New Theme

Thank you, everyone for sharing your beautiful Sashiko quilts. It was interesting seeing so many different interpretations of the theme.

We're left with just two topics:

1. Motion = Heads

2. Favourite Book = Tails

With just two, I've decided to do a coin toss to choose the next theme. Thus, the "heads" and "tails" designation. And I had a hard time deciding on a currency since not everyone here is in the United States. So I selected my favorite one dollar American coin...the Susan B. Anthony. Susan says:

Heads! The next theme will be "Motion."

The next reveal date is Sunday February 1st. I hope you all have a peaceful holiday season. I'm looking forward to seeing how you put this theme into motion.

Happy Sewing everyone :)

Sashiko Blooms

 Upon hearing the next theme was Sashiko, I considered using one of my Sashiko stitcheries, but of course I stashed it somewhere where I'd remember it, and I'm still wondering where that is. So, I stitched up a little piece, but then thought it wasn't enough, so that is still on my design wall. In the end, I decided to create some flowers using raw edge applique and Sashiko stitches. 

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I have a book on Sashiko that had examples of stitches, so I tried to use some of those. In the end, it really looks like I just did big stitching, but I really did use examples from the book. 

In the petals, I used long stitches and "pluses". In the brown center, I attempted some diagonal stitches. 

The stems are just long stitches in green threads, and the leaves got a little more creative. You might also notice the quilting, done by machine, but it is a nod to another Sashiko design. 

I added the blue/white border because I thought it worked well. The backing is a cheerful blue floral I had in my stash. 

I'm not really sure I met this challenge, but I enjoyed stitching wiht the 12 wt threads and finishing this little quilt. It measures approx 14" x 21". 

Wendy

Sashiko Reveal: Mermie's Cabin

Good morning, fellow Endeavourers. Before I show you my finished quilt, let me tell you first about Plan A. When this prompt was announced, we’d just returned from our trip to Alaska. While we were in Alaska, we were fortunate to be among the 30% of visitors who actually get to see Denali. This was a picture I took when we pulled off the road.

I spent some time perusing Pinterest, looking for inspiration. Some of the images I saw on Pinterest made me wonder if I could recreate my image of Denali using the sashiko technique. So I printed my image onto a sheet of Sticky Fabri-Solvy and went to work on it. I’d planned to stitch parallel running stitches in the various colors from the image.

After stitching on it for a few days, I started having doubts about whether this was going to work. Without some kind of outlining, I didn’t see how it would ever look like anything other than a bunch of random stitches. I hadn’t decided to give it up yet, but I was thinking about what else I might do. 

Randomly one evening, I was in our spare bedroom where this watercolor painting hangs on the wall.

It was painted by my husband's grandmother. Her name was Olive Riddle. We called her "Mermie." In the post I wrote on my personal blog, I went into some detail here about Mermie. If you're interested in the more detailed version of this reveal, you can read my blog post right here.

So, as I looked at the watercolor on the wall, I could envision it in stitching. I had an idea to outline the main subjects in stem stitch, and then fill in the interiors with different sashiko patterns. I took a picture of her painting, and then printed it as a photograph. 

In preparation for this project, I'd already purchased some sashiko templates. I used them for inspiration and then as guides to help me trace the stitching patterns I wanted to use.

Then I traced the design onto fabric.

And then I just stitched and stitched and stitched until it was finished. I only had a loose plan about how to stitch various sections, and made some decisions as I went along.

When it was finished, I trimmed it very close to the stitching, and then added borders. The pattern in the gray batik seemed just right for this piece dedicated to sashiko.

And then I quilted it on my domestic sewing machine by stitching very, very close to the stem stitching. The quilting is mainly functional, but it also gave some texture to the piece.

When the quilting was finished it looked like this from the back.

All that was left to do was to add the binding. Here is my finished quilt. It measures 15 x 17.5 inches.

Here's how it looks from the back.

Here’s a closer look at the stitching.

And now, it is hanging with the watercolor cabin that Mermie painted.

Thanks for visiting today. I hope you like my quilt.

Sashiko Colour

 

After ages of not knowing what to make for this challenge, I ended up making six 9 1/2" square quilts inspired by sashiko, colour and typography.

It was something of a scrap project, using up the fused silk pieces I had left over from my Circles and Squares quilt.

The first little quilt I made was probably the most sashiko/boro inspired but I was having fun so I just carried on without worrying about keeping too closely to the theme.

I've posted more about this project over over at Rainbow Hare.

I'm really looking forward to seeing what everyone has made this time :)

I first began working with sashiko almost a year ago and fell in love with it. The first things I made were three 5 inch squares that I made into a "rice bag". These bags were used to make offerings at temples. The blocks were made using a template to draw the design.

 

After the bag, I found several pre-printed blocks on Etsy. I made this one with a variegated thread. And then made a pillow.

After the Textile guild members saw these, they asked me to do a class for them. All involved liked it although I haven't seen anyone's finished projects.

I have sense then gotten two more pre-printed pieces and made a quilt. It was difficult to find fabric to match the fabric of the pre-printed pieces but I finally did.

A friend told me about a website that sold Block of the month sashiko quilting kits: Silvia Pippin. I purchased their 2023 Sashiko Scenes and am working on the first month block. I will probably put that on my blog when I am finished with it. 

Super Subtle Sashiko

 I knew this project would require a lot of time, so I started early and worked on it a little bit for weeks!  

I used a piece of Japanese silk for a base, and stitched along the lines of the pattern with lots of different threads, even a thin gold thread from Japan. But all that work really doesn't show.

Sashiko stitching embellishes a piece of Japanese resist-dyed silk.

Close-up of the stitching.

And from the beginning, I planned for this to be just one block in a sampler quilt I am working on, so it is not quilted and bound.

The sashiko-enhanced fabric will be one block of a sampler quilt.

I enjoyed the hours of hand stitching but I don't think I achieved any great effects.  You can read more about the research I did on this technique, and how I made it, and my home blog textileranger.com.

New Theme

Thank you, everyone for your marvellous Effervescent quilts. I loved them all!

Barbara is travelling so I am announcing this theme and she will do the next two.

We now have:

1. Favourite Book

2. Motion

3. Sashiko

And Mr Random has chosen -

The next reveal date is Saturday 1st November so I hope you all have a great quarter and I'm looking forward to seeing your Sashiko then.

In the meantime, Happy Travelling, Barbara and Happy Sewing everyone :)

Janine

Fizzy Drinks

 For many decades, I have lived on the Gulf Coast of Texas, where summers are steamy, and the best thing to do is to stay inside and pray for October to get here! But when I was a kid, our family lived in Wisconsin, and summers were actually enjoyable.  

We kids would stay out all day, coming in only to consume pitchers of Kool-aid.  And every now and then, as a special treat, we got Fizzies!

Fizzies were little tablets that you dropped in a glass of ordinary water, and then watched it transform into a flavorful bubbly beverage, that was almost as good as real root beer or soda! It was not just a taste treat; it was entertainment!

The theme of Effervescent brought back those memories, so I have captured them here in vintage and reproduction fabric, trims, and buttons.  One large button represents the fizzy tablet, and the resulting bubbles are shown with free-motion quilting and small buttons.

Fizzy Drinks

Strawberries and Citrus

Lemonade

I looked up Fizzies, and it seems they were tablets of sodium citrate, with flavorings and saccharine to cover up the salty taste.  Once saccharine was taken off the market, Fizzies sadly followed.  They have been brought back a few times with different artificial sweeteners, but they have not been successful and are not currently being produced.

This piece could use more quilting in the background, and I would love to add some textile paint for shadows and highlights, and finish up with embroidery stitches and beads. But I really loved working on this theme.  Working on this piece not only brought happy memories from childhood, but memories of where I got each piece of fabric and trim. 

A Study in Effervescence

 I had several ideas for this theme, and a few that I had in mind didn't look as good in fabric as they did in my mind. I made an attempt at making a face quilt showing a person with an effervescent personality. That was more difficult than I thought it might be. The face quilt may show up at another time, bits and pieces have been saved. So this little quilt is more of a study in effervescence than anything. 

I think of this as a thumbnail sketch of effervescence in a glass. I started with a print fabric that made me think of a glass of bubbly champagne. I added an inset of ombre fabric, then had a little fun seeing if I could add my own efferfescent bubbles through vraious methods. 

I started by printing some circles on the ombre fabric using a gray fabric marker. It worked better than I thought it would! 

They are difficult to see until you get close to the quilt, but I used different sizes of circles and just had fun placing them here and there. 

The addition of some vintage buttons and some hand stitching added a bit more effervescence. 

I even got brave and added some "bubbles" with free motion quilting. I decided to add some effervescence to the back of the quilt as well, using a dotted fabric, just for fun. 

The quilt measures 11 inches by 13 inces, and it is not as wonky as that photo makes it look! I thought I was taking the photo looking straight at the quilt, but apparently not! 

And here's the finish, once again. Not my best work, but I enjoyed the process, just the same. 

I look forward to the next challenge! 

Wendy

The Effervescent Baths

 

I doubt I was the only one who found Effervescent a tricky theme?

But after my Circus Horse, last time, several people mentioned the Cirque du Soleil. I hadn't heard of it before but, from my first glimpse on You Tube, I was enthralled and I eventually decided to take that as my inspiration for this sister quilt - The Effervescent Baths!

The bubbles were a challenge but, although they are not perfect, it was a fun quilt to sew and I'm really looking forward to seeing what everyone else has made this time :)

Fizz

 

Not a lot to say about this piece. I was not really inspired ;(

At first I was thinking of naming it Bubbles, then Maureen said something about Fizzies. That made me remember an "ancient" TV ad about Alka Seltzer - "Plop Plop Fizz Fizz, o what a relief it is." So I named this Fizz.

The bubbles are all hand sewn onto an umbre fabric that makes me think of liquid. So the bubbles rise to the top.

Theme for August

Thank you, everyone, for the wonderful 'Circus' quilts. I loved all of them!

Now, we have four themes left:

1. Effervescent

2. Favourite Book

3. Motion

4. Sashiko

The Random Spinner has chosen 1. Effervescent and that sounds very tricky to me but I'm sure you will all come up with fantastic quilts.

The Reveal will be on August 1st 2025 at 10am.

In the meantime have a great Summer :D

Sad Day at the Circus

 Going to the circus is a day full of anticipation. The excitement of seeing the antics of the clowns, the finesse of the acrobats, and all the animals. On July 6, 1944, people were gathering in Hartford, Connecticut to attend the circus. In those days, circus events took place under a huge canvas tent called the Big Top. This particular circus was unique in that it was the largest Ringling Bros and Barnum & Bailey circus in the country. The huge tent could seat 9,000 people. Unforunately, it was a historical day for quite another reason. The Big Tent was coated with parafin wax dissolved in gasoline, a common waterproofing method used at the time. During the event, a fire broke out, and disaster ensued. You can read about the horrific event here. 

My daughter told me about this little known (to me) piece of history, and I decided to create my challenge quilt to remember this sad event. 

I started by creating the red and white background to signify the huge circus tents. If you read the article, you may note that one photo shows Emmett Kelly, the famous sad circus clown, carrying a water bucket, so I used a similar facial expression on my clown. The white Grunge fabric, with its gray splotches, represents the smoky air. 

The words were made using fabric markers, because I was behind schedule on this quilt and was leaving on vacation in a matter of days, so I took the easy route of the markers. The clowns' face was glue-basted and then sewn to the background using raw-edge applique. 

For the quilting, I used yellow thread and stitched flames over the entire quilt, but not the face. 

I had this fun circus print on my shelf and decided to use some of it for the backing fabric. 

The finished quilt is 17" x 18.5". This was definitely a challenge for me. It took me awhile to come up with an idea, but I am satisfied that I met the challenge. 

Wendy

Circus

 I guess I was not really inspired by this theme. So here is Flea Circus: Acrobats. First thought was to put this on a black felt background and say it was a flea circus on a dog but decided to actually do a little quilting;)

"Circus" Reveal: Tula-Tu Goes to the Circus

On February 1st, just a day or two before our “Circus” prompt was announced, one of the elephants at the Oregon Zoo gave birth to a new baby. The Oregon Zoo has a robust elephant breeding program, and many elephants have been born during the nearly 50 years we’ve lived in Oregon. With the prompt, though, I sat up and took notice of this new baby more than I ever have before. Here’s an announcement from our local newspaper.

Oh my gosh. Is she adorable, or what?

She was given the name, Tula-Tu. Tula means “balance” in Sanskritt. The suffix, “-Tu” is to honor her mother Rose-Tu and her grandmother, Me-Tu. (And we’ve lived in Oregon long enough to remember when Rose-Tu was born.)

Well, and I got so excited about Tula-Tu that we decided to make a trip to the zoo to see her in person. This is one of the photos I took of her that day.

My quilt was already finished by the time we saw Tula-Tu in person. Earlier, I was spending time looking at published photos for something that could be rendered into fabric. I selected and rejected a lot of photos. And then this photo of Tula-Tu came out in a fund-raising newsletter.

And I loved the sassy look on that little baby, so I set about rendering her into a quilt. These are done by fusing the pieces to a teflon pressing sheet…

Bit by bit…

Piece by piece…

Paying attention to the color shading and the layering.

When I’m satisfied with the main subject, I peel it from the teflon pressing sheet, and then fuse it to a background. And, yes, these are zoo elephants. I turned them into circus elephants by taking them on a field trip to the Circus Big Top. Tula-Tu can’t wait to get her trunk wrapped around some of those circus peanuts.

From there, I added two borders and backed it with just the batting.

I did some thread painting on the elephants and the “wood shavings.” This was done just through the quilt top and the batting.

I followed the contours of their faces and trunks, but I was also using the picture to help see the wrinkles in their leathery skin.

When the thread-painting was finished, I added the quilt back, and did the remainder of the quilting through all three layers. The tan fabric was some I purchased during a visit to the Outer Banks of North Carolina. I bought it because it looked like sand, but it can serve as the wood shavings commonly seen at circuses too. I just quilted some lines following the design in the fabric.

And I outlined the stripes in the circus tent for texture.

From there, it just needed a binding.

I used the same red from the inner border.

And then my quilt was finished. I had so much fun making this. Following the story about Tula-Tu made the time spent all the more precious.

Here’s how it looks from the back. It finishes at 19 x 25 inches.

Just for grins, I'll leave you with a video of Tula-Tu. I couldn't love her any more if she were my own baby. If you can't see the video, then click right here.