
• I had a lot of greens, but not a lot that were similar enough for this project.
• I had more I-spy squares with white backgrounds than any others, but, since I was planning to add a white fabric and needed contrast with all the squares, those will be used in another quilt design that's been percolating in my head for a while. 

My idea was that from a distance, you'd see a white star on a print background in various colors, but up-close, you'd see that the background around each star was actually 8 different fabrics, with lots of interesting I-spy characters.

For the star points, I added 2 3/4 inch white squares, using the method often used in snowball blocks.  After I trimmed away the (smaller) triangles from the corners, I used them as leader-enders while I sewed the blocks.

It didn't take long until I had nine 13 1/2 inch square blocks.

And then the fun could begin. I arranged and re-arranged the blocks on the wall until I was happy.

  

  

I didn't think about how many possible combinations there might be, when I saw this one on the wall, I decided it was good and sewed it together.

Here's the completed top along with the pinwheel blocks I made from the bonus triangles.

I don't know if this would have happened so quickly for me without a design wall. 

The pinwheel blocks at 3 inches (finished size). The eagle eyes will notice that almost half of them are spinning in one directions and the rest are going the other way ... I haven't decided if I will fix them before I sew them into a doll quilt–taking half of them apart may be one of my Sunday night TV-watching handwork, along with some more of the stitched words that have appealed so much.

I don't know if I would have noticed my dyslexic group of pinwheels if I hadn't put them up on the design wall ... I only wish I had done so when I was making them, so I could have see this oopsy sooner.

I'm joining Kathy's Slow Stitching Sunday and Judy's Design Wall Monday.

I'm a Yankee Doodle Dandy ...

OK.  I'm not really a Yankee Doodle Dandy in any real way, but the song (and the nursery rhyme on which it is based) is stuck in my head.   It all started when a migraine–my first in years–sent me to a darkened room yesterday and I stitched this.  (FYI, it worked!  I woke up migraine-less and feeling great).

The original, a gift from Gay's Sentimental Stitches site for the Fourth of July, made me think of Yankee Doodle and, although the original didn't have the feather in his cap, I couldn't resist adding one for my Daily Feather.  You can follow the link to read more about the project, the nursery rhyme and WHY he stuck a feather in his cap and called it Macaroni.  I was happy to learn more about it's origins ... it makes my Yankee Doodle feel even more appropriate for today.

Curiosity about Yankee Doodle and Macaroni aside, Happy Independence Day to Americans, where ever you are and however you celebrate.  I'm off for breakfast at Pancakes on the Plaza, the Santa Fe tradition ... and hoping that this year, I managed to arrive before the lines stretch all the way across the plaza and through the crowds like last year.  Last year, it was a short walk from the adobe casita ... this year will involve driving and finding a place to park, but I know it will be worth the trip if only to hear the music and drive Yankee Doodle out of my head :-)

I'm also hoping the potter whose work I bought there last year (in addition to pancakes, there's an art fair and an antique car show) will be back.  I love my "pancake bowl"–which is basically a mixing bowl with a handle and a spout–and use it all the time.  I want to acquire another beautiful, functional piece.