I will need to delay the Garden View Block of the Month until Fall.

Simply too busy with t-shirt quilts right now!

Until then, keep adding to your list the types of backyard nature you would like to include in your quilt.

My most recent little quilt – made for the January 12×12 Art Group Green Challenge .  Yes! Every bit of this quilt is green – green fabrics (very light to very dark), green fabric marker, and green Sulky Holoshimmer thread (wings). The leaves were quilted from the back side, using the printed fabric as a guide.

12 x 12 Green Challenge

Tried a new technique recently.  If you like to color, you might like to try this out!

1) Stitched out the  Statler design called “ttsq_fall_welcome” by Sweet Dreams Quilt Studio. [Another approach might be to transfer a block design that you like to fabric and stitch all of the lines with your regular sewing machine.]

2) Colored in the shapes using Crayola Crayons.

3) Painted Delta CeramCoat Textile Medium over the colored areas with a 1″ foam brush and a smaller paint brush for smaller shapes – straight from the bottle. This product should be heat set (with a hair dryer) and causes the colored pencil to become permanent. ‘Have since learned that Versatex Fixer does NOT need to be heat set.

Plan to hang my little quilt on a 12″ tabletop quilt stand.  Another idea is to stitch out several placemats for the kids/grand-kids to color during the holidays. Do not add textile medium, wash them and save for next year to be colored again!

To learn more about this kind of technique, Irena Bluhm’s websit is very is helpful and inspiring: http://www.irenabluhmscreations.com/information/

Made this quilt based on the Happy Villages technique by Karen Eckmeier – www.quilted-lizard.com

Techniques used: Raw edge pieces- glue basted, black tulle over all, then outline stitched by machine.  Pumpkins, ghosts and cats were fussy cut from a purchased Halloween fabric.

What to do with all of those thread tails from machine quilting?

Make Thread Bowls !

They are durable enough to store items in the sewing room,

and  also look nice as accent pieces. Great gift idea, too.

Image shown is 7″ across x 2″ tall

A modern interpretation of an antique quilt found in the book- American Quilts, the Democratic Art 1780-2007 by Robert Shaw;  Hand-done Redwork by Donna Hornovich Debbie Oman, Marlee Smearing and Rita Weitendorf;  Piecing and quilt assembly by Lisa Burmann Ruth McCormick and Carolyn Smith;  Quilting by Ruth McCormick and Lisa Burmann; Pattern drafted by Lisa Burmann; Quilt Label donated by Lynn Isler

Look in the 2012 Galleries for more photos.

My most recent finished top – “Crabapples”, a pattern from the book,   Adventures with Leaders and Enders, by Bonnie Hunter.  I added an additional row to the pattern to make the quilt measure 71″ x 85″.  This quilt will be in the May 10-11, 2013 CAMEO Quilt Show.

Fun new quilt that I made in April.  Inspired by the 2005 NY State Fair Visitor Guide.  More photos may be viewed in the Gallery and you can see it in person hanging in my studio.  Or, you can see it hanging at the AQS Grand Rapids Show in August!!

Same music, different quilt. This video was also created by my husband.  Hope that your enjoy it.