Oceans Blue

Title: Oceans Blue
Finished: 8/14/11
Techniques: Curved piecing, couching, ribbon, buttons, yarn, machine stitches, free motion stitches.
Size: 12 1/2" x 20"

I've started my spring cleaning process, and have come across other mini-quilts that I've done in the past. And since I haven't completed a mini-quilt in a while, I thought I would start to showcase some of my earlier works.

A few of you already know that my 2012 mini-quilt project was not my first attempt at creating a mini-quilt per week. Late in 2011, I had started such a project but before I could finish my 6th in the series, I became quite ill and had to abandon the project. I didn't have the Blog then either. This is #3 of that first series.

I started out by piecing curves, which came out quite well. Then for some reason I don't remember, I decided to cover up those seams with ribbon, yarn or stitches. Only a couple of the seams are truly visible.

The layers of the blue fabrics and the embellishments have significance too. The stars at the top to represent the sky, the flowered batik for things floating on the water, the free motion circles for bubbles, the eyelash yarn for plant life, the curves and ribbons for the ocean currents, and the buttons for stuff on the ocean floor.

Overall a peaceful, calming mini-quilt.

#24 Venus Voila!

#24: Venus Voila!
Finished: 6/16/12
Techniques: Around the World design, appliqué, Grass stitch
Size: 20" x 20"

Description: Well, this mini-quilt went on quite a journey! Just like Venus, I suppose. It was mid-week and I hadn't had an inspiration for a new mini-quilt, so I was going to fall back on doing a color collage in orange (similar to the color collage in green - see #15 "Spring Has Sprung" from April). I started by pulling all my oranges from my stash and wanted to experiment with creating an illusion of a spherical shape. I started with a light orange center and, using the "Around the World" design, put in progressively darker oranges for each round. Unlike the "Around the World" design however, I made the widths of the pieces incrementally smaller with each round. I was hoping to create a spherical illusion, but it didn't work. However, it struck me that the piece I  had cut into a circle did somewhat look like the sun, and I was still remembering watching the recent transit of Venus on June 5th. Then the inspiration hit me to appliqué the piece onto some outer space fabric I had, and add a black button to represent Venus! Voila!

Watching the transit was fascinating!  I especially liked seeing it through the telescope with the hydrogen filter which made the sun look red and you could see the "solar hairs"  - that's what the astronomy students were calling the active solar surface. The grass stitch I used to appliqué the piece onto the background is an uneven satin stitch which I really like, and it simulated the solar hairs.

The picture above is a closer shot of the mini-quilt that better shows the details of the grass stitch and quilting, as well as the variety of orange fabrics. The picture underneath shows the mini-quilt in its entirety, but once again the camera had difficulty with the brightness of the oranges. Another serendipitous discovery is that the picture above is actually a more interesting composition that the full sun picture below.  Hmmm. Something to think about for future artwork.

#23 Origami

#23: Origami
Finished: 6/10/12
Techniques: Folded fabric, machine stitches, pieced binding
Size: 13 x 14"

Description: I was inspired to create this mini-quilt by my friend Sarah Withee and her origami projects. I had seen folded fabric and origami quilting books before and so now was the time to try it. I used Fantastic Fabric Folding by Rebecca Wat for instructions, but I found it rather difficult to do the origami itself. It took time to figure out the instructions, reading it several times and trying to gain insight from the photographs. Once I did though, it went much easier and faster.

I used batiks and mottled fabrics that read as solids for the origami portions, as well as the pieced binding. I used various machine stitches to add a bit more color to the black background. A few buttons were added for flair.

Here are some close-ups of the individual origami features, except for the orange one. For some reason, neither my phone nor camera did well in capturing the orange. It was too bright or something. I tried different settings to no avail. Oh well.

#17 Strange Flowers

#17: Strange Flowers
Finished: 4/29/12
Techniques: Hand Embroidery, 3-D, Curved Piecing, Creative Use of Zippers, Yo-yo's, Buttons
Size:12 1/2" x 14 1/2"

Description: So if I'm going to finish one mini-quilt per week, what do I do when I'm out of town on vacation? I don't usually do hand sewing, but in this instance it was appropriate. I just packed the supplies I needed and because it's mini, it's portable!

Actually, I did do some machine sewing before leaving, piecing the background, adding a simple quilting grid using a wobble stitch, and attaching the binding on the front, but the rest was done by hand. The stems of the flowers are zippers, which I've seen done before and thought it was clever. The flower heads are "yo-yo's" created by cutting out a circle of fabric, turning under 1/4" on the edge, hand sewing a loose running stitch around the edge and pulling it tight. The result is a circle approximately half the size of the original circle, with folds creating a three-dimensional effect. One of a kind buttons from my stash sewed on as centers.

The hand embroidery added a little flavor to the overall design. I used a running stitch on the stems, a blanket stitch around the yo-yo's, a lazy daisy stitch for individual flowers on the ground, and a stem stitch to create the leaves. I think more embroidery stitches would have added to the design, but I ran out of time.

#15 Spring Has Sprung

#15: Spring Has Sprung

Finished: 4/15/12

Techniques: Curved piecing, Couching, Thread Painting, Flying Geese, Bargello, Paper-piecing, Raw-edge applique.

Size: 15" x 17 1/2"

Description:

Last week, we had some great weather here in Colorado Springs. Unseasonably warm, so it brought on some spring fever. I decided to do a collage by pulling out all the green fabrics I could find. I also practiced many techniques. I did the flying geese in lime greens on a curve using the paper-piecing method. I did some bargello piecing and raw-edge appliqué of some green strips. I pieced some cactus fabric and golf fabric and then a mottled green on one side for some thread painting of flowers using green embroidery threads. I used various green buttons from my button jar for the centers of the flowers.

I like doing collages and will probably do others in different colors as time goes on.

On a different note... After doing last week's convergence quilt, I realized that my self-imposed restriction on the size of the mini-quilts is a little too restrictive. I originally wanted to limit the size so that the mini-quilts wouldn't take too long to complete, but some techniques really don't take that much time, and some quilts would show the techniques a little better if they're somewhat bigger. So, I'm going to take away the size restriction.