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Wednesday, March 5, 2014

Think Ruffles! – All Ruffled Up

I have to confess, I have not been mad about ruffles, but hey, should I always work in my comfort zone? Why not challenge myself?

This is the first time I have joined one of  Mdm Samm's  blog hops. Thanks to  Amy for being our cheerleader!

I have done a little bit of ruffles approx. one hundred years ago (!), but after my two sons were born we have had a completely ruffle-free house. Now they are off to University, so maybe this is the time to play with some ruffles!?
The first question is: What to make for this blog hop? I could always put ruffles on pillow covers or pouches, but I felt like my main part of work had to be something different and a little more spectacular. The first thing that came into my mind was the class I took with Mrs Moen . She taught improvisation and work with ‘layer upon layer’ techniques. Ruffles could be incorporated in a wall hanging using some of the techniques I learned in her class.

My first entry in this blog hop is called ‘HST Cow All Squared Up’. It is a miniature wall hanging, only 7” x 8”. The half square triangles are made from bonus triangles after making chevrons for Celtic Solstice. (I knew those small triangles would come in handy some time!) The finished HSTs measure ¾”; that’s small! The cow is happily grazing in a pasture of ruffles.

The inspiration came from the following piece of art hanging on the wall at work:

After the ruffled cow was made I wanted to make something more spectacular. This is my main piece; an artistic impression of a peacock:


The gorgeous tail feathers are displayed with multicolored ruffles. The background is made using Mrs Moen’s technique where a green semi see-through curtain fabric is laid on top of a neutral fabric with lots of tiny leaves. With backing and batting all the layers were quilted with vertical straight lines using different colored threads. I did FMQ on the tree to make the wooden structure.

The body of my 'Peacock in Borrowed Feathers'  is fabric from an old dark red glitter top, and the neck and head is leftover from a dress I made when I was a student (!). (You can always find use for old fabric!).

The main eye-catcher in this quilt is the multitude of the batik feathers. I made ruffles of 2.5”x WOF strips for 8 different colors of batiks.

The close-up shows more details of the body and the head. Ric Rac with attached glass beads is like a belt covering up the seams on top of the feathers. Fabric of different textures tones down part of the main body. Large beads acts as the “crown” of the bird, and the eye is a small glass bead.

Of course my peacock had to take a trip out in the woods for a photo shoot. The branch was barely strong enough to hold the quilt.

I found the perfect binding for the wall hanging, it is a multicolored fabric with roses and butterflies, and it really brightens up the edge. The ending dimensions of the wall hanging is approx. 20” x 25”, and it is equipped with a hanging sleeve on the back.

Visit the other blog hop participants today:



March 6th





Quilt in a not-Shell  <--That's me!




The full blog hop schedule is posted HERE .
Sew what about the giveaway?
I have made two more “traditional” ruffled items for the giveaway; a zippered pouch and a pincushion.

 
Two lucky winners will receive one each. Leave a comment to be entered in the giveaway, deadline is March 16, 2014. The winner will be announced on March 17, 2014. Make sure I can contact you via e-mail.
Thanks for stopping by and entering the giveaway! Good luck!
Have a ruffled kind of day!


EDIT March 17: Winners of the Giveaway!

The winners of my giveaway are Elizabeth  and Malini, who both have been contacted by e-mail.

95 comments:

  1. Love your quilts especially the peacock with all those ruffles. It's so pretty!

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  2. Fell in love with your cow, but let me say your Peacock blew me away, fantastic! Thank you for sharing and joining the hop.

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  3. I love the cow!! And your peacock is just simply amazing. What great attention to details!

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  4. I love the idea of using ruffles to do the feathers of the peacock, what a wonderful idea! Well done,

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  5. How ingenious to do the ruffles in such a way. I love both projects and quite creative for both. Great Job!!

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  6. Wow, wow, wow! Just fabulous! Love your cow and simply adore your peacock. Very creative and inspirational...thank you for sharing!

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    1. you should really turn your word verification off if possible, it took me 5 tries to get through

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  7. Love the creative use of ruffles- especially the Cow Squared. My beginning smile for the day. Thanks.

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  8. Anita your projects are lovely. Omg what a wonderful idea for the peacock feathers!

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  9. What a fun way to use ruffles and perfect for the project. You did a wonderful job!

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  10. Both of your projects are really clever, especially that peacock! Great job.

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  11. Lovely cow, and just Marvelous peacock....!!!
    ..and very cute give aways.

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  12. a ruffled peacock…I thought of that lol NOT…..listen what a delightful show of some very creative ruffles..way to go…wait and see

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  13. Morning.. I just found your site via pinterest.. your creativity is awesome with fabrics.. I love to ruffle...the peacock awesome!!

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  14. Your cow is perfectly lovely. I love all the green on her hide. I never would have thought of a peacock. He is quite grand.

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  15. Oh oh oh.....I love that peacock!! What a brain storm that was...wonderful imagination!!

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  16. Wow, what aneat way to use ruffles. Love that peacock! Your prizes are lovely too.

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  17. A very creative use of a ruffle. Congrats !

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  18. I love how creative you were with the ruffles. Thanks for sharing

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  19. Your peacock is my favourite!!
    Thanks for a lovely giveaway!!

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  20. Your peacock is just Devine!! "Sew" original .

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  21. Wow, what a cool peacock! In my former life we had peacocks on our farm. I think they're very interesting birds. And welcome aboard! This may be your first hop but I bet it won't be your last! Mdm Samm and her cheerleaders make these hops so much fun!

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  22. Well, I can identify with the ruffle-less house myself. Boys (I have 2 also) seem to like it that way! LOL. Over a hundred years since your ruffled. Now I must say, your holding up remarkably well! ;-) What a fun way to incorporate ruffles into your quiltie. The peacock is stunning, and the cow just just plain ole fun!

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  23. Very interesting, love all your items

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  24. Such a fancy and artsy looking ruffled peacock and cow...love them!

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  25. Beautiful ruffling! The cow in the ruffle patch is cute. The peacock is gorgeous! Thanks for sharing and the chance to win ... :) Pat

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  26. Wow what a wonderful idea making ruffled peacock feathers! So cool! (please don't enter me in the giveaway. I just spent over a week cleaning, organizing and getting rid of stuff and if my hubby sees another thing come in here he will throw me out!!! LOL!!!!) Just wanted to stop by an make a comment.

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  27. Your peacock is fantastic! I love that the feathers are various lengths and not attached at the bottom, it so looks like the way the plume lays when they are just wandering around and not strutting their stuff.

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  28. Love your work. That cow is really cute, & the peacock is fantastic. Thanks for the chance to win!

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  29. The cow is cute and the peacock is absolutely gorgeous! What talent, I would have never thought of making peacock feathers out of ruffles! missysaprons@gmail.com

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  30. Both of your projects are fabulous. The peacock with ruffled feathers is pretty spectacular. Thank you for sharing your projects with us, you are very talented and creative.

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  31. Anna, I really love uour cow grazing on ruffles! lol. Great job. The peacock is really pretty too. Thank you so much for sharing. I am a new follower . Nice to meet you.
    xo jan

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  32. Your peacock is spectacular. Congratulations on being in top two today.

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  33. My goodness, I love your peacock. Amazing.

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  34. Wow! I don't even know what to say these are so gorgeous. I love, love, love the cow. But that peacock is beyond amazing. Fabulous! blessings, marlene

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  35. Wow, your peacock is wonderful! I will have to check out Mrs. Moen. Looks very interesting and will force me out of my quilting 'box'! Sewingblogsarefun@yahoo.com

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  36. What beautiful fabric. Your bird looks so pretty. What a great idea you had.

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  37. I love you cow but your peacock takes the cake. Two super projects!!

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  38. Your peacock is gorgeous and so unique! I love your creativity! And your cow is such fun and clever!

    Susie

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  39. I love, love your peacock it is spectacular and so beautiful.
    You are such a creative lady. Thanks for sharing and being part of this hop.

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  40. What cute projects! I love the use of ruffles for grass under the cow! The peacock feathers are really a creative use, too!

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  41. Fabulous peacock! Just wonderful and congratulations for winning Madame Samm's vote for that special slot for today. I love that cow hanging, too, on the wall at your work. Thanks for sharing everything!

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  42. Very cute projects. The ruffled feathers on your peacock are my favorite part.

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  43. That is a WONDERFUL way to use the ruffles!!! ON BOTH projects! Speechless....This is my favorite!

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  44. Wow, I LOVE your peacock!

    jachelno at gmail dot com

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  45. Your Peacock is just amazing! I love peacock a lot, haven't made any quilty stuff with it yet though. Thank you for great inspiration!

    Those are some lovely ruffled giveaways! Would be fun to win one ;).

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  46. Both mini's are amazing, the cow looks like a piece of artwork, but the peacock is spectacular!

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  47. I seriously love that cow, and the peacock is amazing! :)

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  48. My mouth is hanging open. The peacock is amazing. You did a beautiful job. I like the ruffles on the zip pouch too. Neat idea.

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  49. What a great way to use ruffles! Love that grass! Very clever.

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  50. That peacock is fantastic! Wow! Love the pouch and the pin cushion too -- what a great giveaway!
    Dawn
    array-dawn at cox dot net

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  51. I adore your non-traditional quilts with ruffles! Uber Clever of you!! Thank you sew very much for Hopping...

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  52. that cow with ruffles is just adorable!!!

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  53. Such thinking out of the box with all your ruffles! Great ideas!!

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  54. Love your “traditional” ruffled items for the giveaway; a zippered pouch and a pincushion. How absolutely sweet.

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  55. You had me hooked with your adorable cow, then I saw your peacock what can I say it was over the top!

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  56. WOWIE!! the Cow is sooo cool...but the Peacock is AMAZING!! You are soooo Talented & Creative!!! AWESOME job on Both!!!

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  57. Gosh, I thought the cow was cute, and then I saw the peacock! That is simply gorgeous. I love your design. The little projects for the giveaway are also cute. Thanks for a chance to win one! dezertsuz at gmail

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  58. I have to agree, the cow was just great but oh , the peacock!! Just wow! Well done,
    cheers
    maggie

    maggiemine42@gmail.com

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  59. Welcome to this awesome group of women and WOW on your peacock!

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  60. I love your cow, but that peacock is amazing! Beautiful! Great job! That must have been a great class.

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  61. oh my goodness Anita but you are so very creative!! Beautiful work and thank you for sharing!!

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  62. Love your little ruffles, and I have an obsession with pin cushions. I just did a pin cushion swap. Fun!
    kdavis1@centurytel.net

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  63. I am quite impressed with your cow and your peacock. Thought I was the only one who couldn't stand to throw out trimmed off 1 inch triangles. The batik ruffles make a very beautiful and realistic appearing (from a distance) tail for the peacock. I'd love to win your pouch or pincushionl. I think you are past the point of being a "novice" quilter!

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  64. So I don't need to be in your drawing, but I have to say how much I love your cow! I think the ruffled grass is a fantastic touch. Thank you for sharing!
    ~Brandy

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  65. Both of your wall hangings are wonderful. Love the techniques you used and how you incorporated ruffles in both but still differently. Love that peacock with his array of feathers. Ooooh, can't you just imagine those tail feathers fanned out?

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  66. Holy cow (lol) what fun projects! The cow is so cute and that peacock is so creative!! Thanks for sharing :)

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  67. Both of your projects are beautiful and so very creative.

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  68. I like how you used ruffles for the pasture under the cow. It really does look like grass and flowers. Your peacock looks amazing! What a creative idea! Thanks for a chance in the giveaway.

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  69. Anita...your peacock is amazing...creativity outstanding! Great job...thanks for sharing!! Happy stitching, Pauline

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  70. Lovely! Your projects are adorable! pbstrand@msn.com

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  71. I really like what you did with the peacock, so creative thank you for a great giveaway too.

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  72. Ruffles for grass: perfect! Your peacock wall hanging is just stunning, I really love peacocks as inspiration cause they lend my favorite palette of jeweled tones to play with.

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  73. Both of your projects were so much fun and thinking out of the box. I loved the peacock.

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  74. Love both of your creations. the cow is so cute and tha pracock is just beautiful. Thanks for sharing.

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  75. Oh my, your peacock is beautiful. I love the 3-D dimension of layers the ruffled created for its tail feathers. Great job! ~Shari

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  76. Your ruffled cow quilt is very clever, but the star of the show is the peacock quilt--outstanding! Thanks for the chance to win one of your ruffled give-away items too. Very creative!

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  77. Wow...it's beautiful and so original.

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  78. I have never seen ruffes on a quilt! I love the peacock and cow. Especially the cow! :-)

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  79. Beautiful work and that peacock is unbelievable!!

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  80. Both wall quilts are so original and beautiful. crystalbluern at onlineok dot com

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  81. Wowie! You did well, Anita and thanks for joining in the hop. I hope it won't be your last time. The cow is just plain adorable but that peacock is spectacular.

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  82. Where are my manners, I should have also thanked you for the giveaway opportunity!

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  83. Loving that peacock! My friend Nicki would beg you for it!

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  84. What a great idea to use ruffles for the peacock feathers:)

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  85. Your peacock is so unique and just the greatest project. I would like to learn more about Mrs Moen’s technique. I think it is great how you used old items to make new.

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  86. The cow piece is fun, the peacock is spectacular! What a clever idea. You should enter the peacock at the fair!!! Thank you for taking part of the blog hop, even if it was out of your comfort area.

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  87. I have a friend who kids me about saving everything. I have to show her the cow with the 3/4" triangles. That is going to blow her mind. WOW! That is small. I love the grass for grazing - what a great idea. Now the peacock is absolutely fantastic! Thank you for participating in the hop and showing me what's it is like to think outside the box. That is not my strong suit.

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  88. The peacock is amazing! It is really a show-piece and all those ruffles just add so much texture and dimension!

    Thank you for linking up to Fabric Frenzy Friday!
    -Lindsey
    Fabric Frenzy Friday

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  89. Thank you, Anita! I received the pin cushion in the mail and what a wonderful surprise it was with your personal note on it. It was pretty amazing!

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