it all began with a practice spiral....

Earlier today i posted about a freehand 15" spiral i am about to stitch into Sandy's quilt....I sort of got carried away....

Practice for the real thing

 Sandy would like 15" spirals stitched into her quilt.  There will be one in the center of the Tumbling Blocks with 6 additional spirals circling around, overlapping a bit and spilling into the background.  There are no spiral quilt boards I am aware of larger than 13".  This presents a challenge as I will have to freehand the spirals. According to my friend Janet, it will create an organic look and feel.  I have been taught a few tricks by my longarm quilting friends (Thank you very much!!) and have set out to practice, practice, practice before I attempt the real thing.  I'm posting these photos for Sandy to see and get her reaction so far.  I will be using a So Fine! thread from Superior in a blending color which will help hide any little bobbles.

Here are my attempts so far.  I am stitching onto muslin with a thread much thicker than So Fine!.  I am also using up some leftover high loft batting. Both thread and batt accentuates the quilting and shows off the imperfections more than the batting and thread choice I will use for Sandy's quilt. 

I have a few more practice areas in the muslin 

and I can't help but doodle along the way.

la la la la la.....

Class with Kim Stotsenberg

Yesterday I took  classes from Kim in Bellingham,Washington at the studio home of Megan Best 

Kim has a book called

Just Leaf It, you can find it here on her blog where a  snap shot video is posted of our class.

Kim is a wonderful teacher.  I took two classes, one  called Fancy Feathers and the other on Templates and Rulers.  I learned so much and had so much fun. The 7 hours was packed full of skill, technique, demos, education, actual stitching...and lunch!

Below are my stitched doodles of Fancy Feathers...and other playful designs.

Remember....these are just fun practice pieces...all random and moving from one to another

I recently worked an Automotive Swap meet in Portland selling tools....below remind me of gears....or whatever you call them... :)

Signing off....and thank you Kim!!

Stitching feather doodles!

I just completed 5 weeks of Feather Boot Camp with Suzanne Earley. As you saw in my previous post, I've been doodling feathers on paper...for weeks! I finally had a chance to load a piece of muslin and actually stitch those feather doodles! Keep in mind, these are just doodles!! I had a lot of fun, messing up, over stitching, backtracking, creating potato chips (a term for unsightly feathers) etc.....It's hard to be serious stitching onto an open piece of muslin. I need some boundaries! Like an actually quilt top with squares, rectangles and triangles to confine and control my feathers!!

the entire piece....quite the mess....but oh, what fun!!!

doodle feathers...

doodles and doodles and doodles of feathers...I have sheets and sheets of doodles! I even go to bed doodling feathers in my bed, i mean, in my head! hum....doodle feather bed. aaahhh!

I have been taking the Feather Boot Camp online class with Suzanne Earley. Here are some of my beginning doodles....as I continue doodling, I will post more recent pictures and some feathers which are actually stitched onto fabric!

remember....these are just doodles!

Week Thirty Eight: September 20th-26th

1. more and more doodles.... stitched on fabric!

2. attend NW Quilter's Expo

3. finish up Kora's quilt

4. Seattle here I come!