FMQC Bonus Tutorial, KK DVD, Teri Lucas

FMQC Bonus Tutorial in December using the KK program!

Great tutorial for the December Bonus class with Teri Lucas.  It was exactly what I needed to finally open my KK3 DVD I ordered last year, and not onlydid I finally register the DVD, but I actually upload a family photo and made a Kaleidoscope to put feathers on for this challenge.



Here you see my pinwheel created from a photo of  me, AKA ~ Mimi and Grampa ~ with our two grandsons, ages one and two, taken at the end of summer.  Oh, what a blast being a grandparent to our wee ones is for us!  Love you boys.

Once our photo was uploaded and cropped to fit the pinwheel pattern (chose a pinwheel shape because our grandsons LOVE playing with pinwheels at Mimi and Grampa's house), I printed it on washed 100 percent white cotton pressed to freezer paper with a hot dry iron, and put it through our laser printer.  I would have used the inkjet printer, however, I purchased bubble jet rinse by mistake, should have gotten Bubble Jet wash solution.   Anyway, used the laser, then ironed with HOT dry iron, removed paper, and I was ready to begin.

Once I had my pinwheel shape and size printed out, and my borders attached to the printed piece, I drew out the pinwheel and then drafted some stitches I might like to use, along with some ideas on what to quilt 1st, 2nd, etc.

I stitched on the borders after having used my colorwheel to help choose fabric colors that would go well with those colors in our photo, the trick is using the correct value of color.  Then I stitched using variagated rayon thread the extra batt for trapunto around the pinwheel area and the first row of feathers.  Once completed, I cut away the remaining batt, like a cookie cutter cuts away the extra dough.  Then layered my quilt top, batt and backing,  and stitched in the ditch to secure the quilt.

Next, I added a second row of feathers and filler inside the first row of feathers, with dark purple rayon thread.  I even stitched the pie shaped pinwheels again, which are now pretty puffy with the trapunto work, and raised nicely off of the quilt top.  I then did two rows of echo quilting around the feathers on the pinwheel, before beginning the stippling.  I may add another row of stitching around each family member in each of the pie shapes on the pinwheel ~ haven't yet decided on that for sure.  Here you can see the back of the quilt

I chose the final black border, as this quilt will hang on our family photo wall, in which all the photos are in black frames.   Once I am sure all the stitching is done, I will put a protective finish over the photo printed part of the quilt.

To protect the photo ink from running and fading, I first tried a few different products I had on hand at our home.  Two were iron-on  laminates, both were high gloss.  The pellon iron-on did not hold up to hand washing, while the Heat n Bond surface held up to washing, it would leave the quilt with too shiny a surface.   The other two products were paint on items.  One was a clear varnish, which made the fabric stiff when dry; it did not hold up to hand washing, and the ink faded along with the varnish as it dried.  The final product I tried, Americana Fabric Medium, not only gave the fabric a nice drape when dry, but it held up to the washing, and it appeared to dry without fading or washing away the ink.  That will be what I will apply to my quilt top prior to hanging on display.

Lots of fun doing this bonus challenge, and nowthat I have done one, I have so many ideas for future KK projects. Cindy Needhams E-book updates she mailed out today, had some great tips for completing the quilting while the tutorial by Teri Lucas had great tips and inspiration for finaling opening and using the KK3 DVD I bought a while back.

Thank you again Sew Cal Gal ~ it sure has been a lot of fun participating in the FMQ Challenge.
* To see how this quilt finished, go to
http://cantstopstitchin.blogspot.com/2013/01/fmq-bonus-challenge-is-bound.html

Godspeed,
mary