*Improv Half-Square Triangle* the Workshop

 

NEW  Workshop; it's called Improv Half Square Triangle

6 hour or two 3 hours workshop

Let's play with one of the top quilt block units in quilting and make it your own!

With just a few materials you can easily add a POP of color to your quilt blocks. This is an ideal way to use up leftover fabric from other projects and create an entire new quilt. The design possibilities are endless. It’s a perfect technique for working in small spaces.  

We will paint a detail on a white piece of cloth and combine it with a colorful fabric to create our block. Basic instructions will be given and each student can create their own design. Lots of fun!

I hope you can join me and share your time with me doing art!

*Sheer Paper-Cloth* Ornaments

*Bell Tents*

On the 15th year of the ANNIVERSARY issue of quilting Arts Magazine , under my article entitled *Sheer Paper-Cloth*, I demonstrate how to make a pliable and soft material that is easy to sew by hand or by machine. It was also demonstrated on Quilting Arts TV - episode 2106.

 

This technique is good not only for making art quilts, but also to make ornaments to decorate the house, especially now that we are in the Holiday season.

 

Once you have your paper-cloth ready, follow the next instructions to make a "bell tent":
 

1) Cut one piece from Sheer Paper-Cloth and iron interfacing in the back.







2) Draw and cut the pattern below from copy paper.

3) Trace the pattern on the right side of the Sheer Paper-Cloth (I usually use a mechanical pencil for this task but for this demonstration I used a black marker). Make sure you leave 1/2 inch of bottom border.



4) Cut circles from the contrast color areas of the Sheer Paper-Cloth and paste them with glue as shown

 

5) Select a dark color of 28w Aurifil cotton thread and load your sewing machine. Choose a free motion foot and drop the feed dogs.

 

6) Sew on the 1/2 inch space you left at the bottom of your traced shapes as shown in the picture below to go from shape to shape.

 

7) Select Aurifil Lana 12w thread for your hand embroidery. I love the bold marks these threads leave with simple stitches.

 

8) Once finished, cut around each shape.

 

9) Sew from the top dot to the straight edge. When you are ready to sew the third piece fold the opposite side as shown below (side view).

 

10) (Top view) You can see below the left side already sewn on both sides. It is folded to make room for sewing the right and third side.

 

11) After having finished sewing with your machine, each top side should look like this. Starting and/or stopping at the dots. Leave a small opening.

 

12) Cut a 14 inch long piece of thread. Tie up a jingle bell with a knot in the middle.

 

13) With the help of a tweezer pass both threads from the inside through the middle hole. It helps to rest the jingle bell at the edge, as shown in the picture, to have the right length of the thread.

 

14) Insert a little button on the top. Make a doble knot and apply a drop of rubber cement to the back.

 

15) Now that you know how to make one *Bell Tent*, why not make more and share them with your family and friends to spread some cheer throughout the season?

 

I am linked to: http://ninamariesayre.blogspot.com

*My Painted Garden*- My latest article in Simply Moderne Magazine

My latest article is out in the summer issue 2016 of Simply Moderne magazine#5. In it, I show how to work with transparent and opaque paints on fabric.

                                                   My article is published on page 66.
The fabric paints are from Prochemical and Dye I used their PROfab paints.

Once I finished painting, I used Aurifil 50w cotton threads to sew the inside details.

I used 28w cotton thread to sew around the border. Using this thread with a close zig zag stitch creates a  pronounced border while adding stability and also covering the loose threads from the raw edge.

I hope you will do this project and set a festive table to celebrate a nice meal surrounded with friends and family.

 

*Simply Moderne Magazine* ( my latest article...)

*4Flores*

Quilt featured in the premier issue of *Simply Moderne* magazine July/August 2015. It is a sister magazine of Quiltmania. You can have more information HERE. It has wonderful modern and fresh projects.

My latest article is on page 108. There, I show  how to add color to a black and white print using only thick chunky threads stitched by hand. You will also learn what I called *the hug stitch*, made almost entirely on top with bold wonderful results. 

The thread of my choice is AURIFIL, which is a delight to work with. For this project I chose Aurifil 12w cotton, Aurifil 28w and Aurifil LANA threads.

Creative Machine Embroidery July/August 2015 *My Latest Article*

I don’t have the blessing to have my kids around me anymore; they don’t even live in the same town so when they come to visit us, it is a very happy occasion. We try to make it special, by not only cooking their favorite meals but also by showing them our love in form of *small details*.

I love to surprise them. These “door knob messengers” are meant to give messages unexpectedly. I hang them on their bedroom’s doors or even on the bathroom’s doors with little messages. Sometimes I write what’s for breakfast or the plans for the day creating anticipation to celebrate our time together.

On page 28 I explain the fabrication of these "messengers". You probably already have all the materials at home to make them. You can find the patterns HERE

Working with Thick Threads/Quilting Arts Magazine April/May 2015

 

Be sure to pick up the April/May issue of Quilting Arts Magazine—I am featured on page 80! In my article I show you how to work with thick 12w and 28w cotton threads. I used Aurifil Threads.

First, we add bold embroidery stitches. 

Later, with the same threads, you learn how to prepare your quilt sandwich to work with them in the sewing machine. You can also read more about it HERE while working in the bigger quilt.

 



Feel free to contact me with any questions.

Creating Texture on a Paper and Fabric Quilt with Aurifil Threads

 

*Flowers for Sophia*- a newsprint infused paper and fabric quilt (32 inches by 30 inches)

 

From the picture below you can see how the quilt started. The flowers where painted over an infused newsprint fabric. It looked nice but flat, so I decided to go to my drawer where I keep my threads and..

 ..chose Aurifil 28w thread for machine stitching....

..and12w thread for hand embroidery. Then I applied some seed beads.

I love how the different thickness of threads with a combination of simple stitches made the quilt *sing* creating texture and dimension.





 I'd love to spark your creativity at one of my *Workshops: Painting and learning how to work with paper and fabric*

And you can watch the videos on how I made one of my paper and fabric quilts with the links below:

  How I did my Quilt *Orange Blossoms* 

                    How I did my quilt *Orange Blossoms* 2   

 



Working with Thick Threads by Hand and Machine combined with Beading

*Compost*

 30" inches by 44" inches

It has been quilted with thick Aurifil 12 weight and 28 weight thread.
 

I wanted to do a quilt with one of my favorite fruits as the main design *The Apple* and show off how beautiful it can be even when it is in it's rotten stages.

After I designed and painted each block, I didn't like the *too white* background around each apple, although it can be ideal for showing off the true colors of the paint. To fix this, I chose a light green 28 weight thread to do the quilting around each apple. It gave it just enough color to tame down the white and, in my opinion, give it more depth.

Then I chose a black 28 weight thread to quilt on top of the black and white dotted fabric and red 28 weight thread for the curved red inserts; it gives enough coverage to allure the viewer.

Let me show you how I did it:

I designed the stencils in my Silhoutte Cameo machine and with painsticks I painted the designs on white muslin fabric.

I loaded my sewing machine with 12 weight Aurifil thread and started sewing/drawing around each shape.

With the same thread I did hand embroidery.



And then some beading.



When I was happy with each apple, I sewed the blocks together. Then I loaded the sewing machine with 28 weight thread this time. Although there are so many quilting designs to chose from, I decided to use the *classic* meandering around each apple and loops on the dotted fabric.

(looks like white thread but it is actually a light green color)

Detail of one block.

As you can see, the thick threads adds extra dimension to your work, calling the viewer in, surprising them with the texture achieved and the unexpected hand embroidery and beading. I hope you will give it a try.



Hand Embroidery and Beading on Stenciled Fabric

I wanted to make a quilt with a simple shape. I chose the apple since it is my favorite winter fruit. My goal was to work with this shape, do some variations to make it interesting, and at the same time end up with a set of cohesive blocks so I can sew them together to make a quilt!

I started designing stencils in my Silhoutte Cameo Machine. I made five different ones. This is the first one in the series.

Colored plain white muslin with paintsticks. Sew strips of fabric around.

With polyester batting underneath, since I'm planning to do trapunto sew around the shapes with Aurifil 12 weight.

It looked like this when I finished.

Then, I used the same thread to add hand embroidery and seed beads for details. Next time I will show you the next block.