Crackpot Quilters’ Blog

Glass stones with HOPE inscribed on the top are given to survivors at the Relay for Life. Survivors are invited to pass the stones along to someone else affected by cancer to share the hope. I am embellishing the stone to add more good wishes before I send it to a friend of Rebecca’s.

It is mounted on stiff interfacing that I painted to match the stone. To hold the stone on the backing while I stitched the beads on, I stitched it temporarily to the interfacing by crisscrossing it with thread–stitching from one side to another. First the row of large (6/0) beads was stitched to the interfacing. Then I added one row of 11/0 transparent aqua beads. The next step was to build the spokes that go up toward the center of the bead. Finally, I added the tiny 15/0 gold beads. I ran the thread through the gold beads several times so the stone (cabochon) would be held firm to the interfacing.

I glued some aqua Ultrasuede to the back to cover the previous stitching. I had to get over my glue with beads aversion in order to do this. Then I stitched the Ultrasuede to the interfacing using a beaded picot stitch.

Now I’m adding some fringe to the bottom. I sure wish I could remember how I added fringe to the one I made last year. I’m pretty sure I didn’t do it the way I am doing this one. It’s about half done, but I won’t be able to post the next photo till next week.

A great reference book for this sort of thing is Beading With Cabochons by Jamie Cloud Eakin.

I finished two new Spirit Dolls this weekend. The first is Not Quite Pink. It is 5 inches high and 3.5 inches across. It is beaded on cotton fabric backed with a stable-in-all-directions lightweight interfacing. I used paper backing for the first Spirit Doll I made, and I found it to be a little floppy. The extra stability of the interfacing seems to be easier for me to handle. The doll has a ribbon on the top so she can be hung up.

I used the same beads that are in the October BJP page. It was fun to use the beads in another project. There are more than 25 different kinds of beads in this doll. Why, exactly, does an otherwise reasonable and frugal person need so many different beads that are almost the same in color? Don’t answer that question! And forget that I had to order more beads to do the picot edging.

I decided to try hair on this doll. I like the effect. I also put teardrop beads on the bottom as a kind of fringe on the bottom. You can’t see it well on the photos, but the teardrop beads go all along the lower edge, with no spaces in between.

This is the back of the doll. I painted the light peach colored fabric with Lumiere Halo Pink Gold so it would be a better match with the beaded front.

Here’s the white Spirit Doll. I think of her as Snowflake. She is made in the same way as Not Quite Pink. There are at least 28 different kinds of beads on her. I am very pleased with the way she turned out. To make hair, I used tiny teardrop beads as part of the picot stitch edging.

Here’s the back. Creating it was a multi-step process. I didn’t think a stark white back would look good with the fancy front so I decided to try paint. First I painted the white fabric with Pearl White Lumiere. It needed more so I tried a little Silver Lumiere on the edges of the fabric. The silver looked very gray and dirty. So I tried Metallic Gold Lumiere. I used a stamp, but my technique was lacking and it blurred. But the gold was better. After it dried and was heat-set and washed, it still didn’t look right. So I put a coat of dilute Glittering Crystal Scribbles paint on it. Still not right. I then used Misty Fuse to fuse some slightly glittery polyester organza on the top. That did it.

With all of this paint and fusing, the backing fabric was a little stiff and difficult to push the needle through. I needed to use a thimble when I put the picot edging on.

I really enjoyed making these dolls, but now it’s on to other projects.

These are the final two baskets I’ve made so far. I have two more in the works, and I think that will be all as I think there are only 8-10 of us who are participating in the swap project.

We had a program about rug hooking tonight at the fiber arts guild. I didn’t get my little pin finished so there are no photos. But, so far, NaBloPoMo is a success.

This is the White Spirit Doll–at least it’s the front. It is made the same way I made the Not Quite Pink one–on fabric with stable-in-all-directions interfacing under it. It is 4.75 inches tall and 3.5 inches across the arms. I think there are 28 different kinds of beads on this doll.

When I thought of making a white doll, I didn’t know whether there would be enough difference in the beads to show a pattern. But I think it turned out pretty well. Who knew there were so many kinds of white? The Yarn Harlot, that’s who.

It actually looks quite lacy in spots. The bottom part of the doll is covered with sequins, with a tiny gilt-lined bead on top. This is the first time I put sequins on any of my beaded pieces. I will try that again.

Next will be stitching back to front, stuffing, and putting the beaded edging around it.

So now I’ve got this humongous stash of white beads. What to do? What to do?

decorations 2

Our sewing guild is decorating a tree for the local Free Health Clinic. We are using, of course, a sewing theme. Everyone is contributing decorations. These are the ones I made yesterday. They are my own design, from an idea that came early not that early one morning as I was trying to decide whether to get up.

As always with crackpot projects, there were a few engineering issues to be dealt with, most prominently how to keep the spools on the assigned places on the ribbons. For future reference, the holes in the spools are larger than you might think. I ended up putting a tiny safety pin through the knot below the yellow spool.

Now that the recipient has his bib, I can post a picture of it to the blog. It was fun and pretty easy to make!

Here are the two chair pads I made with the football applique on them. I’m very happy with how the machine applique turned out. The owners of the chair pads are pleased, too.

This is the second set of dining room chair pads I’ve made for the boys. I made some modifications, based on my experiences with the first set. These pads are trapezoid-shaped, instead of square. I think that fits better on the chair. I also changed the location of the ties from right in the corner to about an inch in the corner, which was a definite improvement. I also made the ties longer, which makes tying them much easier! And, I used ribbon instead of store-bought binding for the ties. I’ll have to wait until the first wash to see how it holds up.

This is a lot of blogging for me – maybe I’m warming up for NaBloPoMo – that’s November, isn’t it?

Here’s my next attempt at machine applique – a football chairpad for the boys. I think it turned out pretty well!