Summer is here and hot! Let me show you what I’m working on!

Lately, I’ve been back to the basics, revisiting foundational studies. With my experience in drawing and painting, I’m realizing my mind is more “ready” to take on some of the nuances that went over my head during my art school days. Fighting the sunscreen, I’m working on the muscles of the face by the lake!

My recent research doesn’t stop at humans. Road tripping with my honey we made lots of stops to see some of the massive working horses that plow the fields. Nothing quite sticks to memory like experiencing what I’m studying in real life.

The horses weren’t the only ones we met.

Below a video of my favorite horse (AND HER BABY) we ran acorss in farm country. If it’s not working you can watch on my youtube channel. Link

Using what I learned in the field and some textbooks I’m commiting the anatomy to memory.

Let’s talk sewing!!!

My puff quilt is all done. This project was huge and HEAVY. I went wild with my colors (and antagonized for days how to arrange them. ;) Maisey has found herself quite at home on it, in fact, at home we fight over it!

I was first inspired by the “traditional” american style of quilting. The image below is one of my great-grandma’s handmade quilts. (Thanks for the photo Mom.) For my quilt, I altered the pattern to incorporate more machine sewing. Next time, I will try her way :) I’ll write more about making my MEGA PUFF in July.

This fabric below by Tilda took my breath away in the shop. While I woudn’t use it for other areas of my home it fits in perfectly to my eclectic studio. I was inspired by this pattern: Link It was simple to make, easy to follow and serves as a good “base” pattern if you want to customize it.

I decided to add free motion meandering to the bags before I put the lining in. I was delightfully surprised when it added some stiffness to the bag. I’m so addicted to free motion, I wrote a little about my (ongoing) journey with it in another post here.)

The look is quite subtle. Can’t wait to stuff these with pens!

Let me leave you with one of my rununculous! Isn’t she perfect?! We got to enjoy them for only a short time before the bunnies got to them. SIGH*

We’ve been enjoying summer and I hope you have too. Until next time!

Kirbi

To me, free motion quilting is to me, one of the most artful and challenging quilting skills! When I first start practicing it was so discouraging. My thread was breaking! Nests of threads all over my work! To practice, I created a quilt sandwich. This image is from my organic quilt tutorial you can find at this LINK.

SIGH* This below was one of my more successful practice pieces, but still struggling so much to make stitches even. At this point I wasn’t worried about a pattern, I just wanted to create a line without any problems!!

I just hate wasting fabric but I knew I needed to try it on something bigger so I could really work on my stitch length and groove. A small quilt sandwich I’d finish in a few minutes. This quilt yellow, red and white quilt top was something I had laying around that I didn’t really have much of a plan for.

Working on smaller areas, like focussing on each triangle at a time drastically improved my work. I found that when you are ready to lay down your foot, take a PAUSE and know what direction you are going to go!! Heh, isn’t that a thought for life?

I worked each half triangle with loop de loops at first. I decided NO rip-outs, this is for practice!!

I have big illustration projects going on in the studio so I’m sewing in the kitchen. My kitchen table is the biggest surface in the house and I found it very helpful to have everything laid nice and flat. My Juki has a large, adaquet throat space but is not a long arm so more surface space is helpful.

Durring this time I focused on making sure the begining of the stitch was clean - no birds nests. This means bringing up my bobbin thread and holding any thread tails out of the way. Some triangles were a disaster and some I was seeing progress. Towards the end when I felt ready, I went for the meander, and I saw it start to happen! People, I squealed out loud with joy!

All my practice began to pay off and the meander was just HAPPENING! Flying high was an understatement and I was feeling confident enough to do a meander for a special quilt I was planning for my sweet cousin’s baby boy on the way.

This quilt is simple squares but by using a lot of different patterned fabrics it makes a “simple” quilt more elevated. The meandering will become more of the start of the show. Here, I’m using moda fabric. It isn’t cheap to make a quilt with a lot of variations but for this special gift, I had help funding this big project. Get this, the title of this fabric collection was called MEANDER! I believe in signs!

I should mention, I drive a JUKI. I love my Juki so much, my favorite aspect is the self-threading needle. It always works and is so quick, with a click of a button I’m off to the races. It has a lot of the fancier features of the very high-end and expensive machines but more affordable. I have an affiliate link to a very similar machine in my store if you are interested in learning more.

You can see the piecing coming together below. Trying to get each corner pointy and crisp. Most quilters work in strips but I find working into large blocks works best for me. When I sew long strips, I’m more likely to get an “off” corner.

One the quilt top is done, I sandwiched it up! I used two layers of batting for extra snuggliness. The top layer I used a lofty batting for extra poof. I’ve been into spray basting lately, (check out my store for what I use.)

Now, one thing I’ve learned about spray basting is that you need to let that stuff DRY for a day. Eager is an understandment for me, but that stuff will gunk up your needle and you’ll end up breaking thread, having wonky stitches - all the frustrating problems. It’s just pure torcher to let this thing lay here and not sew it. up!

I went for the meader, one square at a time. Once big sections started to finish up I couldn’t stop squealing! Ek! I’m really doing it! I left tails long so I could bury them later in the traditional way.

Even though I spray basted this quilt, I found the edges of the blanket were tough to meander as the fabric was wanting to flip on me so I ended up pining them down and that fixed the problem beautifully. I treated myself to these unicorns pins by Tula, because, well, unicorns + pink obviously.

The meandering turns this gingham back into something extra special. A pattern on the back also helps hide any oopsies - they happen!

The final touch…. a heart on the corner. To create this heart I used water-soluble paper and used ALL the tiny scraps from the project. If you’d like to create a signature detail like mine check out my tutorial how to make a heart like this! You can find the tutorial on youtube here.

May you find your own canvas to create on in the everyday things you do today. Have a great week.

xx

Kirbi

People, it’s gotten BAD in the studio this weekend! Look at this mess! We decided to move Evans studio upstairs to the guest bedroom and the guest bed downstairs next to my studio. Even though my studio wasn’t moving, it got hit with some “wind damage” during the big migration. Hashtag, no filter.

Staying in throughout this pandemic, we’ve craved change and function - we’ve done a lot of rearranging. This move will give me some space in the guest bedroom closet for low-touch art supplies and books. Evan gets a bigger room for his music. He plays a lot of different instruments and desperately needs more space! More updates as we get things “settled.”

Spring has come in a big way here in Michigan, below is a picture of us getting started on the garden! Hard to believe it was snowing just a week or two ago.

The hose just flopped like this so I had to take a pic!

There’s a ton to be done out here, but the building, imagining and tending are what makes it fun. One of my many canvases.

We got these sails a few years ago and it’s helped give us some shade, which a lot of my indoor plants that I bring outside need.

I decided this year to do my mini garden/fairy garden in one of these big feed troughs I got from Tracker Supply. More soon!

This weekend I became ADDICTED to making these lanyards! They are an amazing stash buster. Here is a link to the pattern I used: LINK

Here, I’m pulling scraps and coming up with combos!

My first attempt (below) was a little shakey. As first times often are! I used a footer that was too big, with shaky stitches that weren’t close enough to the edge. When the stitches are close to the edge it gives it a more professional look I think.

One of the adjustments I made to the pattern was to not put the ring on until it was finished, with all the clips and sewing in the round, it’s just too much!

Another suggestion I have is to make sure the ironing is CRISP. I even used a fabric stiffener to make sure my creases were tip-top! The more I practiced the better I got.

Well, happy spring everyone. Have a good Monday!

2022 Green Earth Book Award Long List Announced

“We are proud to announce the Long List of nominees for the 2022 national Green Earth Book Award, which we bestow annually to children’s and young adult literature that best convey the message of environmental stewardship. The Long List includes qualified submissions for five categories: Picture Book; Children’s Fiction; Children’s Nonfiction, Young Adult Fiction; and Young Adult Nonfiction. From this list, one winner and potentially several honor books will be chosen in each category.”

Read more about the recipients at this link.