Project Management

Test Samples Provide Significant Help

Posted on by Betty Jo's Blog / Posted in Art Quilt Techniques, Design Work, Fine Tuning Series, Food for Thought, My micro-business, Project Management, skill building / Leave a comment

Current practice piece

Hi everybody,

For my work, I have found that test samples are indispensable when I am making a significant fabric art project or quilt.

Test and practice piece for my first wool applique by machine project

For my work, test samples are indispensable, especially when I am making an important fabric art or quilting project and I highly recommend them for your work.  I have had some of my students object to the use of the fabric, thread, and time that they take, sew I will tell you how I use mine.

I sandwiched two 24 x 25 inch test samples using the fabric on top that I am using in my main project.

Here is a sample test of borders for my quilt Out of Mom’s Workbasket

The point of these samples is to help me with the borders.  I have divided the sandwiches into three sections and then one of the sections on one of the sandwiches into three blocks, since my border has corner stone blocks.  I expect these two sandwiched samplers to help me do the following;

  • Practice my quilting so I am at my best when working on the finished project
  • Decide on the quilt patterns I want to use on the borders and corner blocks
  • Decide on the best way to mark them
  • Decide on the background stitching I want to use
  • Decide on the thread color, weight, and needles I want to quilt with
  • Decide on the stitch settings I want to use
  • Practice painting the designs to polish my painting skills before using it on my finished quilt, determine if I want them painted at all, and what paints to use.
  • Help prevent problems and mistakes on the main quilt.

If you finish the edges with a binding or serging, they make wonderful pet presents, knee guards for working on your knees in various chores, a sitting pad for a rest on an outdoor bench or step outdoors, and reference aids in your studios.

Here is a stitch out sample of the upper left corner of my quilt Pendragon. I digitized the outline of the ancient design, which needed a lot of fixing, so I had to do a stitchout before putting it on the quilt. I also wanted to try the painting to see how that would go. So I just stapled the sample into the book with notes.

Sew happy everyone!  Try using test samples if you don’t already.  They are worth the time and supplies they take. Have fun in your studios!

 

Welcome Fall with Fun Projects

Posted on by Betty Jo's Blog / Posted in a pattern, Applique, Art Quilt Techniques, Classes, Food for Thought, High-Tech Studio, Machines, My micro-business, My Studio, Project Management, skill building, Videos, Wool / 2 Comments

I don’t know about you, but September always seems to be the beginning of the sewing/quilting season to me.  I get kind of excited wondering what I can make and share in my studio.

I was looking at some of my already published YouTube projects, many of which also have workbooks and patterns available on my site store for little or no cost.  There are several there that will make wonderful Fall and Winter celebratory additions to a home or to make as gifts.

Fall Table Runner

Last year, with the help of my family production team, I made a fall table runner, but we did not get it out until mid November, which was clearly too late.  We realized it, but published it anyway for people to enjoy watching at least.  This year, you might want to look at this, purchase the workbook/pattern/digital embroidery (all in one package) and make it for your Fall celebrations.  It has three how-to videos linked below and the downloadable workbook package below that.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Workbook/Pattern Package

Machine Wool Applique Sampler

Here is the finished wool applique by machine sampler.

This is a fun little project that uses mostly circles and decorative stitching to make a little wall hanging using wool.  It is very like what some of you may do by hand, but is all done by machine with some specialty threads.  I had so much fun doing this and I think you would too.  You can choose your own colors.  It does not have a pattern, but if you watch all three videos you really won’t need one.  You can probably tell it was inspired by Sue Spargo’s fabulous hand stitched wool pieces.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Kingfisher wool appliqued pillow (by machine)

 

This project results in a really delightful decorator pillow for your living room or bed room.  It would make a really nice gift for someone.  Truth be told, I made it with mostly the leftovers from the wool sampler above and a pillow I got from Amazon.  It does have two how-to videos on YouTube and a downloadable  FREE workbook/pattern on my website shop. Links of all below.

Part 1

Part 2

Workbook/Pattern

Sew I hope you will take a look at these projects and even make one or more of them.  It would really help me if you subscribed to my YouTube and watched the projects.  I don’t currently get any money from these on YouTube and very few people have gotten the workbooks/patterns.  It would be fabulous if you did watch them all the way through and provided me with comments and suggestions.  I will also answer your questions along the way if you decide to make one or more of these projects.  Together they are like a virtual class where the instruction is free and the patterns are either free or modestly priced.

Some of my videos are simply sharing my work with you and are there for your viewing pleasure.  I am working on one like that now where I am currently making a new show quilt and showing bits and pieces here and there as I do so.

Sew happy everyone!  Have fun in your studio!

 

 

Landscape Quilt Techniques: Mountains and Evergreen Trees

Posted on by Betty Jo's Blog / Posted in Applique, Art Quilt Techniques, Deep space quilts, Design Work, Food for Thought, High-Tech Studio, My micro-business, Project Management, Show Quilts, skill building

Hi everybody!  I cannot believe it is March already!!!  I am currently working on a small landscape wall art quilt with mountains and evergreen trees that includes the writing of a workbook with pattern, hand cutting or svg cutting files for use with a digital cutter, and a set of videos for my YouTube channel.  I am loving this project!  A couple of family members came up with the concept and I knew as soon as I saw it that I would love doing it and how to do it.  It involves prepared turned-edge applique-piecing by machine, stitched raw edge applique, yarn couching and big thread free motion stitching.  It will be a lovely size for wall art in a home or office–somewhere in the neighborhood of 24 x 20 inches.  I hope some of my followers will do this project once it is available and really enjoy it.

So far, I am about half way through the construction and filming but I am not sure when it will be published.  The workbook and pattern set are also nearly finished and that will be available in my shop on my website.

Way back in May of 2021, I presented the first of my landscape quilting techniques sampler piece and promised more.  I was astonished to realize it has been so long since that was published!!!  Here’s the link for the first of two videos for this project:  Landscape Quilting Deciduous Trees Skillbuilder.  Yes, it was early in my adventure in my YouTube channel and that shows, but the techniques are solid and fun, and the promise was  real.  I believe we (me and my family production crew) have come a long ways in our production of such projects and videos in this time.  This project included stitched raw edge applique, broiderie perse, and free-motion quilting with 40 weight and 12 weight decorative threads. The quilting and decorative stitching is found in the second video:  http://Landscape Art Quilting Part 2  So this will be the second in my Landscape Skill-building series.  I hope to have a few more in the future.

Overall, I am trying to get faster and better in the videoing and the production of patterns and workbooks.  It’s a stretch but I enjoy having a creative challenge as I reach my 76th birthday this Friday, March 3rd!!!!  I anticipate many years still in this creative endeavor, and am increasingly employing the high tech tools in my studio to help overcome some of my aging factors that make hand sewing, for instance, and other things involved in fabric art more difficult.  Age should not be a limiting factor in creative pursuits.  Here’s an amazing performance of a 100 year old ballerina that highlights my point:

Ballet video:

I have also started making a new deep space show quilt based on a fabulous NASA photo.  At least I hope it will come out good enough to be a show quilt.  This will be my fourth space show quilt.  I am filming some of that as I work through it, but it is not intended for a tutorial, just some fun videos.  This type of quilt is almost entirely made at my sit down Bernina Q20 longarm in free motion.  The galaxy is made from Angelina Fibers and nylon veiling.  I really like this kind of quilting.  It’s like playing and dancing to me!  Here is my third deep space quilt, which won a couple of ribbons in its show life, although these are difficult to photograph:

I am hopeful I will get some good ideas from my “production crew” on how to best video my new space project.  Cameras have a hard time dealing with such reflective sparklies.

And no, that’s not all I am working on, in case you are wondering, but we will chat about these later in the year when I am closer to getting them up and running for you to see.

Sew happy everyone!! Young, old, and in between, have fun in your studios!

 

 

 

 

Studio Fun Begins for 2023

Posted on by Betty Jo's Blog / Posted in Food for Thought, My micro-business, My Studio, Project Management, Quilt Journal, skill building, Videos / 2 Comments

Hi everyone!  I have been working hard lately on pulling together some projects for this year of varying degrees of complexity.  I say “complexity” rather than “difficulty” because I have found over the years that many of even the most complex projects are not much more difficult than some one might call “simple” or “easy.”  They may take longer, but it is mostly a matter of going one step at a time and continuing to move forward in carrying out the project.  This is true for both making quilted fabric art and sewing or even tailoring complex clothing.

Of course, one does need to know what to do at each step and how to do it even for less complex projects.  That can be addressed by reading pattern instructions, testing techniques and products, watching videos, taking classes, talking with other fabric artists, and not getting discouraged when you need more help.

This past few weeks I looked over my stash, and I then added a few pieces of new fabrics to my stash:  a piece of silk dupioni and a piece of Kaufman Radiance silk/cotton to go with it.  Then I also added several pieces of solid colors of Peppered Cotton–designed by Pepper Cory–for some experimentation, demonstration, and fun that go together but I haven’t quite figured it all out. I also have had to buy some batting for future projects for the first time in a couple of years.   I guess I have done more quilting than I realized.  I think I am pretty much swupplied for quilting for the whole of this year.

It has been quite a long time since I bought new fabrics…maybe three or four years.  I used to have a very large stash, but have used up a lot in those years and also found places to give some of my fabrics to lower the volume.  These are fabrics I am not going to use.  Though I loved the fabrics I gave away, they didn’t fit my plans for the next year or so and I needed to empty some storage spaces for future projects.  I gave them to my friend Anita who took most of them and made a beautiful quilt for the quilt drive for Ukraine.  She has a new Bernina 480 and it is a bit small for a large quilt.  The Lutheran World Relief, however, wanted a 60″ x 80″ quilt, which is really quite large for her domestic sized machine.  So she made it by a quilt-as-you-go method, which gave a bit of relief on managing the size up until the last bit. She used the method described by Nina McVeigh in this little Bernina video:

Bite size quilting

 

The back of Anita’s quilt is as fun as the front

The front of her quilt has lots of beauty to discover.

This quilting method gave her the opportunity to learn how to deal with her new machine, practice both feed dogs up and free motion quilting, and make this big quilt.  I understand the last bit was kind of tough to get it through the machine. It might not be big for some of you who have larger machines or longarms on a frame, but for her machine it was gigantic.  She did a great job and shipped it off.  Personally, I think it looks both interesting and comforting and whoever gets it will surely appreciate it. She decided she will probably make smaller charity quilts in the future for other organizations that can use them.  But I believe she managed to keep some of those beautiful Japanese themed fabrics for projects of her own.  Thank you Anita for doing this.

If you are interested in making and donating a quilt for this effort, here is the pdf file with all the instructions. They accept quilts of many levels, but they must be 60″ x 80″.  Please read the instructions before beginning.  5708

Sew the first thing I have done this year is develop a list of projects I really want to do someday, but it was waaaay too long!!!!  So I looked really hard at the list and knocked it down to a shorter list that is still too long.  Then I concentrated on about four longer-project quilts getting all the pieces together drafting the patterns or guide sheets, digitizing some embroidery, and, if needed, drawing up some applique shapes.

I also have about ten short tutorial projects.  All of these are for my YouTube videos.  I am sure I will drop some of these as I work out the logistics and draft the patterns, but it’s one way I have to deal with my over-stuffed idea space in my brain.

idea space in my brain…lol

I also am calling on my talented daughter-in-law, Beth, to help me draw some of the landscape sketches I need for basing some of these.   This should keep me busy for quite some time.  LOL

I’ll let you know what they are when I get each one ready to go.

Sew happy everyone!  Have fun in your studio in 2023!

 

 

 

 

Diving into Fall Projects

Posted on by Betty Jo's Blog / Posted in Applique, Deep space quilts, Food for Thought, My micro-business, Project Management / 2 Comments

Hi everybody!  We are nearly through August!!!  Yikes.  We (my oldest son is helping with this) still have not completed the design and accompanying embroidery designs for the fall/Thanksgiving table runner, but it is moving along and I hope you all are going to love it and want to make one yourself.

Oh, I finished my Kingfisher pillow project and one of the two YouTube videos is published. Video link

I love the way it came out.  So here are some statistics you may find of interest:  I have at this moment in time (8/24/2022) 431 subscribers, 143 views of the Kingfisher video 1, and only 11 likes; 9 downloads of the free pattern, 62 clicks for the products I linked to with my affiliate links, and zero purchases on Amazon and 341 clicks for Wonderfil Threads (they really are wonderful threads) with no purchases.  Though I sometimes have considerably more views on other videos, I seldom have a higher percentage of likes and have never made anything from any of my affiliate links.  I’ve had a few people buy something, but never enough for me to get paid (there is a minimum). I’m trying not to be discouraged. Perhaps it will pick up when I get video 2 published, or maybe the Fall Thanksgiving project will turn things around.  Maybe I just haven’t reached the right audience yet, but will at some point.  I refuse to think that people just don’t like what I do (LOL).  I’m hopeful my affiliates will continue to allow me to hang in there until things get better.  (See, I still think I will succeed eventually).

My dear late mother taught me all along the way when things got discouraging that “You’ve got to stick-to-it-tivity.  You’re going to do alright, you’re going to be all right!”  She usually sung that in her beautiful voice with her sparkling eyes looking at me.  That memory has been following me around lately.  I think it is from her.  Sew that is what I am going to do for quite a while yet.  Besides, I am having some fun here, making and filming these projects.

I am still considering if I should make a Christmas project.  It’s getting late in the year.  Most people have already started their Christmas projects by now I think.  I figure they don’t do like I do and wait until the last minute for making things.  My Deep Space Quilt 4 project might suffice (that will just be a sharing of the making, not a tutorial with pattern).  It is full of stars and light sparkles that I am hoping to complete for my own Christmas decor and other times. I will note that it is hard to film sparkles and shines, but worth a try. Here’s the NASA picture I am basing it on:

This image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope captures the spiral galaxy NGC 105, which lies roughly 215 million light-years away in the constellation Pisces. While it looks like NGC 105 is plunging edge-on into a collision with a neighbouring galaxy, this is just the result of the chance alignment of the two objects in the night sky. NGC 105’s elongated neighbour is actually far more distant and remains relatively unknown to astronomers.

I also am planning some basic kinds of short videos showing how to use the Bernina Q20 sitdown (and that would be the same for the Q16), and how to use some of those fancy stitches most of us have on our machines these days with interesting threads.  Coincidentally, you may have seen this, but I tried out the “hand look stitch” on my Bernina 880 plus with the following results…I will use this somewhere. Perhaps with the crazy quilt major project I am planning for 2023.

Here I used 100 weight matching polyester in the top and 12 weight cotton in the bottom. Bernina recommends monopoly in the top and 30 weight thread in the bottom. I will experiment more with this stitch. It is available on most modern day Berninas.

Sew let’s all have fun in our studios.  It’s time to quilt!

 

 

Having Fun in My Studio

Posted on by Betty Jo's Blog / Posted in Applique, Deep space quilts, Design as you go, My micro-business, Project Management, Threads, Tools, Wool / 2 Comments

Someone asked me recently what I have been working on lately.

I have finished the Kingfisher wool applique by machine pillow top project (basic design without the eye pupil, which is a very small black button, shown above). I haven’t made the pillow yet, but will in a few days. I have some really black stretch denim I think would make a nice pillow back for it. I think it needs to be something kind of heavy to balance the wool which I have sandwiched and quilted, and a little stretch will help the pillow look good. I haven’t decided whether to put cording in the seam or not.  I like it a lot even though it is relatively simple. Two videos will come out of this project. One will be published soon…probably this coming weekend. It’s being edited and there will be a free pattern available for it on my website which I really hope you will download.  I will provide a link to it when my video is published.

Also, just yesterday, I got a stack of color cards for Wonderfil Threads of various types and a few sample spools, which are really a fun way to shop for threads.  I don’t have a local source for my favorite threads so I have to order them.  I have a Thanksgiving table runner project that I plan on using their threads for embroidery, applique, and quilting for that.  So I have to hurry, because it’s already August!!!

I love figuring out threads this way.  I can take my time, try out the thread samples, and see the actual threads.

Magnifico by Superior color card image

I also have some color cards for Superior Threads.  If you have to order your threads to get the kind you like, I highly recommend getting some of these sample cards even if you have to buy them.  Sometimes they give them away at big events like quilt shows or cut the cost for them a lot.  But even so, they provide color accuracy and coincidentally they are fun to look at if you love threads like I do.

So I have also been adding to my stitch library with pages for Wonderfil, Superior, and Miscellaneous thread types.  Today I made a page for different Wonderfil types, with a line of decorative stitches per type.  I encourage you to make your own library of stitches and thread types pages. It’s not only fun to stitch these pages but really useful.

 

And last, but not least, I worked up, but not yet printed, a full sized guide for my next deep space quilt.  That’s the closest I ever come to a pattern for this style quilt.  Basically, it’s a placement guide for the space objects.  I also print out the NASA picture or pictures of the space scene or objects and then build the scene on fabric using a little background paint, and Angelina Fibers hot fix fiber (they stick to themselves not the fabric) appliques, and I cover the whole quilt top with black nylon veiling. I sandwich it all together and baste it down.  So then I use quilting and free motion embroidery to build the space objects and quilt the whole thing.  It’s one big whole cloth quilt with big appliques, and different sizes and colors of hot fix crystals.   It’s loads of fun, but does require a placement and sizing guide to make it even start to look right.  I will be showing just some of the making of this quilt for fun…but not a how-to like some of my work.

Sew I have been having fun in my studio. That’s what I am working on.

Sew happy everyone.  Have fun in your studio too!

 

 

 

Using Those Scraps of Special Elements in the Studio

Posted on by Betty Jo's Blog / Posted in Food for Thought, High-Tech Studio, Machines, My Studio, Project Management, Quilt Journal, Threads, Tools / 8 Comments

x

Hi everyone! I have been thinking about my crowded stash and studio tools amassed from decades of professional and personal sewing and quilting. I want to make something special with a lot of them…or maybe strive to build more than one amazing masterpiece project using these wonderful elements.

A collection of beautiful threads from Wonderfil.

This idea has been growing in my head for some time now and I have recently had conversations with two fabulous important quilters about this that further encouraged me.  When I couple these elements with  all the interesting things I have been learning about what I can do with my machines, it becomes very interesting indeed.  I haven’t fully decided whether this is exactly going to be a Victorian style crazy quilt or a somewhat different design of my own with a crazy quilt and Victorian steam punk slant.

crepe back satin from my stash

Over my many decades of sewing and quilting, I have accumulated bits and leftover pieces of silk palace brocades, satins and dupionis, batiks, velveteens, wools, small bits of fabulous laces, vintage handkerchiefs, pieces of crochet that my Mom left me, small leftover lengths of silk ribbons and other special trims, and a collection of beautiful threads of a wide variety of sizes, fibers, and weights.  To helo draw all of this together are my Berninas…my little B350 with several special attachments, my big Bernina 880 plus with its embroidry module and nice set of feet, and my Q20 sitdown longarm.

Sew, what would YOU do with this collection of elements and tools?

Edna Mode, waiting for an answer as to what to do with all these beautiful scraps and threads and interesting machines.

Sew happy everyone!  Have fun in your studios.

 

 

 

Capturing An Explosion of New Ideas for Future Projects

Posted on by Betty Jo's Blog / Posted in a pattern, Art Quilt Techniques, Deep space quilts, Design as you go, Fabrics, Food for Thought, Paint, Project Management, Quilt Journal, Show Quilts, Tools, Videos, Wool

Hi everybody!  I think we all need a diversion and some quilting to help deal with the roiling of events in the news lately.  As for me, I have been starting two new projects after my last one that was going to be entirely on painting quilts took a nose dive.  By the way, if you want to know about painting quilted fabrics stay tuned. I will still present these techniques scattered throughout my other projects as needed, but not a whole video series for those techniques after all.  Mostly I have to work on camera placement and filming techniques for painting quilted fabrics. The problem was entirely related to painting while filming.

Sew what are these new projects?  Well, one of them, and the next video project, is a second dive into wool applique by machine in which I will be making a pretty scene with a Kingfisher bird on black wool that will be sized for use as a decorative pillow top.  I am nearly finished making the pattern and I will be using my Scan and Cut digital cutter to cut the pieces.  The downloadable pattern will be available on my shop for a small amount and will include both a pdf file for those who do not have a digital cutter and the svg files divided by color for those who do.  I will be providing videos showing how I do them for this project, including the use of my new Scan and Cut.

The second project is a new “show quilt”! Sew there will be a video exhibiting only some of the making of this quilt and there will be no pattern.  I am  making my fourth deep space quilt and as soon as my fabric arrives this week I’m ready to start construction.  I will be using Deep Space II #98 Peppered Cotton designed by Pepper Cory to build the scene, inspired by NASA photos of M51 Galaxy (there are many), which is a spiral galaxy that has a second spiral galaxy farther away and kind of behind it on the edge, making it look like a small spiral is attached to the larger M51’s tail.  Unlike most of the other peppered cottons, this one is not a shot cotton but is yarn dyed intensely black. It makes me happy that the name of the fabric is “Deep Space II”. Thank you Pepper for bringing it to my attention.  I love making deep space quilts.  They are a whole cloth quilt, built entirely with free motion stitching and almost no marking.  It includes a  little paint, a large Angelina Fibers applique, and covered with black veiling, then quilted together in ways that make sense, and adding some free motion embroidery to represent the space dust. After that, I add a lot of hot fix crystals, kind of using the NASA photo as a guide for placement to represent stars. Some of the larger stars or star clusters are sometimes backed with an embroidered representation of the light that shoots out around it from the lens flair often in a cross shape that is highlighted on the NASA photos. This adds to the interest and beauty of the quilt in my humble opinion.

Practicing for making a deep space quilt.

 

I like having two very different style projects going at once because it allows me to move from one to the other when I need a break from some aspect of a project.

Sew this past week I spent a fair amount of time thinking about and updating my Quilt Project Plans spreadsheet for the remainder of this year and into next year.  It is way more than I can possibly do in that space of time perhaps, but it is wonderful to look forward to the near future projects and be able to pick from some of those I have already thought through a lot.  I also keep a handwritten notebook where I describe most of the projects more fully and sometimes keep outlines and notes to help me make them.  I have been doing this for many years.  Way back to when I only did clothing designs and sewing.  It’s sometimes fun to take one of the old notebooks and look through them to see just what I actually made of the many plans that have floated by.  I sometimes pull a long-forgotten project out and make it.

Here are some pages from my Pendragon quilt project that I did complete and that was shown in several prestigious quilt shows, including Houston.  The sample shown here is a test for the upper left corner of the border.

Sew happy everyone!  And remember, sometimes you need to abandon a project and not feel like it is a fail. Doing so can often open up an explosion of new ideas when you realize you no longer have to struggle to complete something that just isn’t working, and sometimes persistence through the challenges helps you to finish works and you come out with a real winner.  Give yourself permission to take the path that works best and be sure to have fun in your studios!

 

Merry Christmas and New Adventures for 2022

Posted on by Betty Jo's Blog / Posted in Applique, Deep space quilts, Food for Thought, High-Tech Studio, Machines, Making Clothes, My micro-business, My Studio, Panel quilts, Project Management, Quilt Journal, Quilts for sale, Skill background, Videos, Wool / 2 Comments

I digitized and embroidered this star as an applique. It is on one of my Christmas quilts now owned by my church.

Merry Christmas everyone!  I hope you are already enjoying this wonderful season.  It is one of my very most favorite times of the year. We are having a relatively simple celebration this year, but it is still joyous. Right now I have The Piano Guys YouTube videos of Christmas music playing while I write this.  They are fun.  Have you seen the one with the Christmas scene and all the cameras riding around in the little train, on the Christmas tree, and in the drone flying in the room?  Here’s the link. It’s really fun.  Or how about the one all done in legos.  Here’s that link.  So creative and beautifully performed.

Well, I finished the Two Birds quilt along with completing the filming of the videos. The whole stack of hours and hours of videos I made while I made the quilt, along with the voice over reading, and the intro and exits parts we filmed together last weekend are now being edited by my oldest son.

I have written the pattern and workbook that goes with it, and that too is being edited by the family team.  I don’t know when we will get the first video of that project published but hopefully not long now.  It’s a big job to edit such a tangle of videos, voice overs and corrections into three publishable videos that make sense and are also interesting.  It has already taken much longer than any of us anticipated, but that was primarily due to my unrelated circumstances this year that delayed things, such as my cataract surgery among other things.  But that is all behind me now and I greatly look forward to the coming new year.

I have every expectation that we will produce much more content for my YouTube channel at a bit faster pace and with ever increasingly interesting projects and building professionalism.  I have gotten to where I don’t get bothered by the cameras, know how to set them up properly, and have lots of fun ideas for new stitching/quilting/videoing projects.  I have learned that the videography is as important as the making of the fabric art piece to make it all work and find it also very interesting.

I still have only about a third of the subscribers and a fourth of the viewership needed to monetize the YouTube channel, but it is growing and I nevertheless enjoy being able to share my projects with my viewers.  I hope you all enjoy the videos and will be happy to see them when a new one is published.  We have several projects already planned for the new year.

First of all, I want to create some new wool applique by machine projects, because I think it is possible to make some stunningly beautiful pieces in this category that has hardly been touched in the quilting/fabric art world using the machine and my initial project was only a basic introductory layout of the techniques. It’s an adventure to see how far this can go.

Then I have three new show quilts in mind for 2o22 that I think you will all love or at least enjoy watching me make them.  I hope I can succeed in getting all three made.

There will be a number of short and shorter videos showing techniques and use of tools.

And then I need to make some new clothes.  I have everything I need for them and will try to spread them across the year so I have something new and fun to wear once in a while.  I probably won’t buy any ready-made clothing this year just as a sort of challenge to myself for fun.  I haven’t decided whether or not to video these projects.  What do you think?

Sew happy everyone!  Have a wonderful holiday season and I hope you also Have Fun in Your Studios!!!

 

 

 

 

Fall Project Timing

Posted on by Betty Jo's Blog / Posted in a pattern, Art Quilt Techniques, Classes, Design Work, Making Clothes, My micro-business, Project Management, Sewing Clothing, skill building, Software, Threads, Videos, Wool / 4 Comments

Hi everyone.  I can’t believe it’s already October!  I love that it is fall, because it was a hot and somewhat rough summer for me, but it occurs to me that I have several projects I have in mind for fall and for the Christmas/winter season that aren’t even started yet.  Yikes!  I better stretch my time in the studio a bit more!

 

I have been working really hard on the complex multi-video two birds project.  I am about three fourths of the way.  I want mostly to complete the whole project before publishing the first video because I need to make sure the accompanying workbook and pattern with all its techniques are good and actually work with the videos.  That will be available from my shop on my website and together with the videos presents a fairly complete class.  This class presents a lot of the techniques I have used in the past on some of my show quilts and I think quilters will enjoy making it.  Besides, it makes up into a really nice wall or lap quilt that would be a wonderful present or enjoyable quilt for yourself.

Sew, kind of as step one on this project, I uploaded a video that discusses how to turn a line drawing, like a coloring book page, into a pattern similar to my two birds to use in your own designs.  I know everyone may not have all the software or want to play with it in that way, but I know some will and may not have thought of using it for that or really know how.  If you have Bernina software v8, for instance, you have Corel Draw elements.  Anyway, take a look at the video and see what you think.

Here is a picture of some luscious Wonderfil threads (see link on the right). I love their specialty threads and am using a lot of them in my two birds project.

I have a couple of wool applique by machine decorative wall hangings–one for fall and one for Christmas–coming too, if I succeed in getting them all done in time.

In the meantime, I have my right eye cataract surgery on the 14th of this month.  I will be glad to get that taken care of.  I can see so well out of my left eye now and not well at all out of the right eye.

Then to top off everything, I have clothes I need to make.  We’ll see how much of all of this I get done.

The Simplicity pattern from my substantial pattern stash. Note the pants have a simple full elastic waist and no pockets…not what I want, but I have a better slacks pattern. The long sleeve tunic provides a suggestion for the embellishment. I would be adding something more for fun.

 

I always plan more than I can do it seems.  But it is so much to look forward to and have fun with in my studio as we drift into fall and winter.

Sew happy everyone!  Have fun in your studio.