Here it is - January!

Here is my January journal quilt. I finished it, and I just couldn't wait until the 20th to post it. You've seen the background I started with. I decided I wanted a seagull, so I went looking for pictures. These are the two I worked from:

Next, I sketched a picture. Fancy paper, huh? I realized the legs were too short, but I wasn’t about to draw the whole thing again!

I traced the sketch onto a fusible product, and ironed it to my fabric for the seagull and the piling he's sitting on. Then I cut them out and fused them to the background. I ended up doing this twice for the seagull, because you could see the sky through the white fabric. If I were to do it again, I wouldn’t have worried about adding a second layer, because I could have covered it with thread. Either way, it worked, but it ended up really stiff. Then I just used my handy-dandy "Big Foot" and free-motioned all the details with thread. I had some problems with the needle getting sticky from the fusible stuff, but managed to finish with lots of "Need-L-Lub." By the way, I did find teflon-coated needles on the internet - they are designed for industrial sewing where the needle goes so fast that it generates a lot of heat. They are sold in boxes of 100. I didn't bother ordering any, but if I decide to do a large project with lots of sewing through fusible stuff, I may get some.

When I had the picture done, I layered it with a lightweight cotton batting and muslin on the back. I free-motion quilted the waves and clouds.

Drum roll, please . . . .




My favorite part is the bird’s wing. There are lots of details that I am less than 100% satisfied with, but overall I like how it turned out.

I have named the piece “Day Dream,” after a poem by A.S.J. Tessimond. The poem is on the back, along with the info about the quilt. I used June Taylor computer printer fabric for the back.



In case you can’t read it, here is the poem:

Day Dream
A.S.J. Tessimond

One day people will touch and talk perhaps easily,
And loving be natural as breathing and warm as sunlight,
And people will untie themselves, as string is unknotted,
Unfold and yawn and stretch and spread their fingers,
Unfurl, uncurl like seaweed returned to the sea,
And work will be simple and swift as a seagull flying,
And play will be casual and quiet as a seagull settling,
And the clocks will stop, and no one will wonder or care or notice,
And people will smile without reason,
Even in winter, even in the rain.

Meme

This was sent to the journal quilters by Sophie, so here goes:

Four jobs you've had: Procedure Writer; Church Secretary; Magazine Publisher; Music Teacher

Four movies you could watch over and over: Galaxy Quest; Chicken Run; Monsters Inc.; O Brother, Where Art Thou?

Four places you've lived: California, Colorado, North Carolina, Suriname (South America)

Four TV shows you love to watch: Desperate Housewives; American Idol; Fear Factor; Trading Spaces

Four Places You've Been on Vacation: Grand Canyon; Aruba; Barbados; Paris

Four Websites You Visit Every Day: About.com quilting forum; My Yahoo (only two every day)

Four Of Your Favorite Foods: Avocados; M&Ms; Fresh strawberries; Grilled salmon

Four Places You'd Rather Be: Somewhere without mosquitoes; In a really nice fabric store; In the Rocky Mountains; On a cruise

Four Albums you can't live without: There aren't any I couldn't live without, but some of my favorites are: Josh Groban (any of them); Rich Mullins Songs; 4Him Chapter One; Chris Rice Deep Enough to Dream

Four People you'll pass this on to: I don't know - Sophie took everyone I'm connected with online!

Thread Painting

My January journal quilt is coming along. I have machine appliqued a seagull sitting on a piling. I am working on thread painting it. It's coming along pretty well. I need to buy some more thread (I don't have any brown!) before I can finish.

For those of you who do this type of thing a lot, do you know if there are teflon-coated sewing machine needles available? I'm sewing through pretty heavy iron-on stuff, and it keeps gumming up my needle, causing skipped stitches. I have to keep putting Need-L-Lub on the needle and scraping the gunk off. I was just wondering if there are needles made so stuff doesn't stick to them.

I'm trying to do shading so it looks more realistic. I am not very good at shading when I draw, and doing it with a sewing machine is even harder! I am enough of a perfectionist to not be 100% satisfied, but enough of a realist to understand that it's pretty darn good for a first attempt. No pictures yet, though. I'll wait until it's time to reveal it on the 20th!

Name Change

I decided to change the name of my blog from Becky's Journal Quilts to Becky's QuiltBlog. I wanted to be able to include other ongoing quilt projects as well, and didn't want to limit myself to just the journal quilts.

I'm still thinking about the January journal quilt. I have some good ideas, but haven't tried anything out yet. I've been busy hand quilting my second Giant Dahlia wallhanging. That's what I "feel" like doing right now, so I haven't done a lot of anything else. I have a baby quilt almost finished, but don't feel like sitting at the machine to finish quilting it. The baby isn't born yet, but will be any day, so I need to get it finished. I am also trying to catch up on my Women of the Bible blocks. I'm about three weeks behind. I almost finished one block today. It is all applique, all curved. I thought I was pretty good at applique, but these curves are tricky! Anyway, I'll feel good if I get that block finished today. Then maybe I'll tackle the journal quilt.

I have been posting my Women of the Bible blocks on my website as I have finished them. I wish I had been blogging when I started them. I think this format would have been better than the website. But, I am putting a link to the page here on the blog so that you can see the blocks if you are interested.