Bari J.

Splendor 1920 Modern Crazy Quilt    

About to send her out the door for quilting, but I thought I'd show her off a bit before she's gone for some time.

I started this quilt in early December. I decided to make a crazy quilt because the style was extremely popular in the Victorian era. And I also wanted to show how the prints can be used in small bits. To give it a modern twist, I separated the blocks with sashing (Pure Elements in Nocturnal by Art Gallery) and set the blocks on point. It is comprised of 25 - 12 1/2" blocks which are foundation pieced on muslin. I used the stitch and flip method as I did on these string block coasters. They are set on point with 2 1/2" sashing. I then added 14" borders on the left and right and 6 1/2" borders on the top and bottom to make a king size of 110" wide by 98". The fabrics are, of course, all from Splendor 1920.

Because I can never leave well enough alone (as you know, more is more in my world), I added little bits of collage here and there. I simply cut out motifs and free motion quilted them raw edged to the top of the quilt.

Additionally, I used my Aurifil 12wt set to stitch the top of several blocks. I did this using my machine and I had 28 weight in the bobbin. The muslin base stabilized the work nicely. I decided not to do the whole thing with stitching as I didn't want to ruin the modern affect I'd created by going too overboard with details.

Now to make a back and send her off to be quilted! 

 

November/December Adventures in Quilting and Sewing: Part Three

My two months of non-stop sewing continues...

I also started a crazy quilt with Splendor 1920 this month. I'll need 25 of these blocks to finish, but I'm well on my way with 15. I'm really excited.

This are constructed using muslin as a base. And sewing using the "stitch and flip
 method. I simply place a piece of scrap fabric, right side up on top of the muslin. Then a second piece is placed on top right side facing the first piece. I then sew a 1/4" seam allowance, and flip the second piece right side up, and press. I continue until I've filled the entire square. Then I trim to the original block size. Which, in this case is 12 1/2" unfinished.

Obviously each of the blocks end up looking completely different, depending on what scrap I happened to grab...

There are some in which I left the selvedges on... My mom asked me why I "left the tags on"... 

And I've decided to decoratively top stitch random blocks with my Aurifil 12 wt Splendor 1920 box of threads. I did these all on the machine! Not by hand.

And there will also be random blocks that I've free motion quilted raw edged motifs to... for little added surprises everywhere.

I plan to make this a king size quilt as I have never actually made a quilt for my own bed, believe it or not. So in the end it will be five rows of five squares set on point with 2 1/2" sashing. 

I'm using "Nocturnal" from Art Gallery Pure Elements collection for the sashing.

Still and yet... I had gifts to make this month too. All the crazy quilting and free motion quilting did lead up to that... I'm getting there... see part four for more.

 

 

Aurifil Ornament Blog Hop!

Today's my day! Here's a simple ornament using just back stitch, french knots and blanket stitch! 

Click here to download my ornament...  Download BariJ_AurifilOrnament

Instructions for assembling the ornament can be found here.

Be sure to hop over to Rosebud's Cottage  and Sarah Fielke to see what they have for you too! Happy sewing!

 

Fun was had by all... and then... sleep.

Hi there. Long time no see. I feel like I'm "just" back from quilt market, when really, it's been more than a week. The truth is, I'm only now recovering from it. I totally did myself in this time.  As fun and exciting as the process is, it is exhausting and stressful too. I was pretty hard on myself getting ready, and didn't get much sleep. I was inevitable... I got sick. And it was of my own doing because I wouldn't relax. Thank goodness for my friend Jona who did much of the job of driving home while I spent much of the time whining. I slept for two days when I got back.

At any rate, you don't want to hear all the poo poo about how tired I am... it was really very fun and super exciting to see how people reacted to the new fabric and patterns... And I met tons of wonderful people.

You may have seen much of this already if you follow me on Twitter or Facebook... but I did manage to take a few pictures of the booth with my good camera as opposed to the phone. So here goes...

Yes, I did drag a bed to quilt market... but if you sat on it you'd have ended up on the floor... air mattresses did the trick. No box spring.

Here's a closer look a the ruffle duvet cover ... yes. there will be a tutorial. But be forewarned, this is not a complicated project... but it's a dosey. I think it's like 12 yards of fabric. I estimated about 3000" of hem and ruffling to do. Yikes. However, IMHO, totally worth it in the end. 

I'm a stitckler for always having flowers in my booth... funny story. This time I forgot to order in advance. I hopped in a cab and asked them to take me to the nearest one on the map in my phone... Yeah, ummm... that was a UPS store. The real store was on the other side of town. WHY they put the address of the UPS store on their website, I'll never know. They actually posted store hours. Long story short? The driver took me to another shop which was actually closed for wedding prep, but the really really nice lady opened the door for me anyways (crying works, people) and sold me two bouquets AND had her delivery guy take me back to the convention center. Greenworks in Houston if you are interested.

Here is what I ended up putting the cross stitch into... I think it gives the pillow some oomph. 

And here is another view of the pillows... dresden is a classic 1920s pattern. It had to be done.

That's all the photo editing I've gotten through for now. My intent is to to go through each project in the booth over the next couple months and show ya' how I did it. Hold me to that, k?

Happy stitching!

 

Splendor 1920 ... cross stitch and embroidery with Aurifil!

When I designed Splendor 1920, I had images of the ladies of Downton Abbey doing their beautiful embroidery work that you see on the set here and there. I'm not sure if they would have done cross-stitch, but I was anamored by the look of it. So, I designed a piece that you can both embroider and cross stitch right on top of to embellish. The only problem was, I really wanted a way of giving you some sort of kit to just grab the colors and go. So, I contacted the fabulous people of Aurifil, and asked if they might be interested in doing a box set of 12 of the colors in the line. And much to my surprise, they said yes! 

It's been a couple months coming, but I'm so happy to be able to show it to you now... A 12 spool box of 12wt Aurifil Cotton Mako threads for you to use with Splendor 1920 ... and any other projects you might see fit. It's awesome for both hand and machine stitching with a top stitch needle. I absolutely love this stuff, and I'm sure you will too.

The cross stitch piece in Splendor 1920 was designed to go from selvedge to selvedge. The thinking being, if you were to use the whole width for say, I child's dress, it would drape beautifully. The bottom part of the design features 3 border prints of differing widths and then the top part of the design is a tossed mix of cross stitch. I like the idea of using the borders for quilt borders, edges of skirts and coats, tea towels, pillows and so much more. I'll be showing you more of how it can be used on project in the days, weeks and months to come.

Aurifil Designer of the Month...

It's me this month! This was a really fun block to do and I'm totally in love with Aurifil 12 wt. I had no problems with tangles and I just love how it looks on the fabric. My piece was based on the lily in LillyBelle. I used just three stitches: stem, back stitch and french knots. You can brush up on your stitches by watching the videos on my embroidery blog, We Love French Knots. For all the info, and the PDF pattern, go to the Aurifil Blog.

 14 Days of LillyBelle

Day 4.

Paper pieced Lily Mug Rug.

Apparently my boss (me) is a tyrant. First she told me that we could just do simple easy projects that would take an hour to develop. And then she told me I was just being lazy, and that I had to step it up a bit... "give people something interesting", she said. So yesterday she decided a little paper piecing project was in order. Nevermind, we don't do that very often around here so we had to brush up our paper piecing skills in order to do it... SHE decided it wouldn't be a problem. Hrrmmppff... she didn't have to execute her evil plan. Oh, wait. Yes she did. And SO, she (I) stayed up past midnight because apparently she can't resist throwing out challenges and I apparently take the bait every time... I can't resist a challenge. Yeah, that's right. Just TRY to tell me I can't do something. Sigh.

Now all that said, and despite the challenge I had in developing this pattern... it is really quite easy to actually make! My loss, your gain, you see. Ok, plus also my gain... I love how it turned out and I might officially be addicted to paper piecing. Too fun.

For this project you will need some scraps, batting and backing that is 10 x 13 plus 1/4 yard for binding. I used LillyBelle in both colorways...  to show you how nicely the colorways can be mixed and matched, don't ya' know. For piecing and quilting I used Aurifil threads from Pat Bravo's set, Quilting Heart. The blue is 4182, and I used it on the dark pieces. The pink is 2420 and I used it on the lighter pieces plus the bobbing for the quilting.

The mug rug finishes at 8 x 10 1/2" Print it out by using the link below...

Download Paperpiecedlily

 

Aurifil Designer of the Month: Sarah Fielke

I am late late late... I hope you've already had a chance to pop over to the Aurifil Buzz Blog to see Sarah's beautiful design!

June Aurifil Designer of the Month: My friend, Pam Kitty Morning!

I am lucky to call Pam my friend. I wish you all could meet her in person because you'd love her. She's one of the good ones, you know? Plus also? I love everything she does. This month, Pam is the Aurifil designer of the month, and she's designed an adorable block for you. Click here for the down low on the free project.

BTW, here's the Aurifil Designer of the Month group at Quilt Market... more about that on Pat Sloan's blog!

Yup. Yours truly right there in the middle.

 

Aurifil Designer of The Month

I'm very excited and honored to have been included in this fantastic group of stitchers for the 2012 Aurifil Designer of the Month. I'm Miss August. 

The fabulous Roseann Kernes of Rosebud's cottage is this month's designer, and her block is just adorable! You can check out the whole interview and get the pattern on the Aurifil blog. Also, don't forget to join the Flickr group.