Monday, December 17, 2012

Just a crappy little quilt

This is one of the first quilts I made a few years ago. At the time, I wanted to make something cute, simple and original....but every subject I wanted to do (video games, heavy metal, tattoos etc) had been quilted before. Then I thought of the one thing I was SURE no one had done yet! (so far I have not been proven wrong on this.) I also like the idea of something being simultaneously cute and repulsive. And thus was born what you see before you. It was done in fused applique (or should I say, crapplique?), machine pieced and quilted.
I entered this in the 2010 Austin quilt show, where it won 3rd place in the novice category. I was feeling pretty good about this....until I realized there were only 3 entries in the category! LOL. At least I can now say I'm an "award-winning quilter"! 


Sunday, December 9, 2012

Apocalypse Wow!

A UK quilter by the name of Ferret makes some amazing art quilts, some of them based on photographs- like this one of Perttu Kivilaakso, cello player for the great Finnish symphonic metal band Apocalyptica.
You can see more of her work on her website, Ferret Fabrications.






Wednesday, December 5, 2012

I'm dreaming....of a BLACK CHRISTMAS!!!

So last year after Christmas, I happened to find this black pre-lit tree on sale super cheap, and couldn't pass it up. I haven't had a tree of my own since I moved away from home 20+ years ago, so I've had lots of fun all year coming up with ideas for the 1st annual BLACK CHRISTMAS!

My first idea was to take a few heavy metal patches I have been collecting, and turn them into quilted ornaments! (I figure I'm kind of past the age where I can get away with wearing them on a grungy denim vest....) They turned out pretty cool! I am working on a tutorial for these, so stay tuned.



Then around Halloween, I happened to see a big plastic chain decoration, and realized it would make a great "metal" garland for the tree! Can't wait for next fall to roll around and see what other cool items can be found.

Finally, this weekend I put it all together while listening to a playlist I made of metal covers of Christmas songs! It's fairly poppy with Twisted Sister etc, but super fun. Here's a link in case you want to check it out (may contain a bit of NSFW language ;)




This is something I'll keep adding to every year. Next I need to make a black tree skirt!