Special people

deserve special cards for special days.

I hope your birthday was a special, wonderful day Isabell!

(Shot duppioni silk, hand "smocked, Mother of Pearl beads)

I've not been getting a lot finished

this month, but I have had a few - unfortunately for you, a couple of them are swaps &/or presents and I haven't heard that they have been received yet, so only a few snippets permitted for now!

This ones for a special friend - should be arriving any day now!

and this one is part of the Mini QT Swap for June which had a theme of Picnic/BBQ

It also should be arriving soon!

I have had one finish that I can show you completely here.  As well as doing the Mini QT Swap of a mini quilt (see this post), I participated in May's Mini QT Block swap.  I received all my lovely 3.5" blocks from all over, and this weekend I got them all put together, quilted and bound!  Yay for me!  (I'm notorious for not getting things completely finished!)  In keeping with the quilt theme that month - B&W+1, Not Square, I've pieced them up in a pennant like shape.

and I decided I would quilt the particulars on to the front - much more visible than just having it on the back in a label.

That's right, I free motion quilted the writing on!  I printed off what I wanted to say from my computer, stitched over it with an unthreaded needle to turn it into a stencil, transfered the design with my pounce pad, and then donned my quilting gloves and FMQd it.  Very pleased with how it turned out, and I suspect I will be adding more writing to the fronts of my quilts now!  Oh the options and ideas I have!

Earlier in the month I also received a wonderful package all the way from Australia!  I had won a giveaway from Ann at A Good Yarn a ways back, and all my goodies arrived!

I have to tell you, the chocolates - both the boxed set and the Caramel Koalas did not last!  The fabric is gorgeous, and there, just above the fabric, is a flower pincushion made on a golf tee, that is already proving its worth in the sewing room. It's so cute!  Thank you Ann!

Now I just have to get working on my Ocean theme postcards for the 4X6ers postcard group, my mini swap blocks with an ocean/beach theme for the Bitty Block Committee swap (the offshoot of the Mini QT Swap), and will I make my life easy and try to combine the two themes?  Not a chance - too many ideas to just limit myself to 1! Then there's my DQS9 swap quilt and work on the challenge quilt for our guild's quilt show in October.  Oh my! my list is not getting smaller!

I've also just joined the Vancouver Modern Quilt Guild, our next meeting is coming up July 15, and I am so looking forward to attending!

I better go get busy - happy quilting!

a different kind of post!

Instead of showing my current quilting projects, this post is going to be about some of the Irish Dance Dresses I've made over the years. 

My stepdaughter started dancing when she was 9, after seeing the Riverdance video (she is now 21).  She was bound and determined that she was going to dance like Jean Butler (the lead female dancer).  After a bit of searching and a few false starts, she found a school where she was happy.  For the first few years she danced in a white blouse and black skirt with an embroidered cummerbund, but as she progressed through the levels, the need for a competition level costume grew.  Now these dresses were not cheap (some of these dresses cost in excess of $3000 dollars!), but me being the cheap soul that I am, and quite used to fashion sewing, figured I could make one for her and save us a bundle of money!  If you have never seen one of these dresses, at that time the skirts were very rigid - in fact the first several dresses I made have rigid steel braces sewn into the front of the skirt to keep the panels flat and straight!  These provided a fair bit of challenge in trying to figure out how to make them, but I persevered, and this was the result. 

sorry its such a small picture

In making the first dress I learned a lot, and figured I had to try making another.  Unfortunately, I can't find a picture of that one, but it didn't end there.  I made one for a friend of her's

and then she decided to try designing them herself (she was 15 at this point).  Here's the first one she designed

 

and a few progress shots while I was making this one

We progressed on from there, with seemingly, a new dress each year as she continued to grow. From this point on the dresses made were her own original designs, which she would draw out on an 8.5 x 11 sheet of paper and give to me and say "make this one!" Always being up for a challenge, I continued to accept. Here are the ones that followed. Luckily, her growth spurt had ended and I only had to make one every two years or so. 

If you think they are garish, you are not alone! I've always described them as Disneyland meets Las Vegas, and they are generally not combinations that I would put together! The ones we made are tame, by many accounts! As the years passed the styles changed, more sequins, more bling, more colours, until now they are actually much simpler designs, softer skirts, easier to make, but now covered in rhinestones! I make the dress - I leave the bling to SD!

and then finally, this is the last dress I made - this one has been completely remade two times now as it was intially made with mutton leg sleeves and a white bodice.  It was determined after wearing it in one competition that there was too much white and the sleeves were too puffy, so the bodice had to be re-done, to minimize the amount of white.

I think I have one last dress in me, although I probably have the fabric for several more! but SD is winding down her competitive dancing, and will only have half a dozen or so competitions over the next year, and no requirement for additional dresses.  It has been a fun learning experience, and has served to greatly improve my confidence and ability to figure out how to make something and have it fit well.

Sorry for such a long post, next one will be back to quilting, I'm sure!

Cheers,

J

DQS Inspiration and doodles

I've been having such a good time following all the discussions on the DQS site, and being inspired by everyone's creativity and pictures.  I've been doing a little stalking of my partner - it's a secret swap, so we don't know who is making for us - and I think I've come up with a colour scheme, at least in my head, of what will work for them.  Now to go dig through my stash and determine if a shopping trip is required!
Last night I sketched out very quickly, an idea that came to me, that I think will evolve into my swap quilt, but it's early days yet! Here's the rough sketch - it will be a swirl of flying geese in bright hot colours against a turquoise sky (think opposites on the colour wheel) - which will, hopefully, have the feather quilting design stand out.  My tentative name is Birds of a Feather.  Whaddaya think?

Happy quilting!

It has arrived!

my Mini QT swap partner has received the little quilt I made for her, so I can show the whole thing now!

I teased you with this

and this,

The theme was Black & White + 1 colour, could not be square or rectangle.

Here's my inspiration - this little thank you card arrived just as I was trying to decide what I would do.

I had fun figuring out how to piece the houndstooth pattern, and while I didn't do it as fine as the little card, my finished squares are 1", and let me tell you, I'd go blind if I had to make 'em any smaller! 

Here it is!

I'm very pleased with it, and my partner indicates she loves it, so win-win!

Where do you find your inspiration?

Happy quilting!

What a weekend!

(blogger has been acting up on me - I initially tried to post this last night, and then again this morning!  Finally!)

It's been exciting, that's for sure!  Friday, I got my last Flowers postcard from the May 4x6ers swap - a beautiful card from Cynthia!  Love the green, and the button is so cute on it!

Yesterday, after a nailbiting couple of days while the swap mamas reviewed all the entrants and ran their lottery, I found out that I got into round 9 of the Doll Quilt Swap!   Yaaay!  DQS9 (Flickr group link) here I come!

This is very exciting, as I've been chasing this one the last two rounds, and missing out on it.  Not this time!  Now these are a very talented - albeit a bit crazy at times - group of quilters.  Some of the discussion threads will have you rolling on the floor laughing, and gasping for air, for sure!  Partners will be assigned in the next couple of weeks and then the stalking research into my partner's preferences will begin!

For the last two days, I've been attending an incredible workshop with Gloria Loughman!  Amazing!  I have so many ideas whirling around.  If you are not familiar with Gloria's work, just pop over to her website here. She put on a trunk show at our guild meeting on Friday and her work is just incredible! I can see a whole lot of abstract mini's and landscapes coming as I play with her techniques, including fabric painting, piecing, applique, threadwork, bobbin work, colour play - the list goes on!
This was my inspiration - a photograph of Point Atkinson Lighthouse at sunset taken by my DH.

and this is where I progressed to.  The lighthouse needs a lot more work, but you get the idea, right?!

Off to join a friend for some stitiching and tea this morning, and then clean up and sort out my kitchen!  Yaaaay!  While not done all the little finicky finishing bits, I do have a fully functional kitchen again!
Happy quilting!

I've been featured!

Pictures of my "Here Comes Spring" improv piece have been posted here!

Wendy has featured some wonderful quilts since she started Quiltporn, and I'm honoured that she has included my work!