collage quilt patterns

Bluebonnet the art collage longhorn – collage lesson #4

/ lifesloosethreads / 1 Comment


This post is my final collage art quilt lesson on how to make Bluebonnet. This week I will talk about auditioning the background, gluing down Bluebonnet to the background, machine quilting options and binding.

Auditioning Background Fabric – After cutting the excess pattern ease from Bluebonnet (I left a portion around the horns and removed the pattern ease later), I went to my local friendly quilt shop, Cupcake Quilts, in Humble, Texas. One of the nice ladies helped pull down bolts of fabric so I could audition the background. I loved their suggestions and the process. Notice the bright pink, lighter pink bolt and the bright yellow batik bolt. They were interesting choices but not perfect. The light brown that was auditioned was also interesting but not the look I was going for. I did use the light brown for the backing. The next audition background is a light yellow. Still not right. The final choice was perfect … a bright yellow and burnt orange. It really made Bluebonnet pop!

Gluing Down Fabric to Background – After ironing the background lay it right-side up on the foam core board (the glue can bleed through a little and you don’t want glue all over your kitchen table). Place Bluebonnet exactly where you want her on the background. Using FabricFuse, a quick bonding fabric adhesive, place a thin line of glue around the entire outer back-edge of the collage. For instance, lift one of Bluebonnet’s horns … glue along the back edge … then carefully lay the horn back down on the background. Repeat until you have the entire edge of your collage glued down. Follow the pressing/drying directions for the fusible glue and you are finished with your collage art quilt top.

Quilting Options – A Needle and Thread, in Old Town Spring, custom quilted Bluebonnet. Erica pulled out several variegated quilting threads and one stood out! I like how she quilted around the collaged motifs to make them puff out. Erica also outlined the entire image and then quilted a flowery quilting pattern. She is such a pleasure to work with! There are lots of other ways to quilt your collage. I have also seen collages quilted in close vertical lines and close-cross hatching.

Binding and Hanging Bluebonnet Quilt – I chose the red bandana fabric for Bluebonnet’s binding. It just seemed to make sense because of the bandana fabric in the legs and horns. Two and one-half (2-1/2) inch strips are sewn together, folded lengthwise and the raw edge sewn to the front edge of the quilt. Turn the fold edge to the back and hand sew in little stitches. Very traditional and easy. Make a fabric tube and hand sew to the back and you are ready to hang!

As I release new patterns, I will include a series of tips and how-to’s!

As always, if you would like to purchase one of my collage art quilt patterns head over to my Etsy shop for full-size pattern, supply list and detailed instructions. Domestic shipping is free.

Bluebonnet the art collage longhorn – collage lesson #3

/ lifesloosethreads / Leave a comment


When last we met, I demonstrated how to fill Bluebonnet with fused/cut out fabric motifs onto the pattern ease longhorn pattern. I also took you through one way of tracing a larger collaged area (longhorn’s horns and legs) onto your fused fabric. Now onto your next collage quilt lesson.

Removing the Paper Backing on Flower Motifs and Placement – Now that your collaged image is filled you might ask … what do I do with all these straight pins sticking out of my longhorn? Working in sections, you now need to take off each flower motif, score the back of the motif with the tip of the pin, discard the pin, peel off the paper backing and discard. Now place the motif back onto the pattern ease area where you originally had it pinned. Overlap or underlap the motif so no pattern ease shows through on the longhorn. The motif back is tacky and will easily stick to the pattern ease until you have every piece placed. You can also easily move these tacky-backed motifs if you don’t like their placement. Looking closely at the photograph with the sea turtle, notice the paper backing removed from the backing. You just now need to repeat this step until all motifs completely cover the longhorn image. Warning … I have noticed that just because I have pinned down my motifs, it doesn’t mean when I pull the backing off and place it, there won’t be a few areas with pattern ease showing through. These small areas need to be filled with a motif. This happened to me on the top of Bluebonnet’s head and I just added an astronaut.

Fusing the Collaged Top – Clearly this is the easiest part! All your motifs are temporarily attached to the pattern ease. You’ve checked to see that the entire longhorn is covered with no pattern ease showing through. Now you need to have all those motifs stay put. Set your iron on cotton. Place the iron for a few seconds on an area and then lift the iron and reposition until all the areas on the longhorn are permanently fused.

Cutting the Excess Pattern Ease – Now you are ready to cut away the excess pattern ease. Your Karen Kay Buckley scissors work great for this process. You will notice on the back of your longhorn the pattern lines. Use these lines as a guide to cut away the pattern ease. But also know that you can cut around flower motifs that spill over the pattern lines. I did this on the top of Bluebonnet’s head where the flowers are located and on the lower legs covered with flowers. It can make for a more interesting look!

Next week’s collage lesson – I will move onto my favorite part … auditioning the background. Also, talk about gluing down Bluebonnet to the background, quilting options, binding and hanging!

As always, if you would like to purchase one of my collage art quilt patterns head over to my Etsy shop for full-size pattern, supply list and detailed instructions. Domestic shipping is free.

Bluebonnet the art collage longhorn – collage lesson #2

/ lifesloosethreads / Leave a comment


Last week I wrote about having a general plan when selecting fabrics for your collage quilt. Decisions like will I be using themed fabric, batiks, or my personal favorite, Kaffe Fassett fabrics? Also, do not hesitate to pick through your fabric stash, especially if something isn’t working while building your collage.

COLLAGE LESSON #2

Filling up Bluebonnet with fabric motifs – Your collage pattern has been traced onto the pattern ease and taped on a foam core board. You have cut out your fused fabric motifs and laid them out. Grab a bunch of fine point pins and let’s get started.
I like to lean my foam board on an easel. It makes it easier to work. For the longhorn, I started on the top of her head and overlapped slightly the different flowers. I added the astronaut later when I discovered I needed to cover an empty spot with fabric. You don’t want any of the pattern ease to be showing. By the time you are completely finished pinning motifs, the entire longhorn needs to be covered so you cannot see the pattern ease. Also, you do not want to have too many layers of fabric. The only exception might be with the eyes. I believe I have three layers of fabric for each eye. The goal is to overlap slightly so as not to create too much bulk to quilt through. And remember, it is fine to let the motifs spill over the pattern line. I think it creates an interesting look in some areas … notice the longhorn’s flowered legs … when the excess pattern ease is finally cut away.

Creating the bandana horns and legs – I always knew the red bandana fabric would be used for Bluebonnet’s horns and two of the legs. I also used it for the longhorn’s nostrils. While I could have covered Bluebonnet with just small flower motifs, I thought it would be fun to try some larger pieces that were not flowers. There are probably a few ways to create the horn and leg shapes for these areas. I chose to trace, with tracing paper, the horn and leg lines with pencil. Any area that shared an interior line, I created an additional inch in those areas. You do not want to butt fabric up against each other. The extra margin of fabric allows enough area to overlap slightly the fabric motifs that will be laid over that small margin. After you have traced an area, cut out the tracing paper and lay it over the back of the fused bandana fabric. Make sure you have the tracing laying in the right direction so when you cut it out, the fused side covers the outlined horn area on your pattern ease and the fabric is facing up. You can now peel off the paper backing of the horns and legs and place them on your pattern ease to be ironed down later.

Next week … we will talk about cutting the pattern ease away, auditioning the background fabric, and gluing down Bluebonnet on the background.

As always, if you would like to purchase one of my collage art quilt patterns head over to my Etsy shop for full-size pattern, supply list and detailed instructions. Domestic shipping is free.

Bluebonnet the art collage longhorn – collage lesson #1

/ lifesloosethreads / Leave a comment


After releasing a new collage pattern, I like to throw out some hints/tips on how to make one of these quilts. Let’s talk about fabric choices for Bluebonnet the Longhorn. Although you don’t have to stick to an exact plan when creating your collage quilt … your fabric stash can be your best friend … it is good to have some general idea of the direction you are headed.

Originally, I thought about using all Kaffe Fassett fabric. I love their fabric’s bright colors! I also thought about using batiks and some novelty fabric for the actual longhorn. Wouldn’t it be fun to use batiks with a field of bluebonnets for the background? Absolutely! Exactly why I decided to do the opposite … bluebonnets and Texas-themed fabrics for the longhorn image and a bright yellow/burnt orange for the background.

Moda makes a lovely line of bluebonnet and Texas-themed novelty fabrics. I also used a fabric from Timeless Treasures that contains sunflowers, pansies, hydrangeas and some pink flowers that played nicely with the bluebonnet fabrics. Of course, when I saw the red bandana fabric, also a Moda fabric, I fell in love. Right away I thought about keeping the bandana fabric intact, instead of cutting it up, for Bluebonnet’s horns, two of the legs, and even the binding! You don’t have to always cut out small motifs for your collage quilt.

I worked on Bluebonnet’s face last. It was the most challenging area for me. When in doubt stage an intervention with your fabric stash! I pulled out a swirly blue fabric and Kaffe Fassett’s orchid fabric for the face.

Next time we will chat about strategies for filling up Bluebonnet with fabric motifs, overlapping motifs and creating the bandana horns and legs!

As always, if you would like to purchase this Bluebonnet art collage pattern, visit my Etsy shop with full-size pattern, supply list and detailed instructions!

Introducing Bluebonnet the collage quilt longhorn

/ lifesloosethreads / 2 Comments


Just in time for rodeo season, Bluebonnet the Collage Quilt Longhorn pattern, is making her debut! If you are interested in purchasing one of my original collage quilt patterns head on over to my Etsy shop. Full-size pattern and detailed supply list and instructions are included with all my quilt patterns and domestic shipping is free.

In the coming weeks, I will blog about the making of my Bluebonnet collage quilt with lots of tips, tricks and how-to’s!

2018 Houston’s International Quilt Festival

/ lifesloosethreads / 4 Comments


Houston’s 2018 International Quilt Show is in full swing with exhibitions of hundreds of quilts and vendor booths. My little sister, Gretchen, and I made our trek to Houston’s convention center on Wednesday for Preview Night. We arrived around 4 pm and camped out on the second floor visiting with friends and eating a quick bite until the doors opened. Peering through the “porthole,” that overlooked the first floor vendor area, we looked down at all the colorful booths.

Each year I tell myself I will take lots of more photos and then, what happens, I wander down the aisles and just drool. I’m lucky to have taken any photos … the result … a small collection of the many vendors and a smattering of quilts on exhibit.

Subtle things I noticed this year … instead of selling fat quarters … many vendors opted for one-half yard cuts and fabric bundles. I counted only a few actually selling individual fat quarters. Interesting. I saw lots more collage quilting patterns and entire booths devoted to collage. I also saw lots more “quilt celebrities.” I only got the courage to ask one for a “together photo.” Emily from Collage Quilter is as lovely in person as she is in her videos. I also saw Kaffe Fassett and Jenny from Missouri Star Quilt Company.

The quilt festival lasts until this Sunday. Be there or be square … or a fat quarter … whatever.

New collage quilters … a lesson in looking at fabric motifs!

/ lifesloosethreads / 4 Comments


Quilters new to collage quilting look at a photo of a finished collage quilt and are sometimes confused! Just how did all that fabric make it onto the line drawing pattern? I thought it would be fun to take away the mystery. Believe me … you will never look at a piece of fabric in quite the same way ever again!

When you look closely at Moo-Shu, my panda art quilt, you will notice lots of light-colored flower fabric in her face and body. When planning the quilt, I asked myself … how do I make Moo-Shu’s face and body look like white fur? The answer … why with white orchids of course!

I actually used three colorways of the same fabric line from the Spring 2018 Kaffe Collective. From left to right in the first photograph, I used Kaffe’s Black Orchids, Cool Poppy Garden and Natural Orchids. The fabric actually comes in five colorways and all are quite beautiful. The coloring of the orchid petals in the different colorways have different shades of gray, and also beige, which added another color dimension to Moo-Shu’s “fur.”

After fusing larger pieces of these fabrics which contain all kinds of colorful flowers, I basically cut away the background around the flowers with my Karen Kay Buckley scissors (baby blue handles). I left some of the flowers large to be cut smaller later, if needed. Don’t be concerned when you get to the edge of the fabric and you don’t have a whole flower to cut away. I use smaller parts of flowers all the time to fill in a spot on the line drawing pattern. I saved all the colorful cut motifs that were not “white” orchids to be used on Moo-Shu … or for a future project.

I used a pansy fabric for parts of the face between Moo-Shu’s eyes down to her nose and mouth. There was lots of fussy-cutting since I was interested in just the pansies with purple around the edges. Again, I saved the other pansy motifs in other colors for future projects.

Once you understand the concept of cutting away the background on a piece of fabric, the possibilities are endless! Not only flowers … but novelty fabrics are so fun to cut up and tuck in a collage quilt. Motifs like cans of tuna, fish, butterflies, birds are often not noticed when standing back from a collage quilt. But look at all the fun things you can see up close. My grandkids, Jacob and Ben, had so much fun trying to find all the different things tucked into Moo-Shu.

If you are interested in purchasing a Moo-Shu pattern (full-size) with supply list and detailed instructions, head over to my Etsy shop! Stay tuned for future Collage Quilt hints and tips and new patterns!

Moo-Shu’s seven tips to finish your collage quilt

/ lifesloosethreads / Leave a comment

The whole collage quilting process is so much fun! Choosing fabric for your collage, fusing, cutting out the motifs and placing them on your Pattern Ease foundation. But now you have to turn it into an art quilt!

1. Cutting out Moo-Shu’s outline – You have a decision to make. Cut along the marked outer line of your pattern … let a design motif spill over or cut along the motif line. I do both depending on the look I want to achieve. Look on the back side of your fused design and decide!

2. Moo-Shu’s Background fabric – Audition your background fabrics for Moo-Shu. I chose two bright green batiks. Ultimately, I liked the look of the flatter green batik for Moo-Shu’s background … and used the wilder bright green batik for the backing.

3. Steam it! – I have had two quilts machine-quilted and have heard from my awesome longarm lady at A Needle and Thread that the fusing sometimes gums up the needle slowing down progress! I have read many online comments that suggest giving Moo-Shu a great steam. Apparently, this makes machine quilting easier. I will let you know if it helps on the next quilt!

4. Machine quilting needles – Since I send my quilts out to be machine-quilted, I do not live in that world. For those that machine-quilt at home (not longarm), several kinds of needles have been recommended at various online sites: Madeira Embroidery Anti-Glue needles, Schmetz Embroidery Gold, Schmetz Super Non-Stick size 4. I have no knowledge if these needles could be used on longarm machines. I welcome your suggestions!

5. Quilting Moo-Shu ideas – There are so many ways to quilt Moo-Shu. I chose to have Moo-Shu custom-quilted around various motifs to make them puff out. Moo-Shu’s outside edge is also outlined. The idea is to catch as many of the free edges as possible so your quilt will last a very long time. This is an art quilt and meant to be hung on a wall. The background has an all-over design. I have seen collage quilts quilted with very close parallel lines and also cross-hatched. It is up to you!

6. Moo-Shu’s Quilt label – My lovely friend, Sally, machine embroidered Moo-Shu’s quilt label. Labeling a quilt is important. My awesome son-in-law, Chad, has a quilt handed down to him from a relative that is priceless … but no label. So … give your Panda quilt a name, put your name on it, and who quilted it. Don’t forget your town/state and the year finished. Fifty years from now someone is going to want to know a little of the story behind your quilt.

7. Moo-Shu Hanging sleeve – Moo-Shu is going to hang in my sewing room just as soon as I get the quilt label finished and the hanging sleeve on. I have five quilts hanging at all times in my house, rotating them for the seasons, and no two are hung the same. Blame that on my engineering husband. He is so creative. But each quilt has the same type of easy hanging sleeve made from fabric the width of the quilt and around 9 or 10 inches in length. Fold the fabric, finishing the ends, make a tube, turn inside out and hand-stitch to the upper back of your quilt.

I hope you found these tips helpful!

Interested in purchasing Moo-Shu’s collage quilt pattern? My first pattern is for sale on Etsy.