Photos on Fabric

I have finally found a product I like for photos on fabric, without a heat press. Many of you remember the photos on fabric that I produced at The Zachary Bear Store in Webster. The store closed over four years ago so I have not had a way to produce photos on fabric since then.

This spring, at the Lancaster Quilt Show I found a way to produce photos on fabric that I like the quality of again. Of coarse it meant a new printer to go with the right paper.

I have a few samples in my shop at The Shops on West Ridge Road. A wall hanging with vacation photos share memories and beauty of our Caribbean trip to St Lucia. The dog pillow has four shots of a friend's very photogenic dog. Photos may be emailed for items to pick up locally in Greece and will set up online ordering in my Etsy shop soon for orders to be shipped.

This is just a beginning of the many things that I have to offer. House photos on a pillow make a great house warming / new home gift. A pillow for a graduate to take to college could contain a host of memories. Birthdays, anniversaries, weddings and many occasions can be shared with photos on fabric. My wife even wants me to offer a variety of quilt labels.

Sign up on the right to get my blog updates. I will be posting regularly as things become available and this link to the right will have items in my Etsy store.

Fun with Vintage Santas

Here is my latest wall hanging. It features three vintage santas embroidered in green on a cream swirled background. Each santa is machine embroidered and the panel was quilted prior to final assembly of the wall hanging. This allowed me to add extra batting behind each santa for a raised effect. Free motion quilting, in the cream color backgrounds around them, imitates the swirling snow. 

The black fabric used for the half square triangle block has a beautiful gold poinsettia print.

 The finished piece measure 23 1/2" by 44 1/2" with hanging triangles on the back to hold a dowel at the top for hanging and an additional dowel at the bottom to provide weight.

 The additional photos show the wall hanging in process. The machine embroidery designs are from a the "Old World Santas" collection by Beth Dix at Primerose Lane. My wife has used their designs for hand quilting in the past and were pleasantly surprised to see that they offer so much of their beautiful work in digital format. We purchased disks for the santas and the covered bridges at the Lancaster, PA quilt show last year. These are so great to work with you will be seeing more in the near future.

Look Up

"Look Up"

My entry for the third challenge is called "Look Up.' A study of texture is found wherever you are. I love to look up at buildings to see the beautiful ornamentation the used to be a standard part o buildings. The finished wall hanging measures 22" x 15" and was created in Webster, NY for the 3rd Challenge at Project Quilting. The description of the project is continued below. I also want to thank Kim and Trish for running the challenge. I was also a drawing winner for the last challenge and want to thank  Marcia’s Crafty Sewing & Quilting for the pattern that she donated.

Building Ornamentation, see below for building placement.

I wouldn't be a sewing husband if it weren't for my wonderful wife. She puts up with a lot. Some has been documented in previous posts. It wasn't until recently that I found out how nervous she was that I was organizing her sewing room while she was away on retreat. She wasn't thrilled to share her sewing room with me so life was better as the kids moved out and I got my own sewing room. Slowly I am getting tools of my own. She even bought me my own Martelli rotary cutter. It is my favorite cutting tool.

Button on campus at PENN

So another way my wife is wonderful, she started taking me to the Lancaster PA AQS Quilt Show. She also takes me along when she travels to Philadelphia each year for a meeting. While she is in her meeting I get to walk around the campus and streets surrounding the University of Pennsylvania. There are some interesting things on campus, like a giant button. I also like to look at all the textures and details on the buildings. I alway have great intentions of turning these things into quilts and wall hangings. So the current challenge gave me the push to get started.


I have collected a variety of photos over time. Textures from brick and tile along with building materials and perspective pictures. So many things are hiding in plain sight if you just look up. So for this challenge I looked above a doorway on the streets of Philadelphia. I cropped the photo and printed it a few different sizes. I created a freezer paper template from the printed copy. I ironed the freezer paper onto some starched fabric. Of course, what better fabric to use for the building ornamentation than my favorite Stonehenge by Northcott. The appliqué was added with 505 spray adhesive and secured with blanket stitch. Another advantage of the kids moving out is the single bed flannel sheets from their youth have become a layer filling to use as something thinner than batting. For this wall hanging I used one layer of flannel underneath the appliqué layer and then added some batting between the appliqué layer and the back.

I make my wife nervous...

After a few years of traveling to the quilt show in Lancaster PA with my wife I decided I wanted to try to do something with some scraps she had around the quilt room.

She was away for a few days at a quilting retreat so I had time to try it out. I found my mom's sewing machine, that had not gone to the retreat with my wife. When I tried to set it up the foot pedal and power cord was missing. So I called my wife... She told me where it was but I could not find it. So I decided while she was away it was a good time to clean her sewing room and organize her fabric.

When she called later to see if I found the foot pedal I told her that I couldn't find it but that was OK because I was cleaning and organizing her sewing room. I asked if there was anything special that should not be sorted by color or size. She told be that anything that was part of a project was in a plastic bag and anything else was far game.

I did not realize until much later how nervous this conversation made her...

She is away at a wedding shower tonight so I can go up and use the sewing room.

I have more adventures to share, if I don't get into too much trouble.