Quilt Reveal: Al-Buraq

 The Project Quilting Challenge this week is Mythical Creatures. The first thought that came to my mind was Pegasus, but when I found pictures of a winged horse with a face, I immediately gravitated towards the Al-Buraq.  One of my rules for this challenge, since there is only a week to make it, is to not overthink any decisions and to just keep going with the flow.  Decision-making takes more time.

So I present to you, Al-Buraq. I love the metallic border that frames my creature and I think for a mythical creature it is a successful project.  Looking at this picture right now, the face reminds me of that photo that looks like a beautiful woman and an old woman at the same time. My quilt doesn't have that feature, I don't think, it just reminds me of that. My creature doesn't have an attractive face, but that wasn't a requirement for me.  Poor creature has to run against the wind, so there is bound to be some damage from that.

With my just in time inventory, I finished this quilt just in time to post for the Project Quilting Challenge

Al-Buraq Quilt by Shelina Virjee

This quilt fits the requirements of the finished projects in that it has applique, three layers and the edges are finished.  Just all of my quilts, though, I reserve the right to come back to do more. And right now, this quilt is calling for more.  I do want to add more quilting on it, and maybe some other embellishments like beading.

Here is the link to the other Project Quilting challenge entries.

Quilt Reveal: Bona Lisa

I started the Bona Lisa quilt in October as a part of the Something Wicked blog hop challenge.

 

I used a pattern by Joan who is one of the hostesses of the blog hop challenge.  It is a part of a bigger quilt, but I just used the pattern of the center. 

I combined applique and quilting as I usually do.

I then added some simple stitching in the background which you can't really see on the front, but you will see it on the back.

In December, I finished quilting it.  

I enjoyed making it so much that I took the time to make a label for it.  I was planning on hand stitching the rest of the label down in December, but I set it aside to make the daily videos in December. 

I finished sewing the label yesterday, so this quilt is ready for its big reveal! It fits perfectly as a door banner.

Here's the back so you can see the stitching. 

 This is the 13th quilt I finished this year, which is an appropriate number for a Halloween quilt, and the 161th quilt that I have ever finished.

Here is the video where I made the quilt.

Here is the 15 Minutes to Quilt video where I made the label.

Here is the 15 Minutes to Quilt video where I added the binding and label.

My Wicked Quilt: Bona Lisa

I am participating in the Something Wicked blog hop and now it's time for my blog hop day.  

I've been seeing a lot of beautiful Halloween patterns lately, and since Joan and Carol have been so accommodating and kind in hosting this blog hop, I decided to use one of their patterns. They both have provided so many Halloween patterns that it is difficult to choose, but a lot of them are on another hard drive, so it was pretty easy to choose.

I chose the center panel of the block of the month, Bona Lisa. The pattern is by Joan Kawano and the pattern is called Bona Lisa's Sweater Emporium 2024 BOM.  This is the pattern for the center of the quilt, and the remaining blocks are supposed to surround the center panel, but I decided to keep it simple and make this one block. 

I had thought about adding a house in the background, to go with my last Halloween quilt, but my fabric wasn't wide enough.  

I put together the headstone first, securing the fusible applique with some stitches. I chose a different fabric for the yarn at first, but I kept seeing this scrap of fabric from the Tropical Fish quilt and it looks more like yarn to me, so I switched it out.

The green is the backing fabric and will be trimmed away before I bind it.

Then I put together the skeleton and decided to combine the stitching to secure the applique with the quilting. I didn't use the layout in the pattern and didn't overlap the bones nearly as much as the pattern does.  I used the rejected yarn fabric for the mouth, though I realize my Lisa is going to have peach lipstick all over her teeth!  

I thought about adding more blocks around this panel, but I decided to stop here.  I have so many quilts that I need to finish that I wanted to get this one finished, which means the panel is enough by itself.  

The size of it is perfect for a door banner, and if I put it on the coat closet which is right by the front door, I think it makes a nice welcome for the season.

I need to do some more quilting on it, to secure the background with dark thread, to add the teeth, but since it gets dark early, I decided I could finish it tomorrow instead of rushing to get it done. I like to enjoy the process, and I am really enjoying making this quilt.

I also thought about adding extras like a bat or pumpkins or spider, but for some reason, this quilt is really satisfying the way it is, and I don't feel the need to add anything else.  See, I can stop when I want. I'm not addicted to quilting.

I'll show you the finished quilt soon.  

Be sure to check out the other participants in the blog hop this week. I gave you the list in my last post.

Something Wicked Blog Hop Starts on Monday!

 The "Something Wicked" blog hop is starting next week! This time, I will be posting my quilt at a wickedly early hour on Monday. 

Be sure to join us for the wicked fun!

Look who will be creating their magic:

OCTOBER 21

Just Let Me Quilt - hostess

Just Sew Quilter

Sew Many Yarns

Patchouli Moon Studio

High Road Quilter - that's me!

OCTOBER 22

Quilt Schmilt

Selina Quilts

Quilted Snail

Karrin’s Crazy World

Scrapdash

OCTOBER 23

A Quiltery

Elizabeth Coughlin Designs

Beaquilter

Homespun Hannah's Blog

OCTOBER 24

MooseStashQuilting

Ms P Designs USA

Quilted Delights

Quilting Between the Rails

Catching Up

 

I can't believe it's been a whole month since I last posted. So much has been going on.

I have been working on making progress on my quilts, but mostly I have been making videos.

I made a video about How I Made the Tropical Fish Quilt With a Pieced Border. I showed  this quilt to you in my last post. I wish Blogger would show the whole thumbnail instead of just part of it.

I bought another batch of African fabric, and recorded a video about that.  It turned out to be too long and kept crashing my system, so instead of making a three part video, I decided to make three videos. The first one, The Controversy About African Fabrics, reached a lot of viewers, and the comments on this video are worth the read.

The second video Quilting With African Fabrics, FAQs Answered is really helpful as it answers all of the questions I had when I first was introduced to the fabrics, as well as questions I have been asked. 

The third one was going to be the one where I show closeups of the fabric.  I made videos but I used the the clips to explain things in the other two videos.  I might still show that as a separate video, something about drooling over the fabric and coming up with plans for them.  I also want to make a video about how I made the people for the Elephant Parade quilt. I could use some of this fabric for that.

Then I made a very short video as a part of my series for beginning quilters. How to Tell if a Fabric is Cotton or Polyester.  The shorter videos don't do as well, but maybe it is because I don't have many videos in the beginner series yet.

Finally today, I published the delightful interview I had with Susan Lenz Dingman. She is a textile artist I have been following for many years.  She works with found objects and she stretches the meaning of the word "quilt" in so many ways. I love all of the series of works that she has created. She has traveled across the country to have art installations in galleries and museums, she has sold art as commissions, and has gone on artist residencies.

I got an email that I won a Babylock sewing machine, and I will tell you about that soon.

Next week, I will be participating in the "Something Wicked" blog hop.

I get so excited about Halloween and love to see what my creepy friends create.

The wicked fun begins October 21st...I can't wait!

Look who will be creating their magic:

OCTOBER 21

Just Let Me Quilt

Just Sew Quilter

Sew Many Yarns

Patchouli Moon Studio

High Road Quilter - that's me!

OCTOBER 22

Quilt Schmilt

Selina Quilts

Karrin’s Crazy World

Scrapdash

Quilted Snail

OCTOBER 23

A Quiltery

Elizabeth Coughlin Designs

Beaquilter

Homespun Hannah's Blog

OCTOBER 24

MooseStashQuilting

Ms P Designs USA

Quilted Delights

Quilting Between the Rails

I have been busy working on my quilt.  I will post it on Monday. I look forward to seeing you next week!

Quilt Reveal: Tropical Fish Quilt

 

I started this Tropical Fish quilt for the July blog hop, but I wasn't able to finish it before my post date. Since then, I have finished quilting and binding it, and it is now ready for its grand reveal.

The fish is made with free cut applique pieces, made out of fabric scraps from some of my other projects. I used school glue instead of fusible to secure it. I combined stitching down the applique pieces with the quilting. 

I surrounded the fish with half square triangles. I could have used scraps for this part, but I was eager to cut into my bright and colorful fabric. I used the two at a time method to make the half square triangles. I cut the squares larger so I didn't have to deal with eighths, but didn't bother to trim the blocks. Instead of making the center panel fit the size of the blocks, I made the borders first, and then cut the center panel the size of the blocks.

It was fun to make this quilt with the colorful fabric and the free motion quilting.

I wound up with four hours of video, even though I didn't video each step, like the binding. I was able to reduce it down to a more reasonable size by cutting out lots of it, and speeding some of it to 400%. Speeding the video caused my editing program to crash several times, and I had to break down the video into two pieces to get it to work without crashing.

I am getting pretty good with finding workarounds to problems and am enjoying the editing process.

According to my spreadsheet, I have finished 160 quilts in my lifetime. I still have to work on finishing more quilts than I started, but I have finished a lot of quilts this year.

Linked with:

Wednesday Wait Loss

Patchwork and Quilts Link Party

Off The Wall Friday

Quilt Reveal: Five Minute Quilt

 I thought it would be fun to try out the AI trend, so even though I have lots of ideas for quilt videos, I asked AI to give me a title, a description and a script for a viral YouTube video and waited to see the results.

I have to admit that it took me five minutes to stop laughing, because the title said "How to Make a Quilt in Five Minutes".  Since making a quilt is so much fun, why would anyone want to make one that quickly. Wouldn't you want to make the fun last as long as possible?

Also, I don't think it is possible to make a quilt in five minutes. My spreadsheet says my average speed to make a quilt is one year, but that includes the time it waits while I think. Start to finish, I estimate my minimum speed to be eight hours for a simple quilt.

It makes sense though that someone might just want a quick explanation about what quilting is about, to decide whether they would be willing to do those things, or maybe to understand why someone else is so interested in quilting.

I started reading the script and it is definitely about making a quilt in five minutes. I think I might be able to make a quilt in five minutes. Maybe a 3" x 5" whole quilt, sewn around the edges to batting and binding and turned right side out. A line for quilting. I'm not sure, but it would only be five minutes of my time, so I accepted the challenge. After all, if I meet the challenge, I am a winner, but if I don't, I can say "I told you it wasn't possible".

Then I read more of the script, and it talks about cutting five inch squares, and making rows and sewing rows to each other. It didn't say how many squares, so maybe a four patch would work. It definitely ups the challenge, and makes it less manageable, but I was committed at this point and decided I would try to make it anyway. Just five minutes of my time, after all.

I made a video about this five minute challenge. I'll let you decide for yourself if I managed to meet the challenge. You get to decide if I wound up with a quilt, and whether I cheated.

I also made a video about explaining how to make a quilt in five minutes. I already had most of the video done, so I figured it would be pretty easy. I am still under the delusion that a five minute video will only take an hour to edit. It still takes me hours to edit even a five minute video.

I had a lot of fun with this challenge.