Month: December 2019

Looking Forward to 2020

Posted on by Betty Jo's Blog / Posted in Ancient manuscripts, Books, Deep space quilts, Design Work, Embellishment, Food for Thought, High-Tech Studio, Making Clothes, My Family, Show Quilts / 2 Comments

Happy New Year everyone and God’s blessings on your lives for the new decade!

I have a lot of fun plans for 2020.  As I usually do, I have almost certainly planned more than I can accomplish, but there is always the offhand chance I will actually get them all done and that would be grand.

As many of you may remember I made big plans for clothes making in November.  Read all about it here in my past blog.  But November was basically eaten up with my making of my son David’s “leather” coat, which, albeit successful in the end, required a lot of unexpected time while I polished up my rusty tailoring skills from decades ago, fixing several big mistakes, and taking my time doing a good job on the coat with the great feet and machine I had to sew it with.  If you missed it, you can see the end results in this blog.

But I still need some new clothes for myself.  Fortunately, most of the fabric I have for this update is four season fabric.  So I am going to scatter this sewing across the year.  Besides, I am hoping to lose some more weight so it would be a good idea to go kind of slowly in this wardrobe revamp project.

In the meantime, I hunted through some of the older jackets and shirts I had stored away I used for work that I haven’t worn for a while because they got too tight, but now they are nice and lose.  Some even require taking in.  The first thing I did last week was take a tan faux suede jacket I had but never wore much because it was just too boring, and embroidered the back and fronts with some really pretty steam punk designs in blues.  The designs include an old style sewing machine, an owl, and a bunch of gears and swirls.  They came from this OREA set of designs.  It really improved it and I will be using these designs elsewhere.  I also found the long dress that goes with it.  I don’t really wear dresses anymore, but it is also made from the same nice faux suede and I might make a bag or something to go with the jacket or I might just wear it as is, adding maybe some embroidery on it too, but I doubt I will do that.  In any event, I am not planning on buying new clothes in 2020, because I can make the ones I have work and can make some new ones while I continue to lose weight.

I think I have what I need ready to go now for my trip to California to see my brother, sister-in-law, and the Road to California show we are going to together.  It was a wonderful gift from my SIL.  We have a lovely relationship and I really am thrilled with this trip.  I will also get to see my nephew and his family.

Sew once I get back to my studio what are my plans?  Since I usually work on two quilts at a time, this year I will work on one quilt and one garment at a time for a while.  I like working two projects to give me some changes in muscle and eye activities periodically without losing a lot of time.

Sew in addition to my clothing plans I have an exciting plan for show quilts, books, and maybe some additional items for sale.  Right now, I am quilting my Mom’s memory quilt.  I have made a significant start in the quilting, but I have a long ways to go.  I really enjoyed returning to quilting this past week.

I made a list to pick from  the other day for 2020 show quilts.  I was thinking four quilts, and ended up with nine on the list to choose from.  I am fairly certain I won’t get nine show quilts made this year…hahahahaha.  Here’s a short list of some of the ones I am considering making.

  1. Mom’s memory quilt already well along the way
  2. A strata landscape quilt with embroidered and beaded fossils
  3. A steam locomotive train scene using the fabric I digitized and had printed for the background
  4. A new ancient manuscript quilt (probably Excalibur)
  5. A new deep space quilt
  6. An ancient map with a ragged edge
  7. A deep ancient forest that shows off my couching and thread painting
  8. Several landscape quilts based on my daughter-in-law’s beautiful travel and flower pictures
  9. A wool applique quilt with interesting decorative stitches and heavily beaded.

Plus I am writing two books, which require samples.  I am about halfway through the one on embellishments and have the one on quilting for art quilters outlined and started.

I will do what I can and not try to push myself too hard this year…just sew along and enjoy myself along the way.  But I would really love to get it all done.  Great fun in my studio.

Sew happy everyone!  I would love to know what your plans for the new year are, at least to begin the year.  Enjoy your New Year’s Eve and Day!

Making Christmas Presents…A Comedy of Errors

Posted on by Betty Jo's Blog / Posted in Embroidery, My Studio, Techniques / 2 Comments

OK gentle readers, I have completed making four in-the-hoop zip bags using this OESD design, and adding my own embroidery between step three and step four for both Christmas presents and me.  They are generally fairly easy to make, and they all came out just wonderfully.  But I made a comedy of errors while I was making them, to the point that it was downright funny.  Do you ever have days like that in your studio?

OESD’s Zippered pouches…their picture.

Thank goodness, all the errors I made were easy to fix.  Here’s my funny list each error only done once:

  • I forgot to open the zipper on one bag and had to undo the edge seam (while still in the hoop) and move the zipper pull (I opened just a small amount and caught the zipper pull with one of my old dull rippers and pushed it to the center.  Worked great), then I backed up the digital in-the-hoop program so that it restitched the edge seam.
  • I forgot to put the handle into the seam before stitching the back to the front.  I unstitched the seam as I did in the first error and put the handle in the seam and then backed up the program so it restitched the edge seam.
  • I got the back lining that I was stitching in with the back on the inside, so when I turned it the pretty cotton lining was on the outside.  I decided it really looked great that way and left it.  The lining is not suggested in their design, but I decided to add it just to the back.  The front is folded over and provides its own lining that way.
  • I got the zipper pull too close to the edge when I opened the zipper and broke a needle when it went by, or rather didn’t go by.  Sigh.  I replaced the needle, found all the broken needle pieces and moved the zipper pull further toward the center and restitched.

So how many zipper bags did I make?  four.  Did each one have an error?  Yes, listed above. Did they all come out nice…yes!!!

But really, these zipper bags are easy to make…just don’t forget anything.  I should have made a list and checked it off.  I suggest you do that.  I know I will for future little projects like this.

Ok, now I am ready to do the few other small Chistmas gifts I am planning on making, although I might make another one just for me. Maybe I should go back to quilting and just send Christmas cards only, or maybe I’ll quit for the day and hope I get my head on straight tomorrow.  LOL

Sew happy everyone!  Merry Christmas one and all.

Christmas is coming! Quilted Art Makes Wonderful Presents

Posted on by Betty Jo's Blog / Posted in My business, selling quilts, Uncategorized

Night on the Bayou $2080 59″ x 31″ Just back from Houston IQA 2019!

Hi everyone!  I have a few quilts for which I have recently reduced the prices until 20 January 2020.  I am going to California in late January to visit my brother and his family and to attend the Road to California quilt show.  I’m so excited, but I would really love to have some spending money for this trip and to pay a few bills.  Also, my walls are full.  LOL.  I rotate them, but really, it would be lovely to have some people who like them to have them to enjoy on their walls.  Yes, they are kind of pricey, but we can arrange some kind of payment schedule with half up front and all payments are to be made through PayPal.  Contact me through my email BettyJo@bjfabricartist.com  if  you are interested I can arrange to send you some additional photographs or descriptions if you’d like.  These quilts have all been in national/international quilt shows in the United States.  They are totally original designs, except that Night on the Bayou is based on a painting by Disney Artist Joel Christopher Payne (I purchased the rights for one quilt) but I did some changes to accommodate the very textural quilted art. All quilts have a rod pocket and label on the back.

Summer Melody A 2016 Hoffman Challenge Quilt $220 33.5″ x 29″

 

Drawing Nigh $2080 39.5 x 44.5

And this little quilt

The Storyteller
A Hoffman Challenge 2013 quilt
$325
35.5″ x 37.5″

I have others for purchase.  You can see them here:  Gallery

Sew happy everyone!  There are some wonderful fabric art adventures you can make out  there.  Watch this space for ideas, techniques, and other related news.  Merry Christmas!

 

 

 

Finished “Leather” Coat, What Is Next, and a Quilt for Sale

Posted on by Betty Jo's Blog / Posted in Classes, Fabrics, Machines, Making Clothes, Panel quilts, selling quilts / 3 Comments

I am struck by how much my readership dwindled during this past month as I worked on the “leather” coat for my youngest son.  I think it is informative to me that most of my readers are most interested in quilting, which doesn’t surprise me.  Well, nevermind.  I have finished the “leather” coat and I am going to do some quilting next before I do anymore clothing.  I do want to make a couple of pairs of slacks for me before I go to Road to California in late January.  But I am going to quilt, make a few small Christmas momentos in my embroidery hoop, and maybe a new bag to calm my sewing nerves after this tough project before I resume my clothing efforts sometime early in January.  LOL

The coat.

Well, it was time consuming and tough.  Why was it tough?  Not really because of the “leather” but more because I was tailoring a man’s coat for which I did not have a commercial pattern that fit.

One of the welted flap pockets

I was rusty in my tailoring methodology.  And yes, the “leather” does take more care and time, but it is still relatively easy to sew on.

Detail of collar

My new Bernina 880 plus, Odette, and the feet designed for use with the leather were marvelous.  I had no problems at all with that.  All the problems were mine.  LOL  Did I enjoy this project?  Well, yes.  I felt very happy to re-aquire my tailoring skills and enjoyed the sewing, which was amazingly easier than my decades ago work with leather.  I was only frustrated with my mistakes that cost me time and “leather” and with the time it was taking me.

Lapel detail

Now I have to dig out my studio and put away the scraps and so forth.  Then I have a workshop coming up “Embellish This! that I am teaching at G Street Fabrics in Rockville, Maryland on Friday the 13th (!) at 11 am to 3 pm.  It is largely filled, but I think there is another one or two places if you want to come and have a lot of fun. But I am all prepared for that one, so it won’t cost me any more time.

Finally, I put one of my quilts on special sale because need some spending money for my trip to R2CA.  I have reduced the price of this fun quilt to $899 from $1250.  I love this quilt that is centered around an Alfred Shaheen Vintage panel and I quilted on my Bernina Q20 pulling from Bethanne Nemesh’s book Quilted Textures from A to Zen for the textured quilting patterns.  I can provide more detailed photos if you are interested.

Tropical Garden, June 2017 36″ x 51.5″. I hand painted the border.

So contact me at BettyJo@bjfabricartist.com to buy this quilt.  We can arrange payments through PayPal.

Sew happy everyone!  Have some fun in your studio this week!