B3 Niacin Crystals

I finally finished B3 Niacin Crystals. Since my mom died on Thanksgiving day, I haven't done any quilting. I started this quilt this morning (Dec.24) and finished it at 3 p.m. this afternoon, so even tho I'm late in posting the photos, I did do the quilt in just 6 hours. The quilt measures 9" x 11". I used thread painting and fabric glitter markers. The photo is based on the electron micrograph of B3 crystals by Dennis Kunkle of Microscopy, Inc. I downloaded the picture of the niacin bottle from the Internet and printed it onto fabric, then enhanced it with thread painting. This was a fun little quilt to do and I felt good to get back into quilting again. Everyone has done such a wonderful job with this challenge.

Baby Seal

I created this seal for the Fast Friday Fabric Challenge. Criteria for the Challenge:
1. Subject must be an animal
2. Try to use trapunto and reverse applique
My challenge meets all the criteria. I started with a piece of gray sky fabric that I thought looked somewhat like floating icebergs rather than clouds. I used a photo of a baby seal to draw my pattern. I traced the pattern onto the gray fabric and placed a piece of cotton batting underneath. I stitched around the shape of the seal, trimmed away the gray fabric, leaving the batting showing. I then stitched around the shape one more time with a zigzag applique stitch. I appliqued two black eyes, a mouth, and a nose, painted in some gray shading with textile paints. I then placed in another piece of batting the size of the finished quilt and added the backing fabric. I stitched around the shape of the seal again to hold all the layers together leaving a 4 inch space open to allow stuffing for the trapunto. I then used fiberfill to plump out the shape of the seal. I closed up the opening and began shaping the body with machine quilting. I used black French knots for the whisker and eyebrow bases and then used black machine stitching for the whiskers. I combined blue and white Angelina fibers and fused them together. I place them in a semicircle around the seal's body for the appearance of water. I machine quilted in semicircles to look like water ripples. Since I had used red Minkee for the backing fabric, I discovered that even though I was quilting with white thread, the machine quilting brought the red fibers to the forefront. I was not happy with this outcome, but it is done, and it will have to stay that way. Just one more learning experience in the long road to become a quilter. I also wish there was some way to make the flippers look more realistic. Any suggestions?

Planetary Fiction by Pam Clark

This is my first fast friday challenge. I chose to use some new products that I hadn't tried before. I started with Angelina film. I layed strands of fibers between two layers of film and ironed to hold the fibers in place. I cut the film into a half moon shape and stitched it onto my dark background. I had never tried fiber painting before, so I painted around the planet to look like reflections coming off the surface. I also painted a small moon and a swirling nebula. I couched decorative fibers around the planet, across the planet and throughout the piece. I quilted with metallic threads to add glitz, added some Angelina fibers to the surface of the planet, and sewed on a few beads. I'm not really happy with the outcome, since I feel that my planet is too shiny, but I did learn how to use the Angelina film and how to fiber paint. Your comments are welcome.

Fast Friday

I am in awe of all the participants in the latest challenge for Fast Friday art quilts. The creativity displayed in this challenge is amazing. I haven't been able to create anything yet, since I've been in Virginia visiting my daughter and our new granddaughter. We're flying home today, so I may be late in finishing this project, but I do intend to create something.