Quilt

The first time I attended a Nancy Crow retreat, we did strip piecing. We did as many combinations of strip sets as we had time for-working into the night even.

I finally took two co-ordinating sets and put them together for this quilt. It is even, it's just my bad photography which I don't seem to get any better at.

Painted Lace

After a comment from http://relishedartistry.blogspot.com/ I decided to try painting some black lace. I tend to do random things-took me years to learn to be free in my work, but to see some stunningly beautiful pieces, visit his blog.  I like his black lace better than mine and haven't seen any jewelry like his.

In this set, I'm trying to get some more unusual colors by painting on beige lace rather than white.

Thanks for the comments on my collage piece from the last post. It was fun to do especially since I was using scraps that were in those shapes.

Quilt

http://www.3creativestudios.com/ has a technique featured each month. This time it is fabric collage, and this is my piece.

I used scraps from a pile that had fusible on the back. The irregular shapes made it more interesting. The shell is from a fabric with the shells all over, however, I added the turquoise/gold piece, because it seemed to be needed. The background is machine quilted with a variegated rayon. The shell is also machine quilted before the hand stitching was added in Perle Cotton.

Quilt

Blogger is playing with me again.  This should be rotated counterclockwise. I tried doing it, but it still came out on it's side! I want to get to the studio, so I'm refusing to play this game.

The center is a piece I had from the time a friend and I had a marbled fabric business when we were in Southern California. I back stitched by hand with hand dyed threads around the main areas. Then I beaded the centers of some and machine quilted it.

Here is a detail. Even though I'm not a pink person, I always liked that piece of fabric.

Quilt

This week's quilt for http://www.3creativestudios.com/ starts with a sample I did on stripped pieced fabric. The flower was made by using a stencil and molding paste. When dry, I painted the small piece.The turquoise is a marbled scrap; the background green, hand dyed.  I machine stitched the velvet leaves on, and edged the quilt by zigzagging a yarn around the outside.

It's turning out to be satisfying to use up my little samples. There's quite a pile still left. Every time I open a container to find something, I find more samples! I do like to try techniques and save all the trials.

Sketchbook

Stratmore has been offering free journalling class. Linda Blinn did the second on and showed how to do these pages.

The pink page creates a pocket by using brads along the right edge and tape on the bottom one. I finally used some of the snowflake brads the I had to have.

The left side is taped to fold out and give more area to journal. I like shiny pain,t but it doesn't photograph well. Now I need to do something on the pages.

Wow. I think people liked my lace. Thanks for commenting.

Painted Lace

http://www.joggles.com/paintingveniselace-video.htm   Here is the direct link to the video from http://www.joggles.com/  Do also check out the other tutorials. Barbara carries a nice selection of supplies and ships very quickly. Having worked mail order, I know what that means. My lace was here in two days, and I live in the NW US with her in the NE!

Painted Lace

http://www.joggles.com/ has 2 video tutorials on painting lace with Dynaflow and one other paint that I didn't have. I've painted lace with the dyes for that, but with paint you don't have to worry about the type of lace. It seems to work on anything.

Each day I would do a covered board of one color group to see what would happen.

A friend gave me some laces; some I bought; and some are leftovers from when my adult daughter was little, and I was putting them on dresses I sewed for her.

This is very adictive. Now I need to think of way to use them.

Bead Journal Project

This is my April Journal Quilt for http://www.beadjournalproject.com/

The center is a marbled scrap leftover from when two of us in Southern California had a business of marbling fabrics . The shiny green is a silk scrap my Sister-in-law in Germany gave me. Some of the buttons are from my Grandmother's button box. I like recycling things.

Painted Papers

The last two weeks I've spent a day at a friend's painting with her. We really accomplished a lot. Now I need to do something with them.

This one is Gold Gesso mixed with print paste and combed with a texture tool from the hardware store.

Red is another color gesso comes in. This one also had print paste and using a stencil, I lifted the paint with a damp sponge to create the flowers.

Another stencil and wet sponge. One of my favorite stencils is one with 3 grids of different sized squares.

Here are just a few drying in my special drying room-the downstairs bathroom.

We also did some washes and had great fun. Doing the painting with a friends really generates idea as you check each others work.

This morning I was able to rescue the little lizard that came in yesterday.. We don't often see them in the damp NW, and I think it was cold in our "unseasonal" weather-it seems more like fall than spring. I kept trying yesterday but couldn't figure out a way to move it without hurting it. It was between the wall and a major piece of furniture that I couldn't move. I thought of vacuuming it but couldn't find it when I was doing that-didn't really want to try that method because it would be hurt. I couldn't grab it where it was. This morning is was in an area where I could put a towel over it to gently pick it up and take it outside. I'm glad.

Quilt

 I just finished this made from obi fabrics. I pieced the center, so I could place the color where I wanted it. Then I beaded the one flower and hand stitched several others.

It is machine quilted.

Blogger is playing with me this morning, so the detail is sideways, but you can still see the beading.

The fabrics were leftover from a vest I made and sold years ago. Unfortunately, I don't have a photo of it. This was before I wised up, and when a gallery owner convinced me to leave some photos with her, I did-never got them back and didn't have copies-dumb, very dumb.

Quilt

Here is another journal quilt for http://www.3creativestudios.com/ 

The background is canvas with painted lacy paper over it. I quilted to hold the pieces together. The butterflies are the last ones from my friend. The pansy is Ultrasuede with a Shisha mirror as the center. It is left over from my teaching methods of attaching and stitching shisha mirrors. This is a better place for it than the box I kept my samples for class in.

Thanks to everyone for commenting on the last post. The Shibori is fun and easy and gives good results. The stitched ones take a while but are good TV projects for the few things I watch.

Dyeing

I've been doing the challenges at http://www.3creativestudios.com/  This month it is Shibori.This one was stitched first. It had the red areas on it to begin with and lots of white background.

Folding and dipping created this pattern-my least favorite way.

This one I twisted until it turned back on itself, then put dye on it.

Lastly, the fabric was wrapped around a PVC pipe and scrunched together before dyeing.

I like the effect of Shibori and will be doing more of it.

Quilt

This is Impression II- the next one in the series involving felted sections. It is a little brighter than number one but the same general palette.

I hand stitched sections and beaded before machine quilting. On to number 3.