Wordless Weekend

Happy Quilting!

Kay Lynne

Butterflies--Wishing for Spring!

I am working on this butterfly thread painted wall hanging.

I worked off a picture that I had taken at a Butterfly House while we were on a visit in St. Louis, Missouri in 2011.

I used my Canon Power Shot.  

It is not a professional camera, but it does get the job done.

Please don't ask how I had two butterflies have their wings open at the same time sitting so close together--I don't know!

 This was a really fun project.

I am always learning and this project taught me all about distortion.

When you thread paint an area really heavy, it tends to shrink your pattern.

My butterflies aren't perfect,  but that's okay.

Only our Creator can make butterflies perfect!

Below is my first butterfly.  

There is too much fullness in my applique to tack it down properly on my wall hanging.

Why?

I did not use enough layers of stabilizer, but that's okay because I decided to tack down part of the butterfly and let the rest loose.

This will make the butterfly look like he's going to fly right off the quilt!

So mistakes can work--I will be taking out the extra pins below and go with the flow!

Happy Quilting!

Kay Lynne

P.S.  I am still working on my Christmas quilt and will keep you posted!

What I've Been Up To

Last Monday I spent the morning sandwiching my Christmas quilt together.  Actually I sandwiched it twice.  The first time it I sandwiched it, I was afraid there were going to be puckers on the back.

When you put so much time and effort into something, I decided to redo it.

It is better to fix mistakes now than later.

I think my biggest mistake was not asking for help.

A queen size quilt is really large to sandwich together by myself and it is not my favorite thing to do.  I've also considered having a long arm quilter baste it for me with water soluble thread and not have the irritation!

Last year I bought a DVD from Lisa Calle called Divide and Design.   She is an award winning long arm quilter.  I was introduced to her through Connected Threadz.  She had posted some videos on YouTube.  I took time to watch the DVD and follow her instructions on how she designs her quilts.  

After spending a whole evening contemplating designs,  I made a plan.

I love Lisa's way of designing and wish I could take a class from her in person, but I am extremely thankful that Lisa took time to make a video.

I am the type of person that will sit down without a plan on how I'm going to quilt and start quilting!

That's okay for some quilts, but I want this one to be special.

This is going to take me a long time to quilt on my domestic machine, but it's not impossible.

I work on one block at a time and start in the center.

My quilt top is both spray and pin basted.

 The secret to free motion quilting a project like this is to work on one block at a time.

I take a lot of breaks and learn to walk away when I'm tired.

Today is going to be a beautiful day!

Happy Quilting!

Kay Lynne

It's Time to Take a Break!

I have been blessed with sometime to sew my Christmas quilt top together.

These are the bottom three rows--what was I thinking?

I wasn't thinking. 

It was getting late and I was excited to get this top all together.

The upside down error was found and it was quickly decided that it was time to quit for the night.

Sometimes we need to just stop what we're doing and take a break.

Things always look better in the morning!

Happy Quilting

Kay Lynne

P.S.   The book called "Redwork Winter Twitterings" by Pearl Louise Kruch  are the patterns that I am using in my Christmas quilt.   If you are interested, this book can be found on Amazon's website.  The other blocks are from EQ software program.