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Showing posts from 2009
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Journal covers made as part of the "Remains of the Day" Class that "Dispatch from LA" is running at the moment.

Lynn Kenny Workshop

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Some samples I made at a recent branch workshop given by Lynn Kenny. The workshop was on using fabric and paper to stitch on.

Halloween ATC's

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I had a bit of spare time 2 weekends ago, and decided to make a few ATC's. Seeing as how Halloween is nearly upon us again, I decided to make a few Halloween-theme ATC's. I got ordered some black & white skeleton themed fabric on-line last year, which came in very handy for making these ATC's. I made over 10 ATC's but forgot to take a photo of them before swapping - photos are of the remaining ATC's.

EQA Celebration Banner from Ireland

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Irish Celebration Banners which formed part of the EQA Display at the Festival of Quilts. Mine was the 2nd one on the left - made entirely from left-over fabric etc. Fabric & chiffon scraps etc. were put on using the embellisher machine. Vegetable net bags were also attached. Flowers were from a broken flower lei - attaching using some coloured buttons.
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I made this bag recently using a pattern from "Patchwork Style" a Japanese craft book.

Sun Printing

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I've had a set of Pebeo Setacolour paints for years, but have never got the chance to use them (usually because of a lack of dry sunny days). However, I finally got them out today and gave sun-printing a go. Started out with 3 squares of fabric - then got carried away and made loads more. I used old keys, buttons, ferns, alphabet stencils, net etc. The heavier items seemed to work better i.e. keys, buttons, stencils and left a stronger effects.

Pincushion Organiser

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I found this great free pattern for a pincushion organiser from http://ohfransson.com . It was very quick to make - made it up in an evening. For the May challenge of the patchwork guild that I'm in, we had to use an A4-sized squre of floral fabric that we were all given. I used my square to make this pincushion. I entered the organiser in the monthly challenge and won.

Broadband

Finally got mobile broadband yesterday! Yay..... I've been stuck in the dark ages up till now using a dial-up connection all along which was getting slower and slower. Hopefully, this should mean that this blog will get a lot more attention from me i.e. more photos and posts.
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I finished this quilt back in November for a local Mid-West Branch "Regeneration" Exhibition.

Batik Quilt

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I havent been had much time for sewing at the moment - up the walls at the work. At least once I get past the deadline of 31st March I should have a bit more time. One thing I did manage to finish was this batik quilt - part of a kit I bought from the Limerick Quilt Centre. Had the top pieced together in an evening so it was a really one to make. Also decided to stipple quilt this one - I don't normally like that stitch but thought I'd give it a try seeing as a more detailed pattern would be lost with the batik patterns. I was surprised that the quilting came out so well, probably due to practising on the baby quilt a week or two beforehand. I'm currently making a banner for the EQA Competition "Celebrations". Have the banner made just need to back it and bind it. Photo's of it won't be put up till after judging which is in mid-May.

Baby quilt finished and sent off to France

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I finally put the label on the baby quilt last week. Also, sent it off to France on Thursday to my brother and sister-law for the new baby (due in 7 weeks).
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Baby quilt

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My brother & sister-in-law are expecting a baby the 1st week in May so I decided yesterday that I'd get started on making a baby quilt. It's a bit bright but luckily babies like bright colours! I've got most of the blocks made at this stage, so a few more evenings & the quilt top should be done..

Fabric postcards

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I'm in the middle of completing a few fabric postcards - have to finish off the edges in a few instances. This finished postcard is made from fabric scraps bonded to Fast2fuse and then machine quilted. The gold square was cut out from some papery type material I got in a craft shop; got a pack of various coloured sheets for about €3 which was pretty good value!

Sea Journey Quilt

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I just finished making this quilt "Sea Journey" on Friday night. It was a bit of a rush job to get the binding and sleeve on as I had to drop it in Limerick to be collected for a quilt show taking place at the end of the month. The quilt was based on a photo I took of a boat in Douranenz, Brittany last May. I enlarged a drawing of the scene and made a stencil of it using freezer paper. It was then painted using blue fabric paint. The 3 blue squares on the right-hand side were then machine quilted with a scene of the boat.
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These two fish related ATC's were the first ATC's I ever made (back in November '08) These 3 ATC's were made in a series. It is made out of stitched pastel coloured fabric strips with extra embellishments (wool, felt and organza) added using an embellisher machine. This ATC was the first one that I received in a swap. It was made by Anita Mahon who is also in the Mid-West Patchwork Branch. Anita used real bog cotton trapped under a piece of organza in her piece.

Fabric paper

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At the Frieda Oxenham workshop which I went to in November, we were told how to make fabric paper which she uses in some of her ATC's. Fabric paper is made by liberally coating cotton fabric (cheap calico is fine) with PVA glue (diluted 1:1 with water), then add tissue paper or napkins (only use the 1st layer), more PVA glue and paint if required. It's a bit of a messy process, and it needs to be done on plastic sheeting. After making the paper it is then left to dry overnight. When it's dried out, put the fabric paper in between two sheets of parchment or greaseproof paper and iron it. This flattens out the paper and gets rid of the creases. The fabric paper below was made from 3 different types of Christmas napkins - 1 with poinsettas, another with the Christmas tree and the script one was used for the background. Some of this paper and other "fabric paper" ones were used to make Christmas Tree ATC's. The advantage of using this "paper" is that it

Artist Trading Cards

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Back in November, I attended an "Artist Trading Cards" Workshop with Frieda Oxenham. I really enjoyed the workshop and every since then have been making a few ATC's in between other projects. The photo below shows the ATC's that I made during the workshop.

Marbling fabric using shaving foam

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I got the DVD of Quilting Arts Season 3 in the post last week so spent most of the weekend watching this. Just as well the weather was too bad to do much else or I might have felt a bit guilty! They had a section on using Shaving Foam to marble fabric which caught my interest. Looked very easy to do - all you need is a can of shaving foam, a A4-sized plastic protector, fabric paint and fabric. I had a look in a cupboard and found a really old can of shaving foam that belongs to my Dad so decided to give it a go last night. I only tried 2 A4-sized pieces of fabric but it was a really quick way of adding colour to fabric. Next time though , I'll buy some cheap unperfumed shaving foam as the smell of the other stuff was a bit sickening. I still have to get the shaving foam off the fabric as the instructions said to leave it to dry for a few hours. So I'll do that when I get home from work this eveing, and heat set the fabric.

1st post

After reading countless blogs I finally decided to take the plunge and start my own. Now just have to find time to get organised, take photo's and write up a few posts.