Honoring Veterans

Just a quick review of some of the quilts I've made to honor and give to the Veterans in my community.

 

 

 

 

 

Yesterday I was able to honor and salute the Veterans in my community. They got to choose a quilt or wall-hanging. They were surprised and very happy that someone thought of them.

 

I am so thankful and happy so honor them & I want to salute all Veterans who fought for our country. I also want to salute all who are serving in the Armed Forces today.

 

In These Shoes - Free Designs & Tutorial

Some of my commenters asked about my designs for the wall hanging I made earlier this year. So as promised, I dug out the designs and am posting them today.  I did not fine the words "In These Shoes" and I don't at the moment know where I have that but will keep looking. If I can't find it, I will think of someway to reproduce and post it later.
This is how my life is these days...........sigh!!

As you can see, these are fairly simple line drawings. All I did  was trace off the various parts of each shoe onto my favorite adhesive, Steam-a-seam, press those onto the various fabrics I'd chosen, cut the pieces out then fused them onto my background fabric.

The following videos and photos demonstrate the process.

 

As you can see in this photo, when you trace, press, cut and arrange your design, it is the reverse of the drawing. Just be aware of that little fact if you are wanting your design to be in a certain direction.

 

I traced a circle on the section that I wanted to use, then cut it out.

 

Update on the words...............found them!!!!

REMEMBER when tracing the letters .... make sure the trace them letters face down because if you do not do it that way, the letters will be backwards.....believe me I've messed that up plenty of times.

Remember, turn page over so that it's face down when tracing letters.

I'd love to see and/or hear about those of you are making these fun designs.

I made a  round mug rug. It's not a very good one because I didn't use bias binding.....I know shame on me. The rug doesn't sit flat....sigh!

It is up for grabs if anyone wishes to participate.

This is "NOT" the Thursday mug rug give away.

All you'll need to do to get in on this give away is mention your favorite color in the comment. That way I'll know who wants in and who is just leaving a warm comment.

I apologize in advance for the non-flatness of the rug. 

I'll announce a winner August 29th.

 

 

 

 

 

Mini Quilt

Before you weigh in, I know, I know......the eagle is too big and I promise to make him smaller another day....LOL.......sigh..........but what do you think about the overall scene????
I've gotten great feedback from my FaceBook buddies; Gene, Cindy, Needled Mom and others, so now, I need more help.  Picture the eagle smaller with a trout in its claw.....do I need something different for the eagle?  Also, notice the foreground tree (that was my clue, Gene, that the eagle was too big....LOL) does the tree need more, less, something else????  I've also placed sawed tree parts around the lake and I extended the water to flow off the scene......any improvements there????  In other words.........
HELP!!!

Just In Time for the 4th Part 4

Above, we have several options for backgrounds.  Some work well, other.....the eagle gets lost or the background is too busy.  The variegated background is one of my favorites, so that's a possibility.  The night sky fabric is also a great background.  It pays to audition several fabrics and if you still can't choose, leave the project up on your design wall for a couple of days to think about it.  And, of course, you can always ask your blogging friends for advice.  They often have a wealth of knowledge with a long distance viewpoint.

I decided to go with a patriotic theme.  I chose several shades of reds and tone-on-tones and a wonderful blue starry fabric.  I cut strips of the chosen fabrics into varied widths just to make things interesting, then sewed them together.  Using our great "flag" as a guide for the correct stripes, I then added the starry corner.

Now to add the eagles......perfect. 

But now I'm thinking about just using one eagle!

That's the ticket. 

News Flash!!!!!!!

Once you decide on your arrangement, iron the eagle into position.  You are almost home.

At this point, you could decide whether or not to stitch your design down.  Since this is a wall hanging and will not be used on a bed, you could choose not to stitch around your eagle.  The adhesive is very strong and can hold up to hand washing and the drip dry method.

Just In Time for the 4th - Part 3

With this next eagle, notice that I have traced the parts that I will be using on a large sheet of freezer paper.  This makes it easy to turn onto the back side when using the light box.
Also, note that I have added something.  It is perfectly fine to change or alter your design.  Here, I've added the other leg and talons to the eagle. By using a lighter shade of yellow, you get a sense of depth to the piece.
I am using some of the same fabrics that I used when making the first eagle but I am also, adding a couple of fabrics as well.  This lends individuality and continuity.
I am showing a couple of different positions and shapes of the eagle just so that you can see where to place the fabrics to give the best showing and depths (foreground and background).  You may want to make only one eagle for this project.  Don't get overwhelmed.
So, have fun. Play around with the colors your have chosen and don't be afraid to change or add things to suit your needs.
My fascination with eagles, bald eagles in particular, comes from my early science experiences categorizing the animal kingdom (mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, fish, etc.).  Later, when I became a science/art teacher, my students developed an interest.  These tutorials of the eagle can be applied to any animal.
G'G' was kind enough to send me a link to a live-cam of a bald eagle's nest.  Follow this LINK to Channel Islands live webcam to get a better look at the wonder of the bald eagle.

In the next segment, we'll talk about auditioning background fabrics, placement and methods of stitching.  
Remember, this wall hanging will be finished and ready to hang by the 4th of July even if you can only work on your piece 30 minutes at a time.

Bunny Tutorial Part 3 - Lettering

Choose a "font" from Word document or whatever source you wish.  Next use "WordArt" to write out your theme. Note: I used Two Hearts Beat As One.

I enlarged the lettering to fit one one page and printed it out.  Place your sheet on a lightbox or lighted source turned face down so that the letters appear backwards or you could have used Mirror Image when printing.

After tracing letters onto an adhesive....I used my favorite Steam-a-steam....then ironing that onto the wrong side of your chosen fabric, begin the tedious job of cutting......make sure to cut the inside of letters such as "Bb";   "Aa"; "Oo" before cutting around the outside of each letter.....trust me, it much easier that way.

I am auditioning where I want to place the next part of the Bunny Rabbit wallhanging.

Bunny Tutorial Part2

The "bunny" wallhanging is coming along rather slowly.  I got side tracked looking for that elusive copperhead......he's still on the run....BTW.

The 3 hearts pictured were found in one of my many UFO boxes (imagine that).  I decided to cut around one of the hearts and applique it as if the bunnies are holding it.

I'm planning on doing one other panel underneath....... so stay tuned.

Quick Wallhangings

Sorry about the carpet background..........here are two  8"X12" wallhangings.  I used my favorite bonding technique (Steam-a-Seam), several patriotic fabrics, some batting and beige thread.

Remember, if you are going to use lettering, you will need to turn the letters right side down to trace, so that when you iron on the bonding element and cut out letters, they appear correctly on your fabric.  Since these won't be washed, I didn't have to sew around the letters.

This project took about 2 hours and will brighten up my Memorial Day, 4th of July and Labor Day celebrations.