Saturday, October 13, 2007

Not entirely abandoned...

So yes, I finished the guitar quilt this summer. It looks awesome. It's used nightly. All are happy.

But of course, now it's Halloween time. This means it's time for bats. I love bats. Even though I once had an encounter with one in my apartment on Hallows Eve, I still think they are cute. Especially silly cartoony looking ones. So... my next plan is to create a "bat quilt". This is my grand idea anyhow. I was thinking of creating a spin off on one the designs from The Modern Quilt Workshop (much like I did with the guitar quilt), but I think I'll be crazy and do something simple like Denyse Schmidt's "A Day at the Beach" Well, whatever direction I decide to go in regards to the piecing (I'm beginning to think that DS's Beach would be the best way to go), I do know that I want the quilting to be rows of bats. Ooh! Title already in my head...

I'm thinking that the front will be shades of black/white/gray. The backing I may piece together, but would love to include some fun Halloween print fabric. So excited! I love the planning phase! I can't wait to get started...

Sunday, June 3, 2007

WIP - guitar quilt progress

ha HA! I bet you all thought that I had forgotten about this darn blog. Truth is, haven't had anything to write about - until this week! I FINALLY finished the quilting on the guitar quilt. All of the big guitars and all of the six strings. I just finished creating the binding, and my goal tonight is to get it attached so that tomorrow I can start the hand stitching. Of course the kid thinks that the backing is infinitely more interesting than the front that I so painstakingly designed and pieced together. Pictures to be posted soon...

Friday, March 23, 2007

WIP - guitar quilt


Hoo-ee! It's been a while since an update. Well I modified the design yet once again...

My best friend came up and went hunting for blue fabric with me, selecting just the right shades of blue to compliment the guitars. The guitar fabric was purchased online, and is quite awesome. The Kid is quite excited.

Because I modified from the original Love Beads pattern, I had to change how it was going to be done. To keep it simpler, rather than sewing the circles into the blue parts, I've made them appliqués. All the stripes are spliced and sewn together. All the circles have been sewn onto stabilizer and pressed. They've been placed and pinned onto the quilt and I'm slowly working through sewing them all on.

I've figured out to quilt the quilt, so that's good. I'm going to try and use invisible thread, which is new to me. Who am I kidding? This is all new to me - it's only my second quilt! My thought is that I will quilt large guitar shapes (enlarged 400%) in the blue parts and then "strings" (vertical stripes) down the circles. I found a neat boy kid musical instrument striped fabric for the backing. It is not my favorite, not even my first choice, but the Kid loves it. He keeps reminding me not to forget to add it. My goal is to get the whole thing put together and quilted in time for an upcoming road trip, so that I can work on hand-stitching the binding on in the car. Images of fabric samples will be posted soon.

Sunday, February 11, 2007

Project samples - Guitar quilt

OK - project guitar quilt is underway. I'm now taking votes to see which one of these two patterns I should make... Let me know!

First up: "Love Beads" (reminds me of musical notes)


Second option: "Confetti" (appeals to my more colorful side)


Thoughts? Opinions?

an introduction

Hi. I'm Fred. I have another blog, but this is my arts and crafts blog. It will be dedicated to my craft doing and general showing off of.

Mostly I sew, sometimes I paint - but crafty things as opposed to art things. It should be noted that I don't run with scissors. I like colorful fun things, tend to skew towards the more contemporary when it comes to some things, yet I'm not a big fan of the current day modern art. The Tate Modern scared me. I see a lot of bad art in my daily life, so I prefer to create things that aren't scary. Nowadays I'm way into sewing things. I've found some great quilts that I'd love to make. I've also been known to make handbags, hats, and stuffed friends. Oh, and photography too.

Currently I'm working on a pair of quilts that will be donated to Project Linus. One is finished, the other is almost there. My next project is a quilt for the kid. Who loved the quilts that I was making "for the babies" that he wants another one for himself. I found some awesome cool fabric and will be making some digital mock-ups in order to decide which one will work best. Opinions will be solicited.

In case any of you were wondering about the new name, this is one that has been in my head for years. Fred was my imaginary dead cartoon dog in high school. You had to know me then. I like to sew and make things. Therefore Spool of Fred was born. Enjoy!