Tags
American Jane, applique, Christmas, dresden, Family photos, flying geese, hexagons, machine binding, modern quilting, Ryan Gosling, wonky star
It has been awhile since I have posted anything, but with great reason! I had to be very sneaky with my Christmas sewing projects as to not ruin the surprise!
When my grandmother Rose passed away Christmas of 2009, I gathered all the old family photos and vowed to scan them all so the whole family could enjoy them. This seldom happens when our grandparents pass, I wish more people would do it, that way they aren’t just sitting in a box under some distant relatives bed never to be seen (until they die). I think those moments and mementos should be shared with all.
-Rose and Val, my grandparents, I love this photograph, he looks so happy!
Anyways… At the same time I started sewing more. I began to sew our daughter cloth diapers, then as she began to potty train I shifted my attention to quilting. I really have enjoyed quilting, so I combined my love of old photographs of my ancestors and quilting! I think handmade gifts are really the best. Just think back to all the presents you have ever received, I bet the ones you actually remember where handmade, more often then not.
These quilts took a lot of planning! Thanks to pinterest it was easy to find pin and find what quilt blocks I wanted to try. Then I drew each of the blocks out of paper, glued the pictures to the blocks make a whole quilt out of paper… lol. I usually don’t plan this far ahead with any art project. I am not much of a planner, but all to often that “design element” was really a mistake, so I planned it all out, I actually used my graphic design programs, it helped a lot.
-http://handmaderyangosling.tumblr.com/
After all the planning and laying out the designs in illustrator and photoshop. I sized all the pictures put em together and uploaded it to Spoonflower to get them printed. For the sampler quilt all the pictures are actually cut out and pieced together like normal, but the circle quilt is just one whole printed yard piece, then the leaves are appliqued on. Again using illustrator for the circle quilt was essential so the spacing was right. I even made another layer with the leave design… just to make sure the leaves wouldn’t cover someone face.
My grandpa Val kept bees, so I choose the honeycomb and bee fabric for the backing. It took me awhile to find bee fabric that wasn’t cartoony. The other fabrics from the two quilts above are from designer American Jane from various lines of hers.
The above was made out Aneela Hoey’s Little Apples and the yard of fabric I printed on spoonflower.
And I don’t have a finished pic of the last quilt, but it is finished… : ). I made this one for my sister in law and brother. Made with American Jane fabrics.
I really enjoyed making these quilts. There have been a lot of long nights, but I have to say the end product is pretty great. One secret… I machine binded the quilts…. shhhhh, I know its a no no in the quilt world, but when you got a month and half to finish four quilts… : )
I also sewed up the following rug my mother in law, sister in law some coasters so I been busy!
And thanks to my loving husband who has tolerated me taking over our living room….
-sorry couldn’t resist posting more of those… too funny!