Showing posts with label art quilt. Show all posts
Showing posts with label art quilt. Show all posts

Saturday, March 24, 2012

The Making of an Art Quilter

I wanted to share with you Bella's newest venture into the world of quilting.  I asked her if she wanted to make a fabric collage instead of the usual paper ones she is now making.  Without hesitation, she said yes.  Of course, I had one idea about how we would proceed, and she had another.  We went with hers.


After she went through my stash and picked pieces from all the colors of the rainbow, she started cutting little irregular shapes of each color.  She was very careful to keep the piles separate.  This is her first time cutting fabric with "grown-up" scissors.


After she thought she had enough pieces cut, she started placing them on a piece of batting she had me cut to just the right size.


Art cannot be rushed, so there were a few breaks along the way for snacks and playing with Tom.


We put some wash-away stabilizer over the top of the finished collage and took it carefully to the sewing machine.  Bella is only 3 1/2, so she is very comfortable sitting in my lap and helping me guide the fabric while I work the foot pedal. 


After sewing, we ran some warm water in the sink to wash away the stabilizer.  This is the first time I have used this, and I am pretty amazed.  It just dissolves.  Bella wasn't sure if she liked touching the slimmy water as it was washing away.


She was as amazed as I was, I think.


This is what it looks like so far.  I need to wash it again to get all the residue away from the thread, even though I like the look of the thicker line.  I also need to do a little more stitching in a few places.  I am not sure what Bella will want to do next with this piece, but so far, she is pretty happy with it.  She likes her abstract designs in her drawings and, now, in her quilts.
I have been busy finishing up projects I need to get done before Thursday when I leave for a ten days in Fairfax, Virginia.  I am going to stay with my sister-in-law, who is responsible for getting me back into quilting.  What fun we will have!  Does anyone know what kind of scissors I can take onboard the airplane to do some handwork?
Joyful quilting, everyone.






Sunday, August 28, 2011

Possibilities

I recently won a giveaway for my participation in the Hand 2 Help charity quiltalong.  It took me a while to realize I hadn't sent Caroline at Wondrous Woven Fabrics my address.  Once I did, she got this jelly roll to me quickly.  It is Warm Memories by Kansas Troubles for Moda.  As I have said before, I do love anything designed by Kansas Troubles.  I am a sucker for their palette.  These will work perfectly with Perennials on that quilt I have started.  Now, I can make it even bigger.  I may actually get a bed sized quilt out of this.  That would be a first.  I love lap quilts, so that is what I make for bigger quilts, usually. I am very excited about winning this.
I am also working on my Lautrec block.  I strip pieced all the yellow pieces together.


I am very excited that they all work so well.  I think I am going to cut into this and sew it back together in to make still newer fabric.  The netting in the yellow/gold tutu in the photo is quite rumpled and I want to get more of that effect without going three dimensional.  The next thing I worked on was the top of the dress and the torso, which we see from the back.  Her arm is bent at the elbow.  It is hard to really tell what it is in this photo.


In the painting, the skin tone is very mottled with greys, yellows, pinks, and greens.  I found this batik that works perfectly.  My next step is to put the head on the torso.  I think I am going to have to applique the hair because it is just too complicated for me to figure out how to piece.  Maybe someday I will be that good, but for now I will settle on the easy way.  I also need to piece the yellow tutu to the blue skirt.  It is coming along, but it is slow.
I have many projects going right now, and my studio time is about to be cut in half.  Beginning tomorrow, I will be with Bella three days a week again.  My daughter is a drama teacher, and her school year begins tomorrow.  I am looking forward spending quality time with just the two of us again.  It is wonderful being a grandmother, and I am very blessed that I am able to be so close to Bella.  I am also blessed that she loves fabric and creating small quilts on her own design board.  I am going to teach her to use the machine after Christmas, when she is 3 1/2.  Maybe sooner if she shows more interest.  I know she wants to make quilts for her dolls.
I will be cutting down on my blogging posts as well, probably.  Hopefully, I will get things done and have more to share soon.  In the meantime -
Joyfull quilting, everyone.

Monday, August 22, 2011

Playing in the studio today


Today, I wanted to get my guild's BOM done today.  I think I will make a few more of these and make a lap quilt using rainbow colors.  I have always liked this block, but have found it hard for some reason.  Getting all the pieces in the right place sometimes gets confusing for some reason.  I was pleased that this one came out pretty well.  Hopefully, they will be easier now.


I have been really wanting to make this cow from Mary Lou Weidman and Melanie McFarland's new book, Out of the Box with Easy Blocks.  I call this one Dreaming of Paisley.  I used some of my paisley collection and a piece of dark sky/cloud/moon fabric I was recently given.  The contrast between the cow pieces and the background is not as strong as I want, but this was a practice piece.  The pattern in the book is for a much larger quilt.  I wanted a small piece to hang on my bedroom wall.  I started out by using my math skills (LOL) to reduce the size of the pattern.  I adapted and adjusted as I went.  Now that I have good measurements, I plan on making more this size with brighter colors and more contrast.  I really love so many of the patterns and designs in this book.  So whimsical and fun.


The last thing I worked on today was pulling fabric together for the next block in my art masters quilt.  This time I have selected a piece by Henri Toulouse Lautrec called The Clowness.  I have always been a Lautrec fan, and I chose this painting for the colors.  I am using primarily batiks for this piece.  I have some process issues to work out before I proceed much further.  I am also expecting more yellow fabric from a very generous follower in the next day or two.  I will be posting more about this block as it progresses.
Until tomorrow, joyful quilting, everyone. 



Friday, June 10, 2011

Trying painting with fabric

I am not sure what the correct term is for my new project.  I decided I wanted to create an Iris with fabric and make it into a quilted piece.  I have seen flowers done with applique, and I have liked them.  I looked for books at the library on how to do this, but there were none at my local branch, and since I wanted to try it now, I decided to just go ahead and jump in feet first.  Anyone who knows me shouldn't be surprised by that.

The first thing I did was go through my husbands photos.  It is so lovely to have a professional photographer around the house.  I selected one of the irises he took last week at a neighbor's house.  After I printed it, I took some time to sketch it out freehand.  I realized I had to simplify the design a bit to make it work in fabric.  I still wanted it to look like an iris, though.  After the initial sketch, I took a black marker and outlined the basic shapes I would be using.  Then, I enlarged it so that when it is taped together, it is approximately 22" x 18".  With the pattern (or cartoon in weaving) drawn, I headed to the new fabric shop in Kent.  I purchased the green for the background, and the three purple batiks for the flower.  I already had some yellow for the center.  All of this took most of the morning. 


My next step was to number all the different parts.  I figured out how to draw the parts on the SteamASeam so the flower would not be reversed, and started cutting for the bottom focus petal.  I decided to do fusible applique after much internal debate.  I really enjoy hand work, but it took me so long to get my Hawaiian piece appliqued, and I would like to finish this sooner than five years.  I would also like to do some thread play on at least the focus petal.  The iris has purple lines radiating up from the purple edges and I think I could simulate that on the machine.  My question is, do I do that as part of the quilting process, or before I sandwich everything together.  I have a while before I have to figure that out.
I mentioned that I went to a new quilt store today.  It is called Running Stitch Fabrics and it is in the Kent, Washington historic district.  The shop has been open about a month and is still growing its stock.  If what they have is any indication of the future, I will be going back there often.  They are building a collection of Island Batiks that is stunning.  I had no trouble finding what I wanted there.  They have the Grand Finale line by Sandy Gervais for Moda which I am in love with.  I think I have mentioned before that Sandy Gervais is one of my favorite designers.  My budget won't allow me to buy any this month, but if I save my pennies, maybe next month.  The shop carries bright fabrics and has a good selection of blenders.  There was a very wonderful fat eighth bundle of blenders, but I stuck to my Iris fabric today.  There is a very large classroom area in the back which is open for quilters to come and work when classes are not in session.  They just got in their long arm quilting machine.  Soon, they will have classes and rental times available.  If you are ever in Kent, I highly recommend this warm friendly shop.
The last thing I have to share today is a completely ridiculous project I have been working on.  I am going to be singing with my small group in a show next Saturday.  We are using hats as props.  It was deemed a good idea for me to wear, at one point in the show, a replica of the hat that Princess Beatrice wore to the Royal Wedding.  I, of course, have to make the hat.  So far, I have used an old baseball cap, heavy fusible pellon, pink fabric, rubber tubing, and a glue gun.  As soon as my husband eats another popsicle, I will have a pair to use to hold the thing at the correct angle, I hope.  Here it is so far.  All I can say is that it is a good thing I am not trying to make my living as a milliner.


At least, I think it will be recognizable. 
I hope you all have a wonderful quilty weekend.