STAR STRUCK AND QUILT HAPPY !!!

 Well  Hello !!  I am star struck these days.  it's been a long time ,but I have been busy with various things.  I haven't had enough time to post ,but today I thought I've got to post something because if I wait to long I will have to many things to show ,so a little at a time.

 I have been working on some stars ..cutting and cutting and sewing and again cutting and some ironing in between. I keep pulling out more and more solids for a mix of pretty points that go around the center blocks which are some playful country scenes .

 And the second part of the title quilt happy  is because of this quilt that I had taken photos  while making and my son's used my camera and uploaded all of my photos on there computer ,I am just not going to bother to retrieve them on too new stuff I quilted this by hand using high loft you ask why? because it was free .. you see a friend of mine down the street which owns a clothing store, had bought it to use as snow for her window display , which she never did so she gave it to me... a big roll of it ,so lucky me .

 The pink rose is from a house coat that I cut up and used ,I love it in the corners , I just love to reuse fabric, I sometimes stare at the shirts that men wear walking passed my shop when I see pretty bright  colors , I really got to stop it though,it is a bad habit.

 I had taken a course in batik and we also did some stamping with leaves and I found this little scrap and stuck it in.

 This top I had made last year and finally got it quilted again by hand I used cotton batting.

And now I am quilting this little one with high loft batting ,as also the first one ,I am not really trying to make the stitches close together as long as they are evenly spaced . Well my friends I am going to do some quilting now,have a nice day and happy crafting and quilting.

SAVE THOSE TRIMMINGS

I was looking at blogs last week and came upon Angies blog  and she had a real interesting post on ways to use the trimmings . So I thought it was an awesome way to put all those little pieces to use.

What I did was gather all the little tiny pieces and  sandwiched in a piece of what we call it here Tull I can't seem to remember the English word for it,but you can use organza let's say ,anyway I just ran some stitches through it .  I love the way it looks at first I didn't know how to implement it in a project . Then I thought I could shape it into any shape I want ,so I made a heart and snipped the edges around it , tied them and added little ribbons ,added a little applique heart in the center and walla.   Now it can be put used as a decoration on a bag,pillow,tee shirt, even a wall hanging adding blocks around it I am sure you creative gals can come up zillions of ideas. 

I finished the binding on the spider web quilt and now I am quilting a quilt for a friends grandson while in the store . I hope you all save your little trimmings and use them in any creative way you wish and share it with me ,wish you all a nice Sunday I am on my way to the flee market today so I'll have some photos to share with you.

QUILTING

Hello and a good morning to all I wish all of you and nice Sunday ,I have not posted in a while ,first I would like to show you my new hand made leather thumb thimble ,there is a leather shop near me ,they make leather goods and they through out there scraps,I happen to be walking past the trash bin one day years ago and noticed a big bag of leather scraps and of coursed I took them thinking I could used them for something one day .

So I cut out the pieces into a shape that I thought it would work used a thick black polyester thread and stiched it up and it works wonderfully it really helps me push the needle through the fabric and then it is much easier to grasp the needle and pull it on the other side now I will make another for my finger that helps quide the needle underneath  ,I am really pleased that I thought of it .

I am quilting this quilt that I have been commissioned to make ,it is large 80 x 99 in. I hope I finish it by Christmas .

Here is the whole quilt on my sofa I chose a light blue border for it I think it goes well on it.

I even found some letters with her initials on it that makes it a bit personalized for her ,

After deciding that I wasn't up to fmq the large quilt I thought I better work  at fmq . I tried various methods in controlling the quilt better practicing on a panel I found that wearing my white fleece gloves that my dear friend Michelle sent me, they not only  keep my hands warm when it is cold out , they really help me grasp the panel and I am able to make smoother stiches I also use some hand cream  ,I even thought of putting glue stick on my fingers ,but I haven't tried that yet ,for now I am doing ok.

I really didn't have a specific pattern in mind you really don't have time to think when the needle is moving .

I plan on making some templates for fmq and I will be posting them of  course ,but I think I am progressing.

I tried different designs as you can see, I really am trying to get the motion of meandering, I am more of a structured person so it is a bit difficult for me.

I will be working to become better at it ,I got a helpful tip from a blog friend whom is great at it her name is Kheli  she advised me that it really helps to starch the top first  I will do that and believe it will help thank you Kheli.http://khelikarma.blogspot.com/ . Another thing I have been having some issues with is  thread tension and am working on that .  I thank you all for stopping by and leaving suggestions and comments ,wish you all many hours of quilting a crafting and try to make a leather thimble for yourself.

SPIDER WEB QUILT

Hello to all my quilt friends out there I hope all of you are doing  well ,I have been dragging my feet to make a post , my mouse wasn't working ,so I just got a new one and it makes it easier to click on the view of my photos so I know which ones to post  that was the main problem  makes it difficult if it isn't working.

 As you can see I am making a spider web quilt which I had seen on Marit's blog ,she has a wonderful tutorial,I got  excited about it and started it many months ago .Recently I pulled it out and said YOUR NEXT   I used all my little strips by organizing them from short to long and longer and sat down watching TV and pinning them on ,so when I had them pinned I just sat down at the sewing machine and sewed them up.

 My husband Tony has become interested in quilting ,he likes the design of this quilt  when put together ,he got up from the couch and walked over to count how many triangles I had made ,for him to do that says something.

I trimmed and trimmed, and as I trimmed the underneath end of the triangle I was thinking they can be used to make a quilt ,there were so many of them let's see 32 triangles and each one has 2 that's 64 WOW!!

Viewing an this angle you can see how many ,I think they were not all there when taking the photo,but I was not really counting while working  in the end there were 32 half square triangles .

Here I have put a dark blue border ,hubby Tony helped me choose, he even knows what jelly rolls are LOL

So here are the ends  I cut 2 inch strips of solids and just randomly sewed them on the sides sort of a log cabin , I can't wait to sew them all up .

I have brought the quilt to my Shop and I spend my free time quilting, while rocking in my chair ,people can see me through the window and wonder what I am stitching.

I am quilting by echoing which is easy enough. 

Last ,but not least as some of you know I have an art and frame business and I just wanted to share with you some vintage stitchery that a lady brought in to be framed , here I am choosing what color matting to use ,but unfortunately I forgot to take a photo before the customer picked them up ,they looked real nice she was very pleased .  I also  have been busy in my shop trying to make enough room to  make a little studio in which I can work on quilts in my free time,that will take a little while longer. And something that I would like to mention to International quilters is that my spell check hasn't been working I can't figure it out ,it used to work ,but lately it hasn't if anyone knows what I need to do please let me know.  I hope all of you are doing well and make something creative!!

DEER PAINTING

A big HELLO to all my friends ,first of all I must say I haven't been feeling so well ,could be the weather change along with the allergies that continue to bother me,but I really wanted to make a post today.

I was reading Cyndis blog one day http://bluebirdswing.blogspot.com/and she has deer in her back yard now that is so cool ,my mind went to a painting that I had found one day actually sticking out of a trash bin it is large so that is why I could see it . I of course took it and I cleaned it and put a frame on it ,it is so beautifully done it even has the signature of the artist I even looked it up in the Greek Artists Ecyclodedia and he was noted in it. I plan of taking it to our country home and hang it over the fireplace I noted in my comment to Cyndi that I would make a post about it so Cyndi here it is.

This lower right section could be a painting itself.

He is  starring right at us!

A friend of mine gave me an old curtain that she would like for me to make a little quilt for her so I decided to make it using a triangle template that I had made a while back.

I had a piece of hard plastic and measured and cut lines into it ,It makes 12 blocks each one 9.5 c.m. so I just cut the fabric along with a solid pink that I thought matched it fine and put them together and just drew with the pencil through the lines.

And then I sew 1/4 inch on both sides of the lines and cut on the lines I have plenty cut up now and will sew it up for her I will give it to her to quilt by hand it will be a throw size for her sofa ,now I have the triangle cut , really haven't decided how to put them together I shall play first before deciding.

And then of course I have made a batch of potholders and played a bit with a couple by adding a little triangle in the corner for a better grasp. That is what I have been up to and since I moved last month ,I am still putting up curtains and organizing I just do a little at a time I really don't want to tire my hands , I wish all of you a nice Sunday and make something pretty and creative. xoxo Theodora

SOME PLAYING TIME

Hello and I hope everybody is well ,I have been suffering from alergies lately since all is in bloom ,since we moved to Greece I have these conditions every spring ,so I take some medication and it really helps me. 

As far as quilting I completed a bunch of pot holders and I have put them in my shop for sale ,I have placed them in a cute little basket and put two in each little bag, I have ofcourse given out as Easter gifts to all of my friends that come in for a visit ,my shop is sort of a meeting place and coffee shop ,I love it when all friends stop by for a quick hello when out on the town.

As I was making the pot holders I happen to misjudge on how thick to make them on order for them to be used as potholders ,I used some fleece and I should of used two layers in order for them to be thick enough for it purpose, so I was playing around and I folded in the center and then the sides and thought wow this could be a little case for a camera or cell phone .  I sewed and button to hold it together and the little loop works perfect as a closure with the button and walla I have a new case for my camera ,how do you like it ??

On a slow day in the store I got some colored paper and started playing....

I cut them in three strips and sort of switched them around, what do you think of this ,I haven't actually put it to fabric yet ,but I think it is interesting .

Then I got going and cut long strips and cut them at an angle and then cut them in six squares do to the width if I made the strips wider then there would be more pieces  .......

With eny four pieces you choose you get this.

And adding more pieces you get this....

And adding more eny way you want you get something real funky looking.

Can you imagine using print fabrics and mixing them up ??

Then I took two rectagular pieces and cut in strips.

And put it together like so .

Then I did this.

And taking a square with an angle using two colors to signify the two colors of fabric I cut the corners and ....

I made this by switching the corners around I think it will make an interesting quilt when you make more and put them together.

Well that is what I have been doing very little since I have started packing ,we are moving to the apartment obove us to the 2nd floor ,I really dread the move ,but it will be warmer for us since there is no apartment underneath ,the apartment here are sort of on colums and they use them for parking and there is no insulation underneath us since it is open all around I know it's difficult to understand ,one day I will take a photo so you get the idea. 

I wish all of you a happy Easter our Greek Orthodox Easter is next Sunday  I remember that in the states they celebrate one week difference either before of after ,  I wish all of you well, and make something creative and pretty. xoxo Theodora