Just a quick note to let you know that I just put out a new video (well, three actually) on how to press for success!!
Pressing is really important when you want your quilt to come out looking good. If you don’t press correctly it is easy to get pleats, mis-matched points, truncated points!, and your units ends up being the wrong size…. of course that makes your quilt look like a big wobbly mess so watch this video to see how to press when you are sewing strips into bands.
That’s one of the worst problems! When we are trying to sew bands together for strip pieced quilts it is so easy to get that “rainbow”… and then your units get cattywampus.
Have fun stripping! BTW, I noticed, when I previewed this, that it took a long time for the video to load. If you mouse over the screen it gives you the option of watching it on YouTube. Let me know if this is a real problem. I will see if I can come up with a solution!
Today is my 27th wedding anniversary! I can hardly believe my husband has stuck around for that long, even through the hot flashes. Wow. No wonder we got married right before Thanksgiving… we have so much to be thankful for.
My son, Matt, just got into a lease/purchase program for his own truck!
On his way through he stopped and spent the night… here’s a picture of him with his new ride.
While he was here, Brandy decided to crawl up in his lap and pretend she was still a baby and could be a lap dog. It’s a good thing my son is 6′4″. Otherwise he would have been crushed.
I’ve been sewing together a new quilt, the Blue Jam that I will be teaching in Austin at the Chisholm Trail Quilt Guild January 5 & 6. I can hardly wait to get there and meet everyone. Here are a few shots of the quilt.
I’ve also been working on a new pattern that I plan to have ready to go… think you can guess what it is?
Talk to you soon. I had a question recently about fusible applique and am planning on showing some options and results soon so check back.
Have a great Thanksgiving if I don’t see you before then! Ta.
Just wanted you to know, I realize I haven’t posted in a while, things get away from me.
It’s great out… we’ve had lots of rain (over 30″ in one month) so things are a little soggy, but the sun has been out for the past two days and I love it. I washed the dog outside today, too. A bit chilly but she was starting to smell like swamp… eeeeuww.
I went to CA and had a wonderful time teaching. My pictures are all still in my phone but I called Sprint and talked to a nice young man and I think I know how to get them out now. I’ll post the pictures of the class soon.
Quilt Festival in Houston was amazing, as usual. I was in Cindy Surina’s booth “Custom Creations”. She invited me to sign books at her booth and I was happy to meet so many of you while I was there. It was really nice not to have the responsibility of my own booth, so I got all of the bennies but none of the stress.
If you didn’t attend Houston I have to tell you the quilts that won awards were fabulous. And there was a display there from Germany… a “forest” of quilts. Very interesting. There were a lot of incredible ideas that were inspiring and it was so interesting to see how different textures were created. I am sorry. I didn’t have a camera so I don’t have pictures to share this time. I won’t do that again. Next show I will be sure to take pics to share with you so you can at least see some of what I experienced.
My favorite of all of the quilts was a quilt done on black wholecloth. It was awarded by Superior Threads and was a scene of the wetlands called “Protection” done by Hollis Chatelaine of Hillsboro, NC. You can see it at this link:
I am so enthralled by Hollis’s work. What an artist!
BTW, I have about 20 Jamaica Vanilla Patterns left over after what was needed for the cruise. If you are interested please order soon. They are moving very quickly. The applique is full size line drawing so I don’t plan on printing that again… it was pretty expensive to do the oversize printing.
Click on the picture and it will take you to the online store where you can order it. I’ll put more in soon, with pictures, next time!
Oh, one more thing… if you are interested, we are offering a Christmas Special. It is one of everything in the QuiltArt series of books and DVD’s. Click on the Jamaica Vanilla pattern and it will take you to the online store.
It is just around the corner! I’ll be attending Festival, not Market this year. But the wonderful news is that I will be signing books at Festival in the first booth you come to on aisle 100! I’ll be there on Preview Night and then will be signing books Thursday and Friday at 10am and 2pm both days. I can’t wait to meet you!
If you have a picture of a quilt you have made from one of the books, please bring it by. I would love to see what you have done. It’s not often I get the opportunity to actually come in contact with you, to see the quilts you have put together, so this will be a great opportunity to chat. I’ll be a captive audience and can’t wait to hear about your fabric exploits.
Festival is October 15 this year in Houston. Mark your calendar and, please, come by and introduce yourself to me! I’m looking forward to meeting you.
I’m back! I took some pictures in the class with my phone and as soon as I figure out how to download them to the computer I will post them. We had a lot of fun. Stay tuned.
I’m leaving in a week to teach in Burbank, CA at Conejo Valley Quilt Guild. I am really looking forward to this! It has been quite a while since I have taught the basics of using ink to create different textures on fabrics.
I’ll be teaching using ink with salt and water:
The workshop kit will be in these greens. I figured everyone can use green, especially if you are creating leaves or some other organic plant look.
We will also be playing with shaving cream. I think this is a lot of fun, and getting messy with something that is so easy to clean up really is an ice-breaker. If you were feeling a little reserved before we get to this, you definitely are not feeling that way once we start.
This shows one of the ways we will use the shaving cream. There are lots of techniques presented in this workshop.
Our afternoon is going to be working with foil. Lots of people hear “foil” and think “Oh, that is so chunky. I just don’t know where I would ever use that”. Well, if you have ever seen those $30 t-shirts you will re-think your stance on this! Foil is easy to apply and you can go way beyond the artwork you see on commercially prepared and sold items.
If you are creating a bag and want a unique, wow-em look try foil. Here is a sample of one of the images I did for the class.
As you can see, using multiple layers of foil that has already been partially used up makes for a beautiful, soft blend. There is a trick to it which I demonstrate in the workshop.
Once you have put foil on your fabric you can use it as a basis for thread painting. Same with the shaving cream and ink, and same with the ink and salt. It really is a wonderful base for your next project.
One of the new patterns I just created, which will be available on the website soon, uses plants and foil to create the image. It is a little thread and trash collector you can place next to your sewing machine. Of course, thread work was added to it to make it really pop. I’ll be showing a picture of it soon…. so check back.
Speaking of which, I have some new tote patterns. Lots of different concepts you can use in them and I will be presenting them soon. Well, maybe after I get back from California.
See you soon…
T
I am so READY to get on that cruise I will be teaching in February. I have never been to the Caribbean and being asked to teach on a cruise to Jamaica and other stops, well, it’s like a dream come true.
Here is what I will be teaching on the cruise.
Strip piecing makes the block fairly quick to piece. The applique is raw edge fusible. Two large stars are surrounded by the “diamond” blocks. Then the same block is used around the quilt, creating the illusion of a 3D border. Using colors very close in value provides you with a nice base for the art nouveau type applique. I absolutely love using neutral fabrics like this.
I plan on making a new pattern that will be a modified version of this, using a color, rather than neutral fabrics so check into the website soon to get a look at it: www.trishstuart.com. I think you will be pleased to see what a difference COLOR can make!
I am so excited about this rE-generating that I am getting into. I went to the local thrift store the other day looking for something with a Peter Pan collar on it. I wanted to use it on a tote.
I found this adorable little red skirt for a little girl. It looks like sailor pants only it’s a pleated skirt. I just couldn’t resist it.
I turned it into a bag. The great thing about children clothes now is they have this elastic in them that can be buttoned into different lengths. It makes the waist adjustable for those constantly changing kids tummies. Wow. What a concept. I love what it lets me do to the bag!
You’ll have to go to the website to see the finished bag… I’m making it into a pattern. Not that you can follow it exactly as you will have a different skirt, but I’ll be teaching you how to modify what you DO find to create your own, unique bag.
It’s so fun, and I could not believe how quick! It was done in just a few hours. Wonderful when someone else has done half of the sewing for you! And it only cost me about a couple dollars after I added duck cloth and “D” rings. Unbelievable. Check the website soon for a look at the pattern. www.trishstuart.com
Well, now that I have created these gorgeous walls in the bedroom, I was inspired with a new design… very traditional, and I want to add applique. I am going to be out of it for a few days while I draw it up, then I will try to take in progress photo’s so you can see what’s going on. Fell free to send comments about what you are seeing.
Someone told me I should Twitter. I am looking into it. What do you think? Any comments?
Wow, I cannot believe it has been so long since I have posted. No, I didn’t fall off the face of the earth.
I have recently been playing with a new product called Texture Magic from Superior Threads. Here are a few photos of what I have done. First, draw your image right on the Texture Magic. I did it with a ball point pen. This experiment was done using batting between the Texture Magic and fabric.
Then I stitched around the drawn image. The bobbin thread ends up being on the “top”.
Next, stitch the quilting around the image. I started to steam the Texture Magic before I did this and then had to stitch with part of it a little bit drawn up. Ooops.
And NOW you can steam it!! Place it with the Texture Magic on top and steam, steam, steam. Be careful, though, not to touch it with your iron.
I have a lot of ideas on things to do with this. I am creating some fun patterns right now. What a terrific accent piece on your next quilt.
