July 29, 2022

WHO DOESN'T LOVE "UNDER THE SEA" PROJECTS?

As I finished my Yellowstone Memories, when it's backed I will do a blog on it next, I was dreaming of doing another Under the Sea Project!

For those that don't know me or are new to my journey, I took my second class from Judith Baker Montano in June 2013, called Under the Sea! And boy was I hooked!!!

This was the piece we started in class, and then I finished at home.

Then I was featured as "cover girl" on Crazy Quilt Quarterly 2015 by Pamela Kellogg and she requested a UTS project.

I later framed it this way.

That same year, I contributed to the CQ Gathering Calender 2015 with this piece:

Then my hubby wanted me to do one for him, so I did this one: 

Which I call Underwater Fantasia, it is framed in glass and won an award at an art gallery in Pocatello.

Then in 2019, I contributed to another Calender with this one:

The mermaid in this one was painted by Annette Graves.

So I guess you might think, I would be tired to this medium or where else can I go with it...

Well the ideas are endless!!!

I have studied all the UTS projects done by everyone in Crazy Quilt Divas and International in the Albums. I was astounded at the many variations found there. As I collected some fabrics I soon realized that I couldn't do just one block! I have come up with four: a blue block, a green block, brown and purple blocks!!!

I put together my blue block, I chose one fabric for the top half, but cut in pieces to crazy quilt together. This is 13" by 16". I use a heavier muslin than the normal light weight,  one called industrial weight, from JoAnn's. I find it holds the piece as it gets heavy. I also sew around the border to give me my ending point, but also to hold the piece together, which seems to keep it from bunching up. 

So as I play with threads, laces (Nicki Seavey Ravioli Dreams) trims, yarns, etc. 

I started out with a cut out from Laura Burch Fabric for the three sea horses. I then added some yarns for seaweed. Lace fish and seahorse were from Nicki. Batik fabrics are great ones to use for UTS projects, here you can see the one on the left has seahorses on it. 

By the second day, I have added more yards and threads, stitches, laces, etc. The shibori and velvet are bunched as you stitch them in place and add embellishments in the folds.

On the last day, I also bunched the silks from two different blouses, along with the fancy fabric, bottom right corner. 

So thanks for visiting. I already have 3 more blocks ready to start embellishing, and I will do a post here after each one. 
I hope you click on follow me, you get an email from blogger when I do a new post. 

Stay tune for more on this project.

Happy Stitching!!!

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 March 23, 2022

Hard to believe I haven't done a post since last July...but then that means I have been busy stitching and have several projects to share with you today!!!

Where to start? Last summer, in doing garage sales I met a wonderful who has become a special friend.  When I gave her my card, she asked if I had ever been to Kasha Quilts. Well, since I hadn't heard of the place, we made a date for the trip to a museum in Genesee. https://visitidaho.org/things-to-do/museums-galleries/kascha-quilts/ 

Meeting Karen Hagen was a wonderful experience, as not only does she have a great personality, but she is a very accomplished quilter! Not only has she made traditional quilts, but also many art quilts along with crazy quilts. You can visit her at her Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/Kascha-Quilts-107625174400248/

With over 450 quilts of her own making...it is very hard to pick out favorites. Of course, I fell in love with her crazy quilts. Here's one she made, and has worn in the past.

One of her Under the Sea quilts is just spectacular.

But one I really fell in love with, is her crazy quilts with clowns...all done in velvets! It's a very heavy quilt naturally. It's cleverly done with the shape of the clowns making the pieces match to others.

Here, is Karen showing us the pieces of the quilt.

 

Well, then I made a gift for my friend, Lynn for introducing me to Karen who then introduced me to the Palouse Quilters Guild and I was invited to do a show and tell.

I made this pillow for Karen,  the picture in the center is one done by Annette Eldon Graves, https://www.facebook.com/annette.graves. She is not only a wonderful crazy quilter herself, but a wonderful artist. 

This is the back of the pillow. I named the piece, Enjoy the Journey.

Then I made a hanging piece as a thank you gift for Karen, using her picture of her quilt, and played off all of those colors and theme. I titled it, "Where are the Clowns?"

In October, I bought a picture from Zen to Zany, https://www.etsy.com/listing/508564311/visit-their-world-item-110-prints-and?ref=shop_home_active_5

I also received the peacock from Nicki Seavey and just had to use it! 

I call this one Look For His Signs!!!

Then in November, I bought a T Shirt, and I loved the quote so much, that I photographed the picture on the shirt, and printed it out on fabric to make a wall hanging. 

Then in church one morning, we sang the song "I Raise a Hallelujah in the presence of my enemies".

So it just seemed like the words to the song matched the theme that was developing in my mind.

I found charms to match the words, along with charms of musical notes!

Then in November and December I realized I had no wall hanging for the Holidays. Even though I have a crazy quilt under my tree, I wanted something for the entry way.

So I made one for Christmas.

Since there are three kittens on the quilt, Sonny, Mikey and Goldie. And this being our first Christmas with no pets, I decided to make it their tribute!

And then I wanted one that could be hanging on the wall into January for what is usually our snow month!

I call this one His Winter Star!

Then in February, I felt a subject tugging at my heart. Though I have not raised any children, that doesn't mean I don't feel very strongly how our children have been treated in this travesty that we have been in worldwide. 

You don't have to believe like I do, but I have studied and seen the 120 medical studies that have said for over 20 years, that masks do not block viruses. Even surgeons know they wear them to stop sneezing into an open wound. But it is beyond me why anyone who would put masks on children. The main way they learn the world around them is by learning to read faces. 

So I made this quilt, called "Suffer His Little Children." After all, God is the one who creates and blesses families with children. And He has much to say about them in the Bible.

This is the top half. The labels in brown were too dominate in white, so I dyed them with coffee!!!

This is the middle.

This is the bottom half.

This quilt is 20" by 30".

Well that catches you up to what I have been into for the last several months. But have no fear, there is already a new project on my table!!

Have a great year, thanks for visiting. 

And as always, Happy Stitching!!!

BJ Sandusky

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Happy July 4th to the United States of America!!!

I hope everyone had a wonderful celebration this past weekend...we did!! Since it was a milestone of being a year and a half past diagnosis, it was special to us...and in our town, they shoot the fireworks over the river, giving awesome reflections!!!

A couple months ago, Sandy, my husband, asked if I would make something for his wall in his office. He wanted something Southwestern to reflect our trips to Arizona. So I said sure, I had already been collecting such ideas.

This picture from the internet was my "inspiration"...

I love the orange sky, with the purple mountains. So I was ready to start.

First I collected fabrics together, surprisingly, I seem to gravitate to mostly batiks!

I couldn't resist the sunset fabric, then I cut the mountain fabrics, and then crazy quilted the foreground.

Then I had to collect the doodads needed!!!

Then I found real Cholla wood, cactus skeletons...you can find almost anything on Etsy!!!

Once I got my "picture" in place, I felt it needed a frame of sorts...

So I made strips of foundation to crazy quilt in a simple pattern...choosing the same color palette and matching up oranges with the sunset colors, and the ground with darker colors. 

So now it has a basic frame. I added the second upper cacti because my depth of perception was off without them...always pays to go back and look at your original inspiration idea!!

The Blue Shibori Silk ribbon represents a river flowing out of the mountains, Sandy's idea!

My friend Nicki Seavey sent me the little scraps of lace that look like small cacti...so perfect!!! Thanks Nicki, they really added a special touch to the whole piece!!!

So now the wrap up!!! I will post the final picture and then some close-ups! We still need to frame it, may go to Michaels and have it put on a stretch canvas....don't know yet...

This above, is the upper left, I did stitches on all the seams in the border, and then added charms for each one.

I just love the little cactus skeleton, maybe there will be more on the final frame!

Last month was a milestone birthday for me...just turned 70!!! Sandy surprised me with a River Boat Cruise on the Snake river! It was a great day!!!

Thanks for visiting...now that my sewing table is empty, it's time to start thinking of a new project!!!

Stay tuned!!!

Happy Stitching...check out my Flickr site also!

BJ Sandusky