Monday, January 20, 2014

Wake Me Up to Kona Bloghop

Hurray, it's my turn for the Wake Me Up to Kona Bloghop.
I have had sew much fun making these projects.
Participating in this Kona bloghop was the perfect opportunity to
 practice my free motion quilting, make some practical useful items
and try my hand at some new techniques.

As always, a big shout out of thanks to our marvelous cheerleaders,
Madame Samm at Sew We Quilt and Carol at Just Let Me Quilt.
Amanda Murphy and her beautiful book Color Essentials
Sunrise and Sunset bundles from Robert Kaufman and
lovely threads from Aurifil are our wonderful sponsors.
Here are the other bloggers on my day. I can't wait to see what everyone creates with these wonderful fabrics.
January 20

This pillow sure brightens up my living room couch on a wintry January day!
Machine appliqued figure skate (my favorite Winter Olympic sport) from a Fig Trees Pattern. 
Lori Kennedy at The Inbox Jaunt inspired small snowflakes and
I FMQed the larger snowflakes after practicing her pine boughs. 
 
For my Christmas table I made these placemats.
I loved using Kona white for my Gail Pan embroidery pattern and the red to practice my FMQ.
Inspiration for the quilted Christmas feathers came from Amy at 
Amys Freemotion Quilting. The word quilting from Leslie at MarveLes Art Studio.
I thought that the Kona could be more than just a palette for my FMQ practice.
I made a nice collage of vintage seahorse prints from the internet and a turtle print we had.
Then I ironed an 8x11 sheet of interfacing to the Kona and ran it through my printer, transferring

the collage onto the KONA light blue. I made my own fabric!
I added the turtle applique, some Kona sashing and some FMQ.
Here's the collage in the tote I made.
For the back of the tote I tried out my new Derwent watercolor pencils.
First I applied the Kona seahorse applique. Next I embroidered the seahorse on the left.
Next I quilted the water bubbles, kelp and threadwork on the applique.
Lastly I added the color with dry pencils and applied a thin coat of Folkart textile medium to set the colors.
I tried my hand at a practice whole cloth and added color to my FMQ.
The KONA white definitely makes a wonderful canvas for quilting and painting.
Inspiration for this technique is from a Deborah Louie whole cloth quilt.

I hope you enjoyed my adventures using KONA solids.
I have loved seeing all the wonderful projects made by sew many talented quilters.
Happy beautiful winter morning from our lake in NH!
This is a shout out to Madame Samm for her wonderful button pin tutorial.

75 comments:

  1. Besonders gut gefällt mir der Schlittschuh auf dem Kissen, sehr schöne Arbeit. Love the Schlittschuh on the Pilot.
    Gruß Sylvia

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  2. I really like the cushion. I have to say that I laughed at your blog name, so funny.

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  3. They are all just wonderful projects and thank you for sharing with us today.

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  4. Awesome projects! Love your creativity. I have to admit to having been collecting buttons to make some of Mdm Samm's very fun button pins.

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  5. Your skate pillow is my favorite among all the wonderful projects, that you have made.
    Thanks for sharing your creativity.

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  6. Wonderful projects all! I am fascinated by your use of the water color pencils. The sea horses are amazing!!

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  7. What an eclectic and wonderful group of projects! Your watercolor work is truly beautiful.

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  8. You have been very busy... And quite creative with your KONA's! Love the applique work and your quilting is incredible! Great job on all!

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  9. What lovely creations, you did a great job.

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  10. Your creations are all very pretty. The Inbox Jaunt is a great place for ideas, I visit often. The water color pencils look like they would be fun.

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  11. Wonderful creations. I love the seahorses, one of my favorite animals.

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  12. Very pretty! I can't wait for the Olympics.

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  13. Your Kona projects are works of art and are absolutely gorgeous! I love all the different and creative ways you quilted them. Thanks for hopping with us and sharing your creations...I love them!

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  14. It looks like you've been having fun with these solids! Great job on your projects! They're all beautiful!

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  15. I ADORE seahorses! I have a Pinterest board devoted to them! I knew exactly which vintage seahorse print you used to make your own fabric. WONDERFul finished tote.

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  16. Wow! Love all of your projects! You are very talented....

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  17. Well, the board is called Fish as ART, but STILL! It is largely seahorse oriented! I do have a file in my Sewing folder on my computer for seahorses...

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  18. Such lovely creations! great work, thanks for the inspiration!!

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  19. Love your feather quilting. I looks so vintage and elegant.

    .

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  20. What a fun way to practice!! All great projects :)

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  21. Lovely projects. My FMQ doesn't look anything like your. Thanks for sharing.

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  22. Oh my! Your stitchery is lovely. Thank you for sharing your talents :)

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  23. Your projests are all so pretty and so colorful. Your stitches are perfect! I envoy you being Abe to do that.

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  24. Wow! What great projects. I'm ready for the Olympics now! I love Gail Pan designs, too. My adult son has always been a turtle lover and your design made me think that I need to do something for him. He is still using a store bought quilt from junior high. He recently hinted that he would like a new quilt - think Mom needs to get busy and make one for him. Thanks for participating and all the inspiration. Your quilting is phenomenal. I hope to see you in more hops.

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  25. What a creative approach to your tote! Lovely svonfumetti at yahoo dot com

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  26. Pure gorgeousness! lotsa oohing and aahhing goingon over here!

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  27. What lovely work! I loved seeing your different techniques. Very creative.

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  28. Lots of wonderful projects! Thank you for sharing.

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  29. How cute are these? I LOVE your ice skate!

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  30. Lori Kennedy is so go at explaining the FMQ isn't she? You did a great job on your quilting, I look forward to doing so well myself someday. Thank you for sharing the alternative ideas, watercolor pencils, who knew?
    ~Brandy

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  31. Wow, what wonderful projects. I am really interested in how you managed to make your fabric with your computer. I do hope you will share more on that! :-)

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  32. Some wonderful projects incorporating a lot of techniques. You must have had a lot of fun learning and practicing. Thanks for sharing.

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  33. You did a lot of great projects. Love the tote bag. Great job.

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  34. Beautiful projects and quilting. Thanks for sharing ... :) Pat

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  35. what delightful projects, your skate is one I adore..you amaze me…and that pin cushion..love those pins...

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  36. Your projects are all so beautiful…especially love the seahorse tote!! Thanks for sharing :)

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  37. What a great variety of projects using Kona solids. Love the sea turtle!

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  38. I love all the different techniques you tried with the solids. They are each unique and wonderful! Great job!

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  39. Nice projects, nice quilted snowflakes. 24Tangent@gmail.com

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  40. Oh my you do such beautiful work with perfect, perfect stitching. My eyes are lovin your projects.

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  41. I love all your projects especially the bag. I was not expecting skates, but why not. As a new quilter, I find sewing with solids to be less scarey. I am happy to follow you on e-mail. Happy New Year from Oklahoma, USA. crystalbluern at onlineok dot com

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  42. WOW- love everything, especially the skates

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  43. Nice embroidery work. Thanks for sharing your fun projects.

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  44. Thanks so much for sharing your creative ideas and the techniques that accomplished them. Keep up the good work. K

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  45. yes, I've enjoyed all your kona projects! but I have to tell you that your loon family quilt is awesome!

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  46. You are very creative and inspiring. I love your projects.

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  47. Love all of your projects. My favorite is the ice skate, wonderful!! Good job.
    cheers
    maggie

    maggiemine42@gmail.com

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  48. Well you certainly had fun with some KONA! Your projects are all great, I love all of them. That ice skate is too cute though. The quilting really tops if off too.

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  49. Lovely projects with Kona solids. Your quilting really brings life to the party especially when you add you colorings. Thank you sew much for hopping...

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  50. Sweet projects! Love the skate! :)

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  51. I too love to watch ice skating. It is so relaxing to watch. Your projects are fabulous. Thanks for sharing.

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  52. I love what you did with the solids. Wonderful quilting!

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  53. I love snowflakes,and yours are just perfect! All of your pillows and the bag are simply amazing,thank you so much for sharing.

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  54. Wow. You have done a lot of amazing projects. Very nice. They're all very pretty.

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  55. So many fun projects! Very nice.

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  56. Beautiful projects!!! I love the seahorses too...& your floral whole cloth one too.

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  57. Great projects. The Seahorses are beautiful. Thanks for sharing.
    xo jan

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  58. Lovely lovely creations. The skating is well timed for this year's Olympics :) and the sea horse collage is great!

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  59. The pillow is adorable. I like the way you quilted snowflakes into it, and I like how you quilted the ice.

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  60. Wow, you really are quite the artist. Loved that you did so many different things with the printer, the colored pencils and all. The flowers are my favorite. Great pillow; so nice to have a spot of color on the couch with the white, wintery, weather around.

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  61. wow your projects are wonderful, thanks for sharing and for the inspiration

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  62. You did a great job on your projects and really showcased the many things you can do with Kona. It really is the "go to" fabric for quilting, painting, and embroidery. Thanks for sharing your colors.

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  63. Wow, you have been a busy quilter!! Love the way you did your tote...both sides are great! Your Christmas table will look so cheery this year with those placemats. Your pillow is adorable and shows off my favorite winter Olympic sport too!!!

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  64. Lovely projects! I love how you used the kona white as the canvas. Seahorse and flowers are just amazing.

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  65. All your projects are beautiful!

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  66. Beautiful Kona projects! You've been busy - and I love the details you add to your projects with your FMQing skills. Wow.

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  67. what a great collection of projects. thanks for sharing.

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  68. i really like your project.
    click on this http://www.weaveron.com/

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