Sunday, April 10, 2011

Just fooling around!


Yikes! I feel like I haven't been very good to blog this last couple of weeks, which is reflective of my whirlwind life at the moment. But I **think** we are finally out of the woods on the family sickness front - its been one thing after the other here. All that stress has had its effect and I've been lacking a little creative energy lately. But last night I decided to try to work out an idea that has been in my head for quite a while and I finished it this evening - a little tiny mini quilt that I'm calling Floating Away. Isn't it pretty?

I love to doodle when I'm in meetings or on the phone and lately all I've been doodling was bunches of balloons. Plus, I have a great pic on my "Inspiration" board on Pinterest that I love looking at and return to time and again:



So I decided to try to do a ballon inspired fabric picture type and completely improvised as I went along. I saw a picture somewhere recently - a magazine? a blog? a pattern? I can't remember where - where there were circles emphasised with lines of quilting around them and I really loved the effect. I had some lovely embroidery threads in my sewing box that have a slight sheen - they're called Sulky and I thought they would be perfect. So I marked some circles on some scrap pieces using various glasses of different widths and cut them out and sewed around to give a raw edge applique, and sewed in the ribbon/string trailing from them. Then I started quilting the circles around the balloons. I deliberately went for a very "freehand" look in these quilting lines, crossing over lines, varying the widths - I wanted it to look light, breezy, unstructured and to have a bit of movement.

I used a poly batting which is a good deal thicker (width wise) than my normal cotton one but much lighter and airier in texture, it was interesting to quilt with. I was surprised by the cool raised effect it created under the balloons when I quilted the lines which makes it a little 3 dimensional. Isn't the thread nice too?


I also used it as an opportunity to practice FMQ on the white solid - my technique is getting better but very slowly - I still need to do lots of practice before I'd tackle a quilt. I like the effect though, it looks like the balloons are floating through clouds, even if its uneven in lots of places!

Please don't look too closely at the binding - I was too lazy and too anxious to finish to iron it so I finger pressed it and did it super quick so its not the best. But I don't really care, this little mini quilt makes me smile, its so cheerful! I'm going to hang it on the wall over the stairs so that I see it when I'm rushing downstairs in the morning when I always need a smile!





I'll be linking this up to some great blogs including www.todayscreativeblog.net and

Fresh Poppy Design
{Sew} Modern Monday at Canoe Ridge Creations







42 comments:

Judee said...

Love it! Am especially interested in the effect the poly batting had. I only use cotton but am making mini quilts now too so poly is now on my shopping list. Thanks!

KendasCrafts said...

How pretty! I love it!

Kristie said...

Very sweet!

Linz said...

I LOVE this quilt!! SO cute and happy!!

Mrs Flying Blind... said...

What a lovely idea and it has come out so beautifully too.

noga quilts said...

This little piece is so cute! What a wonderful idea! make you happy just to look at it!

Riel Nason said...

So cute and cheery! Great job!

CityHouseStudio said...

This is just so cute -- what a creative idea!
Your FMQing is looking good!

Helen said...

This is your best quilt yet Sarah, I absolutely adore it. It's so bright and bubbly. The design is so imaginative and it is very you!

Well done! You keep going from strength to strength!

Hx

diana said...

Fabulous! I looove it!

Melinda said...

Very cute! I have a couple small pieces of fabric that look like clouds and haven't known what to do with them, ever. Maybe I will have to attempt something like this!

abeachcottage said...

Very cute quilt. Particularly love the balloon designs and the fun colors you used!

Niamh said...

Hi Sarah,

I think this is my favourite thing that you've made so far. It's really pretty and so cheerful. I think I may be commissioning something similar from you in about 7 weeks time! Fingers crossed.

Niamh

KD-Quilts said...

Very cute! I love the effect the quilting gave to this. Great job!

Kelly @ Vintage Fabric Studio said...

this is adorable! love it when and idea looks as good finished as in the head :) really cute!

Love In Everything said...

I LOVE this quilt! So cute:)

tusen said...

The balloons look fun :)
Great idea with the different strings.

Elizabeth Dackson said...

OMG, Sarah, I just love this!!! I love the way you quilted it, and I love the story behind this mini, thank you for sharing :)

Kirsten said...

This is gorgeous! I have been trying to do some similar circles lately too - they are quite tricky:)

Homemade Heather said...

Gorgeous! I love your inspiration ~ Thanks for sharing ~ please come by and say hi sometime!

Jenniffier said...

It is very cheerful. It made me smile and let out a little giggle. Great mini quilt.

Sara @ Sew Sweetness said...

So beautiful, and I think it's such a great idea! I like that the batting makes the balloons pop so much! It's great!

Teje Karjalainen said...

Vow, this is so wonderful and perfect for a good smile in the morning!!! You had great idea and made it so beautiful!

Katie said...

Adorable! I love the detail around the balloons!

Oxford Impressions said...

It turned out beautiful. I love the idea of the poly batting to get the fluffy effect. I will have to buy some and try it myself. Very cute and your FMQ looks great to me!

Go-Go Kim said...

Super cute and what a great stash buster!!!!

Anonymous said...

That is such a happy little quilt.

sewhappiness said...

I just found your blog from Sugar Bee Take A Look, I'm so excited:-) This quilt is super pretty!! I love your inspiration:-) And the colors are so wonderful and bright!!!
Thanks for sharing this:-)
Maybe you could come over to my blog if you get the chance and check out my quilts @sewhappiness.blogspot.com
Thanks
Eleni

Emily said...

Adorable! I recently tried this type of thing. free motioned circles around the circles. I love the effect! Great work!

Leslie said...

this is so cute...i love the balloons

Wendys Hat said...

Darling!

Unknown said...

This is so so fun!! I'd love for you to link up to Wow Me Wednesday!

http://polkadotsonparade.blogspot.com/2011/04/wow-me-wednesday-5.html

Anji* said...

So cute! I LOVE balloons :)

Megan said...

So glad to hear you all all getting better. That sick stuff is no fun! Love the balloons, especially with your inspiration photo. How cool! Thanks for linking up to {Sew} Modern Monday!

kim west said...

I featured this on my blog today!

www.kimboscrafts.blogspot.com

Megan said...

Sooooo cute!!! It is absolutely adorable, love how it turned out. Thanks for linking to fabric Tuesday :)

Rachel // Maybe Matilda said...

Another gorgeous little quilt! Wow! This is so cute, and I love the free motion stitching on it. Fantastic!

Rachel @ Maybe Matilda

April said...

Oh wow! You did an awesome job! It reminds me of a blanket I had when I was little! I would love for you to come link up to my Sew Crafty Party !

Unknown said...

Gorgeous! I could have sworn that you added extra batting to make them 3 dimensional. Such a nice surprise that it did that on its own! Thanks for the inspiration!!!

Karee said...

Darling & Creative! I like the way your mind works!

Anonymous said...

way cool--u r amazing---Mary Bonnell

Anonymous said...

This was a great choice in quilting. The balloons really do look like balloons. Very nice. I always doodle too.