'Deer Purse' and some exciting news!

Hope you all had a nice and peacefull Holidays. I was a bit away (from the net and from my sewing machine) during Easter, but now I'm back and ready to sew :) I will also try to answer all your emails ASAP and finish the PP patterns for Carl the Cameleon and the Retro Phone.  

I have also two exciting news to share with you:

1st -  the book 'Jelly Roll Dreams: 12 new designs for Jelly Roll Quilts' with my quilt in it ('Driping Diamonds') is now available in shops! You can preview the book at Amazon. Cannot wait to see the book myself with all the amazing projects inside!

2nd - my other quilt will be soon published in Quilters Newsletter! It's an amazing feeling when other people appreciate your work.

Today I finished the purse which I started before Easter:

Wrocilam po Swietach. Troche mnie nie bylo, internetu ani maszyny nie mialam ;) ale juz jestem. Gotowa nadrabiac wszelkie zaleglosci. Musze dokonczyc wzory PP i poodpisywac na cala mase maili. Mam tez dwie nowiny, ktorymi chcialabym sie z Wami podzielic:

* ksiazka z moim quiltem z Jelly Roll'ki 'Jelly Roll Dreams: 12 new designs for Jelly Roll Quilts' (moj quilt to 'Dripping Diamonds') juz jest dostepna w sprzedazy! Niektore strony mozna obejrzec na Amazonie. Juz sie nie moge doczekac, kiedy dostane moja kopie ksiazki!

* moj kolejny quilt bedzie niedlugo (w lipcu) opublikowany w amerykanskim czasopismie Quilters Newsletter! Oj, bedzie z tej okazji rozdawajka :)

A oto torebka, ktora zaczelam jeszcze przed Wielkanoca, a ktora dzisiaj skonczylam:

Outer fabric is linen, for lining I used Heirloom Gold Ribbon Lattice by Joel Dewberry. The deer is in part applique (using bondaweb) and in part painted with textile paint (all the white parts). The outlines are machine embroidered with black thread with the help of darning foot. Antlers and grass are also machine embroidered. Cherry blossoms are hand embroidered with lazy dazy stitch with some little beads in the middle of some flowers.


The purse is now listed in my DaWanda shop.

Material zewnetrzny to len, podszewka jest z Heirloom Gold Ribbon Lattice. Jelen jest po czesci aplikacja z uzyciem Bondaweb, a po czesci malowany farbami do tkanin (wszystkie biale elementy). Kontury sa wyszyte maszynowo czarna nicia z uzyciem stopki do pikowania, tak samo trawa i poroze. Kwiaty sa wyhaftowane recznie.

Main Quilt Festival's entry

Main Quilt Festival 2012 started today in Aschaffenburg. It will last for 3 days (I'm driving on Sunday there). 

I have only 1 photo to show you at the moment - my entry for the Festival's contest 'Quilt and embroidery' (I will write later a post or two about the process of working on the quilt). 

My first pictorial quilt in such size (1m x 1m):

I based the quilt on one of the wonderful works of Gracjana Zielinska (with permission of course).

It took me few months to finished it. It's a mix of raw edge applique, textile painting and thread painting. I will write all the details (and post more photos) in future posts.

'Dream pond' mini quilt

You have still the chance to sign up for the giveaway, so if you want to win EQ7 and some wonderful fabrics, go ahead and read the post about our QAL (P.S. you don't have to join the QAL to sign up for the giveaway; it's open to everybody). Just click the button below:

Nadal jest szansa zeby sie zapisac na rozdawajke. Jesli chcecie wygrac sliczne materialy i nowy program do projektowania quiltow EQ7, przeczytajcie zasady rozdawajki w poscie o naszym QAL (nie musicie uczestniczyc w zabawie, zeby wziac udzial w rozdawajce; jest otwarta dla wszytkich). Wystarczy kliknac w banerek pod spodem:

Today I finished a mini quilt for a flickr 'Fab Little Quilt Swap'. It started with this. The design is not my own. I based it on a picture which I once found in the net:

Dzis skonczylam mini quilt na kolejna wymianke z flickr 'Fab Little Quilt Swap':

 

My swap partner was very precise about what she wants - both colours and style, and what she would like to have on the mini. Such solours are not really mine lately, but you know how it is... pertner's wish is my demand ;) The background is pieced, the hills and the tree (and their reflection in the water) are fussy cut appliqued:

Moj a wymianka byla bardzo konkretna w opisie tego co lubi i co by chciala dostac (kolory oraz wzor). Na koncu w zartach wspomniala, ze rozowe zaby to byloby marzenie... wiec jest zaba i nawet jest z rozowym... Lubie zrobic cos, co sie mojej wymiance spodoba, wiec sie dostosowalam najdokladniej jak umialam (choc takich kolorow ostatnio wcale nie uzywam):

The frog and the lilly pad are also appliqued, then shaded with watercolour pencils.

Zaba i lisc to aplikacje zrobione z pomoca bondaweb. Wszystko dodatkowo pocieniowalam uzywajac wodorozcienczalnych kredek pastelowych:

All the details on the frog are thread sketched as well as the swirls on lilly pad. I kept the quilting very simple not to mess up with the design.

Detale i kontury (czarne kontury zaby i liscia, latek, oka, zawijasy na lisciu) sa wyszyte z uzyciem stopki do pikowania. Pikowanie ograniczylam do minimum, zeby nie przeszkadzalo calosci:

A little bit more details here:

Szczegoly troche lepiej widac tutaj: 

On the back -  aqua/coral Prince Charming to fit the design of the quilt. Now only label is left to make and the MQ will be finished.

Na tyl uzylam niebiesko-koralowej tkaniny z serii Prince Charming. Kolory sie zgadzaja, zaby tez :)

You can see bigger photos in my flickr gallery.

 

Cheshire Cat. Pastiche bee ~ block for February.

As I had a mood to sew the next block, I did it immediately. The theme for February is Alice in Wonderland. But not Disney's style. The darker Alice, more in the direction of Burton's style. What a wonder, I chose Cheshire Cat. My most favourite character from Alice in Wonderland.

That was my first time with piecing circles this way. It wasn't so hard as I thought. And... I love this block. I love it so much that I will sew another one for me. Kind of hypnotic... like the Cheshire cat itself... appearing from nowhere and disappearing in the shadows... 

Circles are pieced. I used EQ7 to design the block's background. Cat and the tree trunk are raw edge applique. All the rest (details) is thread sketched using darning foot.

The cat is based on a graphic which I once found somewhere (can't remember where anymore).

Nastepny pszczeli blok. Juz na luty, bo akurat mialam ochote szyc (jak nie zrobie czegos od razu to potem odkladam na ostatnia chwile). Tematem na luty jest Alicja w Krainie Czarow. Jak sie mozna spodziewac, wybralam Kota z Cheshire jako temat mojego bloku. No i co ciekawsze, bloki mialy byc inspirowane nie Alicja Disney'owska, ale ta w stylu Burtona. Taka ciemna strona Krainy Czarow. Chcialam, by Kot byl hipnotyczny, jak to Kot z Cheshire. Pojawia sie znikad, znika w cieniu drzew, niby jest, ale go wcale nie ma... 

Blok mi sie tak spodobal, ze bede szyc jeszcze jeden dla mnie.

Kola w tle sa szyte z kawalkow. Do razrysowania bloku uzylam EQ7. Kot i galaz sa aplikacjami, a wszystkie detale to 'rysowanie nicia', czyli po prostu szkicowanie z uzyciem stopki do pikowania.

Bigger photos are in my Flickr gallery. 

Wieksze zdjecia sa w mojej galerii Flickr.

 

Winter swap with Julianna

Long before Christmas we (me and Julianna at Sewing under Rainbow) decided to swap. Julianna wanted a pillow, I wanted something with a fox. She got the pillow already, so I can show it to you now (the photos are horrible; I didn't have a filling to put inside of such a pillow and it looks flat and wrinkled; also the photos are to dark). 

I made the pillow in two rounds. First I did the Christmas tree (it's made of tiny hexies) and pieced the snow on the botton. Then I left it for some weeks, not knowing what to do next. When I finally got the idea how to continue, I realised that the Christmas tree would look better if it would be pieced, but didn't have the heart to redo the whole background. I left everything as it was and appliqued the girl and the deer (all the datails on the girl and the deer is free hand thread painting; no painting on fabric this time ;) ). At the end I've sewn some cristal beads (they were suppose to look like Christmas lights) ans the star. All is quilted with invisible thread. The pillow measures 40x60cm (~16x24 inches). There is a wonky star pieced at the back, but I don't have a photo of it. I count on Julianna to make better photos ;)

Dlugo przed swietami postanowilysmy z Julianna (z Sewing under Raibow), ze czas na wymianke. Ona chciala poduszke, ja - cos z lisem. Poduszka dotarla do PL, wiec moge sie teraz pochwalic ;) Robilam ja w dwoch turach. Najpierw uszylam tlo ze sniegiem i naszylam choinke (zrobiona z malutkich hexagonow). Zostawilam tak niedokonczona poduszke na kilka tygodni. Brakowalo mi pomyslu, co mam dalej uszyc. Jak pomysl przyszedl po jakims czasie, okazalo sie, ze choinka bedzie tak srednio pasowala do calosci, ale szkoda mi bylo juz wlozonej pracy i zostawilam tlo tak jak bylo. Dziewczyna i jelen to aplikacje (dodatkowo przeszyte i wyhaftowane). Na koncu doszylam krysztalki (mialy wygladac jak sznur lampek choinkowych) i gwiazde. Poduszka jest przepikowana niewidzialna nicia (dlatego nie widac ;).

Tutorial Tuesday #3 - 'Painting on fabric'

You can find the list of tutorials by clicking on the picture

With one week of delay we're starting next Tutorial Tuesday. This time it's about painting on fabric. I will paint the applique which I prepared last time:

Z tygodniowym opoznieniem ale jest :) Nastepny wtorkowy tutorial. Tym razem o malowaniu aplikacji ktora przygotowalam w poprzednim tutku:

Starting with black outlines. Important thing which could help you paint small details and keep the painted line straight - dip only the tip of the brush in the paint. Not the whole part until the metal. And clean the brush quite often while you paint to remove older, drying paint:

Zaczniemy od konturow. Mala wskazowka, ktora ulatwi wam malowanie detali i prostych linii - wystarczy umoczyc czubek pedzelka w farbie. Nie trzeba brudzic go calego az do tej metalowej czesci ;) Lepiej czesciej nabierac male ilosci farby. No i polecam myc pedzelek podczas malowania wielokrotnie. Zapobiega to nawarstwianiu sie schnacej farby.

While painting the outlines, paint only the edges of the appliqe (not the background). I started with the flowers' petals :

Zaczynamy od konturow platkow. Ja maluje tylko brzegi aplikacji (starajac sie nie pobrudzic tla):

after you are finished with the petals and the flower buds, paint the insides of the flowers in yellow:

Po pomalowaniu wszystkich kwiatow maluje slupki na zolto:

Now it's time to highlight the middle parts (I used too dark fabric, lighter colour would look much better). 

I mixed some white and red paint. The important part about highlighting is that it needs several layers of different tones of one colour. This way you can get a nice effect. 

What you can do is just mix some paint for the first layer (ex. white and red), for the next layer add more white, and do the same for another layer. You can see on the photo, that the first layer which I painted is not much brighter from the colour of the fabric:

Teraz bedzie troche trudniej. Trzeba pocieniowac srodki kwiatow. Ja uzylam troche zbyt ciemnego materialu (jasniejszy wygladalby o wiele ciekawiej).

Wazne w cieniowaniu jest to, by uzyc kilku warst farby zaczynajac od najciemniejszej na spodzie. Zmieszalam troche bialej i czerwonej farby (nie mam gotowego rozowego) i pomalowalam srodki. Kolor farby nie jest duzo jasniejszy od materialu na ktorym malowalam ale to dopiero pierwsza warstwa:

Just that you can see it better:

Powiekszenie:

I added more white to the paint mix which I had and painted few thin lines on the top of the first layer of paint: 

Dodalam troche wiecej bialego do tego mixuktorym malowalam pierwsza warstwe i namalowalam kilka bialych linii dla rozjasnienia:

and added more white and painted again:

i znowu dodalam troche bialego i pomalowalam srodki kwoatow:

Then I painted the tops of petals with some white/red mix (the colour wasn't the one which I wanted to get, but I didn't buy any pink paint, so it had to be enough) and highlighted the petals with some white lines:

Nastepnie pomalowalam czubki platkow na rozowo (bialy+czerwony) i rozjasnilam bialymi liniami:

Finished flowers:

Tak wygladaja skonczone kwiaty:

I also highlighted the flower buds:

Rozjasnilam tez paki kwiatowe (a raczej staralam sie i mi nie wyszlo ale coz... farby juz nie zmyje...):

And the picture is ready... maybe those flowers were not the best example of how to paint on fabric. It would look much nicer on some cartoon character...

You know the basics of what I do with the applique now so you can create whatever you want :)

I gotowe. Moze tak fajnego efektu nie ma jak malowanie np. postaci z kreskowki ale podstawy sa takie same :) Teraz mozecie tworzyc dowolne aplikacje i malowac na nich co chcecie :)

Fox mug rug for Scrappy Mug Rug Swap

Again I joined Scrappy Mug Rug Swap. This time the mug rug is more colourful :) and (*tadaam*) with the fox...

The project was looking differently. I planned to paper piece the little fox and maybe some clouds on the sky... but then decided that it would be extremely hard to paper piece such a small thing. So instead, I pieced the background and appliqued the fox (I konw it doesn't look perfect, but it also wasn't easy to traditionally applique the fox). Hope my partner will like it. Otherwise I will have to make something different:

 Hugs

Phoenix Potholders for Potholder Pass 6

My fabrics Giveaway is still going on! If you want to join, head ower HERE ^.^

I finished them today :) The set of 2 potholders for Potholder Pass 6. Red, red and more red. The theme was monotone. I made phoenix with raw edge applique technique (with the help of fusible web):

 

It looked like this after thread-painting. I didn't want the quilting to be visible on the back of the potholder, so I quilted after gluing the batting and before  adding the fabric for the back. Just wanted to show you the effect  of thread-painting which is not so visible on the red fabric :

I'm proud of the phoenix's head. Before quilting I draw only the major lines on the fabric. Most of the thread-painting was free hand improvising:

The buttons on the base of the upper potholder enable to hang both potholders together and thus create a whole picture: 

Ready to send to my swap partner:

And another good news. I got my jelly roll which I won in Madamme's Samm Mug Rug contest!

The fabrics look really nice :) Do you have some idea (or a link to some pattern) for what I can use the jelly roll? I was thinking about quilt, but I think that would be too much for me (besides, with two cats which love to scratch, my quilt wouldn't survive much). Maybe some interesting jelly roll quilt blocks? Please help :P

Hugs

Block party at Quiltstory

When I red about the Block Party at Quiltstory blog I decided to join (seems that it looks like I'm joining everything and everywhere last days... ;) ). You can add a block in 3 categories: modern, traditional and creative. As I'm not good in traditional patchwork I prepared 2 kreative blocks and 1 modern (or at least it was suppose to be modern, but at the end it looks... hmmm... how to say it gently... bad?). I will add it anyway, as it's already made.

First block is with an owl applique. As my previous appliques - it's raw edge applique. To create an owl I used about 10 different fabrics. I know, again I'm stuck with shades of brown, but I somehow couldn't make a pink or green owl :/ I'm quilte happy with the result :)

Especially I love the eyes... I had a small piece of fabric with golden pattern on it and it fits perfectly to the owl. The beak and the black shades are  painted with textile paint.

As I got my fabric I could finally finished my moth (more details HERE) into a block. And I did:

I didn't cut the edges yet and the block was hangin' in such a way that it looks like there is something seriously wrong with it ;) I can asure you, that everything is fine, it's just the photo. I planned to make more gray shading on the frame, but the other fabrics which I have didn't fit there. I think that now my moth looks really like a bug in a framed picture :)

EDIT: I decide to make one more :) I had a sudden idea and a sudden need. It's not much Spring theme, but somehow it fits me. 'Cherry tree':

And the last - a 'bad' one - and again, it suppose to look differently (it did look differently in my head) but in real life it looks like this:

I think that for some short time I will slow down with work. I have some things which have to be finished... (and those are other ones than sewing ;) ).

Hugs