Quilt

Blogger insists that this needs to be sideways. Maybe it should. A friend and I were at a yarn shop and just had to have the cone of metallic thread on the clearance rank. I found a use for mine by crocheting around rings. It is also used to quilt the piece by couching over it. I used Diopini silk and ribbons to create the background by hand stitching them in place. Then I sewed on the crocheted rings and quilt the piece.

Quilt

A year ago Christmas my DIL gave me pieces of Japanese fabrics. Here are some more of them made into a quilted hanging.
I handstitched around the Butterfly, the bamboo and the shapes in the background. The shapes are very subtle and just from weaving the fabric, but they seemed to need accenting in a subtle way.

The detail shows the machine quilting. It's 20 by 22 inches.

Quilts

Here are two of the Journal quilts I've made for the challenge posted at http://www.3creativestudios.com/  I agreed to do 1 a month but am having so much fun that it's been 1 a week.

This is from a leftover strip of Seminole patchwork from a long Wearable Art vest I made when we were in California. I've tried to find a photo of the vest but so far no luck. Moving can do that-lose things.I'm using alternate ways to edge the quilts, so this one has a ribbon covering the edge.

The patchwork in this one was small strips left from a quilt that I sewed together into two sections and then pieced into the quilt. The fabric is hand painted. A black fussy yarn is zigzagged to the edge.

The Journal quilts are a great place to use up odd bits and pieces and also a chance to try a technique or idea without committing a lot of time and supplies.

Quilt

This is using up two fat quarter sized samples I made in a class. By cutting one in half and putting it on the two ends, I think it turned out OK. I back stitched by hand to extend the lines then machine quilted it. I call it Action

Quilt

This is a quilted hanging I call Pillars.

The fabrics are hand dyed. The center is a piece of painted fusible that I slashed then foiled. I used Herringbone Stitch to hand embroider it with one of my dyed Perle Cotton threads. It's quilted by machine to echo the central pieces.

The inspiration is the black image at the top right of the page. The page is designs I did by starting with a square of paper and cutting and expanding them. A friend asked if I cut rubber stamps. Haven't but will.

Book, Painted Papers

I used a piece made in the Ratty Tatty Papers workshop from Dale at http://www.thethreadstudio.com/ to make a book cover. The flower is actually a napkin; the background felt. It is also randomly foiled.

This is the back.

Two friends were over on Monday, and we painted papers. They are drying in my studio bathroom. It's the warmest place in the house during this rainy season, and one I can close off.

We had a lot of fun. One would start a page, then pass it to the next person to add something until all three of us had worked on it. Now the hard part will be dividing up the results!

Quilts

Years ago I made a quilted hanging I call Inner Leaf. It is a closeup of the underside of a leaf and is done in hand dyed fabrics.

This month I picked the word for http://fiberactions.blogspot.com/  Environment. Leaves and trees are always what comes to mind when I think of it.

I chose to do the same design, but this time by felting it. The background is wool yardage. After felting it, I used Machine stitching to accent the sections.

Here is a closeup.

The woods dark and lush

Provide food and homes.

Protect the wild woods.

More cards

This is an easy project to do when I need to sit and relax. Small elements are in one box. Three of us got together here one day and just made little elements with scraps of ribbons, trims, lace, beads, and all those scrapbooking charm type things that you buy, because they look cute, then don't know what to do with.

Rubber stamps and stickers are always fun too.

I still don't have enough cards to give groups of them to my quilt group on my birthday but have until the end of March. We give little  gifts on our birthdays rather than receive them. That way we don't have to remember when the others are having a birthday and risk forgetting someone.

Sketchbook, Fabric

I've added words and some probably too subtle shading to the leaf page for http://sketchbookchallenge.blogspot.com/  I rarely use words, so this was new and a fun experience. One thing I'm learning is to keep adding layers to create depth.

This is the first step on my page for the Stratmore free class in journalling. We were to use copies of other journal pages. I tend to just do designs to record possible ideas to expand on.

I did another piece using flour paste resist(1 part flour to 1 part water). I started with a fabric that was painted, but that I didn't care for. The layer of flour was thinner this time, so it would crackle more when dry. Then I put on a wine acrylic paint.

Quilt, Fabric

Vicki at http://www.3creativestudios.com/ challenged people to make Journal quilts. Here is my first one. The pale fabric was a pleated scrap that I layed leaves on and used Disperse dyes with to color the background. They are dyes that you usually paint on paper and iron on  fabric that is at least 65% synthetic. They can be used directly on fabric too. Then I machined the leaves with metallic thread. That piece was stitched to dark green cotton. Both sections were then edged with multiple rows of Chenille yarn.

More fabric made with flour paste. This time I started with a painted piece I didn't care for and added the flour paste. Once it was dry, I crumbled it to create cracks and painted it with wine acrylic.

Notes

I always forget something when I blog. The Crazy Quilt pieces are Journal size. It is one of my favorite sizes to work-very freeing, and I like to work small. Thanks to everyone who commented. It's always fun to hear from people.

Bead Journal Project, Quilt

http://www.beadjournalproject.com/ is starting it's 4th year. I've been in it from the beginning and really have enjoyed it.

This year I decided to do Crazy Quilt backgrounds after seeing the lovely pieces done by others in past years. January means snow to me, so the piecing is in all whites. The lace and tatting are mostly vintage from my collection. I used stitching on the seam lines then added beads to accent everything.

Thanks to everyone who helped me by critiquing this quilt. I haven't gotten back to it yet but cropped the picture. You were right, the green border was overwhelming.

Sketchbook

I've joined the challenge that Sueb set up at http://sketchbookchallenge.blogspot.com/  Jill Berry gave the first challenge of Highly Prized.

There are so many possibilities that I just went with the Environment again.I feel strongly that we should value our world. To me it means the trees and flowers-the basis for so much. The images are all from Photos I took. The tree trunks were photographed during a trip to New Orleans and are Live Oaks. I wonder if they still stand after the Hurricane.

This one was taken in Central Oregon. I extended the photo with Gel pens then turned the work and wrote all the words for things we need to take care of in the environment.

Yesterday I decided to continue on and started a page with pastels over two different textured rubbing plates. Then I used a big foam stamp for the leaf. Yes, friends I put the book on the floor instead of the table to stand on the stamp. Standing on it gives a better image.

To use up the ink, I stamped a blank page. Both of the last two will have more work on them. Now I'm working on a Journal quilt with Leaf images. It's something I've kept coming back to for years.

Check out the site-lots of fun things.

Book

With Electric Quilt, I had designed a bunch of quilt blocks. This one looked like it should be a stitchery.The background is wool. The outlines are done in stem stitch with a variegated Perle Cotton. The seeding stitches are done with one of the threads I dyed. It is rayon.