*Sheer Paper-Cloth* Ornaments

*Bell Tents*

On the 15th year of the ANNIVERSARY issue of quilting Arts Magazine , under my article entitled *Sheer Paper-Cloth*, I demonstrate how to make a pliable and soft material that is easy to sew by hand or by machine. It was also demonstrated on Quilting Arts TV - episode 2106.

 

This technique is good not only for making art quilts, but also to make ornaments to decorate the house, especially now that we are in the Holiday season.

 

Once you have your paper-cloth ready, follow the next instructions to make a "bell tent":
 

1) Cut one piece from Sheer Paper-Cloth and iron interfacing in the back.







2) Draw and cut the pattern below from copy paper.

3) Trace the pattern on the right side of the Sheer Paper-Cloth (I usually use a mechanical pencil for this task but for this demonstration I used a black marker). Make sure you leave 1/2 inch of bottom border.



4) Cut circles from the contrast color areas of the Sheer Paper-Cloth and paste them with glue as shown

 

5) Select a dark color of 28w Aurifil cotton thread and load your sewing machine. Choose a free motion foot and drop the feed dogs.

 

6) Sew on the 1/2 inch space you left at the bottom of your traced shapes as shown in the picture below to go from shape to shape.

 

7) Select Aurifil Lana 12w thread for your hand embroidery. I love the bold marks these threads leave with simple stitches.

 

8) Once finished, cut around each shape.

 

9) Sew from the top dot to the straight edge. When you are ready to sew the third piece fold the opposite side as shown below (side view).

 

10) (Top view) You can see below the left side already sewn on both sides. It is folded to make room for sewing the right and third side.

 

11) After having finished sewing with your machine, each top side should look like this. Starting and/or stopping at the dots. Leave a small opening.

 

12) Cut a 14 inch long piece of thread. Tie up a jingle bell with a knot in the middle.

 

13) With the help of a tweezer pass both threads from the inside through the middle hole. It helps to rest the jingle bell at the edge, as shown in the picture, to have the right length of the thread.

 

14) Insert a little button on the top. Make a doble knot and apply a drop of rubber cement to the back.

 

15) Now that you know how to make one *Bell Tent*, why not make more and share them with your family and friends to spread some cheer throughout the season?

 

I am linked to: http://ninamariesayre.blogspot.com

*NEW* Article in Simply Moderne Magazine

I have so many news to share but I cannot do it in one post. I will write several entries in the coming days.

My latest article has been released! This is my sixth consecutive year writing for the French magazine Simply Moderne Magazine.

My article shows how to paint quilt blocks with a technique I've called *Speckle Paint*. And believe me when I tell you that you need a cheese grater for this technique.

It is a very complete article, with detailed pictures of every step. It is 8 pages long! I created this technique because *Speckling* has always intrigued me. I tried many different ways through the years and finally I discovered how to do it. Each block is different and yet the end result is a cohesive quilt top since the same design is repeated several times.

You can create your own screens OR you can get a set of two, the same designs I used on my quilt at My Store. 

Also inside this issue there is an article about Quilt National. To promote this event a group of quilts was chosen and to my surprise they included a photograph of my winning quilt as well. That makes me very happy. An unexpected surprise.

And here are some details:

My final quilt ( 50" x 74"):

I hope you will try this new way of painting. It's lots of fun :)

Stay safe!

Happy New year 2018/ paper and fabric quiltlet

 

Thank you for visiting my blog and leaving such encouraging comments through the past year :) Welcome to my new followers I hope you will find inspiration through my art.
I WISH YOU A HAPPY AND HEALTHY NEW YEAR 2018!

DIY Tablemats

I've decided to create *new* tablemats. I want them bright and cheerful to let my guests feel welcome at my table. Since I'm in a new city, more certainly I will invite *new* friends; so why not write messages to break the ice and start a conversation?

With the help of my thermofax machine and a computer program, I designed three screens: one with lettering and the other two with wild flowers. I started printing the lettering for the background with pale colors...

and noticed that I could hardly read them, especially after a glass of wine! Mmm that has to be corrected so...

 

I decided to use darker colors. I had to be very careful in making them dark enough so I could read the words but make them light enough so they would not compete with the intensity of the color of the flowers.

Once finished with the printing, I ironed each panel to fusible fleece (Pellon 987F) and backing fabric.

Now it was time for *the toppings* (that's what I called the decorative stitching layer). You know how much I like texture, especially texture with thick threads, it is my favorite part but because these tablemats should lay flat, really flat, I chose thin 50w White Aurifil thread

and started sewing around the flowers. Once I was done, I decided to finish the edges with a zigzag stitch. I loaded my Janome machine with 40w thread, chose -stitch 10-, installed the -foot C- and sew around.

TIP: It's a good idea to round the corners to improve handling of the tablemats during sewing. That way you end up with smoother corners.

I am happy with the results and ready to invite *new friends* to my table and celebrate!

Working with Thick Threads by Hand and Machine combined with Beading

*Compost*

 30" inches by 44" inches

It has been quilted with thick Aurifil 12 weight and 28 weight thread.
 

I wanted to do a quilt with one of my favorite fruits as the main design *The Apple* and show off how beautiful it can be even when it is in it's rotten stages.

After I designed and painted each block, I didn't like the *too white* background around each apple, although it can be ideal for showing off the true colors of the paint. To fix this, I chose a light green 28 weight thread to do the quilting around each apple. It gave it just enough color to tame down the white and, in my opinion, give it more depth.

Then I chose a black 28 weight thread to quilt on top of the black and white dotted fabric and red 28 weight thread for the curved red inserts; it gives enough coverage to allure the viewer.

Let me show you how I did it:

I designed the stencils in my Silhoutte Cameo machine and with painsticks I painted the designs on white muslin fabric.

I loaded my sewing machine with 12 weight Aurifil thread and started sewing/drawing around each shape.

With the same thread I did hand embroidery.



And then some beading.



When I was happy with each apple, I sewed the blocks together. Then I loaded the sewing machine with 28 weight thread this time. Although there are so many quilting designs to chose from, I decided to use the *classic* meandering around each apple and loops on the dotted fabric.

(looks like white thread but it is actually a light green color)

Detail of one block.

As you can see, the thick threads adds extra dimension to your work, calling the viewer in, surprising them with the texture achieved and the unexpected hand embroidery and beading. I hope you will give it a try.



I'm Not a *Pink* Flamingo

This small quilt is the outcome of playing around with my latest stencil and leftover fabrics from other projects.

Let me show you how I did it:

Paint muslin fabric with the help of a stencil.  -Who said all flamingos are pink?- Then lay  a fluffy high loft polyester batting underneath the muslin.

Cut small circles from fabric that has been ironed with steam a seam interfacing on the back, placed them on top of the flamingo and ironed in place.

With thin #50 sew fine thread and in a free motion setting in my sewing machine I sewed carefully all around the flamingo shape and the circles. When finished, I cut the excess batting from the back. 

With thick aurifil #12 cotton thread, embroider around each circle then sew delica seed beads at the end of each flower petal.

Choose a paper laminated fabric for the bottom and a translucent fabric with mistyfuse for the sun.

Sandwich the top with cotton batting and a back fabric.

Load the machine with glide thread in the needle and bobbin and start to sew/draw with plumes and meandering stitches to fill the whole quilt.

Hand Embroidery and Beading on Stenciled Fabric

I wanted to make a quilt with a simple shape. I chose the apple since it is my favorite winter fruit. My goal was to work with this shape, do some variations to make it interesting, and at the same time end up with a set of cohesive blocks so I can sew them together to make a quilt!

I started designing stencils in my Silhoutte Cameo Machine. I made five different ones. This is the first one in the series.

Colored plain white muslin with paintsticks. Sew strips of fabric around.

With polyester batting underneath, since I'm planning to do trapunto sew around the shapes with Aurifil 12 weight.

It looked like this when I finished.

Then, I used the same thread to add hand embroidery and seed beads for details. Next time I will show you the next block.

Hand Calligraphy with Stencil on Fabric

I wanted to practice hand calligraphy mixed with my own stencil in the same piece.

I started painting a cotton fabric with acrylic paint. I used the small bottles of acrylic paint that you can find in hobby shops. When you use this kind of paint on fabric it can leave a thick layer, making it difficult to sew so you must be careful to put just enough paint.

Next, I drew the word *florero* and painted it with FW acrylic purple ink. When it dried, I took out the stencil I designed and cut and colored with paintsticks.

I hung the small panel and noticed that the word was competing with the vase and flowers. That was not what I was looking for so took the ink out again and painted on top of the letters, but this time with a lighter color.

The edited piece looked like this:

I sandwiched it with batting and a backing fabric. I loaded the sewing machine with Aurifil 12 weight and sewed around the vase, flowers and the word.

Because I love to combine different kind of threads in the same piece, I then changed to a thinner Invisaline thread and stitched the whole background with an easy quilting design.

For the finishing touches I added french knots around each flower.