January 16, 2018

Moira - running late today!

Almost forgot that today is Tuesday and am just now getting my post written.

Finished my little mini swap quilt over the weekend.  My partner had said she liked earth tones, geometrics, negative space and circles.    I got the first three all in the front of the quilt, and the circles in the polka dotted fabric on the back.  Finished size of the quilt is 16" square. 




































And I've started working on my art challenge quilt.   This is year 19 of the challenge and the theme this year is "focus".    I'm working to interpret a pic I found online of a succulent with a bunch of lady bugs hiding among the leaves.    My intent had been to make a whole cloth quilt, but like so many other of my quilts, this one has a mind of it's own and is demanding to have most of it be 3D.

I've got the entire piece basted together, and have appliqued the first set of leaves to it.   The leaves were made  by fusing the green batik to a piece of scrap batting and then satin-stitching around the outside of them.   I then laid them onto the quilt and stitched them down with a straight stitch.   I'm using a Sulky 30-wt variegated thread on top for the satin-stitch and a green Gutermann for the bobbin thread for the leaves.  The remaining rounds of leaves most-likely won't have the batting in them because I don't want this to get too heavy. 

Before I go any further though I need to go back and do some more stitching on the background because you really can't see where the quilted in leaves are.  Haven't decided what color thread I'm going to use yet for that.  The remaining leaves will have either more of the background fabric (a custom-dyed cotton) or the same batik as in the leaves for the upper fabric.   The bottom of the leaves will be a green/gold cotton that blends well with the background fabric.

And along with all of that I'm trying to figure out what I'm going to do for housing because this town house is up for sale, and at this point there is no telling what is going to happen.   One of the things I'm considering is buying a house but the budget is tight so the looking promises to be fun in this expensive housing market here in the Dallas metroplex.   And rents are even worse than house payments.  =P

5 comments:

Recycled Cottage & Garden said...

Your swap partner should be very happy! Great looking quilt.
The art challenge quilt looks just that, challenging. Can't wait to see your next post on it.
Good luck with the house hunting!

Judy S. said...

You are such a talented quilter! I can't wait to see how your challenge quilt progresses. By the way I just fixed my post; mysteriously the first part of it disappeared!? Best wishes for the house hunt; I hope you find the perfect one!

Cyra said...

Love the geometric quilt. Nice start on the art quilt too.
Hope you find somewhere nice to live.

Moira said...

Thanks everyone! I'm hoping for something nice as well....lol. Looking likely that I'll end up out in the country somewhere because of what I might qualify for mortgage wise.

KaHolly said...

Your mini quilt swap partner is going to be over the moon! Good luck house hunting. I lived for, many years, 20 miles west of Ft. W.