Charming Houses Quilt

Here is a quilt that I made for my Sister-n-Law for her birthday. It is Made from 5 inch charms, with pieced houses thrown in. You can see these in my December 13th entry 'Design Wall.'



Traditionally, a charm quilt is made of no-two-alike pieces of fabric. Some of the houses have the same kind of fabric in them, but no two houses are alike.




The back is made from fabric I dyed myself. It is two pieces of fabric sewn together, but I dyed it AFTER I sewed them together, so there is no interruption in the pattern. My December 7th entry 'Quilt Back' shows it bigger.

I can't see the quilting pattern in this picture on my monitor. Maybe you can. It is a Baptist Fan modified with spirals. I used blue thread for the back, which was better than I thought, and varigated rayon for the front.

I like it, so it was hard to put it in a box and mail it far away. At least it's going to someone special. Happy Birthday, Diane!

Mud

It has rained a lot. We have clay that makes nasty mud. Janow makes it worse, he has to charge the fence to keep the neighbors away from his feed, even if it is inside, even if the neighbors aren't even looking at it. Then he has to kick out and squeal at them.

The pony mare next door could care less. I think that makes him worse, trying to get a reaction. She won't flinch. He turns 17 next month, that is the personality he has, he won't mellow with age, period.

Of course, all the hysteria churns up the mud even more! And the clay mud is sucky, sucks the shoes right off! since he has egg bars in front, they come off easily. Grr!

Nigerian Collage

Look what I got for Christmas, all the way from Nigeria! This is about 5 1/2 feet tall. Textiles and 'found objects.' You have to see it up close.

The Landlord

This is a batik that I showed here as a WIP or Work In Progress a while back. The picture where the bird looks white is the same one that I showed then. The picture that looks all dried and crusty is the same piece of fabric, ready for wax removal. This is the most exciting part for me, where I get to see how the details and contrasts really look. It's hard to see that with all the wax on there. I just have to imagine a lot as I work. And then wow! how much it pops without the wax.
I put it on a piece of ticking, raw edge big stitch primitive style for featuring on Folk-Of-Art in January.




My page on Folk-Of-Art
http://folk-of-art.com/members/cara.html

The Folk-Of-Art home
http://folk-of-art.com/

Scissors, 20% Off

Here is another quilt for the **Quilter's Garden** Guild. It's called 'Scissors, 20% Off.' Were the scissors inacurate by 20%? Were the scissors on sale 20% off the regular price? Were they on sale because they were inacurate?

The Great Boom

This is for the very freindly members of Ebay **Quilters Garden** Guild who invited me to join thier group.
My Husband and my son, then age 6 or 7, were watching a NOVA show on TV. The show was about the origins of the universe. My husband said to my son "Now you'll know more about the Great Bang than the rest of your class!"
This was wrong. it's not the Great Bang, it's the Big Bang. Of course, anybody who knows me knows I just can't correct him, or leave it be. I never pass up a chance to be a wise acre. So I said "Don't you mean Great Boom?" This is even wronger! (Not a real word, but it fits.) Then I left him to ponder the problem.
It was the perfect name for this quilt.
I remember that the top was not exactly flat. In some places, it was not even remotely flat! So I ironed it until the bump was sticking up like a fin, and then I stitched along the base of the fin and used scissors to remove the flap that stuck up. Boom, it's flat!

cat nap

This is a batik I made of a cat, in case you can't tell it's a cat. This is a cat in the afternoon. He just woke up. He can start in on his nocturnal activities after a little dinner and a quick trip to the litter box. Quick, put away your sewing! You know how he gets with thread!
This cat is on ebay. The batik can easliy be removed from the ticking for framing or to make a pillow or embellish the back of a jacket.

My red house didnt sell at all, I may relist it.
http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQfgtpZ1QQfrppZ25QQsassZdoublecatbatik

Homestead

I just listed this on ebay last night. I added a back and hanger to the batik, so it was ready to hang. It's stitched onto the burlap in big stitches that are easy to take out if they want to change the presentation. The batik piece itself is 14"x14". The hanging is bigger, about 17". The burlap looks rustic, but has a good drape for hanging. I got some ticking to try for backing batiks. It looks like it will be good too.
You can find it by searching the seller Doublecatbatik by searching FOAF for Folk-of-Art Friends, that will get some great folk art and prinitive folk art form other sellers too. Or you can click on the link below. There is also a link to ebay auctions on this blog, look on the right side of your monitor.
I think there may be a problem with the link in my other auction, I have to go see, and fix it if I can.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Red-Homestead-Batik-wall-art-Original-FOAF_W0QQitemZ7373642433QQcategoryZ357QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Quilt Back

This is for the backing of a quilt. It is two pieces of 44 inch wide fabric sewn together. I put it together before I dyed it. I had never dyed a piece this big before. This method has a lot of learn-by-doing. It didn't come out the way I expceted, but I like it a lot. Part of the learn-by-doing is like batik dying. Even it its not like you expected, it's a good surprise. You learn not to have exacting expectations.

Vest

This is the vest I made for my sister for her birthday. It is crazy quilted with a variety of muslins, onto a muslin back. The embellishment is all by hand in off white cotton floss, pearl cotton and wool yarn. The lining is synthetic. I intended it to be fancy but subtle.













I have some unembellished crazy quilted squares of mixed muslins on ebay right now, if you want to try your hand at this kind of embroidery.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=8240078335&rd=1&sspagename=STRK%3AMESE%3AIT&rd=1

woo hoo!

Shopping Cart is added! (I hope)www.//DoubleCatBatik.com
Also see my new items on Folk-of-Art. http://folk-of-art.com/members/cara.html
and Folk-of-Art memebers have lots on ebay, the link is on the right.

woo hoo!

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Dirty Story

My friend Linda took these pictures.


"It seemed like a good idea, at the time."