The adventure of the leather dinosaur quilt

I machine embroidered these dinosaurs with my embroidery machine....most are real leather...some are faux leather. it was my experimental quilt....to go through the washer and dryer to see if it survives. I am doing the testing for you....i want you to be informed about leather. haha

Here it is after quilting and before washing. I quilted around the dinos...and into the body where there was a line of embroidery stitches. 

This is a real leather block

This is a faux leather block

The borders got a panto

The back was the remainder of a backing from something else

Thread was a goldy kind of Glide for the top and a So Fine cream for the bobbin

First washing was on delicate cycle, warm water, low spin, regular soap.   after washing, some of the faux leather dinos were coming apart....the red one especially.  i didn't want to throw it in the dryer in that condition, so i hung it outside to dry.

The next morning I zigzagged around the problem dinos. then threw it in the washer again....delicate cycle, cold water, low spin, Andi soap (my DIL makes soap..haha).  after washing, everything was held together just fine. i hung it on the line once again to dry.

Results after zigzagging and washing 2nd time...

red dino is a bit wrinkly...but ok

black dino survived just fine

The leather dinos weathered the washer and dryer fabulously.

Yesterday i threw it in the washer once again....regular cycle, warm water, fast spin, regular soap.  everything came out just fine. then i got brave and threw it in the dryer. not a problem. so, that tells me i can wash real leather and put it in the dryer without any ill effects. of course, these dinos weren't large; the largest unquilted space was probably 3-4". still...as long as i don't use the faux leather...all is well.  i am happy

Results of January, 2017 challenge

Judy picked #3...my Deep in the Heart of Texas UFO....done

I also wanted to quilt a leather piece.....done....I quilted several...

Carnival Bloom

Dinosaurs

Wild West

Crazy quilt squares of leather and brown selvage blocks

I also wanted to finish #5 quilt top for the O Canada donation quilts....done... 6 tops were finished and sent to Canada.  they were well received.

I also did some embroidery in January...

My stained glass window...with the embroidery machine

And...hand embroidered...and appliqued...january's block of Buttermilk Basin's BOM

Also, I started a few new things in January....that are currently UFOs...haha

Pink selvage tumblers

Time for music...paper pieced

2 more blocks made for Scrappy Mosaics

2 more rooms fused for the dollhouse quilt

the attic

and a bathroom

Not a bad month. waiting for tomorrow to see what the next UFO # is from Judy.

Stained Glass Window....machine embroidery

I started this on January 2...this year. haha    it has been quite a deal. Although there are only 9 blocks, each took over 2 hours....one of them 3 hours. and that is just the stitching. imagine the thread changes....usually over 15...and changing bobbins....3 or 4 per block....and troubleshooting when things get crazy. i could only do one a day.

In case you are interested in these things...and i am....it took over 21 hours and 40 minutes to embroider these blocks.....and 730,714 stitches.   My machine gives me those figures, so don't think i was counting stitches. haha

It is 20" square...well, except for the arched top

It was very hard to piece them together and get them to match up...some places don't exactly. but after unsewing 2 or 3 times, i just gave up

Do you see the snail?

I just love the turtle

Don't know what i will do with this. it was a design i had bought years ago and forgot about it in my embroidery computer. i am trying to use all the designs that i have bought over the years....and not used. sigh!!

Carnival Bloom

This was just for fun. I was cleaning out years of old patterns, pictures, and things to do 'one day'...when I came across this picture...and it said...make me...i said ok...that was the end of cleaning for that day. i started pulling fabrics and leathers. Here is the picture.

It is 51x57"...all applique flowers and leaves are leather. The middle piece was hand dyed by Vicki Welsh several years ago. The borders are not something that I would have normally used, but the picture was wild and funky so i just went for it. All that craziness was in my stash. haha

Cutting out leather flower pieces took several hours.

The flying geese was an attempt to try Jamie Wallen's masterpiece. unfortunately, i fell a bit short. figured out i need a much larger area for turning....will do better with that next time.

Back was a piece of navy fabric bought from someone online who was cleaning out their stuff. it is a heavier type of cotton. it gave me a few thread tension issues.

I used lots of threads. It is pretty wild and in your face bright. reminds me of Mardi Gras. i will hang it in my studio.  

Next up i have another leather experiment...dinosaurs this time.

Buttermilk Basin

Do you need another new project?   i do....hahahahahahaaha

If you go to ButtermilkBasin.com    ....on the 2nd Friday of each month, there is a free pattern of their current BOM.  they are doing their's in wool....mine is fabric.

This is for January

Come on...join me...you know you want to. hahahaha

Results of an iced in day

When you can't get to the studio because of all the ice on the hilly driveway, and you only go outside to throw more wood in the stove, then it's a day to catch up on some UFOs. 

This little beauty is paper pieced. it only had 4 more blocks to piece. i started it in Sept 2016 and finally got it to flimsy state. 

Oops, i see a spot that is red that should be black. darn

This tumbler top still needs borders...i'll do that today. I still had to do about half of the selvage tumblers, but they go pretty quickly. the pink, white and black stripe is something that has been in the stash for a long time....i cut as many tumblers as i could with the AccuQuilt machine. Then made a bunch of tumblers with pink selvages. I put them together willy-nilly. the amount wasn't right for a distinct pattern. 

Today I managed to get to the studio. i have a quilt with some leather loaded on the machine and hope to get some of that finished today. 

We lost electricity last night, so hope that doesn't happen again tonight. Reading Harry Potter by flashlight is quite the experience. haha    And the fir trees down my driveway are all leaning rather crazily. 

Did you get an icy snow day? what did you do?