April 28, 2009

It’s Sweet and Simple this Twilt Tuesday

Posted in Silk Ribbon Embroidery, Twitter Quilts...Twilts tagged , , , , , , at 7:45 AM by Shelley Swanland

Sweet & SimpleI just got back from the Seven Sister’s Quilt Show in San Luis Obispo, California and was worn out and didn’t have a lot of time for this weeks piece. But, that just goes to show how quick, easy and satisfying these little Twilts can be.

I started with a embroidered paper pieced basket block from my unfinished project stash. This was a left over piece from a couple of little wall hangings I made at least 15 years ago. It was too pretty to waste. Simple & Sweet Detail

I sewed the lot cabin strips on through the batting and back as I worked my way out to the outer edges. There are several Liberty of London type cotton lawn. These are very soft, light weight fabrics with wonderful prints. The added flowers are plastic molded flowers from Australia that have just been waiting for an opportunity to shine. I was quite satisfied with this project.

I would love to see your Twilts. Drop me a line and I will be happy to link to your Blog or send me a picture and I will feature it here. For more about Twilts see Twitter Quilts….Twilts.

April 21, 2009

Twilt Tuesday Brings Just a Hint of Summer

Posted in Silk Ribbon Embroidery, Twitter Quilts...Twilts tagged , , , , at 6:29 AM by Shelley Swanland

The Bloggers Quilt Festival Spring 2009 is still going on so please visit Amy’s site and the over 400 entries and my entry, Memories & Merlot, as well.

Just a Hint of SummerIt was over 90 degrees here yesterday and is supposed to be again today. Then it should cool down to normal spring temperatures again. That was enough to remind me that Summer is just around the corner.

“Just a Hint of Summer” features an embroidered Sunflower of hand dyed silk ribbon, pearl cotton and beads on crinkled batik fabric with lots french knots in the Sunflower center.

Just a Hint of Summer Detail

The sunflower batik has beads added and the purple insets are pieced of multiple purple batiks.

I hope that you have been working on a Twilt or two. These little pieces have really sparked my creativity in so many unrelated ways.

Read more: Twitter Quilts…Twilts.

April 14, 2009

Lost in an Asian Garden

Posted in Twitter Quilts...Twilts tagged , , , , at 7:41 AM by Shelley Swanland

Lost in an Asian GardenI did something a little different with this week’s Twilt. I kept eyeing this older Asian print that probably was produced in Japan when they first started printing fabrics for the quilters. The funky colors and old fashioned designs were calling to me. What can I say, I just let go and took a larger square of the fabric, sandwiched it and started quilting. I used regular stitching in black on the strippy areas and free motion on the flowers. I am not a particularly good free motion quilter so this was practice as well. I tried out a new product that I picked up a while back by Sew Slip. It’s a fairly large smooth sheet that temporarily sticks to the table and has a hole where the needle goes. I really will use it again. I feel like it helped.

Lost in an Asian Garden DetailOnce I finished the quilting, I bound the piece and then started embroidering and beading. I haven’t done that in a long time and I forgot how much I miss the hand embroidery. I used french knots in the centers of the big flowers, feather stitch on the leaves, chain stitch around those round things and straight stitch, lazy daisies and beads on the smaller flowers.

I got ‘Lost in an Asian Garden’. Have you made a Twilt yet? They’re a great opportunity to practice a technique, use a small sample from that class you took and never finished, revisit a technique you have missed or you add to the list. For more about Twilts: Twitter Quilts….Twilts.

April 7, 2009

Twilt Tuesday: That Old Fashioned Feeling

Posted in Designs & Patterns, Twitter Quilts...Twilts tagged , , , , at 8:13 AM by Shelley Swanland

That Old Fashioned FeelingCathedral Window Quilts are supposed to be my specialty so I thought it appropriate to do a Cathedral Window Twilt. It uses the same quilted finish as Layers of Lavender and really did only take a day to complete.

The subtle fabrics I found really give this piece “That Old Fashioned Feeling”.

I gave in and now am on Twitter for those who would like to follow me there. http://twitter.com/SSwanland  For more about Twilts see Twitter Quilts….Twilts.
The picture on the left shows the frames pieced pre-border. The picture on the right shows the piece partially quilted.
That Old Fashioned Feeling In-process 1    That Old Fashioned Feeling In-process 2

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