DESIGN.....Finishing Large Coin Purse

Last week, I talked about my design process for creating a large coin purse.  You can read the post here.  I finished the purse and am using it.  Here is what I did....

I drew my flower design on plain white fabric and painted it.

 I also want to add some depth to the base of the purse, so I used a circle template with a dry brush and layered circles on the front and back pieces.

 I decided to quilt the front and back with a simple linear pattern; I marked the pattern on the fabric with  chalk.

Finally came the assembly.  This is the first time that I made a purse with a purse frame; there is definitely a knack to it and can be cumbersome.

 Here is everything fits into it!

Though it was a bit tough getting the purse into the frame- I would do it again in a minute!

DESIGN. . . Do Over

Have you ever had a do-over? You know, started to make something that you thought would be fabulous, spent lots of time making it, eventually reaching a point of no-return the piece is just awful and find no need to continue?


Yes, you have guessed it...I have such a piece. A year ago, our quilt guild had a challenge to make a quilt with the theme Harvest. My vision was to create a vintage tractor in the field at harvest time beginning with only white fabric of differing textures.


I began with the drawing of the quilt.

I transferred the drawing on varying textured fabric, fussy-cut it, and adhered the layers to my background (sorry this is tough to see).

My next step (this is when trouble came a-brewing) was to color the quilt using colored pencils, paint and dye. Did you hear that crash? My vision and technique had a head-on collision resulting in the quilt below. I debated if I should throw it out; at one point, I believe it was in the trash can. Even my dear husband told me that "not all my creations can be successful" (trust me, these pics make it look much, much better than it is in real life).

Now a year later, I have honed my skills and started using Golden paints (these paints are the platinum of paint). I fished the piece out of storage and am painting my heart out. Stay tuned for the finished piece (hopefully no collisions on the road ahead). Stay tuned for its final destination.

DESIGN...Planning a Large Coin Purse

I am taking a fun on-line class with Alisa Burke.  If you are unfamiliar with Alisa Burke, here is her website and her blog.  

Here is the design process for an over-sized coin purse that I am making.

I started with a couple of photos from Design Seeds that are my inspiration [If you are unfamiliar with  Design Seeds, see my post here]. I took the inspiration photos and did water-color drawings in my sketchbook to test drive which one I would use.  I decided that the first (lotus flower) would be the outside of my purse.

 Here is the double pouch purse frame that I am going to use.

 Plans for inner pockets...

And my color scheme using hand-dyed fabrics and Golden Paints.

Stayed tuned for completion of the project.

CHALLENGE: Up for a Challenge

A few months ago, I was invited to be part of a challenge group called Up for a Challenge with 12 members that create 12" x 12" quilts based on a quarterly challenge.  Our first challenge was 'Island'.  Below is my creation.  To see all of the members' works, hop over to our collective blog:

http://upforachallengeartquilts.blogspot.com/

fractal  (ˈfræktəl)
— n
1.	a figure or surface generated by successive subdivisions of asimpler polygon or  polyhedron, according to some iterative process

I have been intrigued with fractals for a long time. When looking at fractals, I envision islands, thus my creation Fractal Island.
The main fractal portion is covered in a fine wire mesh.That I embroidered, painted and sewed through.

There is a cluster of seed beads that follow the spiral.   Lastly, trumpunto was used to give the piece 3-dimension.

This has been a fun challenge!

Kathy Kerstetter

Kalamazoo, MI