ARTYSTUFF: February 2012

Bag and Board Hanging for an odd shaped quilt

The finished product

the "buttonhole" in the bag

The quilt hangs a little way out from the wall

the top of the board with the wire

showing how to drill the wood for the wire to go through

where to put the screweyes- facing UP

The finished bag before the hardboard insert is put in place

The board with lower strip, upper strip and wire in place

Instructions for the Board and Bag Hanger

This is a good way to hang an unusually shaped quilt to insure that it hangs straight.

The Bag-

1. You will need a piece of fabric a bit wider than your quilt and at least one third of the length of it plus enough to hem . Turn, sew and press a narrow hem on the bottom edge of the bag piece.Set this aside.
2 Cut a piece of fabric about 8 inches long and 3 inches wide and a piece of fusible fabric the same size. Iron the fusible onto the wrong side of the fabric piece. Set this aside.
3. Place the hemmed fabric piece on your ironing board and fold in half VERTICALLY and lightly press the fold.
4 Do the same with the small piece . The fold should go perpendicular to the long side of each of the two fabric pieces.
5 With a sharp pencil on the wrong side of the small piece, draw a line along the fold, then, with a ruler, draw a line perpendicular to the first line and centred on the centre fold, extending three and a quarter inches on either side of the centre line.
6 Now draw a line 1/2 an inch above and below the long entre line.
7 Measure three and a quarter inches from the centre line and close the little "box" you have marked. The box should straddle the centre line and be 1 inch deep and 6 1/2 long.
8 Now, with right sides together, place the little piece with the box drawn on it , on top of the big hemmed piece, about two and a half to three inches down from the unhemmed top of the big piece. Pin in place.
9 Shorten the stitch length on your sewing machine and sew carefully around the lines you drew to form the box, keeping the corners nice and square. Do not sew the centre lines.
10 Now, with sharp scissors, cut along the long centre line in the middle of the box but not right to the end. come up to about 1/2 inch away from the ends of the box. Then , cut into the corners of the box from the end of the cutting line . Cut carefully. DO NOT CUT THE STITCHING!!
11. Heat up your iron now and push the excess fabric of the box to the back side of the hemmed piece of fabric. square up the corners as well as you can and iron it nice and flat. If you want to, you can slip a little piece of double sided fusible material, eg, Steam a Seam, under the loose edges and fuse in place to keep them on the back of your bag .
12 Now, place the whole bag piece on the back of your quilt with right side of the bag fabric showing. pin in place and sew with a scant seam around three sides, leaving the bottom edge open.

This is basically, a large bound buttonhole!

The top edge and sides can be any shape that you need them to be but the bottom edge will always need to be nice and straight.

BIND YOUR QUILT NOW

The Board-
1 Measure the depth and the width of the bag INSIDE the stitching lines of the binding.
2 Cut a piece of 1/4 inch thick plywood or hardboard about an inch deeper than the bag and as long as the distance from side to side INSIDE the border stitching.
3 As well, cut a piece of 3/4 inch by 3/4 inch pine 6 inches long and another slightly shorter than the width of your board.
4 Glue the long piece to the bottom edge of your board. Tack it too if you want to. Then, slip the board into the bag with the strip extending past the bottom edge of the board and set the little piece into the hole in the bag,carefully marking that spot all round with a pencil. Let it rest a few minutes before removing it so the glue can dry then remove the board from the bag and using a small bit in a drill, drill two little holes on an angle into the ends of the little strip as shown in the photos. Glue the small strip onto the board where you marked its placement. Let the glue set before inserting it back into the bag.
5 Screw two screw eyes into the upper edge of the long wood strip as in the photos.
6 Now cut a piece of picture wire long enough to hang your piece and attach one end securely to the one screw eye. Thread the wire through the diagonal hole on the same side of the little piece of wood. Bring the wire around to the other diagonal hole and through it and finally, down to the other screw eye. This is done ON TOP OF THE BAG. Before securing the wire, be sure it will not show about the top of your quilt when it is hanging.
NOTE-- IF YOUR QUILT IS VERY VERY ODD SHAPED, YOU WILL HAVE TO PLAY AROUND WITH THE PLACEMENT OF THE LITTLE STRIP OF WOOD WHERE THE WIRE RUNS THROUGH UNTIL YOU GET A BALANCE POINT. IN THAT CASE, MAKE YOUR BUTTONHOLE LONG ENOUGH THAT YOU CAN MOVE THE LITTLE STRIP LEFT OR RIGHT TO CENTRE THE HANGER.

Good Luck!

Bubble and Squeek

All pinned and ready to quilt! This may still get trimmed a little on the left hand side but otherwise, challenge met! I will Bag and Board the back so I can hang it on a cockeyed angle . Bag and Board is an invention of mine and my husband's. We think we are brilliant but I imagine big quilting societies would frown on the practice. However, it allows you to hang ANY shape so it falls squarely, the way you want it to. If there is anyone who wants the instructions, let me know and I shall either post them or email them to you.

Andrea's quilt

I made this Kaffe Fasset quilt for my niece for her wedding last summer. Now there is a baby coming and I guess I need to do a baby quilt! I only do quilts for first babes mostly because I am lazy. Anyway, should it be another Kaffe Fassett? I have done a couple of nice KF baby ones but apparently, those pics are not stored on this hard drive. If I can find them easily, I may post them later. Anyway, I LOVE KF and his gorgeous prints and have scads of his fabrics in my enormous stash. Guess it sounds like KF quilt for this babe!

Mirror Inchies

The mirrored image

The Mirrored, mirrored image. Note the reflection of the camera lens!

The mirror, symbol of woman in science and history. Should we be flattered or frustrated?

The reflected image has been fascinating to mankind forever. This is one of the symbols carved on the kerbstones of Knowth Burial Chamber in Ireland.

Some mirror inchies for this week- Remember Alice and the Looking Glass? If I had been making "Footies" instead of Inchies , I would have done some Alice Mirror Inchies. Not QUITE enough space in a square inch!

Remember that little challenge?


Here's what I had to start with

This sort of thing is not really "my bag" but I tried it anyway and this is the result. It will change as I finish it but the centre part will likely remain the same.


I am going to do something with those round disks too but may cut some new ones out of a couple of the fabrics I used in the centre.

I may also square up the right hand side. It is a little mingy in a couple of spots and I think it needs a bit more heft. I will add at least another strip of the black. The whole thing is cockeyed and I do not mind that but I just think it looks a little stingy on the right side.

Sketchbook Challenge for February

So, do you think I am hooked on Zentangles? Talk about close up! I have been up close and personal with my sketchbook and have filled many many pages with these Zenny, Zany Doodles! I HAVE actuall sketched a couple of things, but ZT's have been my passion!

I played with some Primula blooms and also with a VERY dessicated hydrangea head.

A little personal challenge!- and Putechan finished.

Have a look at these.I found them in a box and am going to make a little something with them all together .I have scads of fabrics in my stash and NEED to start using it up, especially as I have now started dyeing some of my own fabrics. Wish me luck and we shall see what I come up with for next week.

Putechan is fini now! I need to hang it somewhere better so it hangs nicely instead of flopping along the edges.It is on a narrow board at the back so the edges are hanging loosely.On the whole, I am quite pleased with this one. It is a very significant spot in my husband's family history.

Dream Inchies

Impractical, for sure, but castles in the air are a great exercise in creativity. We love to think up airy-fairy ideas that make us smile but will rarely, if ever , come to fruition.

The dream of finding true love is surely common around the world.

Dreams of accumulating wealth are very common. How many people buy Lottery tickets!!

Flights of fancy of all sorts. What is yours?

Our First Nations people have a grand idea in their Dream Catchers. Hold onto the good ones but let the bad ones go- or is it intended to catch the bad ones and thus protect us from them?

Who does not sometimes dream of stardom and of seeing one's name in lights?

What do YOU dream of? Everyone has special and specific dreams but there are so many dreams that are common to all of us. Dare to Dream!

Quilted - mostly!

You can really see the silvery inner border here because of the wrinkles.

The towers just got a touch of shimmer down the lighter side.

The sheep got their backs silvered a little. The actually DO get shimmery from the moisture some days.

Just for special people!!- Sheepses:-)

Here it is, quilted inside the border. The pictures are not great because it is a gloomy afternoon and I had the piece pinned onto too small a board, so it wrinkled . Anyway, I THINK I am happy. I like the effect of the silver thread. I used some invisible and a bit of darker green for the shadows under the sheepses. I do like the way the colours turned out. On the day this was taken, we had cool , damp mist and everything was milky and pale. Nice atmosphere. I love fog but this was just mist.

Quilting Putechan

The quilting has begun ! I HOPE I am happy with what I am doing. I tried overlays and they just did not work, so, instead I am doing a lot of my quilting in silver metallic thread by Superior. It is gorgeous thread and I HOPE the shimmer will create the desired effect.

The shape and the structure of Putechan is very distinctive and , although I have not shown the whole of the cemetery, the McAlister plot is the most striking part. Many details are missing, just like the details that have worn off the headstones over the years. All I wanted was the impression of the site. I wanted the past to show, worn and misty but still evident. The present is somewhat clearer as evidenced by the sheep in the foreground. Individuals come and go but there will ALWAYS be sheep in Scotland.

Pictures will follow, maybe later today but this is my rationale to date.

Puetchan Cemetery

I am working on my Scotland Quilted series again and have started my Puetchan Cemetery piece. It is waiting for borders and then some detailed stitching and quilting. Puetchan is such a distinctive structure on the main road to Campbeltown! The tower ediface is part of the McAlister plot. McAlisters are the Lairds in the area, seated in Glen Barr Abbey. I wanted this piece to be misty and not too clear, kind of a Mists of Time look. Still working on that!--The project so far....

I shall post the original photo when I have downsized it so it is not so enormous. A number of my husband's relatives are buried here so it is a very meaningful spot to us!


Yes, Sir, Yes, Sir, three blackfaced sheepses!

One of the photos I am working from.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day ,to one and all of the special people who read my blog. This is such a tiny token of my appreciation ! I do want to thank you all though and to wish you all love and happiness to you and yours. Have a lovely, loving day!