Sleeping Family Quilts
Okay, these were really fun to make!
A while ago, I saw an image of a pillow that looked like a family of dogs sleeping under a quilt. Using this image as inspiration, I put together a couple quilt ideas.
The main part of the quilt is a pieced design with a border to make 72″ square. The top part of the quilt is 16-18″ tall with a “family” appliqued on so that they look like they are sleeping under a quilt. For the applique pieces, I used clipart images found on-line. These images were drawn out onto fusible medium, ironed onto fabric and then stitched in place.
Dog Family
For this quilt, I used several pieces of scrap fabric that had dogs or dog-related themes (bones, etc), cut into 4″ squares randomly sewn together.
Teddy Bear Family
For this quilt, I used scraps of hand-dyed fabrics, paired with various black print fabric scraps. These 6″ Half Square Triangles randomly sewn together.
Cat Family
For this quilt, I used scrap fabric left over from making a bed runner for my bed (see Millefiori Garden), cut into 4″ squares randomly sewn together. Of these five quilts, this one is my favorite – I do like cats and the colors just pop!
Owl Family
When sorting through my fabric scraps, I had lots of fall colors in the mix. So, I thought a leaf block quilt would be nice. For the animal family, I had considered turkeys. However, I really dislike the ones that hang out in my yard and make a mess of my sidewalks and lawn. So, I settled on owls, and they turned out really cute.
Snowman Family
In my collection of quilt ideas, I had an image of a snowflake design that I had been wanting to make. But, I kept putting it off because I couldn’t settle on a way to make the design fit the rectangular shape of a twin sized quilt. The sleeping family quilt idea gave me an opportunity to make this quilt. Adding snow people sleeping makes this a really fun quilt as well.
These five quilts were really fun to make and will be donated to Sleep In Heavenly Peace. Hopefully a few kids will enjoy sleeping under these quilts
Noel
One of the first Christmases after I was married, my father-in-law gave me a pin for my coat. It was a rather creative way to say Noel. I still have the pin and wear it each year. This pin is a great conversation starter because people often ask what the pin means and usually figure it out quickly when the start verbalizing what the image shows.
While trying to recreate the image in fused glass (more on that below), I looked up the history of Noel as a Christmas greeting.
“Noel” comes from the Latin root word “natus”, meaning birth. Early Christians used the phrase “dies natalis”, meaning day of birth, to refer to the birth of Christ. Over time the phrase became synonymous with the celebration of Christmas. As the term spread throughout the different languages, it evolved into the Old French word “noel” which was used as a joyous way of proclaiming the good news of Christ’s birth.
The word itself is all about celebrating the miraculous birth of Jesus Christ. It captures the joy, hope and promise of Christ’s redemption for our sins that we remember at Christmas. It’s a small word with a really big meaning!
Fused Glass Noel ornament
To try to replicate the pin in the form of an ornament, I first tried using high temperature enamels to paint the details on a white circle of glass. This did not turn out well at all and the glass was repurposed unto a pot melt project. The second attempt involved making a silicone mold for the No symbol and a silicone mold for the L, and then using the Freeze and Fuse technique that I have used before for other small projects. Unfortunately, the glass cracked while firing. After a few attempts, I gave up on this approach. Lastly, I contacted a friend who has a Wazer WaterJet glass cutter and had her cut out the No symbol and the letter L. I placed these on a 2.5″ circle of opaque white glass and added details to the ornament with some murini. Kinda Fun!
Noel Embroidery on Sweatshirt
While moving my mother a few months ago, we sorted through her craft supplies that she was no longer able to use. She had several sweatshirts that she wanted me to embroider for her to wear. One of the sweatshirts was red, which was perfect for Christmas. So, I used the embroidery module on my sewing machine and embroidered Noel for her. After making it, I realized that I would like a similar long sleeve t-shirt of my own. Perhaps next year I will make myself one.
Christmas Table Decorations
A few of my posts over the past year have shown the fused glass table decorations that I have made to update the décor in my dining room. The final set of glass items are the ones that I recently made for Christmas. This included an Advent Candle Bridge, made with wispy white glass, leaves cut out of various pieces of green glass, and red “berry” dots. The components of the bridge were contour fused together and then slumped into a mold with four candle spots.
I also made a couple evergreen tree plates, using Aventurine Glass, White Opaque glass and frit made from bits of these two glasses. Aventurine glass, with the sparkle, is one of my favorite glasses to use. However, it is extremely expensive. So, I am careful to think through my designs before starting so I do not waste the glass.
These new glass pieces make for a lovely Christmas table.
Quilted Coat and other State Fair Projects
A year ago, when one of my son’s was home for Thanksgiving, he showed me a picture of a quilted trench coat and asked if I could make something similar. The coat was made by a Japanese designer and would have cost nearly $2K to purchase.
So, while he was home, we found a Burda pattern that he thought would best match how he wanted the trench coat to fit and quarter yard of several cotton fabrics as well as some lining fabric.
After taking his measurements, I used some scrap fabric to make a mock up of the coat for him to try on when he came home at Christmas – no lining, no pockets, just the basic coat.
With some adjustments to the pattern, I got to work. This quilted part included 3″ squares arranged alternating print fabric with a shade of blue, 16 squares x 37 squares, quilted in a corner to corner straight line pattern.
The coat was then cut out and sewn together, using my serger machine on the seams to keep them from raveling.
I even added pockets that were matched to the patchwork so that they are somewhat hidden on the front of the coat.
The coat turned out nice and I entered in the MN State Fair this past August, where it received a blue ribbon and medallion.
I kept the ribbon, but the coat was shipped to New York for my son to enjoy when the weather dips this winter.
I also entered a few other items in the MN State Fair this year. I received a second place ribbon for a Pine Needle Woven Dream Catcher, a third place ribbon for a Woven V Shawl and a fourth place ribbon for a Crocheted Child’s Jumper.
Fused Glass Fall Decor’
Yes, its been a while since I posted. I’ve been busy making things, but always find something else to do besides writing about my projects. And, since the person I started this blog for, my mother, is no longer able to read the blog, I have less incentive to post things.
For those that follow my blog, I apologize. Hopefully, I will get better at posting. But, I’m not making any promises.
This morning as I walked past my dining room, I felt a twinge of guilt for not posting about the fall glass art that I made over a year ago. If you recall, last winter I posted about some snow themed pieces I made for my dining room table. And, on May Day, I posted about some spring flower pieces. So, here is the update about the fall decor’ that I have made.
Leaf Bowl:
I started out by cutting and contour fusing several shapes of leaves in a variety of colors. I also made a few acorns. Please disregard the sweater and jewelry sets. At the time, I had space on the kiln shelf and so I added a few other items to this run of the kiln.
The leaves were then positioned to form a plate and tack fused together. When I placed the project in my slumping mold, I realized that the size was going to be smaller than I wanted.
So, I contour fused a few more leaves and tack fused them together.
And then slumped into the mold.
Leaf Plates and Wood Turned Apples:
For additional decorations on the table, I pulled out one of the fall dessert plates I made a few years ago. Unfortunately, at the time, I did not take any pictures of how I made the set of four plates. In summary, leaves were cut out of different colors of glass or frit stenciled onto the base. Clear coarse frit and fine frit in a mix of greens was placed around the leaves and full fused. The plates were then trimmed to a square shape and capped with 2 mm clear glass (to make them food safe) and slumped into a dish shape.
I also added a leaf plate made with irridized glass and some wood turned apples that I purchased from a local artist at a craft fair I participated in last winter.
The combination of art pieces make for a lovely table display.
Freedom
“Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.” 2 Corinthians 3:17
Rhapsody Star
One of my readers recently asked about the quilt that is displayed on the left side of the banner of my blog. Somehow, I have not written about this quilt. Unfortunately, I have many projects that I have completed but then have neglected to write about. So, thanks to this reader for prompting me to make this posting.
My inspiration when designing this quilt was to use up two pieces of fabric that I had purchased on a clearance sale. In the picture, these are the purple and green florals. I had two yards of each of these prints.
The design included several types of Log Cabin blocks. The center star was made with asymmetrical diamond log cabin blocks. Focused on the acute angle of the diamond, these blocks were made with 1/2″ strips of beige and 1″ strips of various shades of teal (to highlight the teal flowers in the inspiration fabrics).
Around the center star are eight square rose log cabin blocks and eight more diamond log cabin blocks, these focused on the obtuse angle of the diamond.
The completed design included several interlocking strips and some additional diamond log cabin blocks around the center design.
I then had lots of fun creating more design elements with my quilting, featuring some rose buds, feathers, chains of pearls, and various line designs.
This was a fun quilt to make and I like how it turned out.
To match the quilt, I also made a doll quilt.
A matching pillow sham with rose log cabin mini blocks.
And, a paper pieced decorative throw pillow.
Pencil Quilt (and a couple doll quilts)
A friend recently asked me whether I had stopped making quilts since I haven’t posted about any new quilting projects for several months. This is definitely not the case. In fact, last year I gave away nineteen quilts to various organizations. Most of these nothing fancy, just easy scrap quilts to use up fabric I have been given over the past couple of years. I still have a lot of fabric yet to use, so I will continue to make quilts to give away.
In talking with her, I realized that I have made a couple interesting quilts that I forgot to post about.
Pencil Quilt. The idea for this quilt came after seeing an advertisement for an adult coloring book with pencils. These books were sold a a way to reduce stress. Not needing any more crafts, I did not purchase a book. But, I did make my idea become reality.
To make the pencil tips as precise as possible, I used a variation of a technique called Paper Piecing. However, to avoid having to remove the paper, used dryer sheets were a better alternative. When ironed and taped to a blank piece of paper, these sheets of thin unwoven polyester can be used in any regular printer. But, since the softener sheets are lightweight, the sheets do not need to be removed.
After sorting through my batik fabrics, the quilt top was pieced in a color gradient order. For the quilting, I pulled different doodle designs into a graphics program and settled on how I wanted the quilting to look.
The end product was very close to the idea I originally had in my mind – a fun, colorful quilt.
I also made a matching doll quilt.
Another Doll Quilt. When my niece graduated from high school, I made her a quilt as a gift. She now has a two year old daughter that is using this quilt.
For Christmas, I made a doll quilt to match the original quilt. So, my niece’s daughter and her Baby Lissi doll have matching quilts.
Spring Has Sprung
Spring is my favorite time of year. And, while my main planting will need to wait a few more weeks, I have been enjoying the color of the spring flowers in my gardens.
To bring the spring colors inside, I made some glass table art.
Floral Bowl:
A base of green flower stems was created with cut pieces of glass and vitregraph contour fused together.
To add details, a variety of flowers were made using cut glass with frit details, murrini, freeze and fuse flowers and flamework flowers. The butterfly was dichroic glass that was etched to create the details, white enamel paint was added to create the dots and a handmade butterfly body was made with fused dots and stringer. These design features were contour fused to soften the edges, then placed on the stem base and tack fused together.
The resulting 12″ piece of art was slumped into a bowl shape.
Eden Flower Bowls:
Eden is an innovative fused glass technique by Cristina Grumezescu Schnellboegl (tutorial available on Etsy). I will not describe the details of this technique because it is a paid tutorial, but I used this technique to create really lovely custom glass. The resulting glass was squashed to make it 3mm thick, cut into the shape of a flower, contour fused with added details and slumped into a bowl shape.
Deep Slumped Tulips:
Glass petals were cut and contour fused with frit and flower centers, then slumped over a deep ceramic form and epoxied to a green base.
I am enjoying the lovely spring flowers now in my dining room while waiting a few more weeks to do my spring planting.
Erickson's Heirlooms 