What fun this is...

 Well I started my quilt... actually a few weeks ago... but I wanted to share all my Valentine tags with you, prior to starting my quilt blogs...  


Okay.. the first step was to drag out My Mom's olde Singer... I have a Kenmore that I have had for years... but it is beat up... not worth too much... things just are made the way they use to be made... this olde Singer... a real work horse... can't say that even about the new ones... I bought a real high end Singer prior to my Kenmore... piece of junk... threw it away... literally.  I would not want anyone to have to deal with that horrible, frustrating mess when sewing... the tension was never right on it... so I would not buy another one because of it.  

 I think that this machine is over 60 years old!!! And it runs GREAT...  of course the zig zag is an attachement... !!! How funny is that... but hey... it runs well and the tension is GREAT... what more can I ask for... 

 The purpose of these quilts is to cover the large sets of windows we have in our den and also in my studio, during the colder time of the day... to help save on our heating... even though we heat 100% with wood... we need to conserve that too...  So each one of these 'squares' will be different, unique and fun... I have tons of ideas... and just need to create them...  So I started to look at my inks, dyes, etc... and then called Ranger and did a little searching... and low and behold... most of the dyes, inks and things can be used on fabric!!!! I am in heaven...  So I took some of the Color washes and sprayed it on my newly washed muslin...  which is 100% cotton... and the bolt was 44 inches wide... so each square is about 22 x 22 inches... give or take.. I am not into perfection when doing that.... these are the rough squares... 

 So here is the beginning of a tree and a tree trunk with the blue sky... I used Color washes by Ranger and also some Twinkling H20 sprays... from years ago...  I will be ironing all of these to help keep the color into the fabric... but at this point am not that worried about color... as I will not be washing these that often...  and most likely will wash very lightly if at all.. . I have had window covers that I made from quilts when we lived in NJ... but these are going to be a little more 'decorative' and embellished... 

 Of course do you think I could find my leaf stamp??? NO... and I am really up set, as I have picked up my entire studio prior to starting all this ... as I had to switch things around... anyway... I made a new leaf stamp... it had to be a little smaller anyway.. so that is okay... 

 Then using my Archival inks, I stamped the leaf all over the tree area...  as you can see...  


I got a little carried away at times and wanted to try other things... so I gave way to that... as when I get those moods... I need to do it...  I wanted to try stamping on just white fabric... so I used an Impression Obsession  stamp and stamped with an Archival ink pad... and then used some Twinkling H20s around the edge of it... 

 You have to try things if you are going to learn... right???? So here it is... 

 Back on the tree... I let the leaves dry... and then added some words... I love words... and wanted to have a few areas of words on each square... maybe ??? To me nothing is written in stone with this project at all... so much fun... total freedom in all ways... 

 I also took a piece of plastic packaging and cut a bird cage using Tim's die cut... and then used it as a 'stencil' and took a mini mister filled with ink and perfect pearls and spritzed it... what fun... came out pretty good... I will see how it dries now... that is the biggest thing... 
Being that this is day one... I wanted 

 to try all kinds of things... so then I took some other things and started mixing and painting all over this sample cloth...  


I am waiting for my 22 x 22 squares to dry... I have them spread all over the studio... didn't want to put them into the dryer ...  LOL...  so I used some other things all around the cage... 

 Then I cut a little bird out... and painted it with a couple of things... Distress stains, and also some H20s...  fun.. just trying out all kinds of things... 

 I even embossed with clear powder... and then used black distress stain to go all around the leaves...  not too sure about this... seems like the stain got under the embossing ... ??? Will wait and see tomorrow... 

 I added some more writing... and some gold H 20's.... and just added some lines using my markers from Ranger too...  

I wanted the Tree trunk to look a little like a real trunk... with some dimension... some lines, and different colors... so I used all kinds of things to start this process... I don't think this area is finished yet... we will see... maybe some Liquid pearls... or some Distressing stickles... you never know what will be added... maybe even some real saw dust... and glitter... ???  

A really active quilt ... and fun too...  1st  two days finished!!! WOW that went fast.. didn't it... I will post more as I get things done... 

Hope that you enjoy my processes... please leave me a comment and tell me your feelings... thanks a million...  

I really love for you to visit... and enjoy it even more knowing that you are enjoying this...  thanks...  

Love, Light and Peace...Bonnie