WARNING

WARNING if you are on my email list or on my facebook list, please do not open email that say (sandra ealy sent you a facebook message. it is a virus. 

busy life

for those of you that are waiting for me to finish projects for them, i am sorry but i have a family emergency and some of my projects are behind.   i have been sick, but i also have a family member that is ill and need my attention right now.  going back and forth to doctors and going to work kinds of drains me and make me tire.  so i find myself messing up quilt pieces.  here is a piece that i have been working on for a month.  i had to do this piece over about three times.  most of the time i and make this in a couple of hours. my creative energy was just not there. but i finally got it as close as i could.  the person is picking this up this weekend.  i am also trying to make xmas gifts and i am also messing those up also.  here is a picture of the couple that i did.  i hope they like it.

i want to wish everyone a happy and safe holiday. i properly won't post until next month.  be safe and happy stitches.

yetunde

check out

check out my friend linda's new blog. show the sister some love as you have shown me. http://eatsleepquilt.blogspot.com/   i will try to post what is going on with me sometime today or this weekend.

stitches for now

yetunde

WHY DID I VOLUNTEER

I volunteer to help my niece make these lovely scarfs and i am dreaming about these these.  she is going to be selling these at Sister's Only event in dc at the convention center this Saturday November 6.  making these have taken all my time to the point where i have not done any quilting.  i love my niece, but right now my shoulders are starting to hurt and i have not finish this second pile that she has given me.  and to top it off i have started knitting again, just because i don't have any hand work to do.  i brought this cute little headband that can keep your ears warm and you can also wear it to keep your neck warm also.  i decided that i could make some more instead of  buying a hand full of them.  i am working on this while i ride to and from work on the bus. it takes my mind off all those scarves that i have to make when i get home.   i found a free pattern on the Internet.  it didn't have a flower on the side like the one i brought.  i will add the flower to it.  i will be glad when saturday is over so that i can get back to my quilting.  i have a lot to do.  i have a few challenge quilts that i need to complete. i will keep my mouth shut about helping someone with something like this. it is a whole lot different from quilting.  quilting relaxes me, but doing this is just a lot a stress on me. saturday please hurry up and get here.


stitches for now.

oh and one more thing if you happen to be a the sister's only event stop by and say hi!

yetunde

the skirt

LOL when i saw carol's coment in the last post, i had to LOL.  girl i started to post  a picture of the skirt.  i was just to lazy to take a picture.  one reason i didn't post the clothes because i thought people would rather see quilts. someone else also ask me why i didn't show the skirt.  the pattern is call "stella strip skirt"  no. 103, by serendipity studio.  their web address is SewSerendipity.com.  i made the skirt long. the pattern looked hard to me, but it was quite easy.  so here it is and also a picture the top that i made that is to big.

stitches,

yetunde

ps

carol, you are right i did take the pledge to show the steps of my work and i will.   

busy, busy bee

i have been busy.  for some reason i have been making clothes.  just because i quilt people think that i can make clothes.  if you need a buttonhold or a zipper put in you are out of luck.  a friend came by and wanted me to paint a design on a outfit of hers because she felt that it was to plan looking.  i gave her the paint and showed her how to do it.  i was not going to mess up her outfit.   it was a mess, but lucky enough we were about to wash it out.  in the meantime she decided to buy some small pieces that i had hanging on the wall to sew on the back of her jacket.  after we got her jacket looking good, i was like why didn't i think of doing that.  the next day i was using some ugly fabric that i brought from a ugly fabric auction that wasn't cotton am made me a outfit using black fabric and mudcloth.  i plan to add some shells onto the outfit.  the outfit is to big and it will be taken in some.  i didn't use a pattern.  i also made a pleated skirt from the jello roll strips.  the pattern was from a quilt show that i went to.   i was scared to death of making it, i am not good at following pattern direction. it came out pretty nice.

now as far as the quilting goes, i had made a comment on a quilting site that i was bored and didn't have anything to quilt.  you know what happen, friends ask me to make them a portrait quilt.  now i have three pieces that need to be completed by november. and racheal clark, a quilter from California also asked me to make some portraits of her grandchildren.  i don't do commission quilts.  but this time i am making these because i am bored.  i don't like for people to wait for me to finish something.  if i am in the mood to make something i will, but if i am not in the mood it is know telling when a person will get something from me.
i have been trying to do the portraits with the different colors and i have been having problems with the skin tone.  i didn't like the pieces that i made.  i am still working on that.

so here is a portrait of a friend's mother, for her mother's birthday that is next month. my friend tried to make it herself and couldn't make.  when she comes into town i am going to take time to show her how to make these.

i have not quilted it yet but i will be finish by november.

stitches for now

yetunde

1.6 million African American Quilters

 check out Kyra Hicks new book.  she talks about the statistics of how many African American do quilt and are quilters. the fact that we do spend money on quilting.  she also give you a list of African American guilds, quilting books by African American and a whole list of African American quilter who have websites and blogs on the Internet.  Kyra also added 6 quilting blocks by Francine Haskins.  for this book to be so little it is full of great information about us that i didn't know.  i enjoyed the book it was very easy to understand and read.  check it out.  also this blog is mention in her book.

stitches

yetunde

ANSWERS TO YOUR QUESTIONS.

the Bob Marley quilt was used by using the "PHOTO-INSPIRED ART QUILTS: From Composition to finished Piece", book.  i took a class from Bisa Butler at a retreat several months ago on this same technique but using different types of fabric to give it a different look.  i just needed the book to give me a little more understanding of what i was doing.  the other technique i use is by Maria Elkins, she has a DVD that she is selling to teach her technique.  you can find her on the Internet.

the Bob Marley is a picture from a t-shirt.  my old t-shirt has bob marley with a black background. but i saw this one in a store and took a picture of it with my phone and enlarge the picture. 

someone asked what type of fusible web i was using and i am still trying to find the right one for me.  i like to use ulltra heat n bond because it give me a sharp smooth cut. but what i don't like about it is, that it makes the quilt very stiff from the fabric layers that i use.  steam n seam give me the feel i want but not the sharpness. so i am still playing with that.  so i hope that i answered every ones questions.  i am a work, still sick and can't wait until lunch timesoi can take a nap.  friday i am taking the day off and going to my cousin's beach house and i hope i can get some rest there.

stitches

yetunde

i have a cold

yes, i have a very bad cold.  i went to the doctor and the medicine is just not working fast enough for me.  so i am just going to show pictures.

i hope you like.

stitches,

yetunde

bob marley

that's right i am working on a bob marley piece.  at first i started to trace the picture to get my pattern that i wanted to work on. but i change my mind and cut directly from the picture.  so i had to print a couple copies of the picture.  the fabric was fused and the fabric was temporaryly adhesive to the picture.  i cut out the different shades of the picture.  all most just like the other technique that i do.  i posterize the picture, and i did not grayscale the picture.  i left the picture just as it is and posterize it in color and just cut out the different shades.

i use a light box to help me lay the pieces in it right place by having a picture on top of the light box.  here is what i have done so far. 

check me out later. it is late and i have to go to work in the  morning.

stitches for now

yetunde

finishing up

after i start working on this piece, i realise that this one is going to be a hard one to work on.  there are a lot of tiny little pieces that i could not cut out the way i wanted to.  i don;t like the out come of her mouth or eyes.  i am going to try the other technique where i will use a verity of colors.  the quilting of this piece was very easy to use this time sense i you steam -n- seam 2 lite.  i like heat n bond,  it gives a sharper cut with the fabric.  it doesn't fray as much when i use heat n bond.   the problem with heat n bond is that it is a little harder to quilt with the heat n bond.  right now i am using the steam n seam.  so here is my final result of this quilt. i hope you like it, because i don't. 

stitches for now

yetunde

i took the pledge

i join, i took the pledge, this is a group of quilters who pledge to show the progress of their quilts on their blog.  i pledge to show from start to finish of making my quilts.   now this is going to be hard for me because i like to just show you my finish product.  trying to explain is going to be the hard part ,so i hope i can explain clearly so that everyone understand.

so right now i am going to show the quilt that i was working on with the new technique that i was teaching myself from a book.  here is the finish product of the quilt that was in the book.  i like this one better that the one of my cousin with the big hat.  i hope you like it.

 

now that i made this pledge i will explain what i am now working on.  a friend wants me to make a portrait quilt of her sister.  i usually make the portrait quilt no large than 8" x 11" or 11" x 15".  but once i got the original picture the way i want it on the computer, i realize that i did not want to make this into a small quilt.  i didn't think that i would get a good result if i did it small.  i believe that this portrait will be about 17" x 22".  i hope i can do this and i hope she will like it.  i blew the picture up by tiling the pictures into 4 pieces and taping them together.  my printer will not do tiling and and i don't know how to tile a picture on photoshop element.  so here is a picture of the four pieces taped together. i use to outline the different gray scales, but since i have done so many of these i don't have to outline the grayscaling any more.  this picture is just grayscale to number 2 level.  not like some of other portraits that were level 4 grayscale.  i have not decided what color i am going to make this portrait.  check back next week and i will show you what i have done and also about the cookout at my house for the quilting bee that i am in.   here is the picture that i am working on.

stitches for now

yetunde

ok, here is the new portrait technique that i am trying out.  it wasn't to hard to do, but i need more practice.  this is not going to beating me.  i didn't do the one that was in the book that i was using.  but now i am going to go back and do the picture that is in the book and see how i do.    i am working on a quilt for my bed and i am doing it all by hand.  now you know that is not me but i need a quilt for my bed and i am not going to buy one.  so wish me luck.  i will show that one later.  i am trying to decide if i am going to machine quilt it or hand quilt it.
making is short

stitches,
yetunde

taking a class trying new things

i did this piece several weeks ago. it is suppose to be my younger cousin.  it is alright but i don't like the way i did his mouth.  i will try another one later.  i am taking a basic quilting class for machine quilting.  my friends are asking me why am i taking this class.  they feel that i don't need to take this class.  all of the portraits that i have made, the quilting is either straight down, across or to the side.
now don't laugh at me, because my friends were, because i told them that i have learned how to stitch in the ditch.  i am not lying, i did not know what that was. i want to learn how to do fancy quilting.  all i can do is stippling and circles and lines.   i know i have a long way to go. i am scared to death to do the feather stitch.  they were asking why is the quilting college student going back to quilting 101.  if you really want to know i never took a quilting.  i just did my own thing until i started to the portrais.  the instructor was also talking about squaring your quilt and what kind of batting to use. i nver sqared my quilt, i can say i am using the right kind of batting.   class is tomorrow and i can't wait. 
i am also trying to teach myself another technique in portrait quilting.  now this one is going to take sometime for me to get this technique down to my liking.  that is why i am not showing any pictures for this technique.  i really need to find a color viewer to help me to pick out the fabric for this technique.  because i keep messing up. by me using my own eyes to distinguish the difference in skin tone colors.  i have faith that i going to do this.  so once i get this, i will show pictures later.

stitches,

yetunde

rhythm

the challenge word is RHYTHM.  rhythm to me is hearing the beat to music. music is the rhythm.   if you don't hear the beat there is no rhythm and there is no music. i love to just close my eyes and listen to the sound of music. whether the rhythm is coming from a horn, drum, piano, a heart beat, a clock, everything has  a rhythm.. the rhythm is here if you just listen.

to know more about this challenge go to 3Creative studio's, quilt challenge 2010. http://threecreativestudios.com/quiltblog/

stitches

yetunde

catch up time

i have been so busy for the last couple of weeks.  i have been making portrait quilts for our family reunion, that was just this weekend. i had a great time and everyone that got a portrait loved it.  i think i made about 4 or 5 of them.  i am one of the historian in the family so i was working hard in getting information on the family tree and find pictures of family members, so i used some of those pictures to make the portrait quilts. i also had a demand of making portrait of father's for father's day.  the reunion was in charlotte north carolina.  before i left to go to the reunion a friend told me i she try to stop and go to MARY JO'S FABRIC SHOP while i was in charlotte.  well lady's i did and i went crazy. it look like a big old warehouse full of fabric.  i spent money that i should have been using for something else.  the fabric shop is in gaston(?) north carolina not to far from charlotte north carolina. i am going to try to get back down there by the end of the year.  i brought fabric to make more portraits.

i was going to post pictures of the portraits that i made and some how the pictures are deleted, also some of the family reunion pictures.  i don't know what i did, but they are gone.  the two pictures that i am showing is my little niece and a portrait of me. those are the only two that got downloaded.  the other portrait is also me.  that was the very first portrait that i made when i started doing portraits.  i have always hated my first self portrait of myself.  i like the pink one better. if i can find the picture on my laptop i will post them when i can. 

 so stitches for now. 

yetunde

community day

if you are in the dc area, we are hanging quilts up on clothes at the michigan park recreation center at 12th and emerson st. ne wash. dc, saturday june 19, 2010. 10 to 7 pm.  it's free, free food and free fun.  great fried fish. come out and me us.  i will post pictures saturday night or sometime sunday. come join us.

stitches

yetunde

which one

i found a photo several months ago that i really wanted to try and make and this is it. i got permission from the photographer to use his photo. i feel that i could have done better. i don't like the face. my favorite is still lawrence fishburne and whoopi goldberg. this picture is 17" x 22". i enjoyed this challenge for myself. i don't care about trying to do 100 portraits any more. my challenge is to just challenge myself to do more and better. i know as i do more there are going to me times when i am going to ask myself which one do i like best. first, it was my grandson, toni morrison, whoopi goldberg, michael jackson, lawrence fishburne and now this one. but i must tell you my favorite is still lawrence fishburne. so enjoy.

and stitches for now

yetunde

withdrawals

someone asked if i was having withdrawals without having a sewing machine. i would say h--- yes. i rearrange my sewing room twice and it is still junky. the more i moved stuff the junkier the room got. i think my husband and son brought the sewing machine for me because they were afraid i was going have them move furniture around in the house. i was move stuff when they weren't home. my husband was afraid that i would hurt myself. i looked at those portraits hang on my wall for weeks without being quilted. i was buying fabric and still didn't know what to do it. this is how i got the new sewing machine. i took hubby with me when i was buying fabric, most of the time he would sit in the car and wait. but one day while i was buying fabric, my husband came in the shop and was looking at some of the sewing machine. when we were leaving the shop i asked if he was going to buy one.(joking with him) so a couple days later after i had moved furniture around in the house, moved plants, washed all the cloths and i was just sitting think of what to do next, he asked what was wrong and i told him that i needed a sewing machine. he said go get one. i was going to take a loan to get one but my husband and son brought one for me. he told me that i was not going to drive him crazy. and guess what i still have not gotten my Kenmore or jenome back. they call and said that the person who repair the sewing machine is out. so i am just waiting.

stitches

yetunde

old and new sewing machine

ok, i forgot to tell you that my old faithful Kenmore die on me at the quilting retreat. and a friend let me use their babylock. so for a whole month i have not had a sewing machine to use. just to let you know i have three sewing machines. the Jerome died before i went on the retreat and the embroidery machine, well let's just say that i am scared to death of it. and yes, it is just sitting there looking at me. so now both of the machines are in the shop. i just love my old Kenmore. why oh why did she die on me at a time when i needed her. but guess what i got a babylock quest plus for mother's day. my husband and son brought it for me. i was playing with it yesterday and having a ball. during the whole month that i didn't have a sewing machine to use, i did three more portraits, finish the top of one the quilts that i did at the retreat. and did a little hand quilting. i haven't hand appliqued in two years and i realize you really have to take time in doing this. one of the portrait's i did i didn't like the outcome of it, so i will be doing that one over. and the other two came out nice . i really like the one of my daughter and her husband. i want to do one of my aunt to give to her at out family reunion next month, but no one has sent me a picture of her yet.
i have a pictures that i have in mind to do, but i need permission from the photographer to use his picture. i am hoping that he give me permission. it is a picture of a nude black man. (all in good taste) and i also want to do fabric portrait of black men. that will be my next series of portrait to reach my gold of doing a hundred portraits. i will be taking alot of pictures at the reunion and pictures of men in general, men that i know. wish me luck.

check out what i have been working on,
and stitches for now.

yetunde

PS: the flower and the last picture were the things that i did at the retreat.
and i still love my kenmore.

more pictures of the retreat

some of the result from the classes taught.

felicia showing off at the pajama party.

retreat got my back.

we had so much fun, the three quilt pictures are pictures of the quilts by some of the instructors that taught them. i took all three of these classes. i haven't completed any of them yet. will post those at a later date. their were many other class i wish i had taken. the person in the rollers was our hostess for the pajama party. everyone was so crazy and we had to parade on the little stage to show off our pajama's. it was fun, my friend felicia won for the most craziest person parading across the stage. you miss a show from her. i won for the first person registering for the retreat second year in a row. we had fat quarter swaps. i have some nice pieces from the swap. my friend charlene and sandy won the block challenge. there was show -n- tell every night. there were so many talented people their. there was a ugly fabric auction and i believe they made over about $800 dollars that will be donated to cancer research..

i met old friends and made new friends. the reason that i am say this is because quilters are the best. one day while we were there we were ask to go to someone that we didn't know and introduce yourself to them and talk and then turn them around and rub their shoulders and say "I GOT YOUR BACK!". and they are to turn and do the same thing to you. the next day in class i sat next to someone that i didn't know and i got a call from home and i had an emergency, and i start to cry. i said i need a hug and this stranger gave me a hug and then she rub my shoulder and told me that she had my back. she stay with me until i found out that everything was OK at home. the sistah had my back. and i am grateful for her. during the rest of my stay when we saw each other we would greet each other and say I GOT YOUR BACK. know matter where i go and i am around quilters there is always an act if kindness.

QUILTERS ARE THE BEST.

stitches

yetunde

ps

the retreat was given by the 54-40 quilters guild in virginia.

great work 54-40. see you again in two years.

retreat

give me a couple of days and i will tell you how much fun i had at the retreat. i wanted to stay longer. i can't find my camera right now.

been busy

i have been busy quilting and busy with my personal life. personal life has been crazy for a while but things are back in order. but i have been doing a lot of quilting and forgetting to take pictures. a few friends have been asking me to make portrait of their family members. i have been making a lot of portrait quilts for birthday presents. but i kept forgetting to take pictures of my work. now i did take picture of the last three pieces that i did. i am loving this lawrence fishburne quilt. the gray scale for this picture is four, but you are looking at three. i think i am going to check out the gray scale in three. the other two are pictures of my nephew and my best friend. i hope you like what i did.



i am also trying to get things ready for the quilting retreat that i am going to next week. picking out fabric for this retreat is driving me crazy. i brought fabric for the retreat, but now i am also looking at fabric in my stash. so looking back, i really didn't need to buy fabric. don't tell my husband. let this be our little secret. i am taking all day class for the three days that we are staying. two of the classes are techniques of how to make portrait quilts. these two classes are full and i am going to get all that i can from these classes. i just got a email today about another retreat that a friend is giving for next year. she want to know if i am coming. i taught at her retreat last year, it was fun. i guess i will have to plain on going to that next year. i know that i am going to have fun next week i can't wait. i will take lots of pictures.



stitches for now

yetunde

deleted post

i deleted the last post because of a nasty comment that was posted in the comments.. it wasn't even related to quilting. it was a very nasty advertisement. i didn't know how to delete just that comment so i deleted the entire post sorry about that. i feel that no one needs to see that filth.

the post was a picture of my challenge quilt. i have been kind of busy and i have not taken any pictures of what i have been doing. and the bad thing is that all the pieces that i have been working on, i have either sold or gave as gifts. i have to remember to take pictures. if someone can tell me how to just delete one comment and not the entire post , i would appreciate it.

stitches for now!

yetunde

puzzle

i am doing a challenge quilt and the challenge word is PUZZLE. while working on my puzzle piece i realize that my other projects that i am working on is a puzzle. quilt making is a puzzle. you are putting the pieces together like a puzzle to make a quilt. i can not show my challenge piece yet and it looks nothing like this one. am showing this one because i am still working on my portrait series. i am trying to make a 100 portraits and so far i am on number 48. working on these pieces are like putting a puzzle together. the funny thing is that i have alway love putting puzzles together. guess that is why i like to make these faces. i am putting these pieces together just so that i can see how they are going to look in the end. just like when i am putting a puzzle together. i love doing the mystery puzzle and solving the mystery. CHECK ME OUT NEXT WEEK WHEN I WILL SHOW MY CHALLENGE QUILT. it has nothing to do with this piece, it is very very simple.

stitches for now

yetunde

in the blizzard of 2010

in the dc area we have been snowed in for 4 day and they are talking about more snow tomorrow. so i have been making faces, louis armstrong, billie holiday, etta james and nat king cole. i am trying to make a series of jazz and blues personalities. i am running out of fusible web so i guess i have to find something else to do while i am snowed in. i never thought that i would get tire of looking at tv, but i am. i might try and see how this will work out if i try to use fabric glue. wish me luck. i love louis armstrong and nat king cole, but i don't like the look of etta's face on the left side and i should have used a older picture of billie, because if it wasn't for the flower i don't know if anyone would know who she was. i think i do men portrait better than the woman portrait. i just need to take it a little slower for now on when i am making these.

i have been working on other things before the snow. my quilt challenge piece is finished, the challenge word is PUZZLE, sorry i can not show it until the end of the month. this month is heart disease month and i made a quilt for my job to hang up in the office. they did a little something in the office friday for heart disease month and i was not their because i had to go to the doctor because, guess what i am having problems with my heart. enough said about that. and i was asked to teach the portrait technique and i am trying to figure out how i can teach this. it's easy but students would need a computer and a printer. i am going to figure out how to teach this.

stitches,

yetunde

for brea

this piece is for my niece brea, i hope she likes it. you know how teenagers are. i am going to tell her to look at this and tell me if she likes it. she saw the other michael jackson piece that i made and she likes it. the problem is i can not find the picture that i used. i did not save it on my laptop. her birthday is in february and she is a big michael jackson fan. if she does not care for this one i will give this one to my grandson and she can find a picture for me and i will make that. brea brea happy early birthday. just let me know what you want. i here you are now listening to maxwell.

stitches

yetunde

more to come

all i can say is that i am having fun making these. so i guess there will be more to come. i will have to say that i like making people, animals are ok, but i find it a little harder to do animals. i realize that it is hard to do animal that have whiskers. the zebra was real hard to do. the pieces were very tiny. i should have enlarge the picture and maybe it would not have been so hard to do. my gold is to see how many i can do and to try to also do a whole person not just the face. which me luck.





stitches,



yetunde

my gifts were a great hit.

everyone that got a portrait quilt from me, loved them. i have made at least about 20 of them. i had a few people wanting the portrait of my grandmother, when i had only made two of her. everyone said that the quilt pieces look just like the person that it was suppose to be. my three favorites of my my family were my grandmother, father and my young cousin. i also made mya angelou, halle berry, prince, obama, michael jackson, gandhi, whoopi, michele obama, toni morrison, martin luther king, and tina turner. i love all of them except for hallie berry and mya angelou. i didn't get their faces like i wanted them to be. check it out.

grandmother , my father and cousin.

my family got their quilt pieces but the others pieces i am trying to get ready for an exhabit in february.


stitches

yetunde