*Improv Half-Square Triangle* the Workshop

NEW  Workshop; it's called Improv Half Square Triangle

6 hour or two 3 hours workshop

Let's play with one of the top quilt block units in quilting and make it your own!

With just a few materials you can easily add a POP of color to your quilt blocks. This is an ideal way to use up leftover fabric from other projects and create an entire new quilt. The design possibilities are endless. It’s a perfect technique for working in small spaces.  

We will paint a detail on a white piece of cloth and combine it with a colorful fabric to create our block. Basic instructions will be given and each student can create their own design. Lots of fun!

I hope you can join me and share your time with me doing art!

*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

*Hand-Embroidered Hug Stitch* WORKSHOP at the International Quilt Festival

Add the *wow* factor to your hand-embroidery with the *Hug Stitch* by using thick chunky threads stitched by hand. This is made almost entirely on top of a previously machine-stitched line with bold wonderful results.

 

*Hand-Embroidered "Hug" stitch* is one of my new workshops that will debut at the International Quilt Festival this coming fall 2016 in Houston.

This workshop will be held on Thursday November 3rd. from 9 to noon.CLASS 447

Each student will create one of the butterflies from the picture shown above. 

I hope you will join me. I would love to meet you. Let me know if you have any questions.
You can read HERE the other workshop I'm offering also at the Festival.

*String Painting on Fabric* WAX PASTELS ON FABRIC WORKSHOP at the International Quilt Festival

Have you ever wanted to imprint lines randomly on fabric? Use *wax pastels* and learn how to set this versatile medium.

 

*String Painting on Fabric* is one of my new workshops that will debut at the International Quilt Festival this coming fall 2016 in Houston.

This workshop will be held on Thursday November 3rd from 2 to 5pm. CLASS 487

Each student will create this simpler version of the first figure shown above. 

After the painting is finished, we will add simple and yet dramatic hand-embroidery stitches.

 

I hope you will join me. I would love to meet you. Let me know if you have any questions.

You can read HERE the other workshop I'm offering also at the Festival.

*My Painted Garden*- My latest article in Simply Moderne Magazine

My latest article is out in the summer issue 2016 of Simply Moderne magazine#5. In it, I show how to work with transparent and opaque paints on fabric.

                                                   My article is published on page 66.
The fabric paints are from Prochemical and Dye I used their PROfab paints.

Once I finished painting, I used Aurifil 50w cotton threads to sew the inside details.

I used 28w cotton thread to sew around the border. Using this thread with a close zig zag stitch creates a  pronounced border while adding stability and also covering the loose threads from the raw edge.

I hope you will do this project and set a festive table to celebrate a nice meal surrounded with friends and family.

 

Working with *Variegated Threads*

Techniques used: Painted, Pieced, *HUG Stitch*

 

When I want a watercolor effect while doing hand-embroidery in my work I choose variegated threads. For this project I chose Lana Aurifil Thread , which is a 12 weight thread made from 50% wool and 50% acrylic fibers.

Oh, how much I love to work with these textured strands. They come in 12 different color combinations. For my samples I used number 8004.

Since I used double strand, and the thread changes color at different intervals I prepared and cut the strands beforehand. I tried to obtain a close color match of the second strand after the loop (where my sewing needle would be) as you can see from the picture above. 

This picture also shows hand embroidery that I called *HUG Stitch* technique. I'll teach this at this year's Houston International Quilt Festival.

More details to come as we approach the festival date.

Make your *OWN* Stamps for Coloring Cloth

*Wool is my target*

 

 One of the reasons for always starting with a white piece of fabric is the liberty I have to make my own marks on the cloth. Lately I have been experimenting on carving my own stamps and using them to apply color and design to fabric.

I used the book *Carve Stamp and Play* by Julie Fei Fan Balzer to guide me on how to design my own. I cut a few.

 

 

And used them with fabric paint to color silk and cotton fabrics, as shown below.

I also made a small art quilt figuring a sheep. I chose 12w cotton Aurifil Thread to sew around the design with the help of my sewing machine and 12w LANA Aurifil Thread to sew details by hand.

 

 I LOVE how the LANA thread leaves bold details on my work with simple stitches. Once my sheep was embroidered I did my trapunto technique and sandwiched the three layers together.

Then I loaded the sewing machine with 50 w cotton Aurifil Tread thread and added free motion stitching.

Detail

Celebrating *Valentine's Day* with Paper and Fabric

*KISS ME*

Techniques used: Instant Paper- Cloth (workshop 3 offer), Wool roving fabric, machine embroidery and hand-embroidery.

The Instant Paper-Cloth is a technique I developed, where you combine paper with cloth without the use of any polymer medium.

You could use printed matter that has a special meaning to you. Like magazines or flyers from your local area, from a trip, a store or a particular event.

After I made the base, I painted two bird designs and a heart shape. I love how the transparent layers of paper and wool roving play together.

 

If you have been reading my blog you know how much I like to work with thick threads so for the free-motion stitching I chose Aurifil12w cotton threads for the top of my machine.

For the hand-embroidery I used Aurifil Lana thread.  I really enjoy to use the textured strands of these threads. This 50% wool thread runs smoothly up and down the paper and fabric leaving behind strong and colorful marks.

 

Give a hug, cherish the people you love. HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!