Friday Favorites

This is the third time I have started this post.  Blogspot doesn't seem to like it very well.  We'll see if I make it this time!

First, remember last week when I decided I was not playing enough?  Well, Margaret agrees that playing is important.  So, before I talk about my favorites for the week, let me tell you a bit about my play for the last week.

I tried out Katie's direction for making a fabric stash string.  Below is a picture of two small balls of string that I made.  It is easy to make and I was surprised at how little ugly fabric it took to make a loooong string.  I had kinda hoped it would use up my stash of ugly fabric faster. 

After making some more I plan to use the string to play in Chapter 4 "Continuous Lengths" of Janet Edmonds's book Three-Dimensional Embroidery.  I am really looking forward to that.  Maybe I will make something that looks like Penny's bowl of beads or Karen's.  I even have fabric beads waiting to grace the right bowl.

When I first started making the string I thought I would couch with it.  I bought a new book from Interweave Press on Couching.  I will probably do that in the future but the current string won't go well with the current couching experiment as seen below.  This started out as a failed monoprint.  Now with the addition of some stitching and some couching it might actually turn into something.  It is not finished but has some hope now.

And I probably have not done anything to this painted fusible piece since I showed it to you last but it was lost for over a week and I am thrilled it is found again.  While I was waiting for it to turn up, I watched Linda and Laura Kemshall's Design Matters TV.  I watched the episode on painting fusible.  Was nice to know I did it correctly.  My year's subscription to the show is my dear husband's birthday present to me.

Friday Favorites

Jill at The Quilt Rat shows off her discharged moth with a new crazy quilt technique she learned from Bev White.  Remember Jill's post where she showed us how to make that discharged moth?  I had forgotten it so I was glad to see the moth again.  Beth, Rosalita, Kathy, how about we play like this next time we get together?


Arlee at Albedo---Chronicles of Concupiscientia Oculorum shares a mini embroidery tutorial on making a raised buttonhole stitch.  Haven't tried it yet but I think it will look lovely with my hand dyed pearl cotton on my heart of steel series.  I included this posting by Deb at More Whiffs, Glimmers, and Left Oeuvres because of its relatedness to embroidery.  Deb says that she can do fancy stitches but rarely does anymore.  I find that the same in my work.  I want the embroidery to add to the quilt but not take it over.  I think her little crosses would fit the bill. And I think that Deepa's knotted chain stitch variation might find its way into my work too.  The more open variation feels too fancy and frou frou but I like the elongated stitch variation a lot!


Sherrilynn Wood at Daintytime has started a tutorial on making a crazy type quilt she calls a Mini Keepsake. She has several tutorials for it but my favorites so far are the one on piecing curves and the one on fitting together the pieces like a puzzle.  Those tend to be the hardest part of improvisational piecing for me.


Okay, my play for this coming week has been inspired.  I hope yours has too!