The Results

I finally got to washing and ironing my deconstructive fabric from last week. That's always the most fun part. With this process, you never know what you'll get. I used silk, mercerized cotton and hand dyes that needed a facelift.

This was my mercerized cotton using nutmeg and a pearl gray, a nice combination. It does show off the patterning in it.

I thought I was onto something, being able to use up my unsuccessful hand dyes. On left is a green fabric and it doesn't show off the printing as well, so it was worth a try but I think working with white is best. On right is a piece of silk, a little pale but will make a nice backdrop for something.

This was another piece of silk

Silk (left) and cotton (right)...think I like the cotton.

This was an odd piece of silk I had and was experimenting with a leaf image transfer, just threw it in the mix. Now I'm hoping I can incorporate that leaf into it somehow - a nice pop of color.

The one on the left was cotton, my other favorite is the silk organza on the right. I tried to work with the same colors so I would have enough pieces to do something with.
Today my little Audrey comes for a week.  My granddaughter is 23 months old. I look at the pictures of her as a newborn and hard to believe we've had her for 2 years. We're all set with a kiddy pool, a gallon of bubble stuff, wands, shovels, books, Pirates Booty (a cheese snack, never heard of that one). It does bring back memories.
Til next time...Judy

A New Way to Silk Screen

We love Gen, she's a bundle of fun. We all wear our oldest, "rattiest" clothes to these play days, knowing they're only going to get more seasoned as time goes on. Gen had on an "old" shirt but no signs of any play day adventures on it.

With her encouragement, we fixed that in a hurry.

We placed a silkscreen on her back....

and went to work.

The front was done with a heart in the middle and hands strategically placed on the sides.
We had a lot of fun, laughs and Gen went home with a brand new "old" shirt to wear at our gatherings.
Til next time...

Fiber Junkies Show and Tell

Lunch at Vals is on her deck in the treetops overlooking the city of Asheville, it is breathtaking. Besides munching and sipping wine, we also share our latest work.

Denny and Kate did some ice dyeing - my favorite and this time on bamboo rayon which is so soft and takes a dye beautifully. The above is Kates - and my favorite colors, so subtle and pretty

I think this is Denny's, another beautiful piece.

This and the next one were made by Denny. This is beautiful fabric but lots of energy and not easy to use. It will be fun to see where Kate and Denny go with it.

Val shared a book she made using fabric she created at the last FJ meeting...

absolutely beautiful and the binding done by hand also.  The lace on tape was so delicate and a perfect touch.

This was one of the pages in her book - some handmade paper.
More to come....

Fiber Junkies Day

It's that time again - when the warm weather comes and we can move our play days outside. Our deconstructive screenprinting is always part of our summer agenda. We met at Vals who has a wonderful working space. She has everything ready to go for us - tables covered, print paste mixed and an order of sunshine!

We bring lots of "stuff' to lay under the screens, usually spread all over the driveway. Each time we do this, the amount of "stuff" increases in leaps and bounds. It's amazing how your eye becomes tuned into the weirdest things to use and often the best.

So let the fun begin...

Our screens are made and drying very quickly in the sun. We'll be printing very shortly.

Gen started with a combination of screenprinting and stenciling.

Denny loves to experiment and always coming up with new things to do. Note the orange squiggle going through the screen (left). On right is some silk organza I screened on. 

I love this one but can't remember who did it. Jump in girlfriends and let me know if it's yours.

Left is Denny's who has painted a permanent resist on her screen to create the white areas on the fabric where the dye didn't go through...clever...and on the right is Vals - gorgeous, vibrant color.

This is another Denny's with paint added to the white fabric first and screened over it, another good idea!

This was Kates. I love the orange snaking it's way through the prints.
More to come...stay tuned.

Student's Work

 or.... Why I love teaching so much. I get to meet and work with such lovely gals who are oh soo talented. I'm always so thankful when they take the time to email me pictures as I love to share what they do. At the NC symposium, I taught my layered naturescapes class which is a favorite to teach as everyone is doing something different and the ideas are flying. I come home so inspired. 

 Carolyn Riley was working on a very personal piece...a very loved family tree was dying and she wanted to capture it in a quilt. I showed pictures of the beginnings of this piece several weeks back and now it is finished, and it's wonderful. The interesting sky created using a fabric with lots of color movement, clouds on the horizon and the wonderful old tree as a focal point. Her use of silk screen in the foreground is the perfect touch.  Congratulations Carolyn - a job well done and know you'll enjoy this lovely piece for many years.

 Angelique Fahy created this wonderful piece in class but found the animals on a fabric at home and decided to add them. What a very clever idea. I also love the moon with the clouds moving in front of it, created with tulle. The layering she achieved is amazing

And a detail....2 amazing and very different pieces from 2 very talented ladies - how lucky I am to have had them in class! Thanks Angelique and Carolyn for sharing!

Happy Blues

Happy Blues started with a scrap pile, and a determination to use up some of these smaller pieces of fabric. I've often said I'm not a piecer but this is easy, not super precise and great fun.

I tried to arrange the fabrics so they were going from dark to light, bottom to top. They are mostly cottons, some of my hand dyes and probably some silk. I was going for color and not necessarily fabric. I like the effect of the mix.

 I was adding daisies on top using a "sky" fabric microwave dyed and very pale with patches of white. I wanted to give it a little pop and started adding Lumiere paint to highlight it.

 It's a very dense paint with a high metallic content. It also dries quickly.

 Well I really didn't like it....just too strong. So I quickly ran it under water and using an old toothbrush, scrubbed the paint away. I would have just started over, but this was all the fabric I had on hand.

 I decided I really liked the white in there. Sometimes it's just better to live with something a while which I should have done here.

I went back and added some discharge paste to different areas of the petals and really liked it so much better.

 I also added this cute little spikey flowers to give it more movement....

 and did a buttonhole stitch around the edge using my BERNINA. I really love that stitch and find myself using it more and more. It's decorative but subtle.

I used a dark denter in the daisies to give it contrast.

And now it's ready to quilt. I have a busy week so I don't know if I'll get to it for a while but I'm hoping to have it done for our Arboretum show in July.
Til next time..

Quilt Symposium of Alabama

What a crazy, busy 2 weeks it has been, just returned from the NC Symposium, a day at home and then onto Alabama. I never do these back to backs, these old bones can't take it but sometimes it just happens. The Quilt Symposium of Alabama was lovely down to every detail.

 The Quilts of Valor were already hung when we got there. This was a display, one in which they only expected 6 or 7 quilts and wound up with close to 30. It was impressive. Most were hung in the cafeteria of a middle school where the symposium was held...

and some on stage in the auditorium where the quilt show was being held.

 All were lovely and beautifully made to honor our men and women in service to our country.

 It gave you the chills to see them all side by side, all so different and patriotic.

 On to the workshops....One of my workshops was on bobbin work. Using a pattern of a parrot or butterfly, students fused down the applique pieces and finished the edges with couching thread and decorative stitches. This is Mary's piece who did a beautiful job with her couched stitching.

 Even though the same 2 patterns were used, each piece was so unique because of the wonderful fabric choices and color combinations chosen.

 Some even mirrored each other.

 Some used solids and others, some wild prints which lent themselves so well to this project.

I also did a workshop on Shaded Florals, using patterns of flowers, different values of fabric and Shiva paintsticks. Again, each was so individual depending on choices and every one was lovely. Dottie finished her shading (left side) making it really come alive. Dottie is also a water color artist so this was a natural for her to do. M E's is on the right. M E goes by her initials which stands for a really beautiful first name but she prefers M E. I think my husband had a nun in Catholic school with this name.  ( - : 

 Norma chose a very different color palette which turned out beautiful. Norma is a great grandmother and her many years of sewing really showed in her amazing technical skills.

This is Sherrie's and again, a wonderful and lively color palette. I've asked students to send me a picture of their finished piece and I hope they do. Once again, thanks to a wonderful group of gals who took my workshops, made me laugh and inspired me with their wonderful creativity.