Sneak Peak

My friend Barbara is just as crazy about dyeing as I am. I shared my 'blue' idea only with her. I got the response I wanted- she was interested and we planned to do it together. Unfortunately, we aren't able to get together as often as we'd like, so we decided that I'd do the 'blue' idea and she'd do a different combination and we'd share our results. This is a snapshot of the different blue fabrics that resulted from using 3 intensities of 2 different blues. The third blue is on the way...

Hoops skirts

This year Megan wanted to be Cinderella. I was thrilled as this was the first year she wanted to be a princess (the pre-made costume we bought her when she was 1 1/2 doesn't count). As the pattern was a bit simple, I thought I'd fancy it up a bit by making a hoop skirt. Well, to make a long story short, there is quite a difference between boning and steel boning or hoop wire. Thanks to the very helpful people on QuiltArt, I learned quite a bit about how hoop skirts are constructed and lots of creative alternatives. This is the end result. Both Megan and I were quite pleased and those that know me should take note that Halloween is still two days away and the photo was taken over the weekend! :-)

Pointing fingers

My friend thinks this is too mean, but I can't help myself. The first photo is the beadwork I started in Lisa's class. The second is the last known whereabouts of the white bag with the beadwork in it. Note who is in charge of it...

Journal Quilt, 2007

In August we spent 3 weeks in Australia. I had intended to upload photos as we went, but once I left my friend's home, internet access was spotty and Blogger and I got into a fight as to how the photos and text should look. Although my trip report is still not complete, I did complete a quilt for the Journal Quilt project inspired by the trip. Here is a photo of the completed quilt. My detail shots didn't turn out, so I'll have to wait to post those, but here is the statement that goes with the quilt-





Memories of Australia





The new format for the journal quilt this year gave me a lot of trouble. I considered and discarded many ideas until all of a sudden the deadline was looming and we were leaving for a 3-week trip to Australia. I decided I’d have to make the top on the trip. As we were staying with our dear friends Lisa and Peter, and as Lisa is a quilter too, I figured it should work out ok.
Lisa was teaching while we were there, so in order to spend more time with her, I attended her workshops. The first included making fantasy fabric. One of my pieces was a fairly garish blue piece that someone said reminded them of the Great Barrier Reef. As that was on our itinerary, I said I’d reserve judgment until I saw it. During the second class, I made a good start on a beaded piece. I decided the beadwork would be the focal point of the journal quilt. Fortunately/unfortunately, that work was left behind at one of the playgrounds we visited. We had a wonderful vacation, but I came home without even a start on the journal quilt.
Once home, I began playing with the garish fantasy fabric I’d made. I pieced it to some commercial fabric and soon I had the start of the Great Barrier Reef area located at the bottom of the quilt. We had really enjoyed sailing and snorkeling in that area and I felt I was onto something.
I designed the quilt from the bottom up. Before the trip I had rust-dyed some fabric and that became the Uluru/Kata Tjuta area. The green strips in this section represent the trees and bushes found in this area. Although the area looks barren from above, there is a surprising amount of vegetation and it is much taller than what I’m used to in our Southern California deserts. The green fabric used was one that Lisa and I had painted together. The beaded rocks are for my daughter, the rock collector.
While designing the next section, I found I needed to paint some fabric for it. It was hard for me as I needed beautiful, vibrant colors, but I was a bit depressed over our dog that had died while we were gone. I decided to first paint some fabric in dark, sad colors to get it out of my system. It worked- once I’d done those pieces, I was able to move on to the happy colors I eventually used on the flowers and sunrise section. Once dry, the dark fabric piece ended up much lighter, and I used it to separate the sections and represent the sadness that popped up at times during the trip.
Another special memory was the beautiful gardens, parks and playgrounds that we visited. While many of the flowers were familiar to us, many of the trees and shrubs were not. The garden section was hand-pieced and the crystals represent the rain that threatened, but never ruined our plans.
The sunrise section is for the many sunrises we saw in Australia (we are never awake to see sunrises here at home!). While working this section, I was able to (mostly!) let go of the lost beadwork as I began beading anew. Last are the rainforests which are represented by the vines along the edge and the aboriginal artwork which is reflected in the lettering.

Catching Up

Well, sort of. So much for good intentions- I still haven't gotten into the habit of posting even semi-regularly. These are some pieces I did a while back. I'm pleased with the way they turned out. I was trying for less evenness of color and I think I succeeded. It's a lot harder for me to keep the color uneven than to come up with nice symmetrical distribution of color and texture. Guess that's the engineer in me...

If anyone can tell me how to edit the Html so I can position the photos where I want them, I'd be really grateful!

More on Class

After the first day of class, I was really excited to start construction on my design. Since Gabrielle hadn't talked about applique yet, and because I figured the first block would just be a test, I decided to fuse it. Gabrielle said it was ok to fuse as long as she didn't see us do it... :-)

Well, I got half the leaf done before I set off the smoke detector. I think it was the pressing sheet I was using... Anyway, I didn't bring my thread back to the room, so that was it for that piece.

The next day, Gabrielle encouraged me to finish up the block, but I hadn't brought the pressing sheet, and with MistyFuse, that's a necessity. I started another block with hand applique and managed to get the half done and sewed to the stem and the pieces of the other side sewed together.

I'm not sure which I like better. I'll probably do a complete set in each technique and try setting them two different ways.

Another couple things I really loved about the class- we did a group critique on everyone's designs the first afternoon. There were some really great ideas coming forth. Gabrielle pointed out that it is important for a critique group to all be about the same level so that an 'expert' doesn't end up providing all the feedback. It was also wonderful to see the designs the next day from the people that ended up tweaking them. One in particular had some straight lines changed into curves and to me, the new design was so much more cohesive.

I was also really impressed with how Gabrielle signed my book- rather than a generic note, she wrote a personal note to me. Very classy and I start floating when I think about it.

Gabrielle Swain Class

I'm just back from a 2-day class with Gabrielle Swain at Road to California. She is a great teacher and I came away re-dedicated and inspired. The first day we spent mostly working our design. I chose a Bird Of Paradise leaf. I'll post a picture tomorrow. The second day some people started construction and others continued working their design. Gabrielle was extremely encouraging and her suggestions were forthright without being pushy.

I came away with three things firmly entrenched in my brain. This first pearl of wisdom she imparted is that the more colors you use, the easier it is to lose value. Later she made a comment that on one quilt she restorted to using black. As someone with value problems, I really hope to remember these points.

The second was that no amount of quilting, color or surface design will fix a bad design. I've been known to continue past a problem figuring I'll fix it later, but now I'm going to focus a bit more on the design before I proceed to construction.

The last was about making time for the work. I'm going to have to do something to make time for working on designs. During the week I pick up Megan, help her with her homework while making dinner, give her a bath, try to clean up a bit, read her stories, get her to bed, and only then do I get any time to do something. Night time, especially in the winter is not my best time to do something creative. I'd prefer to work on something mindless, read, or even just veg. Weekends tend to be pretty busy with events, activities, etc. I really don't want to give up any of my Meg time, so I'm thinking that maybe waking up before everyone on the weekends would be a good time. That means getting out of a warm, toasty bed, though...

Dyeing for Megan

I dyed some items for Megan and the cousins before Christmas, but of course didn't get everything done that I planned to. Here are two of the pieces I did in my latest foray into the garage.

The hoody was scrunched and then dyed with fuchsia and purple. When I gave Megan this one, she informed me that she liked purple more than pink. I'm guessing this means the shirt needs more purple?

The t-shirt started off black. I discharged it with bleach, then over-dyed it with fuchsia and purple. Are you detecting a theme? Megan liked it because of the black dots. They were made by clamping on pennies before discharging.

Isn't it amazing how well she poses? I didn't tell her anything except to stand in front of the bush. I think she might have a future as a model... Do they give modeling scholarships? :-)

Reviving the blog

A new year, a new beginning...

This year I dyed and painted gifts for some of Megan's nieces and friends and Megan, too, of course. This is one of the purses I painted with SetaColors, then stamped and painted with Lumiere's, and finally added the crystals.