Welcome to my play pen

                         :-)

If you have dropped in from Stash Manicure, welcome welcome.  Actually even if you haven't dropped in from there, I am thrilled to see you!!

I've had so much fun playing with leftovers. It's such a great way to make up a very unique piece of art fabric. Just in case you missed my post over at Stash Manicure, it is been "rerun" just for you, one post below.

You might also like to take a look at a post I put up a couple of years back, on making thread fabric. Same idea, different filler inside the water soluble sandwich. 




Here's the link...
http://moosestashquilting.blogspot.com/2009/01/going-green-with-thread.html

And now for your ideas.  I have a jar of thread and a bag of dog ears!  What to do, what to do???




So follow along with me, and we will explore many fun ways to play.

See you soon!
I can hardly wait to hear from you!!  :-)

Recycle and reuse!

Red red red...  Are you seeing red yet, and pink and white and anything that makes the heart flutter!!! That's what Valentines day is all about.

While I was working on my Christmas projects this year, I had a stroke of genius... or maybe just a stroke!!   :-)   But, I just couldn't get this crazy idea out of my head.  Where are my manners?   I am Joan, popping in for a visit from "MooseStash Quilting". I have long been a fanatic about saving scraps and threads and itty bitty things that would make anyone who is OCD crazy, I am sure.  But there was this eureka moment, while working on my Christmas project last November. I had all these little corners that I cut off my blocks. You know, the ones left over, when you stitch on the line and then cut them 1/4" away when making, flying geese for example.

I immediately stop and stitch together the little leftovers to save for a new project. Sounds crazy I now!










After you press open your little piece, you get these dog ears.

 

And you know they have to go!!

          Which leaves you this...
      Now we are on to something!! 

We need tulle, you know the stuff with little tiny holes in it. I put a piece of fabric under it, so you can see it. It's really hard to photograph.

We are also going to need some water soluble stabilizer. I like the woven kind personally.  Now layer the tulle on top of the water soluble stabilizer and stitch around the edges. We need 2 of these one for the top and one for the bottom! :-)

Dog ears!! Yep we need dog ears. And you thought I was crazy!

With the water soluble side down sprinkle on your dog ears.

I like it, but that's all the dog ears I have, and I think it needs more...           I happen to have some eye lash yarn the color I need. So I am going to cut up a bunch and just plop it where I want it!

Take your top piece with the water soluble side up and carefully pin the two together trying not to move the little dog ears or other filler around too much.

And  now for the fun. We are going to take this little sandwich to our machine, drop those feed dogs and start quilting. Nothing fancy, just some loops and wiggles, something to keep things together. Once you have the entire piece somewhat stable, you can start quilting the bejeebers out of it.

Bejeeber:  A very technical word that is about the same as "heck" or "mess" or "stuffing"... You know, whatever favorite word you like to use!!  :-)

It's fun to change out the thread colors and scribble away. It really does need to be pretty densely quilted so when we dissolve the stabilizer, everything stays put.  Here is my finished piece. 

                       Then off to the sink, to dissolve  the stabilizer.

What I am left with is this fabulous piece of fabric, just waiting to have an art quilt designed for it!

                                           Close up...

Sooo....

Remember those little pieces the ones the dog ears came from?


They make up great pin wheel blocks. And just the right colors to match our art fabric!! Who knew!
                   

So I gathered a recycled zipper and some polka dot ribbon and I start to play. A zip up shirt is what popped into my mind, and don't you know that every zip up shirt has to have a matching brooch. It is a rule, I'm sure!

So here you go. My Valentines version of an art quilt.

And from left overs from this Christmas Quilt...

                                                    Who'd a thunk!

         I hope to have inspired you, to start your very own OCD fabric art quilt. Cause there is nothing better than getting a Bonus "quiltie" from leftovers!!
                   

                   Have a fabulous Valentines day!!

     And don't forget to show us your " OCD Art" quilt!


A big thanks to Madame Samm!  It's always a pleasure for me to be able to share with so many talented people. You "all" keep me inspired, each and every day!

                                :-)
                          

Going Green with thread

So you have a ton of threads that you clip and toss each day you quilt????? Well, I decided to save them up and and do something with them. Oh great you say another pile of stuff you have to save. Of course! Isn't that the quilting way! :-) I found a great little jar that I keep next to my machine and every time I cut off threads I just toss them in the jar. Machine embroidery threads, long arm quilting thread, old bobbin thread, anything that I consider a string!

While I had seen it done, I had no idea just how much fun I was in for until yesterday when I turned all these little pieces of stuff into the a most delightful piece of fabric. With the help of heavy weight water soluble stabilizer, and some time to play, I was able to come up with this.

The original plan was to use it in my Alphabet album, but I am seeing a wonderful wall hanging out of this now. So I guess that means I have to start saving things all over again. Thinking about all the fun yarns on the market, that they make scarves out of, some have little blobs of stuff in the yarn... Hummmm if I was to save all the little dog ears I cut off as I construct my quilt blocks, and sprinkled them on top of the threads next time.... Wonder what that would look like! Does this open a new door as to just how small a scrap can be, before you really have to throw it away????? Oh so many ideas. I am going to have to sew 24 hrs a day to get them all done!

Give this a try though, you will be delighted to find that it is quite easy and very fun to do. While I did this on my longarm, there would be no reason that it wouldn't work just as easily on a domestic machine. Drop those feed dogs and play. Put on some great music and just have fun. It's a great time to play with some of the free motion quilting that you want to practice on too. It isn't going to show when your done, so you can practice all you want here. Just make sure that you cover your piece with stitching well. A word to the wise, if you think your done with the stitching, keep going. Those little pieces of threads have a way of sneaking out when your not looking! You need to have them tacked down in all directions.

Happy Stitching!