Beading Arts

I have several books on stitching seams for crazy quilts, and each time a new one comes out, I hesitate.  Do I really need another one?  But fortunately, I usually come to my senses and realize that I always learn something new and delightful in each new book!  So I joyfully (no pun intended) bring this book to your attention: Joyful Daily Stitching, Seam by Seam by Valerie Bothell.   Not only is it visually beautiful, but it is also possibly the best organized of all the CQ books I own.  The emphasis is on the seam stitching, although there are basic instructions for CQ piecing as well. The photos of the stitches are beautiful and easy to follow, and many many stitches are shown in beaded varieties as well!  This section is followed by 500 different stitch combinations, using thread embroidery, silk ribbon embroidery, and beads.  You will want to start immediately! This post contains affiliate links: Amazon

These are not beginner's quilting books, but rather concentrate on designing beyond the simple pattern.  Many different techniques are covered...all of them are a feast for the eyes!  I will be adding to this list as I review more art quilting books, newer ones at the top. Cutting-Edge Art Quilts by Mary W Kerr Inspired to Design by Elizabeth Barton Design, Create, and Quilt by Rose Hughes Journey to Inspired Art Quilting by Jean Wells Exploring Dimensional Quilt Art  by C June Barnes Creative Quilting with Beads by Valerie Van Arsdale Shrader Masters: Art Quilts, vol 2 Fabric Art Workshop by Susan Stein Embellished Mini-Quilts by Jamie Fingal The Art of Fabric Collage by Rosemary Eichorn The Quilting Arts Book edited by Patricia Bolton

Last week, I showed you the set-up for making a whole cloth crazy quilt block with no patchwork , only faux seams.  Today, I want to share with you the embellishments that I chose, plus how I finished off the block. My original plan was to add beads all around the edge of the block with no frame, but as I started, it just looked so barren.  It really really needed a frame, so I re-worked my plan. But first, the fun stuff! 7. Embroidery, add beads and buttons, etc. 8. Cut a piece of stiff but thin interfacing and a piece of batting larger than the finished block will be.  Wrap interfacing with the backing fabric, mitering the corners. 9. Wrap the batting with the finished block, mitering the corners.  Pin them together and blind stitch the block to the backing. Copyright 2016 Cyndi Lavin. All rights reserved. Not to be reprinted, resold, or redistributed for profit. May be printed out for personal use or distributed electroni...

This is a "no-patchwork whole cloth" crazy quilt block.  I had a small but great textured piece of silk that was left over from a flurry of painting.  I drew up a crazy quilt block, re-sized and transferred it to a piece of muslin, and then pinned my silk piece in place on top.  Using a basting stitch, I went over all the lines in red thread. My plan was to remove the basting stitches as soon as I had marked the seam treatments using templates, but the machine stitches made permanent marks in the silk.  Plan B (which I came up with on the spot) was to re-stitch each of the seam lines in white perle cotton thread, using a back stitch. If I make another of these, I will skip the machine basting step and just stitch the "seam" lines on to begin with! 1. Draw block.  If needed, scan and size with photoshop and print out. 3. Trace.  Copy over tracing on the back with black pen. 4. Use lightbox to trace wrong side of pattern onto the back of the mus...

This is a free, self-paced course offered by the fabulous Kathy Shaw .  If you've ever wanted to try crazy quilting or to get better at it, here's your chance!  Hit the link on Kathy's name.  Registration is only open until midnight of March 18, so don't procrastinate!

Last week I showed you the first part of my design and construction of 30-Second Hot Flashes . This week, we finish it up! 1. In this style of quilt block, I like to leave the outer edge of the top raw, but you could turn it under slightly if you prefer. 2. Cut the batting larger than the top, large enough to form a nice sized "frame" for the piece.  I used a thick piece of wool felt inside to help keep it stretched. 3. The wrap and tuck method of framing a quilt is explained in greater detail at the link, but basically, the backing fabric needs to be cut large enough to wrap around up over the batting, and tuck underneath the edges of the top. The corners can be mitered or left square.  I decorated over the seams with feather stitch.  Use blanket stitch around the outside to attach the top to the other layers. 30-Second Hot Flashes Cyndi Lavin, 2015 Copyright 2016 Cyndi Lavin. All rights reserved. Not to be reprinted, resold, or redistributed fo...

30-Second Hot Flashes Cyndi Lavin, 2015 This quilt block is a modern take on crazy quilting, even if it doesn't immediately look that way.  I have used raw edge patchwork blocks in the design, and have treated each edge as if it were a crazy quilt seam.  My initial plan was to use more beads than I ended up with.  I just liked the cleaner, less embellished look for this one. The block has square corners...it just doesn't look like it because of my camera angle.  I'm calling this little quilt 30-Second Hot Flashes , and I'll leave it up to you to guess why :-) 1. Draw pattern. 2. Scan and size with photoshop if needed and print out. 3. Trace the pattern. 4. Choose fabrics.  Cut out background fabric. 5. Draw pattern shapes on the back of lightweight fusible interfacing, fuse to chosen fabrics, and cut out. 6. Use the tracing to position and pin the major shapes on the background fabric.  Save the smaller shapes for late...

Kīlauea I post all of my quilts on Mixed Media Artist , but there are also people here at Beading Arts who love to quilt.  Besides tutorials for my previously made quilts, you will also find loads of tutorials there on fabric painting , doing image transfers , and other topics that could cross-pollinate with your jewelry making and beading. Since you'll be seeing more fabric and fiber arts here than in some previous years, I thought I'd better add an archived list of tutorials that you can find easily.  This post will be linked in the Tutorials  tab at the top of this blog so that you can find it easily. Some of these quilt tutorials include beading, but some do not.  You are always welcome to add beads if you want! Small tree quilt Faux patchwork crazy quilt block 30-Second Hot Flashes Spring Returns to the Land A beginner's crazy quilt block Geometric beaded quilt Infinite Love beaded quilt Beaded turtles  ( update ) Rising Mist qui...

Last week, I shared part one of my tutorial on making a painted landscape crazy quilt block. 10. My landscape is all finished now, with each seam and patch decorated.  What follows are some close-ups of various areas: 11. Snow-topped mountains and flowers. 12. Mid-land and butterfly. 13. Foreground water. 14. The last element I added. 15. I chose not to add a frame of any type to this block, so here's my finishing method.  Cut a backing fabric (mine is plain muslin) and a piece of batting.  The batting should be just slightly smaller than the top.  Miter and fold the backing up around the batting.  Miter and fold the edges of the top along the pre-planned lines. 16. Iron the edges, line them up, and pin them together. 17. Pick embroidery floss and size 8/0 seed beads to edge the piece.  I added a bead to every other blanket stitch around the edges. Spring Returns to the Land 10x8" Cyndi Lavin, 201...

Registration for the basic crazy quilt course with the wonderful Kathy Shaw is open now. It's an online course and it's free. Stop procrastinating...registration is only open until the 15th!

If you are interested in adding more quilting to your beading, or more beading to your quilting, but aren't sure where to start, Martingale publications are a good bet.  Each one has all the basic information you need to complete the projects that are included.  For example, all of them will teach you how to piece, quilt, and finish blocks, but each also includes its own specialty. Animal Parade 2 by Cheri Leffler features adorable applique quilts for babies.  Ten complete projects include instruction on two applique methods and several embroidery stitches. Primitive Style Folk Art Quilts and Other Finery by Jenifer Gaston goes beyond quilts to hooked rugs and other home decor. Windy City Bags by Sara Lawson has twelve handbag and tote designs with easy-to-follow instructions Technorati Tags: bead embroidery , handmade beaded jewelry , wearable art , beads , jewelry , necklace , mixed media , beading

Spring Returns to the Land 10x8" Cyndi Lavin, 2016 I spent the last few months working more on small quilt blocks than on jewelry, so the first couple of tutorials for 2016 will be focused on those.  Sometimes I turn to art quilts, collage, or other mixed media when I don't know where to go next with jewelry making, but other times I do them just because I love them.  I used to share most of them on Mixed Media Artist , and you can find lots of tutorials over there, but not all of them will have beads! 1. Sketch the landscape as you please.  I decided to turn mine into straight lines before transferring, to keep more of a crazy quilt look about it. 2. Transfer your design to muslin using a lightbox and a waterproof black pen (I use Faber-Castell Pitt pens ).  Double the muslin before hooping.  I decided to add a motif that I had previously stitched separately on muslin.  Back it with interfacing if needed, and fuse it into place on th...