more zen gifts

well, i am making more gifts.  my back is feeling a little better, so i trying my hand at machine quilting.  i am drawing zentangle on fabric and then i am making them into small little purses.  someone at my guild had did a workshop on making them and i can not find the instructions that were give out so i am making them from memory.  i was doing something else when the person was doing the workshop.  they are a little different from the ones they made at the guild.  here's a picture of what i made.

 not a good picture.

a couple of weeks back at wee bee quilter's group we had a jellyroll race and i came in second place. first person who finish first will win a roll of jellyroll fabric.  i was really surprise that i came in second place.  i won a small jellyroll.  gwen came in first place, it was fun doing this.  this was the second time since i had been at a sewing machine since my problem with my back.  while we were doing the race a couple of time i thought about stopping.  i felt my back getting a little stiff, charlene who was in charge of the race gave us a 10 minute break and that helped and then we started again.  later gwen shouted out first and then i shouted out 15 minutes later that i was finish, that was the longest 15 minute, it felt like a hour.  i thought my back would be sore the next day by lugging the sewing machine around, but i was ok.  here is a pictues of what we did.  

i am the one hiding my face and gwen is the one in the middle.  my other pictures are on my ipad, and i am still learning how to use it.  don't know how to transfer pictures yet.  i am using my laptop right now. 

 so i am going to says,

stitches for now.

i am going to go play on my ipad.

so stitches for now again.

yetunde

zen

the holiday's are coming and every year i make gifts for my family and quilting friends.  since i have been doing zentangle, i have decided to do some zentangle on fabric, bags and cards.    i have been working on a lady that i have been drawing on fabric.  this will  be made into a quilt.  it will be call  Ms. Zen, i really like how it looks.  i might make this a red and white quilt.  i am also zentangling on bags and i am still trying to decide if i am going to keep making them for my family.  i am also doing a little knitting. so with all these projects going on somebody will at least get something from me.  i am zentangle on cards and drawing names on the cards.  the grand kids and a couple of nieces will get gift cards from me.  and a couple of x-box games for the boys. my back and knees are still giving me problems so no shopping in the malls.

here are some pictures of what i have been doing.  still working on the lady, here are a few cards that i have been making for my quilting friends.  most of the time i usually make quilt related item for my quilting friends.  the bags are for some of my cousins and one for a friends birthday present.    i know thanksgiving is not here yet and i am talking about gift making.  i like to start early, don't want to feel rush. 

stitches until next time.

yetunde 

 

tutorial

hello everyone, i am over at madame samm's (www.sewwequilt.com) as her second special guest for today. i am doing a tutorial on how to make portrait quilts. today i will show you how i make a cute little frog. if you check her out, you might win a prize if you leave a comment at her blog.

have fun and have a nice day

stitches,
yetunde

some of my favorite's

someone asked me which one of my quilt's was my favorite. well, i have several that are my favorite. 

the nude man, was a photo that i just love. i love the look of a man's body, the look of their muscles just amaze me. 

  

if you look at the woman's face very closely you will see a fetus in her face. i didn't realize it was there until someone told me. the quilt is call, "baby on my mind." 

 the clown: is a motown song call, "tears of a clown."

all i can say about prince, is that i just love his music, specially "purple rain."

well since i did a nude man, i had to do a woman.

bob marley: love his music and love the meaning of some of his songs.

lawrence fishburne: love any movies that he has ever act in.

these are some of my first pieces that i started making after i had made portrait quilts of family members.

someone also ask about the zentangle quilt, that i have been working on, not completed yet, will post when ever i complete it.  this is just a few of my favorites.  all my quilt's are my favorite because i hate to part with them.

stitches for now.   

yetunde

ps

 

to my quilting friends who follow my blog sorry about showing old pictures of my quilts.will post something new soon.  wendy, when i come and visit you i will show you how to do the technique that i use to make lawrence fishburne.

fun day

yesterday was a fun day, pat and i went to a Zentangle Class.  some of you are wondering why i took this class, well there were a few tangles that i just could not figure out how to do.  the class was great and lauren persky and chelsea kennedy were great instructors.  they make it so easy to understand how to make the tangle pattern.  i was a little worried that i might be learning tangles that i already new. but all of the tangles that they taught only one i knew how to make.  for you quilter, who are trying to understand why i do this is because one it relaxes me and it has made my blood pressure go down and two i am putting some of my zentangle into my quilting.  there are books that show how you can use Zentangle into your quilting.  so for those of you that are in the dc and maryland area  lauren and chelsea are having another class

Saturday, December 10

10:00am-12:00pm
$40, materials included
Held at Crossings: A Center for the Healing Traditions
Silver Spring, MD
to register email tangledinthebeltway@rocketmail.com
also check out their blog: tangledinthebeltway.blogspot.com
 

here are some pictures of some of the zentangle that lauren and chelsea had as dislay, the second picture are zentangle that we did in the class and the last pictures are some of the zentangle that i did in class and some that i did when i got home.

 

after the class pat and i brought kits and supplies to keep us doing more zentangle.  we also so went to our quilting bee after the zentangle class and showed what we did in class.  pat also showed quilts that she had complete and was still working on.  i also showed the red and white portrait that i am still working on.  Carolyn has found a place to show our red and white quilt at a gallery sometime in early 2012.  when i get more info on that i will let you know. 

check out the quilts that pat has made, she has been working her butt off.

 

it was a fun day. no back pain so i will say it was a great day for me.

stitches for now.

yetunde

ranting to myself on the RED & WHITE CHALLENGE

hello everyone, i am still having problems with my back.  it is a childhood illness that is now giving me problems in my old age.  i still cannot sit down at the sewing machine and sew.  i took a class a couple weeks ago thinking that i could sew and i could not wait to get out of that class.  my back was killing me.

well today i want to talk about the RED & WHITE challenge that a friend is having and it is due by December.  i am going crazy.  well at first i had decided to make a king size quilt, using a technique that i saw on the Internet.  once i started laying the pieces on my designing wall it was totally ugly.  no matter how i moved the pieces around it was still ugly.  you could not see the design by using just red & white in this quilt.  it needed more colors than just red and white.  when i showed a friend the pattern they also stated that just two colors was not going to work.  so i decided to design a quilt using paper piecing.  i was using a flying geese block for my design, the flying geese would swirl all around in different direction. the problem was i could not get the pieces to fit correctly to the attach fabric on the side of the flying geese.  so you know what that whole thing got thrown to the side.  so with my crazy self i decided to do a portrait quilt.  then i decided that was too easy, everyone would be looking for me to make a portrait quilt. so that also got thrown to the side.  to top it off i still had a lot of fabric that needed to be used.  so i decided to fuse triangles onto white fabric to make it look like flying geese.  it didn't come out like i wanted so it will have to do for now, it is not big. since i have problems with my back i cannot use the sewing machine.  so with my crazy self i am hand quilting it and my hands are also hurting.  so i do a little bit here and little bit there.  i am not doing the quilt design that i wanted to machine sew on the quilt.  if i was thinking i could of had someone quilt it for me.  but i have completed about half of the quilt so far just sewing straight lines.  i still have RED & WHITE fabric, so i just made a quilt with red & white blocks and added some red work embroidery to the quilt.  now if you remember i stated early about going to a class, well they had a black and white quilt that i thought would look nice in RED & WHITE so i brought the pattern and a crazy ruler that i don't have the slightest idea how to use.  the instruction don't make sense to me.  so i finally figure out how to cut the pattern, so i get to cutting.  guess what that whole idea got thrown to the side also.  my pieces kept coming out crooked, points weren't right.  NOW TO ALL THE TRADITIONAL QUILTER'S i want to tip my hat to you all.  now i know why it was meant for me to do art quilts.  paper piecing is not my thing, connecting points and so forth is not for me.  i don't have the patients to connect every little piece correct to make just one block, over a thousand piece to put together.  my brain will not let me do it.  so for now i will just stick to portrait quilting and art quilt.  so for right now i have about three RED & WHITE quilts for this quilt challenge.  don't be surprise if i make some more RED & WHITE portraits.  since i still have some fabric left over. i HATE RED & WHITE, why couldn't we add some black in there i love BLACK.   enough on RED & WHITE  for now.

oh one more thing.  the portrait is not complete.  it needs a border and needs to be quilted.

stitches for now.

back problem

hello blog family, i have been having some serious back problems and have not been able to quilt. i have been having problems with my back and i tried to not think about it.  but one day while i was teaching a class my back started hurting.  that next day i could not get up and walk.  so i went to urgent care.  i have sciatica (?) and they want to do some more test to check out something else. the pain is no joke.  when i think i am doing ok, i have a re lap and have to get back in bed.  i have been doing some hand sewing on a few things.  i made a quilt for a mother who lost her son by a drive by shooting.  her son was suppose to have taken my granddaughter to her junior prom.  he was my granddaugher's cousin and her best friend.  someone asked me to make a quilt for his mother.  when my back went out i had to finish it by hand.  i am also  working on my red and white quilt challenge that is due to be completed by december.  i was also working on one that i was beng made  by machine sewing that i can not finish because my back is still hurting.  so i started another red and white quilt that i am doing by hand.  and i loving it.  sorry i can not show it until december.  my friend pat sent me a get well card and i just love.  pat is always thinking about me.  she always keep me smiling.  now let me tell you what the card said.    here goes, "I HEARD YOUR WHATCHAMACALLIT GOT ALL OUT OF WHACK AND DISCOMBOBULATED IT'S A GOOD THING THEY HAVE THOSE THINGAMABOBS TO FIX YOUR DOOHICKEY.  IN OTHER WORD, GET WELL SOON."  when i read it i had to smile.  that's my sistah friend.  reading that made the pain less painful for a while. 

well blog family i was just letting you know why i have not blogged in a while. i guess i will do some zentangle and some more hand quilting.

stitches for now.

yetunde

Zentangle fabric

yes, i am still zentangle while i am quilting. i have notice that since i have being doing zentangles, my pressure has gone down.  it so relaxing.  i love doing it.  i have a few friends hooked on doing zentangles.  but what i have to show you today is what i have done with some of my zentangle pieces.  here is a picture of one of my zentangle pieces.  

i have scan my zentangle piece to photoshop element and was playing around with it.  one day while i was on youtube their was a tutoral on how to manipulate a picture and to print it onto fabric.  they mention spoonflower.com a website that will print your download pictures onto fabric.  they will also manipulate the picture to change the look if you want to.  so i played with my download zentangle on their site and here are the two fabric pieces that i came up with just by using this one zentangle piece.  i hope you like the two pieces that i had them print up.

yes these two piece are fabric.  this is a yard a piece for both.  the print could be smaller or larger it is your choice.

 this one is the basic.

this one is the mirror image.

what i found out is that i need to shade my zentangles very dark with what every color i use.

now i just have to decide what to make out of it, just look at it.

stitches for now.

yetunde



challenge complete.

here i is my final piece that i am swapping with linda.  i hope she likes it.  check her blog out to see the piece that she is giving me. we are going to do the swap again.  she is going to pick out the picture this time.  her blog is eatsleepquilt. she is listed on the right hand side of my blog with the many other quilters that i inspire me.

stitches for now.

yetunde

challenge

well i am taking a quick break from quilting right now to blog about the challenge i said, i would do with linda on an earlier post. i am liking what i am coming up with on this challenge. it was fun. i thought it would be hard, but once i got started it just came to me. i hope linda will like it. if she don't, hey, i will keep it. first we had to take a picture and use only solid fabric to make a 15 inch quilt. use a  picture that linda let me pick out.  the picture is to inspire us to come up with a 15 inch quilt.

check out my process:
 sewing pieces together, cutting up shapes and trying to decide where i want the pieces.  oh i am also showing the picture that we are to use to inspire us.  right now i am quilting the piece and i guess you will have to come back later to see the finale out come. it was due august 1st, and we moved it to the 15th, i think mine will be complete before then.

i hope you enjoyed the pictures i have to get back to quilt this piece for linda.

stitches for now.

yetunde

this one on my own /tip for the day

well, i decided to try bisa butler's technique in portrait quilting by myself.  i love it, it is so easy not trying to find skin tone fabric to make a portrait.  any kind of fabric will do, so long as you use light to dark fabric to make the portrait.  i hope you like it.

TIP FOR THE DAY

if you have a iphone or a droid phone, guess what you can now download a quilt shop locator application and it is  FREE..  this app will give you location of any quilt shop in the united states.  check it out. The new Quilt Shop Locator app is here and FREE!  for more information.  i just looked on my phone application and found it.  i  download it and typed in the state that i live in and i could not believe we had that many quilt shops in maryland.  still playing with it, i have not decide if i like it yet, but it doesn't hurt to try something FREE.  a friend gave me this little tip for the day.

stitches for now.

yetunde

quilts challenge

my quilt challenge is still with linda and i am just getting started.  first let me just say, i must get my fabric organized.  i brought some solid fabric a couple of weeks ago and i am just now finding.  i call myself putting it somewhere where i could find it quickly.  that did not happen.   here are my solid colors.

i know what i want to do, i just need to be able to do it in a 15 inch square. i am cutting some strips and sewing them together and then cut them out into two circles and i am still trying to decide what color i want for the background.

check me out in a couple of days and see what i come up next on this challenge.

stitches for now,

yetunde 

birthday treats

my  birthday is not until wednesday july 20th, since i have to work on the 20th. my husband and friend's treated me to some nice things early.  dinner, friday and saturday night, two books, one on vegetarian cooking and another on how to make juices and smoothies, i just love both of them, don't know which one to look at first.  i love smoothies and i have been trying out new cooking dishes when i am not quilting. well sunday a friend treated me to a fabric painting workshop.  i had told her that i was planing to take this class and she told be to stop by her house before the class, and she gave me the money for the class.  nice gift ,if i must say so, since i didn't have to pay.  well blog family the class was great.  it was given by kweli, from african american fabrics.  her blog is africanamericanfabrics.blogspot.com.  she makes and sales her own fabric.  check her out, she is having up coming classes.  you  can also find her on facebook. the class was outside and the weather was great, not to hot.  she showed us how to make stencils and stamps, how to use glue to make a stamp, household items.  things around the house.  kweli, showed us about six different ways on how to design our fabric.  all of us in the class made beautiful fabric.  i wanted to take all the pieces that everyone made home. they were so pretty.

 check out how much fun we had.(click for close up)

picking out fabric to dye or paint

this is my piece that i am painting blue on the fabric

kweli, watching someone taking her suggestion on what to do with their fabric. 

kweli, taking pictures of our pieces while they are drying.

now the whole time that this lady was working on  her piece she kept saying that she didn't like her piece.  when she first started i was liking it.  now that she completed it she likes it.  she could not see how pretty it was until she finished. here is someone else pieces.  she use a heart stamp on her piece. 

these are two pieces that i made. and yes, i make my own stamps to do my design,  the face is from my pouch, that kweli showed us how to do with some foam and a hot air gun. 

i plan to taking another class from kweli,  she has a digital fabric making class coming up soon and i am going to try to take that soon.  great class, fun and easy.  check her out at her facebook, or her blog for information on date for classes.  she is in rockville, maryland and she also teaches at g street fabric.

stitches for now.

yetunde

bisa butler

i took bisa butler's class today, and it was great.  her class is college portrait workshop.  we all had a great time.  linda, from "eatsleepquilt" blog was also in the class.  it was about 10 or 12 of us in her class. she showed us how to pick our fabric and cut out the pieces. she told us how to draw our pattern. their were two pictures that we could choose  this is the one that i decided on, jill scott.

i am working on the face in this picture.  the main piece that i really had to take my time cutting out was the eyes.  on the right corner of the mouth, i am trying to get right.

working on the head piece here.

just finishing the neck.

added the blouse and finishing necklace.  some of the necklace pieces will be in 3D.  when i finish the entire piece i will post it. 

here are few pictures of us working in the workshop.  also if you are interested in taking her class, she is having the same workshop at her studio on july 16 next saturday.  check her facebook for information. here are a few pictures of us working hard, but having fun.  almost forgot, the workshop was at the fabric peddlers, Nadine's shop in maryland. nadine, served us breakfast and a great lunch. bisa came down from phillie or maybe it was new jersey. i can't remember.  the last four pictures are pictures of bisa's art work.

linda work hard

this is the other picture that someone is working on.

renee work hard also.

these last four are bisa butler's pieces. enjoy! the first one here, she is still working on it.

stitches for now,

yetunde