Belated Valentine from Elizabeth

I haven’t written a post in a while.  My day job is always busiest in January and February and I honestly haven’t felt very creative lately.  I find myself constantly reminding my brain that I must persist and honor any creative impulse.  You might remember from back at the new year that persist was my chosen word for the year.  With that in mind, I have been experimenting a bit on “SuperBaby” my Babylock Destiny sewing machine; while not really making projects I have made some stitch samples.  Honestly, they make me feel a bit melancholy because while I have always stitched out samples on my embroidery machines, I used to give them ‘by the bag full’ to my mother who made table toppers, pot holders, etc. from many of them.  She’s gone now, so I’m sometimes at a loss for what to do with my sample stash.

Here are a few things which have been under my needle, mostly Valentine Day themed.

A new design from a recent upgrade.

Some quilting motifs from AnitaGoodesign.

And a mug rug for my sister.

Having taught our printing class again at Artistic Artifacts recently and looking ahead to an open studio class in April, I hope to get back to using some paint on fabric again soon.

Valentine Screens and Mug Rug

With Valentine's Day quickly approaching, we decided to add a few more screens to the shop and make a quick and easy project that featured fabric printed with these screens.  Along with the "love" themed screens we have an additional snowflake screen for the snow enthusiasts as we deal with the blizzard of 2016 here in Northern Virginia.  You can find these screens in the Etsy shop.

First we printed some fabric using the new screens.  The scattered hearts and "love" screens work well together.  These were printed with white and coral paint blended together, which is why some of the hearts appear to be incomplete - those are spots where the coral paint is heavier.  By the way, the background of this hand dyed fabric was previously discharged using deColourant and our water ripple screen.

Sue also had this tic-tac-toe sample which she decided to combine with the "love print" for a quick mug rug.

The finished dimensions were to be about 6 x 8 inches, so the first step was cutting pieces to size and seaming two together for the top, but you can make whatever dimensions you want.  The dimensions she cut were 6.5 x 4, and 6.5 x 5.  The backing was cut 6.5 x.8.5, and fusible fleece 6 x 8.  The two pieces for the top were seamed along the 6.5 inch side with a 1/4 inch seam.  The fusible fleece is cut smaller to eliminate seam allowances and bulk; since it is fused on, no need to worry about it shifting. 

After applying the fleece, layer the top and backing right sides together.

Then stitch a 1/4 inch seam around all sides, leaving a 3-4" opening to turn right side out.

Trim the corners to reduce bulk.  Turn right side out and press, pressing the open edges to the inside.  These edges will be secured with an edge stitch before quilting.  Choose your thread to either blend or contrast.

First stitch close to the edge all the way around.  Then quilt as desired.  Sue chose to do concentric rectangles over the whole piece. 

Starting in one corner, she did continuous stitching using the edge of the presser foot as the guide, which puts the stitching lines about 3/8" apart.

And there you have the finished piece.  (It's not actually as wonky as it looks here - just not the best picture.)  Why not make a few for your favorite people?  Add a mug and some chocolates for an easy Valentine's Day gift!