Periwinkle Art Quilts

On-line class

2012-02-05T14:45:00.004-05:00

I signed up for an on-line precision dyeing class last month. This is our first assignment, dyeing tints of three single colors (gradation). The colors I used were Golden Yellow, Sky Blue, and Fuchsia--6 fat quarters of each.

Candy Glendening is the teacher, at Candied Fabrics. She provides great written instructions, and lots of videos embedded in each lesson. I think it's going to help me a lot, as I've had trouble in the past coming up with a specific color that I needed to dye.

Several of the colors are perfect for a Judy Niemeyer quilt I've been working on. I'm auditioning them now, and hope to cut and sew some centers today!

So far, I think I've sewed around 23 of the larger spiked sections, and need to sew 30 total. Kind of tedious, but sometimes I need to do some mindless sewing.

Making some progress

2012-01-17T09:00:00.002-05:00

A three-day weekend--time to get some things accomplished at home, like basting this quilt top that I made last March/April. Finally. I started the FM quilting on it, too. It's a Judy Niemeyer quilt pattern, Total Eclipse.

The directions in the pattern are kind of overwhelming--so I took a class at Sew Original in Winston-Salem and was glad I did. Lucille Amos, a certified instructor, made the directions seem simple.

I like paper piecing a lot, and this quilt was actually pretty easy to put together.

And I finished up this little quilt, too. Here it is laying in my driveway this morning, I was taking the picture right around 7:15 a.m. so thie light isn't great, but better than inside my house.

I added striped sashing after I had completed the FM quilting because I just wasn't thrilled by the quilt. It was top-stitched on using a decorative stitch--and I used the same stripe for the border.

Free Motion Quilting Month #1

2012-01-08T09:55:00.006-05:00

I decided to do this FM quilting challenge on something I'm already working on, instead of creating a new sampler or just working on a small sample. Free motion quilting is something I've been doing (and loving!) for a couple of years now, it's the reason I make things--so I can FM quilt them.

Here is my leaf shape, done on a piece of hand-dyed fabric so that the stitching is kind of hard to see:

I tried to take a picture offset from the side, too, as I was having trouble getting it to show up well. I used a 50-weight thread from Connecting Threads in a dark green:

One more picture--

These are other parts of the piece I'm quilting. I used more threads from Connecting Threads, as well as some other threads I had (Aurifil, Mettler, YLI Soft Touch) in matching colors.

I'm just trying out some different patterns, I like working on smaller pieces that are part of a larger one so I can practice a certain shape or pattern in a small scale.

I'll take a picture of the whole piece as soon as I get a chance to bury the thread tails and wash those chalk pencil marks off.

I think this one is my favorite design:

If you want more information on the Free Motion Challenge project, or want to join in yourself, head on over to SewCalGal's blog!

No more laziness for 2012

2012-01-01T08:59:00.005-05:00

If I was the kind of person to make resolutions, this year's would be "no more laziness"! It's too easy to sit down in the evening after a long day of work and just think about what I want to work on, not actually do it. So, I've joined two different quilt-alongs for the new year, one called "12 For 2012", and another called the "Free Motion Quilting Project". Combining these will work out great, as I have a huge pile of Unfinished Objects, mostly quilt tops that need quilting, and I love to work on Free Motioning. Buttons for each are on the right-hand side of my blog if you want to check them out.

For the "12 in 2012", all you have to do is commit to is finishing 12 UFOs in 12 months. Hopefully I'll be able to--it sounds easy now, but we all know what happens...

Here is my first project, started yesterday! This top has been hanging around for a couple of years now, it's about 40 x 40", and will make a great beach blanket for baby Madelyn. I free motioned some big daisies on it, then filled in with leaves and other shapes. All I need to do now is bind it and it's done.

I'll sew the binding on by machine instead of hand-sewing, since it's faster, and will hold up better to lots of washing.

For Christmas, I got a gift certificate for Connecting Threads. I never ordered from them before, but they had thread sets on sale (40% off) when I checked their website Tuesday night. I ordered a set of 15 colors, plus some fabrics that were all less than $3.00/yard, and they all arrived yesterday. Hopefully, by the end of 2012, there won't be any of this thread left!

My next UFO project is all ready to be quilted--I marked it with a chalk pencil yesterday, trying to decide how to quilt it, but I'll probably change my mind and improvise as I go along.

Christmas stuff almost done

2011-12-11T19:42:00.002-05:00

I spent all day yesterday, and most of today sewing frantically. Most are done now, just one more binding to put on a table runner. These are all gifts--(so I don't want to show more than a small portion)
Part of a table runner:

Another table runner:

Baby shower quilt (for December 26th shower):

And for baby Madelyn:

Frustration in dyeing

2011-11-23T09:06:00.004-05:00

Yesterday before work I took some of what I thought was Cerulean Blue and Tangerine dyes that I already had mixed up a while ago and left a piece of fabric in a dye bath all day to get a yard of BROWN. This is what I ended up with:

Yes, it looks like it's khaki-colored green with some lavender in it. Not exactly what I was hoping for. So, last night, I mixed up some Black and Strong Orange dye powders and dyed two small pieces, hoping again for brown. It really looked good in the dye bath this morning, I was hopeful.

But this is what I ended up with after washing.

One piece is a grey-ish purple, the other is a light grey. It's like the orange completely left the fabric after washing. If anyone has any suggestions on what I can do to get a good brown, please leave a comment. Otherwise, I'll have to take a trip to Joann's...and waste my day off today on the road.

All over the place

2011-11-07T09:24:00.004-05:00

I haven't posted for about 3 weeks now, kinda feeling like I'm all over the place (not focused at all). There's the little granny squares I've been crocheting for a baby afghan:

And some cute little headbands and hats. I found some directions on-line for making these flowers, so easy it was amazing.

I also have been working on these pieces, clamping plexiglass circles on fabric then discharging with bleach and re-dyeing them. Last week I took pictures of the whole process, but the pics don't seem to be on my camera this morning.

Also, have been sewing on some scrappy strips to use with the circles.

In addition, I'm working on some crib bumper pads for my niece who is having a shower the day after Christmas, finished up a quilt for my LQS challenge that had to be turned in on Saturday, and have about 6 other projects in some stage of the completion process. If I didn't have to go to work every day, I might get a few things done!

Is it any wonder that my stash never seems to get smaller?

Pumpkin farm

2011-10-17T15:12:00.001-04:00

Madelyn visiting the pumpkin farm yesterday--

Shibori again

2011-10-16T18:34:00.002-04:00

Friday evening I wanted to dye a cool color rainbow set, so I got out my fuchsia, yellow, and turquoise dyes. After mixing the required 12 colors, I dyed half-yard pieces using low water immersion and checked them out the following morning. No pictures, but the dye had separated in almost all the red/blue pieces and they looked awful. So I decided to shibori them all instead!

I stitched the pieces into a tube shape, and put on a pole, then dyed in navy blue.

Then I did the same with some other pieces I had, stitching them into a tube, but dyeing in a walnut brown mixture (black & rust orange mixture).

The pieces above are actually more orange/tangerine than pink, they'll make some great autumn leaves.

Over on And Then We Set It On Fire, I posted some results of my tyvek painting & melting experiments. Check it out!

Quilt Show & Cotton Fields

2011-10-08T13:59:00.004-04:00

Took a short drive to Concord, NC this morning to go to the Cabarrus County Quilt Show. The drive was scenic, on a beautiful & warm fall day, lots of fields of cotton getting ready to harvest.

Yes, I took these from my car as there wasn't a good place to stop on the side of the road.

Lots of cotton, on each side of the road. Maybe some of this will end up as fabric at the quilt show next year.

Here's the Cabarrus County Event Center--

Some of the quilts I loved. Karen Stone New York Beauty--every time I see this, I think I should make one, too.

And circles, a theme that I seem to be very attracted to. This was done with gorgeous hand-dyed fabrics and fabulous quilting!

Interesting 3-D veggies on this one:

And 3-D sunflowers, too.

I only bought some Presencia threads and a 2-yard piece of silk dupioni. Good deals on both, it was a good morning. Now to go mow my lawn.

Granddaughter Pics

2011-09-20T19:03:00.002-04:00

I just got back from an exhausting week at my daughter's house following the birth of Madelyn Elizabeth on September 6th.

Here she is just after birth:

Four days old:

One week old:

And 10 days old:

She is my first grandchild and she is wonderful!! It's going to be hard to be in NC while they all live in NY. Anyways, no art for me for the past week, I'll be getting back into it now that I'm home. Love you, Erin & Paul!

No Garden Inspiration Here

2011-08-30T19:54:00.003-04:00

Depressing showing you what constitutes what's left of my garden this summer here in Thomasville, NC. We've had practically zero rain for the last 2-3 months, and what has been struggling has given up, and so have I. Even Hurricane Irene only brought us about 5 minutes of rain on Saturday evening.

This was a hosta...

And these were zinnias...

I think these were daisies...

More former daisies...

And here is a sage plant, with the dead remains of tomato plants in the background.

Believe it or not, I used to be a prolific gardener, growing enough food to can and freeze, and enough flowers to regularly fill large vases and generally enjoy. But that was in another climate that had abundant rainfall. Not here in central North Carolina. Yes, I'm depressed. At least I can stay inside and sew and ignore all of the dead flowers.

Table runner is done

2011-08-08T09:49:00.003-04:00

Table runner is finished, lots of FM quilting on this one. I think I'm obsessed.

This is the back:

And here's the finished round robin fabric (Jenny's piece) from And Then We Set it On Fire that I'm putting in the mail to her today!

Another hot week almost over

2011-08-05T08:13:00.008-04:00

Not doing too much blogging lately, but doing lots of sewing & quilting. What else can I do when it's 100 degrees or more every day and all I feel like doing is sleeping when I get home from work?

This is a table runner I'm making, using some hand dyes and some commercial fabrics. I love the template set I bought a few years ago and have used lots of times. The half circles are so easy to sew, I don't even use pins.

This is all ready to be quilted tonight when I get home from work!

And this is a wall hanging I'm making for my soon-to-be-born granddaughter (as soon as I know her name, it will be incorporated into this). Due date is September 8th!

And yet another quilt top sandwiched and ready to be quilted!

Not being able to work outside in my garage and make new fabric has caused me to be a lot more productive in finishing up some of those UFOs, so I guess this weather has been good for something.

Free Motion Quilting again...

2011-07-18T09:47:00.004-04:00

This quilt I've been working on for two weekends now is nearly done. But it's actually GREEN, not purplish like in these pictures.

What the heck--I guess I must need a new camera. I have NO idea why all the pictures turned out like this--but whatever the reason, it just fits into the way my day is turning out already.

Anyway, I've been quilting for about 5-6 hours a day on this for the past two weekends--

I always use fusible batting, it makes the quilt sandwich quite stiff, which makes it easier to move around in the machine while sewing. This was all done on my non-electronic Pfaff machine, which I really like to use more than my more expensive machine.

The thread I used was Aurifil Mako 50, which comes on a pretty good sized spool so I don't have to keep replacing the thread when the spool runs out. I always try to wind about 2-3 bobbins at a time when I sit down and get ready to free motion quilt, that way I don't have to stop and do it in the middle of quilting. (I think I've probably used about 8-10 full bobbins on this already).

I generally use Sharp Microtex needles, size 70 or 80 (depending on what I have on hand) and don't get any thread breakage or problems. It also helps to change your needle after sewing for about 4 hours with it, you'll really see a difference if you keep a fresh needle in your machine.

Another tip is to take that little brush that came with your sewing machine and check the bobbin area once in a while for lint that might build up from your thread. Even with Aurifil thread, which has less lint than practically any other thread I've tried, some still builds up and you need to get it out of there before it affects your machine's sewing ability.

Some people use quilting gloves when doing this type of work -- I bought a pair of rubbery palm gardening gloves at Lowe's a few years ago and find that I like using only one, on my left hand, and keeping my right hand uncovered. Most of the moving and sliding is done w/my left hand, apparently, it's not something that I really think about while I'm doing it.

My arms are definitely sore today!

Middle of July already

2011-07-11T09:37:00.006-04:00

I've been pretty bad about posting to this blog, but I have been keeping myself busy! Here's a picture of a largish (40w x 48 h) wall hanging using some of my shibori fabric. It's pretty much done except for quilting, which to me is the most fun part.

Here's a sideways view:

Monoprinting is the monthly project at And Then We Set It on Fire. Since the temperature here has been 95+ every day, and my garage is my "studio", I haven't been able to spend much time out there. I did try some printing yesterday, with some new stamps that I've carved (and some old ones), but the paint was drying before I could get the stamping done. These were printed on some paper, just to see how they'd turn out.

And here's one piece that I'm actually happy with. I still want to add some bubble wrap printing to it, or something like that. It'll make a nice pillow.

And some quilting, since it's so hot outside. It's easier to stay inside in the AC and quilt away.

Screen printing

2011-06-20T15:33:00.005-04:00

I finally did some deconstructed screen printing this weekend. Here are some of the pieces I made. For more information on the process, check And Then We Set It On Fire.

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Busy week

2011-06-17T08:38:00.005-04:00

A picture of my daughter's dog, who jumped into the baby crib to try it out while we were putting in the bumper pads I made. I think she might have a slight problem when the baby is born...

My daughter Erin (in the middle) with two of my nieces, Karin (left) and Megan (right). Taken right before the start of her baby shower last Saturday in Middletown, NY.

It was a great shower, she got enough stuff for quadruplets, and I got to see my sisters, sister-in-law, and lots of nieces. Back to work on Wednesday, and trying to catch up with everything that had to be done while I was away.

And here is my round robin fabric that Beth from Maine sent me, it's almost ready to be sent on to the next person on the list, Jenny. I boiled out the batik wax this morning before work, but it was still wet when I left home at 7:15.

I also made an embellished screen for deconstructed screen printing using some of my lunaria seed pods. Can't wait to get home tonight to see how it all turns out, as this is my first time playing with this stuff! Screenprinting is the technique of the month on And Then We Set It On Fire and this is the first time I've had to try it out.

Shibori Obsession

2011-06-05T07:05:00.003-04:00

Here's some of the work I did yesterday using the techniques I learned at the Jan Myers Newbury workshop. I just love how these turned out!!

Shibori Workshop & Quilt Symposium

2011-06-04T05:06:00.003-04:00

Yesterday I went to Raleigh for a Jan Myers Newbury workshop, A Pole and a Piece of Fabric at the NC Quilt Symposium. It was a six-hour workshop, most of which was held in a laundry room at Peace College. Here's a bunch of wrapped poles sitting in dye buckets.

Jan at the sink. She was a very laid back, very informative teacher. If I could afford it, I would have taken a longer class with her today, too!

Some quilts from the quilt show, which I went through really quickly at lunchtime--it was pretty crowded so I didn't stay long...

These three quilts caught my eye, the colors and quilting.

There were lots and lots of traditional quilts, but it's funny, I only took pictures of a few very colorful, very similar quilts. Hmmm...

Baby shower next week

2011-06-02T16:30:00.003-04:00

Baby things are occupying my "spare" time lately--I finished up a blanket last night, just posting the back of it, as it's a surprise for my daughter and I don't want her to see the front.

Nearly a whole month has gone by

2011-05-24T09:47:00.004-04:00

Here is the piece I think might be going into the round robin organized by Judith of Quilt Or Dye. I cut some freezer paper into strips and ironed onto a fat quarter, then painted with pebeo setacolor paint in chartreuse. I'm not sure if it's too graphic for a round robin, but I'll get the piece back eventually and want to make sure it's something I can use.

And of course, baby things are occupying my mind and time these days, trying to get everything done and in the mail before a shower coming up in early June--

A baby quilt in progress.
And bumper pads for the crib, these were harder than I thought they'd be to figure out!

And don't forget to enter the giveaway on And Then We Set It On Fire -- in honor of our 100+ followers, each of us is giving away a fat quarter.

I won a prize!

2011-04-26T09:29:00.002-04:00

Just for posting some pictures on the 3 Creative Studios flickr group last month, I was selected to win a random prize. It was two patterns all the way from Australia from Brenda Gael Smith of Serendipity Patchwork & Quilting. Brenda hosted a shibori workshop and presented four great tutorials. Check them out here.

We had some rain last weekend, which has been a rare occurrence here in central North Carolina, and the flowers all looked great afterwards. Peonies are ready to bloom--

And the silver dollar plant will have lots of seeds this year--

Coral bells are looking better than they have since I planted them about 3 years ago--

I got this book at the library a couple of weeks ago, and have been attempting the cathedral windows pattern. I had tried the cathedral window pattern way back in the 1970s, but did it all by hand then, this book has directions for hand and machine work. Will post something as soon as I get far enough long so that it actually looks like something.

Nice weekend

2011-04-19T10:06:00.004-04:00

Well, except for the tornadoes flying through central NC on Saturday, it was a good weekend. On Saturday I tried a new shibori technique that was presented in the Shibori Girl on-line workshop I'm taking. I used the rubbermaid sink protector I had previously used for batiking, and pushed the fabric through the holes with a skewer. This is a good way to get a consistent pattern on a piece of fabric.

Here's what it looked like from the back:

I tied off the tips, then dipped it into some dyes.

I forgot to take a picture of the finished piece, as I was trying to hurry and take pictures this morning at 7 am before leaving for work--it did turn out nicely.

I also tried the parfait dyeing again. I had two yellow-ish pieces that I had stamped some things onto (carved the stamps with speedball cutter) but wasn't thrilled with. So I parfaited them with fuchsia and some khaki.

And baby blankets are all done! Here is front and back sides of one.

And just the fronts of two others ready to go:

Baby quilts

2011-04-13T09:29:00.003-04:00

The latest projects I've been working on, baby quilts.

Spring is here

2011-04-10T08:10:00.003-04:00

Some flowers are blooming in my backyard -- but I haven't been able to mow my 2 foot tall lawn yet. Got my mower back from it's annual service the other day, but yesterday it rained almost all day. In my neighborhood, people don't mow on Sundays, it's a southern thing I guess, but I might have to break out my Yankee hat today and mow if the sun comes out.

Did some parfait dyeing last week on some stitched and wrapped shibori pieces. Here they are out of the jar I used to dye them in.

And a baby quilt I've been working on, still have a little quilting, then hope to do the binding and finish it today.

March moon

2011-03-25T09:29:00.004-04:00

The super moon of this past month has been some inspiration to me -- also the Kemshall's book "The Painted Quilt"--one of their techniques is to paint on the paper side of wonder-under or other iron on paper-backed fusing material, then cut it out and iron onto your fabric. I tried painting some silvery and white paint on some wonder under, then cut out a circle and ironed on to some dark hand-dyed fabric.

I like how it turned out, I've already started quilting the background since taking this picture Tuesday.
Here's my progress on the Judy Niemeyer quilt pattern Total Eclipse.

You're supposed to sew all the separate circles, then lay them out and sew together. Seems like it's taking forever, but it's been less than 2 weeks since I started it. Boring and tedious to sew, but seems to be ok for those nights after work when you don't feel like doing anything too exciting or creative.

Baby Shibori

2011-03-20T10:55:00.003-04:00

Dyed some little newborn and 3-6 month onesies yesterday.

This will be good practice for my first grandbaby (expected in September)!

Workshop w/Shibori Girl

2011-03-18T18:41:00.003-04:00

I've been enrolled in an on-line workshop with Shiborigirl, today was the first time I've had to do anything with the first lesson. This is dyeing on silk with Colorhues dyes, which are totally different than procion mx dyes. The colors bond almost instantly, and you only have to dip them in the color for a few seconds.

The green & yellow one wasn't folded tightly enough, the design didn't show up too well in the middle portion. The other blue/orange one looks like fried eggs!

I finally figured out how tightly to clamp the fabric for this orange one and the pink/yellow one.

The green & blue one looks like a mess, the piece I used was a full scarf and obviously I didn't clamp or fold it tightly enough. But I'm sure I can find some way to use this piece, even if I overdye it with turquoise.

Last call (not for alcohol!):

2011-03-16T13:28:00.001-04:00

One Last Call for Entry:
The Professional Art Quilters Alliance-South (PAQA-South)announces its eighth Annual Juried Exhibition of Innovative Quilts: ARTQUILTSmovement - See http://www.artquiltersouth.org/

Exhibit Opens: May 20, 2011
Postmark Deadline for entry: March 19, 2011
Entry Fee: $15 for PAQA-South members, $25 for non-members for up to three works submitted.
Size Limitations: No larger than 40 inches wide and 60 inches high.
Contact: AQtransitions@gmail.com with questions.

New York Beauty & Judy Niemeyer pattern

2011-03-13T16:13:00.005-04:00

It's been a while since I've posted anything! I've been busy, though, working on a baby quilt for my co-worker (her shower is a week from tomorrow). Still have to wash it and dry it to fluff it up a bit.

Also working on the endless NY Beauty blocks, this is what I go back to when I don't know what else to work on. The contrast in some of the blocks isn't showing up too well in this picture--for some reason all my pics today are dark.

And I've had a Judy Niemeyer pattern for at least 2 years now, and yesterday I attended a class on sewing one of these. It was taught by a certified Judy Niemeyer instructor, and I'm so glad I went to it. We had to cut everything out before the class, which took about 3-4 hours. That was the worst part, sewing is easy now that I have all thousands of pieces ready.

It just looks like I'm making a huge mess, I'm really making some progress.

All batiked out

2011-02-22T10:46:00.005-05:00

February has been batik month at And Then We Set it on Fire. If you want to read about how these were made, check it out here.

February Batik again

2011-02-16T09:23:00.003-05:00

I bought these little cookie cutters at Walmart the other day for $3.00. They're nested, and I used them for batiking on Sunday. I had to use a little clamp to hold them while dipping into the wax because they got pretty hot.

After dipping the flower shapes, I painted with dye/soda solution, then removed the wax, and dyed the whole piece in a light periwinkle color to get rid of the stark white outlines. This piece looks spring-ie, I think.

Here's a potato masher batik piece that I painted with fuchsia & green, then removed the wax and overdyed in khaki.

On another unrelated note, how many miles on my car is too many? It's something that wears on my mind a lot...

Batik on Sunday

2011-02-07T09:59:00.003-05:00

I just posted these on "And Then We Set it on Fire"--make sure to check out all the great projects there.

Where did the weekend go??? I didn't get started on any batik until late Sunday afternoon, first I waxed some large leaf designs on a piece of fabric that was around 18" x 44.
Then I stretched the fabric over a large box, pinned it in place with push pins, and took it outside to paint. Which I could do because it was in the 50s and sunny.

The leaves are painted with avacado and the background blue is sky blue. Had to keep moving the fabric down and repinning it.

Here it is all painted--I went inside to get a large garbage bag the cover this so it didn't dry too quickly in the sun, and by the time I got back outside, it had blown across the lawn because it was kind of windy. The blue and green blended by rolling across the lawn, which I didn't really want to happen.

I left it overnight, will have to work on it again tonight after work.

I also had time to wax another small piece, this was done with a weird kitchen tool that I got at the Goodwill store. I mixed up a little rust orange dye, then left this overnight. Rinsed it out this morning--think I might dye this again in a warm yellow after I remove the wax.

Hand Stitching

2011-02-01T18:41:00.002-05:00

This little piece started out a while ago as a drop cloth underneath some things I was painting and dyeing last summer. I really liked how it looked, so I added the flowers a while back. It still didn't speak to me, so I added the avacado green border. I was happier with it then, but I've been doing some hand stitching on it and now I'm really starting to like it.

A co-worker of mine is having a baby in April, her theme is dogs, her colors are light brown and chocolate brown. I volunteered to make her a baby blanket, and ordered the dog prints from fabric.com (one of my favorite stores). The dog print fabric arrived today (I already had the rest of it), so I better get started!

Finally, some shibori I like!

2011-01-28T17:56:00.005-05:00

Finally, some shibori that I'm really happy with! They look a little faded because I took the pictures after work tonight, when the sun was already down but there was still a little light left.

I learned a lot this month, and am happy with the results. I learned that I really had to scrunch the fabric down hard on the pole, and keep it tight to get the results I wanted.

I've also been working on this little piece--still hand sewing the binding down. I'm not sure if I should display it with the half circles up or down. Opinions would be appreciated! All the colors in this piece were made by blending cobalt blue and tangerine--isn't that amazing??

My favorite part, the free motion quilting:

Next month's project is Batik...

Cut Away Circles

2011-01-19T10:02:00.003-05:00

An easy technique from the latest issue of Quilting Arts magazine--thought I'd give it a try over the long weekend.

First - get some fabrics from stash:

Then, stack the fabrics--using about 4-6 layers is recommended.

Sew circles using FM foot, crossing the lines in random places.
This is what the finished circle looked like from the bottom.

Start cutting away the layers, exposing the different fabrics below. I used a seam ripper to get each layer started, then finished with my sharpest scissors.

Here are four already done, each will be cut to a 6.5 inch size square

PAQA-South Call For Entry

2011-01-16T16:44:00.001-05:00

The Professional Art Quilters Alliance-South (PAQA-South) announces its ninth Annual Juried Exhibition of Innovative Quilts: Movement evokes moods as varied as the individuals contemplating it. Rhythmic strains of music, the flow of language, lithe dancers, or public change and social advocacy; all are examples that encompass the meaning of movement. Are you startled by a sudden movement, drawn in to the quickly moving plot of a good book, or feel the pulse of your heart as bloods flows through your veins? Military maneuvers, the inner workings of a watch, and a well-oiled machine all portray this basic necessity of life: movement. We invite you to share your interpretation of Movement in quiltart form.

Exhibit Opens: May 20, 2011
Deadline for entry receipt: March 19, 2011
Show dates: May 20 – July 24, 2011:
Durham Arts Council, Durham, NC http://www.durhamarts.org/facility.html
Entry Fee: $15 for PAQA-South members, $25 for non-members for up to three works submitted.
Size Limitations: No larger than 40 inches wide and 60 inches high.

Download Movement Prospectus & Entry Form

Contact: AQmovements@gmail.com with questions.
Note: ARTQUILTSmovement will be judged via unenhanced digital jpg image, only.
The PAQA-South International Juried Exhibition: ARTQUILTSmovement will open in the Allenton and Siemens galleries of the Durham Arts Council of Durham, NC. The opening reception will be Friday, May 20, 2011, 5-7:00 p.m.

*It is possible that the show will travel, so please be sure to check the entry form as to whether or not you give permission for your piece to travel with the show, should it be chosen.

Shibori Sunday

2011-01-09T12:56:00.005-05:00

Worked on some Spiderweb Shibori today. For this piece, I started with a white piece of fabric, then tied it off. First I dipped the tied tips into some blue, then dyed the whole piece black.

This piece was one I dyed a few months ago (mixed soda ash with dry dye powder--purple & green, then sprinkled it onto the fabric). I wasn't thrilled with how it turned out, so today I tied a bunch of circles into it, then dyed in a cobalt blue dye bath:

And here's a composite of my dyeing day--

Color Palette Challenge

2011-01-09T06:34:00.002-05:00

Three creative studios is having a color palette challenge that I'm going to sign up for. They're going to post a new palette on the 16th of each month, then we post the finished quilts on flick:

Free quilting magazine

2011-01-05T09:51:00.003-05:00

Found this link to a free on-line quilting magazine: http://www.quiltposium.com/

There's lots of downloadable patterns, some crafty stuff, some recipes, and of course a few articles. Lots of quilting travel packages, too--the magazine looks like something a travel agent put together, but you can overlook all that, if you're so inclined! I don't think I'd like to take a cruise or trip to a foreign country and worry about toting my sewing machine and all my quilting "stuff" with me.

Is the grass always greener?

2011-01-04T18:06:00.004-05:00

A remark by Karen of Sewkaren-ly created inspired this round of dyeing for me -- she remarked in a comment that the grass is always greener...so I dyed and dyed and dyed a bunch of different greens and created this quilt top that I'm going to quilt this coming weekend.

Thanks, Karen, for the inspiration!

Pole-wrapped shibori

2011-01-03T15:09:00.006-05:00

Some pictures of the shibori process pictures--shibori was the technique chosen for January's topic in "...and then we set it on fire":

Supplies all ready to go.

Two pieces of fabric fabric wrapped around a piece of PVC pipe (around 8" in diameter, I think), with dye mixture squirted onto them. I think this was navy blue dye, and one piece of fabric started out white, the other was a light grey.

A close-up:

And here are the finished products--

light grey piece with navy blue dye

And navy blue on white fabric:

Not moving to a new blog

2010-12-20T12:27:00.004-05:00

--Christmas 2010 Snow--

Well, since both of my blogs (this one and "...and then we set it on fire") are tied to my yahoo email account, I have to keep this blog operational and deal with receiving emails on my yahoo email account.

Snowman Wallhanging

2010-12-13T10:35:00.003-05:00

The snowman wallhanging is done, and on the way to Monroe, New York to my daughter's house.

Cold December

2010-12-08T09:29:00.006-05:00

Some Christmas things that have been in the works:

Some "spiderweb" shibori:

These circles are actually pretty small, about 2" across or less.

And a piece I've been working on, doing some pretty heavy quilting. I belong to a PAQA-South organization and there's a show coming up in March. I'm trying to get the nerve up to enter it, possibly with this piece, so I can't show it all now.

It's been really cold here (by NC standards, anyway)--morning lows of 15-16 degrees, then it doesn't even get above freezing during the day. Normal highs are around 50-55 degrees! So, it's really cut into my dyeing/painting/surface design, and I've been inside quilting almost all day the past few weekends instead of in the garage. Hope it warms up for my Christmas-New Year break.

30 years ago today...

Focus

2010-12-03T10:45:00.003-05:00

An excellent post from Jane Dunnewold that has me thinking hard: Focusing.

This is the part of her post that really speaks to me:

I think focusing loses its appeal because we make the mistake of believing that if we decide to focus our efforts, we’ll leave something else wonderful behind. That somehow we’re choosing forever.Not true!

Focusing doesn’t mean you can’t do everything you find appealing. It just means that for some pre-determined period of time you are going to choose INTENTIONALLY to work with some limits.
Picture the old mother in the shoe, who had so many children she didn’t know what to do. Every mother knows that each child requires at least a few minutes of individual attention every day in order to blossom into a human being with healthy self-esteem.

So this is your approach – and the first assignment (of which the next blog entries will suggest several…)Don’t be the old woman in the shoe – with so many projects you don’t know what to do. Think about each project, technique or how-to book that interests you. DO make some notes about what appeals and then do a little mental ranking. What do you want to do MOST right now – in this space of time? Think about concentrating your efforts on one interest – either for a specific period of time, or until you complete a certain number of works employing the technique, OR until you feel you have mastered it.

When you feel really good about the project or process from one of those angles, you’ll feel equally good about moving on to something new. OR perhaps, about sticking with it even longer – because you have discovered how much more there is to explore.

I won something!

2010-11-29T09:37:00.003-05:00

Opened my email this morning, and found an email from Rossie (Fresh Modern Quilts) saying that I had won a giveaway on her blog (http://r0ssie.blogspot.com/2010/11/thanksgiving-is-coming.html)

I won a thermofax screen and paint from Lynn Krawczyk (see her website at http://www.fibraartysta.com/) I had been checking these out on her website and etsy shop, so I'm very excited about winning--can't wait to try it out.

Weekend Flops

2010-11-22T09:59:00.006-05:00

Not a productive weekend, at all. Everything I tried to do seemed doomed to failure! I guess it was just one of those things, it WILL get better.

Tried leaf printing by rolling up leave in a piece of fabric, then simmering the bundle in water and some alum. Results are less than fantastic, aren't they? If anyone has any secrets on how this can work out better, please share!

Last Thursday I took the day off and went to a workshop in Winston-Salem with Roxann Lessa. I thought the class covered "How to Make a Pattern from a Photograph" but it actually was "How to Make a Quilt from her Pattern that she already made from a Photograph".

Her photo is below with the blue flower.

And this is my interpretation of her flower picture. The yellow & white are done with fabric textile paint. Not much else to say about this, is there?

Finally, one of my co-workers gave me some fabric to make her two pillows. The fabric isn't exactly my style, so I made the back of the pillows with her fabric, and made the front with my own stash fabrics.

Distortion & Shrinkage

2010-11-10T09:58:00.006-05:00

In her book Stitching to Dye in Quilt Art, C. June Barnes has some really intriguing techniques. You basically start with a white or light colored background, some wool felt, and some white cotton thread. I made this sample over the weekend to see how complicated the process was, and it was actually pretty easy.

I started with a piece of grey fabric I had, and a piece of wool/rayon blend felt (bought at Joann Fabrics). Since I wanted to create a pop-up, dimensional thing like in the book, I took some interfacing and made a circle, then sewed "channels" into it with dissolving thread (thanks, Jenny!) in the top and regular thread in the bottom. When my channels were sewed, I inserted a piece of strapping (the kind like a package gets wrapped in--very hard and stiff)--you could also use plastic coffee stirrers or pieces of craft foam.

I also cut out a circle of craft foam for the middles, and sewed around them, forgot to mention that earlier!

All you do is put the wool felt underneath, and that acts as your batting. Here is are the wheelie-things with some free motion quilting started.

Once you get it all quilted, you have to wash it in your washing machine in hot water. I chickened out, though, and put it in my bathtub and ran hot water over it and let it soak for a while. It really shrank up quite a bit, but I think the agitation of the washer would have been better. After shrinking, you direct dye it with Procion MX dyes--again, I did this in my bathtub because it was "cold" outside. The dye doesn't migrate at all because the felting underneath absorbs so much of it, which was VERY different than other dyeing I've done.

This technique was so cool to try, and now that I've done it once, I'm braver, and think I will try it again this weekend! Link to her book on amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Stitching-Dye-Quilt-Art-Distortion/dp/0713490705

Not a UFO anymore

2010-11-04T12:27:00.003-04:00

This Darned Quilt is finally done, it took me forever because I just haven't felt like doing anything when I get home from work lately. Maybe because it's already dark?

Close ups showing the stitching:

(Ignore the date, please)

Darned Quilt class

2010-10-18T09:10:00.004-04:00

I've been working on a "Darned Quilt", in an on-line class through Quilt University (quiltuniversity.com). Dena Crain is the teacher, and this is my first on-line quilt class experience. First, we started with a fabric gradation (hand dyed by me, of course), and cut & pieced the curved background. Then sewed lots of contrasting strips & embellishments across the piece:

Once the background is finished, then you cut circles out, and reposition them:

It's kind of scary at first, but gets easier with each one!

My work in progress:

I think it looks awesome, now I have to sew each of the circles in place using a darning stitch. And maybe cut out some more circles!

Pictures of Dyeing Results

2010-09-29T10:17:00.006-04:00

Using just three Warm colors, Chinese Red, Cobalt Blue & Warm Yellow, I was able to dye all these colors shown here:

The directions were from a book called Dyeing to Quilt, and were pretty easy to follow (with a little concentration needed). The fabric I used was a bamboo/cotton blend I got at Joann's a while back. There was only about 1/2 yard left on the bolt I had, so I used small strips so I could get all 12 colors.

One more picture of the bamboo/cotton fabric:

Then, I used the same dye colors on some white linen that I've already used to dye a few times with. Here are the same colors on the linen:

So, by this time I was all out of fabric, and had to go buy more. I went to the closest quilt fabric store in Lexington, NC, about 10 miles from my house, and all they had in the way of a plain white was some off-white muslin. Since Joann's was another 15-20 miles away, I got the muslin.

This is the fabric I showed in the cups in Monday's post. The colors I used were the clear primaries (Fuchsia, Sky Blue & Lemon Yellow). The colors were wonderful while in the cups, but the fabric is poor quality and just doesn't hold the dye well at all.

One more shot of the clear primaries:

The last thing I tried (by then it was Sunday) was a 6-color gradation from yellow to purple. The yellow in this picture is on the right, it actually looks more green here than what it really is. Again, this was on the off-white muslin, and I definitely wouldn't waste my time dyeing with such poor quality fabric in the future. But it was good for experimenting with--and I hope by posting this information here, you all will learn from my mistakes and start with the good stuff.

Serious Dyeing Weekend

2010-09-27T09:22:00.002-04:00

I took Friday off from work, and spent some time dyeing fabrics (again). But this time I followed actual directions from a book, Dyeing to Quilt by Joyce Mori, and created all of the colors shown here with three cool primaries.

Here's the cups all lined up, ready to have the counted number of tablespoons and teaspoons. I'm not a person who is really precise, so this exercise took a lot of concentration.

This is one of the color wheels I was trying to recreate:

Sorry, no pictures of the finished products, my camera batteries went dead when I tried to take one. No extra batteries, either. Maybe tomorrow...

Batiked Flowers

2010-09-14T09:13:00.003-04:00

One more thing I worked on this weekend (forgot to post a picture yesterday). I batiked a wax outline of the flowers using my tjanting tool, then painted the red, green, and brown. Then I boiled off the wax--there is still a little bit sticking to the fabric, you can see if you look close.

It was a tedious process, but the results were worth it. The piece is only about 20" x 30", so it isn't huge--making yardage using this process would take forever!

Another weekend come and gone

2010-09-13T09:29:00.005-04:00

Over the weekend, I took a blue piece of fabric, batiked (with wax) some circles on it, then dyed it in brown. After boiling out the wax, this is what I had.

This black & white fabric

has become this:

I wanted to use the plexiglas shapes I bought a while back to do these circles, but didn't have enough clamps. Instead of driving 12 miles to the hardware store to get some, I just used the good old beeswax for them, too. The fabric wasn't as tightly woven as the egyptian cotton I used in the blue/brown one, so the wax took forever to come out--boiling, ironing, and washing finally did the trick. Have to get some clamps the next time I go to Lowes or Home Depot.

Here are some "what was I thinking when I bought it" fabrics, I dyed w/a few different colors.

Carmine Red Cloth

2010-08-30T10:17:00.003-04:00

I finished (except for hand-sewing the binding) this crazy batiked wholecloth that I waxed and dyed a while back. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out, not thrilled, but happy. The flower centers were done in clusters of french knots. The red color isn't what I'm used to working with, maybe that's why I'm not 100% thrilled with it.

And here is what's up on my design wall today. I'm using the Benartex printed sheets for this, and it really goes together easily, I'd highly recommend them to anyone who wants to try one of these quilts!

And, here is another project in the works, using my hand-dyed and printed fabrics:

Creativity Quiz

2010-08-16T20:16:00.004-04:00

Here's a simple quiz that might give you insight into your creative side. According to my results, creativity enriches me.

"What you are really looking for is harmony — you want to feel you are a part of what you create."

and

"you seem more suited to the sort of creativity that calls for gentleness, subtlety, harmony and patience. "

Dyeing again

2010-08-12T11:56:00.005-04:00

Another dyeing day yesterday, I mixed up two dye baths yesterday morning before work and put some pieces in. The colors I used were teal blue and khaki (both from Dharma). It's so interesting to me to see how different they turned out!

These three were all in the teal blue dye bath:

And these were in the khaki dye bath:

Because I put the fabric in and didn't stir it a few times during the day, you can see that the darker ones were most likely sitting on the bottom of the dishpan I use for dyeing. The khaki apparently contains a mixture of brown and green, and the green is less dense than the brown portion, so the brown sinks and the green sits on top--that's why one piece looks all green.

I'm also trying out different shibori tieing techniques, and am really liking how they're turning out.

Shibori & goats

2010-08-09T09:20:00.005-04:00

A few weeks ago I shibori-dyed this piece of fabric. While I liked the pattern a whole lot, the colors were just too bright for me to use.

So, on Saturday I got out my batik wax, and drew some circles and lines on the piece, then overdyed with warm black, and got this, which I think will make a great wall hanging:

And what is this? Breakfast for goats, of course.

My neighbor has two goats, and they "forget" to feed them, I'm afraid. They're in a smallish enclosure that has been stripped of all vegetation. The poor things cry all the time, so I finally started feeding them. I've even been giving them hay and cuttings from my trees and shrubs.
This pygmy is Zackie:

And this is Brownie--you can see how thin the poor thing is.

Shibori Dyeing

2010-08-02T11:01:00.005-04:00

Before my vacation started, I got a bunch of books through the interlibrary loan program at the university library where I work. Two that I liked best were:

One of these had a simple recipe for direct-dyeing, which I copied into my sketch book:

I did a machine stitching technique on a pretty bright fuschia (or maybe it was carmine red) piece that I had dyed a while back, then poured on some plum and yellow dyes using my recipe and mixing bottle:

This is how it looked after I opened it up, (taking out all those stitches with a seam ripper since the stitching stayed damp after the fabric was pretty much dried)

Also, I took a white piece of fabric and wrapped around a PVC pipe, tieing it with a string and scrunching down as tightly as I could while wrapping. Then I squirted some Warm Black dye on it, followed by some Jet Black about 10 minutes later.

Here is the unwrapping:

I love how it looks, I folded this piece in thirds before dyeing, so it looks a little more interesting, and I also twisted the fabric as I was scrunching it down, so it was a little more wavy. (I was trying to get the look of the work of Jan Myers-Newbury, but I have a way to go!)

These pieces were just accordion folded before dyeing:

This blueish piece was folded in half, then wrapped on the pole and squirted with fuschia dye:

More MV--A Quilt Shop

2010-07-27T06:35:00.004-04:00

I finally found a quilt/fabric/yarn shop and visited it yesterday morning. Nice (but small) fabric selection, lots of books, buttons, yarns, and patterns. Just bought a few things, some fabric and some YLI silk thread that I plan to use on a piece tomorrow when I'm home.

This is the view from the parking lot. I would love to go to work every day and see this. The business is actually for sale, the owner is trying to sell out and retire down to North Carolina.

I miss my machine and my projects, ready to get home and do some quilting and dyeing!

Martha's Vineyard

2010-07-23T18:41:00.006-04:00

Yesterday was a beautiful sunny day on the Vineyard. Today, at around noon, it started raining and is still raining this evening. Just before the rains started, I got some quick pictures at Menemsha, one of the small towns here on the island--pics are just of the beach area, all I could get before it poured.

Here is looking one way:

And the other way:

Not too crowded, that's for sure! I found out, when I tried to drive home, that everyone was on the roads. Gridlock everywhere!! If the tourists can't make it a beach day, they make it a shopping day.

Because of the fishing heritage of this village, this statue is at the beach, too.

I only found one fabric store so far on this island, Bea's Fabric Hive. Poor Bea was about 80 years old, and the fabrics she had were mostly polyester. It was a pretty sad store, she had old Simplicity and McCalls patterns, too, most from the 70s and 80s. Talk about a time warp--I know a lot of those 70s styles are back, but I didn't like them too much the first time, either! She was telling me it was sad that no one sews anymore--guess she doesn't know anyone like me or the rest of us fabric & quilt-a-holics.

Starfish & Sanddollars

2010-07-20T10:15:00.004-04:00

A nice little beachy wall hanging finally completed:

I painted the starfish & sand dollars with some Lumiere paints to give them a little "glow", then glued them on with E6000 glue.

These little shells were on the tables at my daughter's wedding reception two years ago. I think I'll be giving her and her husband this little wall hanging when I head to Martha's Vineyard tomorrow for a brief visit.

Mid-July Blahs

2010-07-12T10:12:00.003-04:00

The summer blahs have set in for me -- no rain in the last month, almost all of my flowers and veggies are shriveling up and dying, and I spent all weekend picking out free-motion stitching on a quilt that I wasn't happy with. Me & my seam ripper had a great time.

Ok, it's not all bad, I did find this flower growing in my garden, and had to pick it to take a picture of it, since it was on a stem about 7 feet tall:

2010-07-06T09:33:00.003-04:00

Back in December I ordered some of these plexiglass pieces from http://www.etsy.com/shop/r0ssie. I wasn't sure about using them, but finally tried it out. I used an awful piece of white on white fabric I've had for years, folding into squares so I had four squares per piece. Then stacked a plexi piece, fabric, plexi, fabric, plexi, fabric, and plexi on top. I clamped with some C-clamps--I was afraid of cracking the plexi shapes and don't think I did it tight enough.

Into a dye bath with black dye for a couple of hours (it was so hot here that the dye worked pretty fast). This is the end result.

All three pieces lined up in a row:

I think I'll get a few more clamps, four wasn't enough because so much dye leaked under the plexi shapes. They look like moons, to me anyways, now I'll have to think of something to make with them, or throw them out. Still not sure what I'll do with them...

I also worked on cutting & piecing my newly dyed linen fabric.

Put them up on the design wall several different ways, still trying to find "the right" one! After being at work all day today, I'll go home & look at it with fresh eyes.

Hope everyone else had a fun holiday weekend, I know I thoroughly enjoyed mine! One down side, no rain, we've had no measurable rain since June 15th. It's getting really dry out there.

Linen fabric

2010-06-29T09:22:00.005-04:00

A couple of years ago I went to an auction and bought several boxes of fabric and sewing-related things, you know, one of those auctions where they're trying to clean out a whole house, and you get the boxes for $1.00 or so each. Well, there were about 10 yards of a white linen fabric in one of the boxes, and I pulled it out the other day and decided to dye it. It wasn't a plain white, it had a floral pattern in it--reminded me of a tablecloth that my mother might have used. I cut it up into several smaller sections, and this is what I ended up with after a dyeing day:

I've never used linen in quilting before, so it will be a new experience. Now I just have to think of something to make with it--any suggestions??

It's been so hot here for the past two weeks or more, every day it's 95-100 degrees, and we've had absolutely NO RAIN. Might as well live in the Arizona desert, that's what it's turning into here in central North Carolina. I stayed in Sunday and quilted this piece of batik I had made a while ago. It's literally still on my sewing machine table--waiting for me to get home from work tonight.

2010-06-22T11:18:00.003-04:00

I finally have this quilt almost done, just about 10" more of hand sewing for the binding, and it's done. It was some batiked fabric that I quilted heavily, then I decided that I didn't really like the white outlines of the flowers, so I spent almost two days painting in the flowers and leaves. It was about 97 degrees both days, and I was working in my garage, what a sweatshop it was, even with the door open, yuck. But I love how it turned out, here are some more pics but the lighting was too direct so the colors look freaky.

This is another batiked piece that I quilted and bound, I'm trying to decide whether to include the starfish & sand dollars, they're just taped on.

Again, the color looks totally different in this picture: (and you can see the lines I drew for quilting it, which of course I didn't follow)

A quilt that I just sent to my daughter on Saturday for her Martha's Vineyard summer job (and vacation)--I've had this all finished for about a month now, I totally forgot about sending it to her.

A new batik, and some jar-dyed fabrics for the next projects.

4-Day Weekend For Me

2010-06-17T09:36:00.006-04:00

Last weekend I dyed some plain white cotton. One piece was dyed a Kiwi Yellow/Green, but turned out a little too light for my taste. It was almost a pastel color. I rolled the entire fabric piece with some of this paint (which are the ones I use all the time, it seems) in random places. The roller was just a regular 4" disposable sponge paint roller from the dollar store.

Then, I glued some foam pieces to a small wooden box, the kind you get at craft stores for 50
cents:

I rolled some of these shimmery paints onto the foam, then stamped on my fabric.

This was the finished product--it looks a little more red in the pictures than it does in person, but overall I'm very happy with it.

I had another piece, a light blue, so I used my setacolor paints again, and then stamped with a potato masher. Instead of a roller to apply the paints, however, I think I just used a sea sponge.

This is the finished product, another one I'm happy with.

I'm taking Friday and Monday off this weekend, I can't wait to cut into these fabrics!

Quilter's Attention Deficit Disorder

2010-06-14T10:39:00.003-04:00

I wonder if I suffer from Quilter's Attention Deficit Disorder? Always starting a project, having about 15 things going at once, sitting all day at work wondering about which project I should work on when I get home.....

Things are getting away from me at home, too. This butterfly bush is probably 12-13 feet tall, and about 10 feet wide. I should have trimmed it a bit over the winter, I guess, but was too busy in my sewing room.

Believe it or not, the birds LOVE these two dishes that I have on my cement slab (see-ment, as they say here!) I keep them filled with fresh water, and some days there are about 20 birds hanging out, all waiting patiently for their turn at a bath. The "see-ment" slab was in my yard when I bought the house, not sure what the previous owners used it for, but I mosaic tiled it so it looked a little more decorative than plain cement.

Carol Taylor Workshop & Symposium

2010-06-09T08:55:00.007-04:00

Pictures from the quilt show last Friday in Charlotte (North Carolina Quilt Symposium)! The symposium is a state-wide, annual thing, that moves around the state each year. Charlotte is 60 miles from where I live, so it was a short enough drive that I didn't have to spend the night.

I don't think any of these were award winners, but they were the ones that caught my eye!

There were classes on Friday & Saturday, with teachers like Karen Stone, Bonnie Hunter, Robbie Jo Eklow, Laura Wasilowski, etc. I only took one class, Sensuous Lines & Curves, with Carol Taylor. I'm not a great workshop taker, I guess, because teachers tend to want you to create something just like they've done. I want to learn the techniques, but make it w/my own spin, not make something exactly like 25 other people are making. I learned how to couch, and bought some crazy-expensive yarns from the teacher. (She also sold threads, aurifil, and I bought one spool of it, love it already!). This is the center section of the quilt, it's about 30" x 25". I still have to add more couching, then the outside consists of two different borders, one of which I didn't even get to in the class. More pictures of this as I get more done.

Monday--Memorial Day

2010-05-31T09:04:00.004-04:00

When I got home from work Friday, these were waiting for me in the mailbox:

Some garden photos, day lilies and hydrangeas. The hydrangeas are my favorite color, periwinkle, and I especially love the contrast with the orange.

Another hydrangea, plus a verbena bon..something. It was one small plant two years ago, but has reseeded EVERYWHERE. The bees & butterflies just love it, so it can spread wherever it wants to.

Friday is my class day at the Charlotte Quilter's Symposium--I'm taking a class with Carol Taylor that I signed up for in January. I dyed a bunch of fabric Saturday, then washed and ironed it yesterday in preparation. I've only taken one quilting workshop before, so this will be a kind of new experience for me. The Symposium is a statewide thing, held in a different location in the state each year--Charlotte is less than 60 miles from my house, so it won't be too hard to get there!

http://www.charlottequiltsymposium.org/workshops.html

No Focus?

2010-05-27T08:45:00.008-04:00

Do you know what I like about blogging? Here I was thinking that my projects as of late were lacking focus--but when I see everything here, it's a graphic representation that circles have been my focus!

I tend to make a lot of things on weekends, but then feel too "blah" after work every night to really get into finishing things. I'm so much of a morning person, usually by 2:00 in the afternoon I'm already slowing down.... I printed and painted most of the day last Sunday.

Some stamped fabric, I want to dye it but haven't decided on the background color yet:

More circles, fused onto interfacing, then zig-zagged to finish off the seams and outside.

I'll probably make some type of wall hanging with them.

Then, here are some leaf prints I made with a lino stamp that I carved a few years ago, then painted the background w/setacolor paints:

This one has an unpainted background still. Maybe I'll dye it?

Last one, a print made from another lino carving from a while back, and painted with setacolor paints.

Finally finished something!

2010-05-19T09:22:00.006-04:00

I started this small quilt back in March, got it all done except for the binding, then it sat there waiting ever so patiently for me. It's finally done, and shipped to my sister for her daughter's shower coming up in June. I like the back side as much as I like the front!

I also made two matching pillows, but forgot to take pictures of them as I was so focused on getting them all packed up and shipped out.

Needlework extravaganza

2010-05-04T09:30:00.007-04:00

Headed to Albemarle, NC, Saturday to attend a quilting vendor show at the Stanly County fairgrounds. It was a beautiful day, a peaceful drive about 40 minutes from my house, in a very rural area that has definitely seen better days. I didn't take any pictures inside, as it was kind of crowded, but I got some nice pieces of batik fabric, and enjoyed the morning.

I've been working (off an on) on this wholecloth piece that I batiked last month. I'm almost finished with it, here's some pictures of it from a few weeks ago. The thread is YLI Soft Touch that I bought at a quilt show a couple of weeks ago, I really like how it sews. The thread is purple, periwinkle, and blues, not green (the green is a chalk pen I used to draw lines initially when I was trying to "plan" my quilting design).

And, finally, I have to mention the drought conditions here in NC. All weekend, Tennessee, an adjoining state, had rain, rain, and more rain. In contrast, we haven't had any major rain for at least a month, and things are dry, hot, and dusty. My flowers were doing very well until this past weekend, when it was in the mid-90s and no rain, and low humidity--the news people on TV called it a "Flash Drought". Yesterday we had a very minor rainstorm, which ended up being only about 1/4". Not enough to even make a difference. This is the hardest thing I've dealt with since moving to NC five years ago--I never wanted to live in a desert, but feel like NC is becoming one after 4 years of very dry weather.

More dyed fabric

2010-04-21T09:33:00.005-04:00

This past weekend, I had time to dye, batik, and quilt! And, of course, mow my lawn, trim some branches, plant some more flower seeds, and just spend time at home (which I love to do).

To create the circle sanddollar-ish shape, I used a potato. Except for being kind of sloppy with the drips, I think it turned out pretty nice! The green squares in the last one were made with a cookie cutter I got at the dollar store. Pretty soon, it will be so stifling hot here in NC that I'll be able to spend lots of time inside sewing up all these piles of fabric. Quite a switch from when I lived in Northern NY State and "summer" started in June, and ended in mid-August.

Quilt Show over the weekend

2010-04-20T10:09:00.007-04:00

I attended a quilt show this weekend in Clemmons, NC, just outside of Winston-Salem. It wasn't huge, but there were a fair amount of vendors and quilts on display.
Love the colors in this quilt:

I just loved the quilted designs in this quilt:

This was a family tree quilt, each leaf had someone's signature on it:

My daughter's name is Erin, so this is for you, honey!

Confidence

2010-04-15T09:45:00.004-04:00

I always seem to think I can't do something very well, I just don't know why I feel that way.

One thing I know is that I'm not afraid to try something new, and usually don't have trouble figuring things out. My birthday is Sunday, I'm going to make this my "Confidence" year!

Colors differences

2010-04-14T09:34:00.002-04:00

Believe it or not, these two pieces of fabric were dyed in the same dye bath. I guess that different fabrics take the fabric differently! The color I used was Procion Warm Yellow, hard to believe that one piece turned out so orange. That's what makes dyeing fun!

Hand-dyed Batik Prints

2010-04-13T11:34:00.004-04:00

This is a piece of fabric that I had dyed yellow, then batiked a flower design on. Then I discharged the color somewhat with bleach, and dyed again in fuschia dye.

And here is a piece that I batiked on white, then dyed in a (supposedly) periwinkle blue dye. Looks kinda purple to me. The flowers are each about 12-15" across, they're pretty big. I have it sandwiched and ready to start free-motion quilting tonight, after work, if I'm not too tired by then!

April

2010-04-12T10:36:00.005-04:00

It's been two weeks since I've posted, probably because I've been busy! Last month I joined the Piedmont Quilters Guild, and last Thursday (4/8) they sponsored Leah Day at a workshop. Leah is the blogger posting 365 Days of Quilt Designs at: http://freemotionquilting.blogspot.com/. Basically, the class was over 3 hours of free motion designs and valuable tips from Leah. Here's some class samples, (sorry for the "fuzziness" of the photos).

Dark & Stormy Night

2010-03-29T09:20:00.006-04:00

There were seven separate tornado warnings in Davidson County (NC) where I live. Kind of a dark & stormy night, how appropriate that I was working on quilting this when I heard the first one come over the TV:

It was a pretty productive weekend otherwise, I got some of my already-dyed fabric batiked like this:

This fabric was first dyed in Warm Yellow (Procion) and I really like the color. These have then been soaked in bleach/water, then in vinegar/water (discharge), and are ready to be redyed. I'm thinking fuschia will be the next color for them.

Dyeing & Batik Fabric photos

2010-03-23T09:47:00.003-04:00

Well, here are two pictures of the green fabrics I dyed over the weekend. These pieces were all dyed with Avacado coloring (Dharma procion) and see how different they all look. The piece at the bottom was one that I also batiked, and I put this one in the dye bath first--it's very dark in comparison. Each of the others was put into the dye bath at about 5-10 minute intervals, because I wanted to see how the color saturation varied.

I realize that the lighting isn't wonderful--I took these pictures around 6:30 last night in my garage, after work, and a bank of clouds moved in yesterday and the sky was pretty overcast.

These are the two batik designs I did, the large circles were done using a turnip cut in half, and the other was done with a "tjanting" tool that I ordered from Dharma along with the dye powders. As you can see, I definitely need to work on my technique, but I had fun, so that's what counts!

A productive weekend

2010-03-22T08:53:00.004-04:00

Spring has finally arrived here in North Carolina. That means it's finally time for some fabric dyeing!

Here are my dyeing supplies, all ready to go in my garage.

My dyeing table consists of an outdoor patio table (plastic), with a piece of plywood on top.

These fabrics are being dyed with some procion mx dyes -- I think the colors are soft black and plum.

Definitely plum here:

And here is my "formula" & instruction book, Coloring Your Cloth.

No finished pieces to show you, though, because the batteries in my camera died. I also tried some batik pieces, they're home drying on my clothes rack in the garage because it rained late yesterday and had to get them off my clothesline in a hurry.

I learned that I need to buy larger quantities of white fabric (maybe a bolt) so that I have enough on hand when I feel the urge to dye. I also learned that you can get several different shades of the same color by adding one piece of fabric right away, then adding another about 10 minutes later, and yet another after waiting about 10 more minutes.

The old barn is done!

2010-03-15T09:34:00.004-04:00

The Old Red Barn wall hanging is done, and will be on it's way to Pulaski, NY this week (as soon as I can get to the post office). I think my favorite part is the quilted sky.

I started a new quilt, too. I cut out the half-circles using a circle cutting ruler, then inset them and sewed them together. It went together really fast, and I've already started quilting it. I really like circles, and don't understand why people think sewing curved seams is hard.

Cellular & circular stitching

2010-03-09T09:35:00.004-05:00

I found this great picture of some plant cellular structure on the web

So I thought I'd try and stich one up myself.

This is what I ended up with after about an hour of work. The circle is only about 18" around.

And here is a rusted, painted, and quilted thing that started out as a rusting technique presented in a class at the Sawtooth Center last month. I quilted it Sunday night, and might add some beads. Both make me think of spring, maybe the recent warm-up here is influencing me.

The old red barn wall hanging

2010-03-01T10:47:00.003-05:00

I worked almost all weekend on this wall hanging, in between grocery shopping, doing some laundry, and cooking some meals. The first pictures are before I started quilting it, I drew the quilt outlines on with a chalk marker.

Here are close-ups of the quilting, I was trying to get it to show up better by taking the pictures on an angle, but it was pretty early this morning (before 7:00 a.m.) and the lack of outside light didn't help.

Beach blanket in progress

2010-02-23T11:28:00.004-05:00

For beach use on MV this summer. I first need to take lessons on long-arm quilting at my LQS in order to get this quilted myself.

And here is a red one I've been working on, too. It won't be a beach blanket, but maybe a wedding present?

String Quilts in Progress

2010-02-23T10:14:00.006-05:00

Two projects to use up that never-ending supply of scraps!

Old Barn

2010-02-22T09:10:00.007-05:00

I started working on a landscape quilt yesterday, using some of my hand-dyed green and blue. I "rusted" some grey fabric using an old BBQ grill to give me the stripes of the old metal roof. The barn wood started as some light brown & white striped fabric that I painted with setacolor paints.

I added a picket fence and some details around the barn.

Miss You, Big Boy

2010-02-19T14:48:00.008-05:00

Here is a picture of my beloved dog Tucker (Ontario Tucker Sweet Pea) who lived with me for almost 11 years. He was the perfect dog, and I still miss him even after losing him over a year ago on Feb. 16th, 2009. (He weighed over 130 lbs. but was the sweetest, most sensitive dog)

And here is a picture of my former rescue/foster dog, Thunder Jones, that I adopted in September 2007. He suffers from so many fears, including the camera, thunder, and just loud noises in general. He was 7 or 8 years old when he came to live with me, and he's had a very good life for the past few years. He's a little guy in comparison to Tucker, weighing in at only 89 lbs.

Digital Photos

2010-02-18T09:38:00.004-05:00

My daughter Erin has been working on some digital photos, we're collaborating even though we're located about 700 miles apart. Here are some of her first efforts:

More Curves

2010-02-12T09:00:00.003-05:00

Started cutting out some curves last night, using this great set of templates that I bought a few years ago at Sew Original in Winston-Salem. I find that circles are easier to cut using the smaller rotary cutter.

And here is the work in progress:

Itching to Dye some Fabric

2010-02-11T09:22:00.004-05:00

I got this book for Christmas from my daughter (thanks Lizze!):

And here is some fabric that I stamped using a turnip, then painted with Setacolors--

But it's been too cold to dye fabric, which I have to do in my unheated garage. Can't wait for spring!

My Baby

2010-02-09T11:41:00.004-05:00

Here's a picture of my cat, Baby, who has been living with me since 1993 (which makes her 17 years old). She is still doing pretty well, even though she is starting to look her age!

I also have a rescue German Shepherd, Thunder, who is so scared of the camera that he runs and hides when I take it out, so no pics of him right now!

New Projects in the Works

2010-02-04T09:47:00.006-05:00

I've been working on some new things this week (my camera date is messed up again, when the batteries get low, the date seems to default back to 2005):

And I'm trying to use up some scraps, I feel like I'm drowning in scraps, they're taking over my sewing room! New batteries in the camera for these pics, the date is correct:

Yes, it does snow in North Carolina

2010-02-04T09:40:00.004-05:00

We had 8" of snow last Saturday, and with freezing temps at night (even down to 8 degrees on Sunday night) the snow has lasted all week. Schools have been cancelled every day until today--there was a 2-hour delay this morning for elementary & high schools, but it was the first day of school all week.

There aren't any snowplows, so you basically wait for the snow to melt, or wait for some county guy to drive some type of equipment down your road to get rid of the snow (which finally happened Tuesday night).

What better thing to make on a snowday (Monday) but a breakfast pizza!

Finished projects for January

2010-01-26T10:02:00.014-05:00

Here are some pics of recently completed projects. I'm trying really hard this year to finish up everything I start, and finish them up quickly (sorry for the poor quality pictures, but I was taking them last night around 9:30 p.m. and there just wasn't enough light).

Closeup views of free-motion quilting (my favorite part of quilting)

Surface Design Class at Sawtooth

2010-01-26T09:46:00.011-05:00

Here are some of the fabrics I created at the Surface Design class at Sawtooth over the past two Saturdays:

And here is a finished product, made by stamping the leaves using a foam stamp I cut out, then painting the background with Pebeo setacolor paints, fusing, sewing, and quilting:

For more pictures, see Karen's post on her blog, http://designerstitches.blogspot.com/2010/01/sawtooth-school.html

More Christmas Break projects

2010-01-05T10:29:00.001-05:00