Is it Friday yet???

Another month has gone by, and I haven't posted...still feeling "unfocused", if that's a word.

I did finish my rug, and I'm very happy with how it turned out!  It was a learning experience, and the best part was learning how to dye wool, a process different than dyeing cotton.  The finished rug is about 24" x 35".

So last weekend I worked all day Saturday on this mess--starting with a piece of natural colored wool felt, then adding layers of wool by needle felting, and then resorting to adding pieces of netting using my sewing machine.  And it just looks like a mess!  What a waste of a day!  I think I already threw this out, if I haven't I plan to.

And this is another thing on my design wall, from the Judith Trager Craftsy class I've been viewing.  Each square is around 10", so it's pretty large at this point.  I'm just using up scraps, which I have way too many of.   Her class is pretty good, for anyone who gets those half-price or discount emails.

And my niece is having a baby girl in September, so I'm making the crib bumper pads and skirt for her, she wanted the colors of baby blue and lavender, which I seemed to have a lot of already.  I picked up the foam bumper pads at Hancock Fabrics yesterday, so I can get these done soon.

And here's Leo, not stressing out at all.  I think he slid right off the couch pretty soon after I took this picture.  

Spring in the Air

On the And Then We Set It On Fire blog, an interesting technique was presented this month that I had to try. First step was to dye these four pieces--

Hopefully this weekend I'll have time to do the rest of the project.  The dye colors I used were fuchsia, chartreuse and blue violet.

Has anyone every tried to make a vessel using the wet-felt resist method?  I did, using some alpaca fibers.  (For some great instructions, you can check out this blog).   Wet felting is quite a tedious process, but I ended up with this little vessel--that looks pretty much like a coconut.  Not my favorite, but I used what I had on hand.  If I do this again, I'll use some better fibers, like merino, so it doesn't turn out so hairy!

You can see the fuzzy-ness of the alpaca fibers better here:

And work is still progressing on what is for me the world's slowest craft, rug hooking.  The background strips are some blue wool that I dyed myself.  Loving the colors, but will be glad when it's finally finished.

Last weekend was a beautiful one here in NC, so I batiked some fabrics to use in a project I'm working on.  If you want to read about the process, check this blog post.  I just love the whole process of making batiked fabrics.

Spring might finally be here!  We had a t-storm or two overnight, and things are finally starting to bloom.

Linking up to Nina Marie's blog today, check out all the great links there!

Also, linking up to Fiber Artist Journey today, too.

Finally--feeling creative again!

Been in a rotten mood lately--not sure if it was due to the weather, a boring job that drains the life out of me, or what...I have been sewing, making, dyeing and all that, just haven't bothered to post anything here.

Saturday and Sunday I spent batiking, these are some of the fabric pieces I ended up with:

I use beeswax and parafin, melted together in my electric frying pan, and the high-tech stretching method of push pins on a cardboard box.  Egg cartons are some of my favorites to use for patterns, I save them, and always look on the bottom of the carton to see if there is a different design that I haven't used yet.

This pattern is from the egg carton shown above.

I also used a pool noodle, which melted a bit by the time I was done.  Luckily I can get them at the Dollar Store and cut off a couple of inches as I need them.  Cookie cutters also work great--but the heat from the wax transfers quickly on the metal cutters, so pliers are definitely needed to hold them.

After waxing, I put the pieces on some plastic, and pour on some dyes mixed with soda ash.  Then they get covered and stay in the sun for about 2-3 hours.  

 The pieces then have to be boiled to remove the wax, and sometimes I over-dye to get a secondary color.

The blue/green piece above was made with a pool noodle, the middle piece with the flowers was with a cookie cutter, and on the orange piece the polka dots were made with a carrot.

It was a great weekend!

Spring isn't quite here..

Not too spring-like here in North Carolina, which is unusual!  Since moving here in 2005, I've found spring to be a beautiful, warm season.  This year, it's still been downright chilly--not just in the morning, but all day long.  So, i just had to make my own spring.  A couple of weeks ago I won a fabric giveaway from Marianne Bos, who lives in Singapore!   Her fabrics are the print ones in this little quilt, which I then combined with some of my hand-dyed solids.

It's just a simple snowball quilt, still in the process of being sewn together.  (another UFO...)

Aren't her fabrics beautiful?  Thanks so much Marianne!

And I'm also finishing up this little quilt, too, which I showed in February.  Here are the leaf shapes that I cut out and moved around, then zig-zagged back on (using some heavy iron-on stabilizer on the back to hold them in place).  The piece was long, about 5' total, and yesterday after stitching the leaf shapes, I cut it in half, so now I have two pieces.  But they look like fish...

 Ok, and now I'm working on my second hooked rug, too.

Happy Valentine's Day

It's only been a month since my last post...how did that happen?  I've been busy working on what seems like hundreds of things, just not taking pictures of anything.  Just wanted to give Elaine Quehl a big thanks for a giveaway on her blog that I won-- four gorgeous fat quarters she dyed--

I got to pick my colors, and these were the ones for me. 

I've started slicing them up and using them for a variation of a Darned Quilt that I made before.  I started with some gradient hand dyes in orange/browns that I cut in gentle curved pieces, sewed together, then fused to a really heavy piece of pellon stabilizer.

Then I cut strips of Elaine's beautiful fabric, and will sew them on from edge to edge.  I'll probably couch some yarns and ribbons, too.  After this foundation is all set, then I'll cut shapes (circles or maybe leaves?) and move them around, followed by sewing, or darning, them into the cutout opening.

Since this weekend is supposed to be cold (for here in NC, anyways!) I'll most likely stay in and sew and have more progress to show next week.

A couple of weeks ago I got this Liebster Award from Katherine McNeese at Blue Heron Quilts.

It was a nice surprise, but then I forgot all about it with everything that was going on at work.  

Here are "The rules":
1. You must post 11 random things about yourself.
2. Answer the questions that the nominator set for you
3. Create 11 questions for the people you nominate
4. Choose 11 blogs with less than 200 followers and link them in your post.

This was just too much information (TMI) for me to share, I'm just not the kind of person who is comfortable putting everything out there for others to read.  Thanks for thinking of me, Katherine!  But if you would like to check out some great blogs that I like (with less than 200 followers), check these out:

tiedyejudy.blogspot.com
multicoloredsnippets.blogspot.com
notesfromstudiob.blogspot.com
ellendacoop.blogspot.com
theredheadedmermaid.blogspot.com
explorationsinquilting.com
fiberartistjourney.blogspot.com

Oh, and finished up my hooked rug.  It measures around 24" x 36", and it was kind of fun to make.  Except for the binding on the edge, which hardly shows up here, but that took forever and was worse than hand sewing a binding on a quilt.

Also--we had a challenge unveiling on Art Quilts Around the World a few weeks ago, our self-portraits.  

Here's mine!

January is half over already!

Wow, time is flying by.  Classes started this week at the university where I work, and it's been a little busier than it has been.  Plus two friends and fellow fiber artists (Jenny Williams and Eileen Kane) and I have a gallery exhibit going here on campus, with a real opening yesterday afternoon and everything!  Check this link if you're interested in seeing some of our work on display: Elliout University Center Gallery 

Enough of that "fame", now back to real life.  Jane Sassaman is a famous fabric designer and quilter, and I've had some of her fabric for a while now (you can find it on sale in your LQS frequently because some people feel it's a little difficult to work with or sometimes even consider it to be UGLY fabric).  I used three fabrics to make this quilt top up, the blue leaves down the middle and the side panels were all cut from the same length of fabric, and were broken up a little with a fussy cut piece of the green tile fabric (also Sassaman I think).  Then the borders were done with another Sassaman print, and I used up every little bit I had of that, piecing little scraps of it just to keep the design of the "grass" pattern intact.

And of course, Leo had to be in the picture, plus the wind picked up just as I tried to take it.  The center portion actually looks pieced to me in these photos, even though it's not, which I guess is the intent of using big prints in the first place.

Here's another WIP using some Sassaman fabrics mixed with others.  I'm not sure if I like this, but since I'm so far along, it will be finished!



I can't decide yet if I like fussy cutting of fabrics.  But I have more Sassaman fabric to use up so I better learn to like it.

And now, another craft has taken over some of my free time-- rug hooking --a craft that's almost nonexistent here in North Carolina.  Since there is hardly ever any wool fabric at the thrift stores, and the price of new 100% wool fabric is outrageous, I decided to try to hook with 100% wool yarn instead, which is available at yarn stores around here. 

This style of hooking is called Nantucket style, and is actually pretty easy.  I got some burlap at Joann's and drew a design on it with a sharpie marker.  Then I figured out how to hook by watching some you-tube videos and reading some tutorials on blogs about rug hooking.

I've since read that you shouldn't use burlap, as it's not as long-lived as the linen produced specifically for rug hooking.  But I'm going to finish the hooking part since I'm about 90% done already.  But I have absolutely no idea how to finish the edges, so have to find some tutorials about that when the time comes.
What did we ever do without the internet??

Linking up with Nina Marie's Off The Wall Friday today, I forgot all about it last week.

Finishing up some things

A (very) long time ago I saw an article in a Quilting Arts magazine about Itajime Shibori (resist clamping of shapes) and thought it was something I definitely had to try--so I did.  I made up a bunch of these pieces by clamping a plexiglass shape onto a fabric square, then bleaching the color out of the surrounding fabric, and re-dyeing the color back so the only pattern left is where the plexiglass covered the design.

I made up a bunch of squares, even sewed beads onto some of them, but then they got set aside.  So I got them out over my Christmas week off, and finally made a little wall hanging with some of them.

I still have a bunch more to work with, but I just wanted to feel like I did something productive with my time off...

Unlike Leo, my rescued lab, who doesn't like to do much and doesn't feel guilty about it at ALL. 

I also quilted this little wall hanging called "Summer Solstice", that I sewed together months ago...

And quilted up this "Snowflake" table runner, still have to bind it and then it's done.  I'm figuring this to be a Christmas present all ready for next year...

Happy New Year!
--Edited on Friday, 1/4/13 to link up with Nina Marie Sayre's Off The Wall Friday.  My goals for 2013 are to be more productive, and to use up as much fabric as I can before dyeing or buying any more.  Also, to do something with those piles of scraps that are everywhere.  Like Nina, I should also add discipline and focus as words to live by this year.  Thanks for hosting this each week, Nina!

Final FM Challenge

Hard to believe that this is the final challenge--it's been a great year's worth of designs, projects, techniques, and lots of practice.  For this final challenge, I decided to do a combination of the bonus tutorial presented by Teri Lucas, along with the monthly December challenge presented by Patsy Thompson.

I don't have a printer at home, so I used my printer at work -- I ironed some Kona white cotton on some freezer paper, then ran it through a color copier, which printed out so lightly that I couldn't use it.  So I decided to try it on my B&W printer, and this is what I ended up with.  Since I did this last week, before taking almost two weeks off, I didn't have any other options at the time, but I really kind of like it.

I used a dark charcoal grey background, some Aurifil white thread in the star, some Aurifil grey on the background, and some black Madiera thread in the area right around the star.

I did freeform feathers around the outside, which I love to do.

  

 Another fun month, so sad to see it end.  Thanks, SewCalGal!

Dyeing Wool and Getting Sidetracked

I seem to get sidetracked so easily--my "plan" was to finish up all my UFOs before the end of the year and start fresh for next year...but I had some wool felt that I bought at Joann's Fabrics a long time ago, and it was just a plain off-white color.  Since Procion MX dyes don't work on wool, and I really didn't want to spend a bunch of money on a whole new line of acid dyes, I learned from some on-line research that I could use Wilton icing colors (concentrated gel) and mix with Fruit Fresh (ascorbic acid) and dye wool with it.   I used my Joann's coupon and got the gel colors there, and already had the fruit fresh because I can pears and peaches every summer.

I took two small pieces of the wool felt, and cut shapes like circles and ovals in one which I then dyed with a combination of blues/greens/purples using the icing gel and Fruit Fresh combo.  The other one I left whole and dyed orange.  (If I do this again, I'll leave the pieces whole and dye first, then cut out the shapes--I don't know why I did it the way I did--now I have a bunch of white ovals and circles that I'm going to have to dye to use.)  I mixed the gel in some water, then added the Fruit Fresh and dipped the wool into it--the colors were very bright, and I was surprised at how quickly the wool grabbed the color.

Anyway, it took over 3 days for these to dry, but they were finally dry last night.  So I took my hand needle felter and punched away on this piece, joining them into one piece.  It was slow and tedious, and not very stimulating.  Having an embellishing machine would definitely be better!

I want to do some free motion quilting and other stitching on this piece, I think it will be fun.  If anyone reading this has a felting/embellishing machine, I'd be interested in hearing about them.

So that's my experiment for the week, hope someone will read this and decide to try it for themselves.

And I also finished up my Christmas tree from last week and mailed it to my sister, who received it yesterday.  Linking up with Off-The-Wall Friday today, check out the wonderful projects there!