Sunday Quilt Inspiration

How about some spiritual inspiration? I found these and pinned them to my "graphic sign decor emblem words inspiration" board. Note: you will not find any derogatory, crude, or foul language on any of my boards, including this one. What is inappropriate in my Godly life, I do not allow in my life.

              

From trash to treasure

before

Some time ago, while walking in the yard, I can across a vintage sidelight at our son's shed.  It appealed to me so much that I picked it up and carted it home.  Richard told me that Adam had plans for it, but I conned Adam into letting me have it.  I had plans for a bulletin board.  

clean and scrubbed wood

Yesterday I decided to see how it would look cleaned up.  I used a couple of brushes and some old rags to clean the wood.  Then tackled the glass with a Brillo pad and Windex.  Turns out my combination works great on glass.  I was worried that the Brillo would scratch, but I scrubbed very gently and kept the glass wet with the Windex.  After getting wiped down with paper towels, the windows were almost invisible.

 I started out by adding some letters that I made using styrofoam insulation.  It's easy to cut the styrofoam with a hot knife.  First I drew the letters with a Sharpie, then just cut them out.  The hard part was covering the letters with fabric, but I used tiny little applique pins to hold the fabric in place until I was able to get the hot glue to hold.  The fabrics are some of my favorites from Lola Pink.  The "T" blends a bit too much, so I'll have to recover it with a brighter color.  Thank goodness T is fairly easy to cover.  I guess this means a road trip to Lafayette!

What other letters would I use?

Next up, measure and cut pretty paper to fit the glass.  I just taped the paper in place using wide packing tape.  I decided to use two colors--the red will be for holding sticky notes, the light green paper will work as a dry erase board.  

That left one sidelight, but the glass in that hole was badly broken and I'd already removed it.  To make a bulletin board, I cut another piece of styrofoam to fit, covered it with batting and a polka dot fabric that matches the rest of the color scheme.  A few straight pins will do the work of pushpins. 

I propped the sidelight on the wall at the back of my studio desk.  The original paint is off white which matches the painted parts of the desk, but it's worn down so that the wood grain shows in some areas.  I had a cork strip, which I added above the "QUILT" letters to give me a bit more use on that side of the board even though large pieces of paper will cover the letters.  

What do you think?  Although I didn't really need such a board, I think it will be quite useful since it's at my desk.  I'd like to be able to do more paperwork at the desk, which means that I need to arrange things a bit better and quit using it as a catch all for every little thing that finds its way into the studio.  Maybe a pretty basket or two will help me to collect those things in one place until I can get them put away.  The good news is that I had to clear off the desk to be able to put the board there, and I did not put anything back so that I can pick and choose what will go on the desk and arrange those things so that I can reach what I need.  Please share what you do to keep your desk organized and clear.  Obviously, I could use some ideas.

From 1 to 3

Along with the other photos that my sister Laura took are some of my small quilts.  One of my favorite pieces is this triptych that I made about ten years ago.  

I saw a Simply Quilts episode on making the monogram block and wanted to make one to put over the bar in our dining room.  That section of cabinet has since been removed, so the 12 X 12 inch quilts are now hanging vertically in the studio.  

After making the monogram block, I decided that I wanted two more blocks--one with fruit and one with flowers.  

Much of our living area had deep burgundy as the secondary color, so I decided to use burgundy, greens, and bits of other colors that would work together

The flower piece was actually quite easy, although there were a few techniques that I had not attempted before.    Reverse applique turned out to be easier than I anticipated but I was pretty nervous about cutting out the sections.  More difficult was appliqueing the berries so that they would be perfectly round.  The tight circles gave me fits.

Crazily enough, I included berries in the monogram piece, also.  I should have put more of the berries in this piece but they were just too much for me at the time.  Now, of course, I don't have any of the fabric, or I'd add a few.  Oh well, that's how it goes.

Of the three pieces, the fruit block is my favorite.  I really like the look of glass that I managed to achieve.  It, too, was difficult, but it was so much fun to watch the glass take shape and to place the fruit in the composition.  

I added a few leaves to the grape vines and stem on the apples and pears so there would be a little green in the piece.  The grapes were so much easier to applique than the berries simply because they don't have to be perfectly round and it's easy enough to cover mistakes.

I hope you enjoy the photos as much as I do.  Laura did such a great job shooting them.  She managed to catch the colors perfectly.  I'm amazed every time I look at her photos.  


The triptych was definitely a learning piece for me.  There are some things that I'd do differently today, but every quilt I've made in the past would have a few changes if I were to remake them now.  That's the progression of learning, don't you think?  Would you remake any of your quilts exactly as the first time?  You know how much I love your opinions.

Happy Quilting,

Mary

English Grader

Wonder what English teachers do when they're not in school?  Grade essays.  It becomes a burden, believe me, trying to decipher what students say in their papers.  Sometimes our job is to decipher what they wanted to say, or meant to say, or should have said.

I have three classes and their papers were due Friday.  That's about 38 essays to read and decipher, which really isn't much, but getting through them quickly is impossible.  To reward myself for getting through a few, I did a little window shopping on Etsy.  I find that I'm often inspired by the wall art I find on Etsy, so I decided to enjoy some of my favorite pieces and find a few more that I can heart.

Studio724

Cottage Light Studio

Ryanart2011

metalwallart

VeeDubz

Don't they inspire you?  I love to look at and take in other artists' work.  

I find so many elements that I just want to replicate in fabric.  

Can't you see a quilt in each one?

Where do you go to get inspired?