Monday, July 30, 2018

Spiders in my Garden

I finally finished this colorful quilt...I really enjoyed working with the colors. I did find a patterned fabric on a black background to use in the main blocks...but found it to be too busy and big for the size block I wanted to use (you can see below)
Sooooo.....I ironed a fusible web on the back on the patterned fabric and cut out individual shapes and collaged them together.
Much better I think....at first glance, they might appear to look the same, but not so...all from the same fabric but just a little different from block to block.
In looking for a backing fabric, I wanted to use one of the colors from the front. I did love this green print on right but the sales person mentioned it was a Halloween fabric....SOOOO....to me it's also a garden fabric...there are spiders in gardens...right?...I wish I had found it sooner as I would have incorporated some into the front...but so be it...

I quilted it with an overall stippling stitch free motion style...
So here goes..."Spiders in my Garden"...done and ready for the show at the NC Arboretum.

Monday, July 23, 2018

Fiber Junkies July 2018

Fiber Junkies met in July at Gen's home for a day of monoprinting and Gelli printing. We had an assignment to bring a tip or technique to share - definately made the meeting more interesting. But before we dove in, we had a fabulous show and tell.

 Kate showed us a piece she created in silk while in Sue Benner's class - a beauty. The piece is a whole cloth, hand painted with dyes and lavishly machine quilted. It will be in the upcoming Arboretum show (more on that to follow)

 Kate also shared her latest batik piece. Her and Denny have been taking semi private lessons from a very talented batik artist. I love the look.

Gen has been working in paper, making collages and journals. She found the old book above left...removed @ every third page, then glued 3 pages together at a time to give it more body to work on...She hasn't started on it yet but it will be fun to see what she does with it.
 Another one of the pages from a larger journal....The black spots (looks like bugs) are made by marking a piece of tissue with all kinds of lines and markings (below left), using an eye dropper to make a line of water around the mark you want to use and the piece comes right out of the tissue...a simple little tip but such a good one.




And more papers from Gen using party napkins...do you find yourself using someone's restroom and discovering pretty little disposable hand towels - allowing your hands to air dry so you can keep your towel for art...
 We were exploring different ways to print where we might not have a gelli plate. Kate read about using clear plastic wrap...Denny used a gelli plate.


Here's the clear wrap on left...I'm getting ready to try it. Mary used an envelope lined with bubble wrap for softness and covered it with plastic wrap.

 Denny had plenty of cutouts for us to use made with her Accuquilt
I found by leaving the paint on the surface for a while, it separates and leaves tiny little blank spaces. I liked this happy accident. On the right was my attempt at using clear plastic wrap. I couldn't get the paint to apply evenly....so back to the gelli plate
  Gen tried something interesting on her plate using a piece of hemp that she unraveled...Unfortunately I didn't get a picture of the results which were great...but an interesting resist to use..
 I was coating my plate with paint and using a rubber stamp, lifting off color which made for an interesting effect.


Denny was experimenting with her disperse dyes and synthetic fabric. She's great at layering which is a fun thing to do with these dyes.
 Mary was stamping wool with real leaves...she also came up with this cool little tip...Use an old yogurt cup, place a piece of bubble wrap over top and down the sides a slight bit and secure with a rubber band...what a great stamp.

 

 and easy to use.

 One of Gen's paper pieces - very vibrant.
 And Kates...Kate is great at rescueing hopeless pieces which she turns into something lovely.









There was a lot of paint left on the gelli plate I was using...it had dried so I coated it with white paint and while the white paint was still wet, laid fabric on top. The results - the white paint loosened the dried paint and all came off on fabric (top left). I love the look...on the right - working with leaves as a resist.

And lunch, eating off of Gen's beautiful handmade placemats....A great day.

Thursday, July 19, 2018

Indigo Waves Dilemma

I made this quilt a while ago and decided to quilt it for our upcoming show at the NC Arboretum. I really like this piece and was very excited to include it in my offerings for the show...
It is primarily Indigo fabric;  when I ironed it with steam...
this is what happened!...So I'm upset to say the least and don't know where to go from here...Someone suggested to spray the whole thing with water for a new look...another friend suggested a paste of oxi-clean on the area. My thought was to take it apart and remove all the solid blocks throughout the quilt -  I can't take a chance on it happening with another block. It's a bit overwhelming at the moment. I don't want to put it away as I'm thinking I won't get back to it and this is one worth saving...What to do...any thoughts?

Monday, July 16, 2018

PTA - July

PTA a little late but some lovely work to share. Well we met last week and it was a wonderful time as always. Each month a different member plans the meeting...this time - Connie Brown. We started at the Folk Art Center with some visitng time, homemade cookies and a wonderful show and tell.

Barbara showed us a quilt she is working on called Loose Change...nice thing about it is...
it works in either orientation.
And look at the fabulous backing fabric she has to go with it - perfect!
Dort has been creating some wonderful pieces based on photographs she has taken on a trip her and her sister took together......
This is her sister napping...
and here is a beautiful street in France
interpreted in thread and paint.
And this charming farm house that
is so well done in fabric.
I love the brick wall.
Then it was on to the Wabi Sabi exhibit upstairs in the main gallery. As I recently mentioned, this exhibit is open to members of the Southern Highland Craft Guild and takes place every 2 years using a different theme.
Barbara is front of her piece...
and Georgia in front of her piece -  the Liberty Bell...
 and me in front of mine...
To round out the day we went to a great place for lunch...forgot the name but everything delicious. I had a fried green tomato and bacon hamburger - no calories....Ri i i i i ight! ( - :