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My Monthly SHARE project

2012-02-01T08:00:00.000-08:00

Some may remember last month when I talked about rotational personal projects that move month to month within my Wanabe Quilters Friendship group. While someone else works on my project this month, I'm working on another friends plan for all of us to use up small scale scraps. The originator thought this might be a philanthropy quilt. We'll see! ... I may want to make a different philanthropy quilt to keep this. I think it may well be spectacular as well as simple. Each of the 9 units in a 6 1/2 inch block is made up of 9 varied small square 2 1/2 in squares snowballed at 2 opposite corners with 1 1/2 squares.

Nine snowballed units will make up the block. (excess underneath snowball and base square fabric trimmed away)

A sewn together block reveals an interesting slanted 6 point star.

As other blocks go together one with another 6 pointed stars will fill the entire quilt.

I've made several of 9 unit blocks but have cut plenty for the next couple sewers to use. Not everyone has small scale prints. I'm reminded here of a box label quilter Melody Johnson has (wowmelody.com) ... IT is a box labeled ( pieces too small to save ). Ofcourse it is full!

Wanna Play????

2012-01-31T15:09:00.000-08:00

We have 5 months til entries are due for The Route 66 Traveling Exhibition honoring points along the "Mother Road" in all 8 states. Everything you need to know is on the link shown on the photo. Quilts need be only 24" x 30" portrait or landscape orientation. We'd love to have 66 quilts!!!!

Talk it up with your friends too... We hope you want to get in on the fun!!!!
Click here to go to route66quilts.blogspot.com

Smart Car Humor

2012-01-31T13:31:00.000-08:00

It's always fun to come across a cleverly painted smart car. They are all pretty cute anyway, though this one is especially clever/cute.

My walking friends and I were studying the great paint job when we noted an unusual handle and text on the small smart cars small front bumper.

Ya gotta get a chuckle from that!!!

Venitian Managerie Outstanding Art Quilt Road To Ca

2012-01-29T13:12:00.000-08:00

This full size quilt piece is nothing less than spectacular. Quilt Artist Melissa Sobotka of Texas took a trip to Italy and walking along one evening snapped a photo of a shop window in Venice. She interpreted masks etc in fused batiks. This is her representation of that window. DRAMATIC is the word!!!! Wow!!!!

Cruisin' the British Isles in August

2012-01-28T11:25:00.000-08:00

This sounded fun to me so I had to say yes to this opportunity. I have 2 new and fun classes I will offer aboard ship on at sea days ( all classes are included in cruise).

Click Here to go to http:www.worldofquiltstravel.com

Some Road2Ca Faculty Quilts

2012-01-27T13:31:00.000-08:00

I had so little time to really look at and enjoy the Road To California Show (www.road2ca.com) so I've left out some great quilts I know....
First up a faculty quilt belonging to Marilyn Badger (a longarm hero)...Marilyn has been been doing some quilted pieces that she thereafter paints.

Plenty of attendees spent time studying the exceptional thread work of Nancy Prince.

The closeup of a quilt block below is from Pam Clarke's faculty piece. Pam is a no nonsense creative longarm quilter. Her quilting motifs are all free motion, easily adaptable designs. She's terrific. What I most noteably loved in this piece was her subtle pieced background (not the more normal neutral 4 patch ).

In case it interests you, Road sells a CD with every quilt juried in ( almost 300 ). Click Here to go to their web site.

Best Use Of Raw Edge Ever

2012-01-26T14:50:00.000-08:00

This rugged sign on a decaying old motel was perfectly expressed using very rough, sometimes almost tangled edge raw edge applique. I needn't say more than almost everyone that went to the show remarked at how spectacular this exhibition piece is. Poor english.... great quilt!!!!

Gotta Love "Jack"

2012-01-24T13:55:00.000-08:00

Being a painter, I KNOW how challenging it is to get value spot on in a monochromatic piece. It certainly was achieved here.

Favs from Road

2012-01-23T16:47:00.000-08:00

I am one tired puppy... working and teaching from last Monday thru Sunday night. I must be getting old (of course I actually know that is already true).

First, my friend Molly from Central California won Best of Show... well Molly and her collaborator Cyndy. Indeed, it is a beautiful quilt.

I'll have more to post later, but had to show the $3000. prize winner now.

Tired and Happy

2012-01-18T07:14:00.000-08:00

Judging is complete at Road To California Quilt Show in Ontario Ca. The preview is tonight. My buddy Ben ( my mountain gorilla ) has won Best Painted Surface and "My Kind Of Dragon ( the australian sea dragon) took 2nd place. I am on my way to (can you believe it) get to take a class myself... I don't often get to do that but have 2 days before my series of teaching classes begin. Hope I see some of you there. There are some incredible quilts to be seen.

Click Here To go to Road2Ca.com site for more info about the show which runs through Sunday.

I am soooo amazed!

2012-01-16T19:36:00.000-08:00

I spent today looking at about 175 quilts in judging competition at Road To California. I have no pictures to show (or I'd be killed) as the judging has another full day. Every quilt that has been juried in will be available on a show CD.. all beautifully photographed I might add. Other large shows might have the 'winners only' on CD... but I tell ya.... there are soooooo many visual winners here and the competition is mighty stiff. One thing I can say that I can comment on is that I'm thrilled to see sooooo many 1st time entrants into Road. That tells me that quilter confidence is building. There just aren't usually a bunch of 1st time entrants... and there are so many that have been juried in this year! YEAH! I give kudos to Carolyn Reese who owns Road. She is doing great things. Pics maybe later AFTER all judging is done. Click Here to go to the www.Road2ca.com sight.

Starting Down THE ROAD!!!

2012-01-16T06:04:00.000-08:00

Well, this will be quite a week. Today the judging begins at "Road To California" Quilt and Vendor Show. Two Days of judging, 1 day to hang quilts, and the show opens wednesday evening. Classes start today and run through Sunday. ( I'm teaching there this year. ) Gratefully, my classes are full, and I'm excited. If you're in So. Calif, near the city of Ontario, it's definitely a show worth seeing. Click Here to go to the Road2Ca.com site.

Overlapping Work With Pleasure

2012-01-14T13:36:00.000-08:00

Anyone that has ever taught similar classes to mine knows how much prep time there is. I won't bore you, but will say getting ready for that interferes with my fun projects in progress. I have at least added some color to the central area around the sun and the moon faces.

You may also note I added some shadowing in the swirling sky. I think it adds some dimension.
Now I'm moving to the outer edges of the sun rays. I used a Fabrico fabric marker to draw in the dark areas between rays.

Now to add some further movement and dimension through simple shadowing. This transparent rusty shadowing adds a good bit of solar warmth.

Getting Close To A Finish!!!

Blocking Background Colors

2012-01-10T14:50:00.000-08:00

'Am blocking in Sun Rays at the outer corners and a graphic swirling night sky surrounding faces.

This swirling sky was great fun.

Tomorrow, I'll be adding definition to the outer rays and some complimentary colors to current elements.

Here We Go Anew!!

2012-01-09T13:18:00.000-08:00

I just made a list of all the teaching related things I MUST accomplish by this time next weekend. EEK! Too many things so I'll be brief here. I have always loved CBS Sunday Morning show complete with the varied/ interesting SUN images... so I'm starting one of my own but including the infamous moon face as well. I'm just working with my line drawing underneath and have no reference photos. I'm just planning to play with color. I begin by blocking in basic features/colors of the moon and sun face. I chose to make the sun female even though my hubby reminds me in spanish the sun is masculine (el sol) and the moon female (la luna). Artists get to do whatever they want I stated, besides Mack the Knife wasn't female and I "THINK" he was blue????!!!!! Mostly, I knew I wanted to give the sun lavender eyes (a la Liz Taylor) and seemed female to me.
I'll be refining detail as I go but now... it's just getting things blocked in.

(c)copyright

Note: I am a blogger who shares a lot of my work though I will copyright the finished piece making it not for copy.

A Simple Border and Almost Ready To Pass On

2012-01-08T14:34:00.000-08:00

I felt a need to add a bit of border before I handed this off to my quilt group friends. I loved the red and white almost Baltic feel print. I have a bunch more of it that will surely go in the eventual border.

Now to pass this on for rotation amongst my quilter friends, I felt I needed to add some "Retayned" red/ red/white fabrics. One reason so many of us don't have a red and white quilt is our fear of the infamous red bleed. So, I have pre washed (in Retayne) several fabrics that will travel with my quilt top in progress. I have also included a bottle of Retayne and some dye grabber sheets if anyone decides (their option) to use any of their own fabrics. So off this goes next Friday as I learn also what everyone else is starting in rotation. It will be December this year before mine returns to me...BUT I will see its progress each month as it is passed on at our monthly meeting. SEW FUN!!!!

Ready To Wash Out

2012-01-07T06:00:00.000-08:00

Okay... the stitching is complete and you are looking at the back side with Pellon's Wash-n-Gone still intact. This is a cold water soluble stabilizer but it dissolves even quicker (per their instructions) in a slightly warmer water..... 25-30 C or 77-86 F. I'm not kidding.. this dissolves away completely per the sample shown a couple posts back.

Th Wash-n-Gone is indeed gone, now flipped to the front side and ironed.

(c) copyright
I think Father Christmas is a pretty cool dude all in all. I'll be doing free motion redwork again sometime but would like to try it with a hearty red 12 wt. thread. The 30wt I used looks good but I did back track to get the strength of line I really wanted. I did experiment with 40 wt and was admittedly less appreciative though it looked 'okay.'

You Go Slow But IT Goes Pretty FAST

2012-01-06T06:28:00.000-08:00

Even noting that everything stitched out is then back stitched.... one might think this takes forever. One only has to think of the time the handwork version would be and you become thrilled with the progress. The image below is one of 2 pine cone/ limb images... The reason I'm showing this is that it somewhat differs from the comparable un stitched image in the next photo. I reversed this top photo so it can more easily be compared to the next pic.

The original drawing was for handwork with many more starts and stops. Where I could, I modified the stitch pattern to be continuos line. Cleaner..Faster. Sounds good to me.

Some one with perfect eyesight might well finish this is a day's sitting. For me, when I have my face in it so close, my eyes tire so I did this bits and pieces across a couple days. This baby will be completely stitched out by tomorrow.

Go Red!!!

2012-01-05T09:26:00.000-08:00

Now to start... I found for me, it was easier to get good drawing coverage if I used a 30 wt thread. Here I am using Sulky's 30 wt. One thing I was pretty certain of was that I would NOT start any stitch pattern at the END or BEGINNING of a line, but rather in the middle. This seams like it would minimize loosened thread end opportunities. So that's what I'm doing here. I will pop up the bobbin thread ( monofilament which you wouldn't see)

My intent is to stitch up one line and then back track for good solid lines. I normally would quickly eliminate the loose top and popped up thread but left it here for perspective on where we began.

Working so close up here... thread looks more loopy than in real life but even slight loops disappear when ironed.

When You Haven't Time For Handwork

2012-01-04T12:23:00.000-08:00

I LOVE REDWORK.... and as importantly the relaxation that comes with it!..BUT It is the first of the year and in 8 days (in addition to all the other things on my plate) I need to have a piece of redwork finished and ready for the launch of a friendship group roundabout. Each year at this time each member of my "Wanabe Quilters" friendship group begins a new rotational project of their choosing. Our individual projects rotate month by month through the group returning to us the end of the year. This year, I choose to do a roundabout where each month, a member will 'add on' to whatever is already there. That said... I needed to start with something so I am taking the lead of friend Hilary Field who did something like this some years back. Every month, I drooled over the progress of her roundabout so I'm on a quest.

To start, I first enlarged/modified a pattern I bought some time back. I traced the enlargement on my white fabric.

But before I tackle this free motion, I know I need a stabilizer behind it and I wanted to try out a couple first. This one is called dissolve (not Dissolve by Superior... it's a great one but a different type though I know would work) This one is by Precision Custom Coatings out of Totowa, N.J....a 100% poly non-woven tear away that 'dissolves' over time' This is a thicker stabilizer making it fairly simple to stitch atop. It is near opaque. I stitched a sampled area and then put it in water where everything definitely went limp and shredded like paper pulp. Thats all good! You are seeing the fabric pressed dry here.

I also experimented with Pellons Wash-n-Gone a non woven water soluble stabilizer... This one is quite sheer, and once put in water, really did dissolve 100%...and quickly. If not rinsed well, it leaves a light starch-like finish which assuredly will wash out next time it gets wet. I've held the resulting Pellon sample up to the light so you can see. there is NO stabilizer shadow coming through because there is NOTHING left of it on the back side.

The previous sample with Precisions 'dissolve' also appears infront of the light so you can see some small areas where 'dissolve' is still there.... but otherwise both products resulted in a soft fabric.. no stiffies!!!

My take... as long as I use a pure white batting behind the finished redwork... either of these will work.

Hanging One On!!!!

2012-01-03T11:08:00.000-08:00

Well... not really! Yesterday I spent in the mountains watching the Rose Parade (beautiful as always), and working on future contracts, etc. I only have 2 things left to do on my Fox...
add a sleeve, and a label so here goes with the sleeve.
My sleeve originates from a piece of fabric cut the width of the quilt and 9" wide.
1.I begin by ironing the piece flat then doubling the outer 'side' edges and machine stitching them down.
2. Next, I find the lengthwise horizontal center and wrong sides together iron the lengthwise folded edges where the raw edges have met at the center horizontal line.
3. Still wrong sides together, sew a 1/4" seam along the 2 lengthwise raw edges that met at the horizontal center.
4. Flip the tube over to where the raw edge seam faces the finished back of the quilt.
5. Noticing that the exposed side of the semi flat'tube' is larger than the back side is good. We want to retain the ironed folded edges from step 2 as our hand stitched lines. Pin the sleeve in place 1/2 inch from the top edge, and hand stitch top, bottom edge sides, and lower folded edge.

A 102 year old wish for 2012

2012-01-01T00:01:00.000-08:00

So..yesterdays post had Father Time poised to usher in the new year. Today... the other postcard I loved. Postmarked January 1, 1909, a postcard sent to a family member visiting Denver, Colo. Things were indeed more simple then. Addressed to name, YWCA, Denver.... and she got it.
Happy New Year All.

I couldn't resist posting the correspondence part as it's beautifully nostalgic. One more penny to send!

Father Time Prepares for a New Year

2011-12-31T06:02:00.000-08:00

My Hubby saves everything... including this postcard from Germany sent to HIS grandparents on December 28, 1909. Can you believe it? It was addressed by name and city in California. Thats it! It got to them. U.S. Postage was one cent! Here comes 2012!!!

Signing Off and Let's Face IT

2011-12-30T17:23:00.000-08:00

I've said before I love signing my quilts NOT because I like looking at my name but because it means the QUILTING IS ALL DONE!!!!! Yeah. I usually sign my name in a less obvious place so as not to take any attention from the central image. This piece, being an exhibition piece is meant to have viewers know who did it so it will be a bit more prominent than some of my pieces... I first use a ruler to draw washout blue lines for upper, mid, lower positioning of each letter. I do everything in lower case because it feels right and is easier as well. I use 40 wt thread , sign each word/name forward... then backward thus ending where I began. I then move on to the next word/name and do the name, ending with a dot on the "i".

Trim threads, spray wet with water and allow to dry.

When you have clearly squared and trimmed your quilt, it's time to bind... or in this case FACE IT! I generally prefer this method on art pieces. I cut 2" strips that match the backing and sew them on the edges like a second border. IMPORTANT... I sew approximately a 1/8" seam as this will later be turned toward the back and offer less bulk. This looks a bit strange, I know...

From the front, stitch that turned edge down.

One more round of stitching from the front...this time on the 1/8" seam where the 'border' is attached to the quilted piece. This stitching is done just a 1/16" off the seam ditch.

From here we begin working on 2 opposite sides first... then the remaining 2 opposite sides. This will take some time but will be well worth the effort as you will have clean/tight turns front to back... a nice finish!!!!!
Work on 1 side... spray wet the 1/8 in seam and slowly, forcefully roll and iron press the 'border' to the back... (When you see that 1/16 stitch line rolled toward the back... you've done well.) I use plenty of straight pins to pin this 'til it completely dries and holds shape. You then hand stitch the turned edge to the back. Repeat this process on the opposing side of the quilt.

When both of the 2 turned back sides are hand stitched down at the turned edge, you move on to the next opposing sides which are done the same way THOUGH you may end up trimming away some bulk at the corners where you have multiple layers of fabric.

Once these 2 final opposing sides are hand stitched down.... It's time for a sleeve.

Fox Quilting Part IV

2011-12-29T13:41:00.000-08:00

Almost done quilting... as now we move to the foreground where massive white snowdrifts appear. This will go relatively fast. It is common for me to work upside down when it seems easier to manage so thats the starting point here. This effort is sort of like taking the kind of echo lines you would see in Hawaiian quilting and mixing it with the kind of flow lines you might see in a slow moving stream.

This area is where having the poly batting directly beneath the top pays off. The snow looks kind of fluffy. Some directional changes in separated sections can add interest.

Once thats all done, it's time to prepare for squaring up.

(c) copyright
But before squaring up, I like to block the piece if there is even the slightest distortion from the quilting process. There was little to none on this piece partially because it is relatively small but here's the process.

Spray the quilt top with a clean water mist. Lay the dampened quilt on a pin-able surface (this is small so I can use my big board ironing board). Using your clean hands,"smush" the piece flat and insert straight pins to hold in place while it air dries. A more distorted piece would likely require many more pins than seen here.

After this dries, we'll sign and prepare to put a fine finish on the edges.

Fox Quilting Part III

2011-12-28T16:24:00.000-08:00

Now we can quilt out from the central figure Fox beyond the initial darker background thread work. I changed to a rayon icy light blue to begin working toward the limbs of the snowbound tree.

I've decided "not" to do thread work on the limbs but instead quilt around them.

I like the ink painted limbs so see no reason to 'over quilt' this piece. Quilting the cool background though makes a big difference. The temperature gets colder !!

Lastly, I'll finish quilting around the slushy background snow.

In the next step, we'll move to the snow banks in the foreground and soon be done quilting.

Fox Quilting Part II

2011-12-27T15:54:00.000-08:00

So this is where we were when the quilting sandwich was first put together. The white fox had been backed with a stabilizer when it was only a "TOP" piece. Then fairly heavy thread work was done on the fox itself...making certain the outer edge of the contour was not fully quilted as I planned to finish that area after the quilt sandwich was complete and the background area immediately surrounding the animal was quilted. That's exactly where we are now.

The original thinking was that I would more heavily quilt the fox than any other areas and the first 'pre sandwich' step would minimize the potential for surface distortion. That said, here we go... I first rethreaded the machine with the same white thread I used earlier, and then quilted/integrated the fox with the background by allowing some white fur stitches to overlap with the background.

At this point, I acknowledged the earlier discomfort I felt with the puffiness on the Fox body. So, since we get to change our mind from the original plan, I used the white thread to add some texture quilting atop the threadwork originally done. I definitely appreciate the improvement in the natural look of the Fox. He simply has more character now.

Favorite Gifts

2011-12-26T14:46:00.000-08:00

My least favorite gift is the head pounding cold that arrived Christmas a.m. and isn't leaving anytime soon. BUT.... Check out this beautiful handmade wool pincushion from quilter friend Loretta Beaumont. Too special. Glad I got it!

Hope to be back at "THE FOX" shortly!

Mary's Son...Our Father

2011-12-25T01:00:00.000-08:00

To all Mothers... On this day so very long ago, a young Mary held her new born son unaware of the full impact he would have on our world.

My favorite Song Of The Season.... click here to see the most beautiful words to "Mary Did You Know"

Hostess Gifting

2011-12-24T13:13:00.000-08:00

Many of you have seen this pattern of sorts as a coaster or stemware base cover (??? I never got that one.) but I also think this is a GREAT potholder or hot pad as it can be made THICK!!!
In just over an hour, I was able to make 4 ( two 2 hot pad gifts) using part of that stash we all have. Two are for a Christmas Eve dinner at a females home. The darker earth colors are for a mans home and I admit I like these best,

Here's what you need to make ONE of these:
2 9" squares of cotton batting

3 9" squares of one cotton fabric
1 of these will be the back side of the hot pad while
2 of these are folded corner to corner wrong sides together and pressed

2 9" squares of a companion cotton fabric
both of these are folded corner to corner wrong sides together and pressed.

They are then laid out in the following order from bottom to top:

2 batting squares

1 9" cotton square right side FACE UP

each of the 4 triangled squares arranged point to one outside point of 9" square from above

Note.. pic on right side shows the elements in semi arranged order. pic on the left side has them lined up stacked up 'hotcake style' and pinned ready for stitching.

Stitch all the way around this stack using about a 1/2 inch seam. You may also choose to clip a little excess fabric/batting off at the corners.

Turn inside out, push out corners and press with iron. Voila!!!

HAVE A WONDERFUL CHRISTMAS EVE and DAY !!!! Blessings to you ALL!!!!

Santa and Renoir's Two Sisters

2011-12-24T09:16:00.000-08:00

The next couple days are crazy busy for all of us... I'm busy making last minute hostess gifts ( will try to post later as they are quick and easy) but have been gazing at this my favorite painting owned by the Chicago Art Institute. It is Renoir's... Two Sisters. The older sister's red hat is the most intense red anyone has ever seen in person. Wish I were there to see it in person again. Santa seems to like it!
Have a happy safe and beautiful Holiday.

Fox Quilting Part 1

2011-12-23T09:22:00.000-08:00

The background area immediately surrounding the fox is relatively dark and I wish it to stay that way with choice of thread, so I'm selecting a near matching color/value.

I've decided to quilt fairly close together so to knock down the background enough to really pop snow forward.
I come close to the edge of the fox contour without touching the white. I try to use graceful connections beside other areas. I "almost" never come straight to a stop at the edge of an adjoining area but instead turn the quilting line parallel to the contour edge... sort of the S curve idea. It makes a cleaner finished edge to the quilting pattern.

The snow really puffs up. It's may be a little more puffy than needed, but it looks pretty good.

Getting Secured

2011-12-21T08:43:00.000-08:00

So I now have the quilt sandwich ready to start quilting. I still pin my quilts so my first task is to secure with monofilament the areas I will be working in...for now the fox, the sliding clumps of snow, and the tree limb area. I'll work on the bottom section of drifting snow later. The outside contour and the legs of the fox have been secured. His body looks a lot more puffy now than when I get him finished. It's going to be okay, really!

I secure the eyes, ears, nose, mouth.

then, working outward from center, I secure snowy slush / clumps, etc.

That gets the pins out of the way and I'm ready to actually do some quilting.

Making A Different Quilt sandwich!

2011-12-20T11:14:00.000-08:00

I'm inviting you along on a slight experiment with use of 2 layers of batting. I have used 2 layers before on other projects but not these types. Because this is a SNOWY scene, I wanted the unquilted clumps of painted snow to stand up above the quilted surface, so I'm trying a top batting layer of polyester and a back batting of cotton. The poly is for 'fluff' and the cotton is for weight to help the finished piece hang well.

With 2 layers of batting I needed to adjust my pressure foot height.

And...I definitely needed to put on my supreme slider sheet. It sooooo helps glide the back and forth stitch patterns I have planned for the background.

Ready Set!!

Stitching Atop Stabilizer

2011-12-19T09:29:00.000-08:00

Stitching Atop Stabilizer isn't all that tricky but it does require you sample test your tension as it will possibly need be a little different than when quilting. I begin with somewhat graceful curved back and forth stitching trying to follow obvious body contour.

As part of planning ahead, I am not stitching white all the way to the edge of his body. I will want to 'quilt' in some of the surrounding background and then later quilt in white at the edges of the fox's body so the fur will set IN FRONT of the background. You may be saying.. WHY didn't she just quilt the background first? 2 reasons.... the white work was done on a stabilizer before the quilt sandwich but as importantly, planned disproportioned quilting density suggests working from center to outside will give you better surface results such for your quilt to hang straight...be flat.

So the body of the fox is stitched and I will want to make sure it is plenty flat before I make the quilt sandwich. This one wasn't distorted much at all, but a light water mist, and pinning to the ironing board to air dry will give me a little break and make for a perfectly flat surface on which to later quilt. Interesting fact: The Arctic fox is one of natures adaptation achievements. His camoflage is absence of color in the winter. He is brown in warm months. Click on photo for close up.

Prepping For "The Fox"

2011-12-17T15:33:00.000-08:00

I have a basic mental plan for quilting this piece which will be my first element for machine work.
I already know I plan differing densities of quilting so that presents a problem or at least potential for surface distortion I don't want!!! I want to add some more dense thread work on the fox, so I will be adding that BEFORE I make the quilt sandwich. First on a piece of fusible stabilizer, I make a reverse tracing of the contour of the fox. I then cut it out maybe 1/8 inch larger than the contour.

Then it's a matter of following stabilizer directions and ironing on the backside of the fox. Note: What you immediately see in this picture is a pressing sheet ATOP the stabilizer... this so I don't get "glue gunk" on my iron. I hate that!!!

there it is... I will shortly begin the thread work from the front side.

What Looks Easy ... Often Offers Greatest Challenges

2011-12-16T07:32:00.000-08:00

Okay... so we're building a simple tree with a few clumps of snow here and there. It's a slow process for me, mostly because I haven't sufficiently studied trees with snow on the limbs. I know I should have. I live in the mountains... but I admit that of late, when it starts to snow, I drive off the mountain to my studio condo. I don't mind the snow as much as I HATE icy roads which are so very common in our little one lane winding canyon road.

After painting in the branches, this is mostly a matter of painting away negative space which will start to integrate the limbs.

Just about ready for the next step which will finally involve a sewing machine!

Back At It!

2011-12-15T10:01:00.000-08:00

Christmas planning and events got in the way of quilt related creativity for a bit.... but 'am back at it. I am following a general plan many painters do and that is to move toward getting the basic painting across the entire painting surface... (i'e' fabric here)... and later I will work on depth, value, color enhancement, etc. So the background behind this fox is intended to be sort of an out of focus slope of slushed and broken snow/ice.

This will be darkened/softened later on and you will note the fox is looking off to his left so I chose to add a snowbound tree to stop the eye. You can only slightly figure that out in the fabric drawing underneath the painting.

I'll be adding a good bunch of foliage... starting using a forest green brush-tipped Fabrico marker ... and used a loose push away motion to create branches and leaves..

Now to add a bit of weight and interest, a Truffle Brown (don't you love the name?!) Fabrico marker was used 'here' and there.

The addition also of a bit of chilly blue helps decrease the temperature.

Later..I'll be adding within the branches a softer blue and forest green 'scrubbing to add bulk to the tree limbs. Don't you know I'd love to stay at this but right now I must bake 12 loaves of pumpkin bread for my friendship group party coming up tomorrow. Happy shopping to those that still have some to do and happy wrapping to those that are done!

Starting A Magazine Piece

2011-12-12T18:35:00.000-08:00

Perfect time of year to be starting a new piece, huh? Well maybe not but I'm thrilled to be working on an invitation piece that will become part of a well known magazines 2012 traveling exhibition honoring all 4 seasons. I seem to recall there will be 12 pieces which will first appear in the magazine in I think May 2012.. then travel. I was asked to do a piece for winter so I'm off and running. I have chosen to do another piece with lots of 'chilly' white snow and will include a white Arctic Fox found in Alaska, a place visited last year. The Arctic Fox is only white in the winter. Mother Nature is so clever!!!!
So the drawing is done, laid beneath the fabric, and here we go blocking in the fox.

....
I need to place some subtle color changes in him so he'll show up against snow in the background.

I am confined to a size of 24"W x 18"L which honestly is why I have chosen a smaller animal than my normal choices. This little fox is rather endearing itself to me.

Bound and Ready To Roll!

2011-12-10T15:54:00.000-08:00

Yahoo... I put a simple 1/4" black binding on this postcard quilt and it's complete!

There's plenty of time for anyone reading to participate in this traveling exhibit. Quilts are actually NOT due before June 2012....all quilts are 24 x 30 inches either portrait or landscape orientation. Check the Route 66 link at the side bar or click here to go to http://www.route66quilts.blogspot.com. Scroll down a bit to the listing of states and see what others are planning. All the information you need is available on that link. Hope some want to play!

The Border Finish

2011-12-09T10:13:00.000-08:00

I loved using this variegated turquoise, burgundy, purple thread in the border. It's fun to quilt and looks like the fun it was to quilt.

Now to sign... I experimented a bit... using a similar value thread as the grass... then outlined with a contrasting value. Kind of fun. I wouldn't do this on a competitive quilt because I don't want the signature to distract from the overall image... but this is an exhibit piece... and a postcard at that. Everybody signs their postcard so it can be read.

Into The Grass

2011-12-08T10:12:00.000-08:00

Now that the 'highway is paved with silver/black twist, it's time to landscape the side of the road with grass. I get to use one of those beautiful subtle Blendables by Sulky.

I used sort of an interlocking candle-flame look to resemble grass. I think this works okay.

Finally, I can start to work on the outer border... First a securing stitch on the outer 'postcard edge' then a simple micro stipple to knock down the dark shadows on the postcard edge.

Now I can start the fun stuff.. a wacky scrolled square,triangle,rectangle fill pattern. It works well for this kind of filler.

When Thread Keeps Breaking

2011-12-06T13:38:00.000-08:00

It's quality thread and ... you've rethreaded, changed needles, and it still happens, a less common cause might be "junk" in the bobbin spring.

Can you see the pin head pointing at the blue gray fuzz? It was a significant piece of batting fuzz I think. A slender pin head to loosen packed in fuzz and my "La Cross slant angled tweezers ($5 at CVS pharmacy) did the trick. I love these tweezers!

On The Road...Finally

2011-12-05T11:55:00.000-08:00

Time to lay down some highway asphalt.

I used a black / silver twist for this. I like twists but have long noted that it is easy for a twist to appear as an irregular stitch, so I'm careful how/ where I use it. Judges/ viewers can misread this thread in a competitive quilt. Lesson learned. This quilt line was mostly free motion straight line with an occasional "U turn" to stay within a manageable quilting area. It all seems to work in the end.

The Lion's Base

2011-12-04T13:13:00.000-08:00

This is really a pretty strait forward decision about how to quilt. The "real" base for the giant lion sculpture is an enormous concrete pedestal... only a portion of which is seen here. It ofcourse is hard and solid... so straight line, close together stitching eliminating any poof between quilt lines is the call. The original painted fabric was already darker at the corners and often, a lighter thread across dark is no big deal... but in this case... I wanted the darks so much darker that I'm not opposed to inking across thread already quilted in. This would not necessarily work so well in quilts being washed... since I'm putting ink over polyester thread. It would hold better over 100% cotton thread, but that doesn't thrill me for this piece, PLUS, I seldom if ever have need to wash a wall piece.

You might be wondering what I am doing with the patina base of the lion itself. Nothing is the plan.. I like it the way it is and because this is not a large quilt with large unquilted areas, I can get away with it. Happy Sunday all!!

Building Wrigley Stadium

2011-12-03T09:18:00.000-08:00

Here's where working with 40 wt. thread ( i.e. not fat fibers) comes in mighty handy. We have a stadium wall painted and shaded at the left corner. Do I change thread to a slightly darker value thread when going into a slightly darker value fabric surface???? I have many times in the past but ultimately figured out it just wasn't necessary if I was generally working with lighter weight thread. So I chose a thread color that matched 90% of the 'lighter value area." I then chose a simple micro stipple meander as this stitch is just the ticket when one doesn't was attention to the area.

So the stadium is finally built!!! You've likley noted I didn't quilt but only secured the chain-linked areas at the top left and right. It didn't seem needed and possibly would have been distracting/ confusing.

I next need to tackle the base of the lion.

Now I live in The WINDY CITY

2011-12-01T14:00:00.000-08:00

I thought Chicago was the windy city... but most of So. Calif. is blown like crazy with 80-90 mile and hour winds last night. Landscape and pool companies are making a lot of money doing clean up today. My mountain home is without power at all so I dodged fallen rocks on the mountain road and drove down to the studio for "light' and electricity. Even Mother Nature supports my need to have multiple sewing machines!!! Yeah! I need to quilt!

Today's focus is to get the Wrigley Field scoreboard done. Because the lettering on the sign is not large, I had no desire to quilt around every letter so I straight stitched a rectangle around the stadium and team name lettering then using small meandering, knocked down the red background outside the rectangle. That worked for me... Next because I (and most of the country) think of this place as a national shrine to baseball.... I chose vertical (stand up at attention type lines) on the side panels of the scoreboard... Design principles support this decision and the next. On the bottom red area of the scoreboard... I chose straight line horizontal lines mentally suggesting stability. It's Wrigley Field and the Cubs after all. They have a VERY devoted fan base... ie... stable. I know this all sounds a bit 'heady' but I do think about feeling stuff and design principles when selecting quilt lines. It makes decisions easier!!!

On the black area of the scoreboard (Cubs 4...Tigers 1... an important long ago World Series score).. I used parallel sets of straight lines above and below text and numbers. I know the really old scoreboard information postings were made up of sets of individual text/ numeral panels slid into grooved channels at top and bottom.

After this..I got out my black ink and darkened lighter value black to be BLACK! I needed a strong power-like black to show off the Cubs WIN! I also cleaned up some of the red area.... I wanted solid color... no "kind-of" red areas for this piece allowed.
The building itself needs finishing so that's coming.

Lines on The Lion

2011-11-30T13:33:00.000-08:00

Since this mighty animal is already secured on the outer edges using clear monofilament, I don't anticipate the need for much quilting on this guy.... I pretty much think anchoring in the darks will do the trick.

I'll leave it at that and can always come back and add if necessary, BUT I think I'm done with this guy.

After this, I'll move on the quilting Wrigley Field's scoreboard.

Sky High

2011-11-29T12:16:00.000-08:00

Now for the real deal.... the fun part... using thread and quilting to 'hopefully' enhance the quilt top. I try to work inside out when any significant quilting is anticipated. The sky is somewhat central... so that is first up. I'm using a 40 wt. poly variegated to play with the cloud formations.

I'm trying to use the painted surface as my quilting guide, Since the painting is purposely irregular, more organic like nature.... I think using the fabric as a guide makes me keep my quilting pattern more spontaneous.

Next up we'll tackle the mighty lion which graces the front steps of the famous Art Institute of Chicago. I love that place. I often kid that Renoirs "Two Sisters" portrait is mine and I have it on loan to them. I unknowingly said that once in front of a docent there... and she let out a mighty hearty laugh. "A girl can dream, can't she?"

Let It Begin!!!

2011-11-27T09:18:00.000-08:00

Getting started for me means securing the main elements with a thin monofilament. I may not secure the entire piece at this time, but certainly the central elements.... In this case.... Wrigley Field, the Chicago Art Institute lion, and the Sears Tower.

This process is more than functional for me. It starts to give me ideas about what elements will benefit from more OR less quilting.

Starting Down THE Road

2011-11-26T11:17:00.000-08:00

Soooo many choices of projects to complete!! 'Better get going on quilting this one for next summers premiere of my traveling Route 66 Exhibition. Click here for details... I'd love it if you joined in.
For now.... I'm just getting this pinned and ready to go. NO... I know it may look like I've added a busy print border... but it's not so and is the loose edge of the backing rolled over to the front and pinned.

Perfect timing for a nostalgic Route 66 print to be out on the market. I got a bolt ofcourse. We are hopeing for 66 quilts (24" x 30" each... not too big for you to get in the game) The Click Here blog link has all the details including what other people are already planning.

Oopsie..pattsart.com is off the air for a day or so.

2011-11-24T10:58:00.000-08:00

Sorry for anyone trying to go to my web site... Pattsart.com domain name fell out of the WWW. network. It has been reset but will take a day or 2 to repopulate in network servers across the web. Sorry. Great time for this to happen on a holiday, eh?

As The Turkey Trots...

2011-11-24T10:05:00.000-08:00

HAPPY THANKSGIVING everyone. This was a great way to start the day... Several thousand runners gathered in downtown Claremont, California for the Annual Turkey Trot 5K run. It was a total joy "to watch". The Rotary Club HEAD Turkey was there ( or is he a turkey viking?)

Best Friend turkeys and corn were there.

The mascot Turkey promoting the consumption of "MORE HAM".. was there to start the race.

There were mothers and fathers with strollers, dog owners with pets on leash, individual runners from 4 to 80. It was all quite beautiful and so full of spirit. At last.. they are off and running.

My 72 years "Golden Age of Running" hubby Ray Hughes was right in the thick of it.

Near the finish line...I saw tired puppies human and otherwise...

Nice to see the best friends stuck together to the end.

The best time was a bit over 16 minutes. My hubby reflected his best time ever on a 5K was 14:15 at age 33. He's still running though.. every day.... 5 miles! I've quilted a mile in a day I think. He's in a lot better shape. Happy Bird Day all.

A better idea for a U.S. holiday!!!!

2011-11-23T12:56:00.000-08:00

For the next 2 days... let's forget about Wall Street and Congress.

Instead.....Let's

OCCUPY STUFFING!!!!!!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Speaking of Birds...

2011-11-22T19:39:00.000-08:00

With Thanksgiving only 2 days away...One says to the other....
"I say let's get out of town while we can!"...

A Double Duty Label

2011-11-21T12:33:00.000-08:00

I make my labels as a slide in Power Point because it is easy to use and is pretty versatile. I insert a photograph of the finished quilt, add materials, size, technique info, an artists statement, and contact info for me. I print the slide on a fabric sheet that is then added as the back label. I've saved the slide for the "Winter's Veil" label as a .jpeg to show here.

(c) photo copywrite

The extra advantage of having done this is that the label slide becomes a permanent record of my quilt. It makes it easy to answer questions about upcoming exhibition needs for space, etc.

Call It Done!

2011-11-20T12:24:00.000-08:00

This piece is D - O - N - E DONE!!!!! I've faced it and now will be adding the sleeve and label before shipping it off to the exhibit curator.

(c) photo copywrite

This and other "Winter Season" exhibit quilts will premiere at Road To California Quilt Show in January (www.road2ca.com) I'll be teaching there again this year...a 2 day Painted Quilt Art class, and a 1 day Art of Quilting class.

Sign This Baby!

2011-11-19T15:31:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite things is to sign my quilt...but the reason is because the quilting is DONE! Yeah!
I do a simple double line with washout blue marker ... then free motion stitch forward then backward the first name.... then repeat the same process on the last name, and finally a standalone dot over the "i" in blair.

Clip the threads, mist spray the area... and we're done.

Dang Those Pin Holes

2011-11-18T12:24:00.000-08:00

For a surface as pristine as crisp white fabric, the appearance of pin holes left by quilting pins is just NOT ALLOWED!

A misting of clear water will help fluff the hole closed.

Works!!!

Carrying On!!!!

2011-11-17T15:16:00.000-08:00

Some of this blue shadowed area needed to be played up(or maybe I should say DOWN), so even some shadowed snow drift lines were quilted with a light blue as opposed to white.

At the other end of this piece, I took the same approach to keeping shadows chilly by knocking down coolest areas with tight overlapping blue thread circles.

Now to finish the foreground snow!

When Cold is in Shadow

2011-11-16T13:03:00.000-08:00

To keep this cold feeling going, the shadowed areas within snow were painted in cool blue and need be quilted similarly. Because the cold spots are lower toward the earth than the puffy white surface, I chose to tightly knock the surface down in this case using small overlapping circles.

Let the Bird Stand Alone

2011-11-15T12:49:00.000-08:00

I often treat the quilting of painted species much different than areas surrounding. I generally like the painted creature to appear without much thread showing. Of course there are exceptions like the mountain lion of "Winter Hunt" where his fur became a serious thread painting. Click Here to view.
For this little winter bird (a Snow Bunting) found in Alaska, thread would interfere... so monofilament was used strictly to create texture.

The breast area brought a special challenge where 2 to 3 stitches were placed here and there as little stitch islands. I think it works. This "no viewable thread" approach to quilting allows the nuanced coloring/shading to be seen.

Time To Quilt The Snow Bunting

2011-11-14T12:46:00.000-08:00

Remember this piece painted last July???? Time for me to get cracking on the finish as it is due for exhibition shipping early next month!

I decided to double batt this piece to make the snow a bit more puffy. Can't say already I'm happy with my choice as there is more stiffness than I remembered with double batting... Oh well. I can make it work. My first thoughts about this piece are based on where I live... in the mountains... where winter seems sooooo long and cold.... so when I quilted the blueish background I kept thinking about how it seems to me that 'cold hangs in the air like a heavy veil!' That said.... I considered what a cold heavy veil might look like and this is what I came up with.

A medium to light value variegated thread added some interest and avoided the boredom that might come with so much repeated pattern.

I've learned the hard way that I can't quilt as many hours a day as I can paint. I can paint all day and into the night... but about 3 hours at a time is my quilting limit. Longer than that, I get extra careless. So time to break!

The Highs and Lows of Patriotism

2011-11-12T06:57:00.000-08:00

Friend Laurie, hubby Ray,and I had the good fortune to spend Friday morning at a Veterans Day celebration. Both current service personnel and young and older Veterans (from as far back as WWII) were present and delighted to be in company of fellow servicemen and women. It was something like a multigenerational family reunion though assuredly some had never before met. We enjoyed beautiful patriotic hymns, singing, and talks by public officials. Nonetheless, the most moving talk of the day came from Commander Everett Alvarez Jr., the first and longest held POW in Vietnam. "Ev" as he is called by fellow veterans, spent the first year of captivity alone (NO other U.S. captives) in the infamous Hanoi Hilton prison. When others were taken captive and brought in, they were as you might imagine treated poorly, tortured, barely fed, humiliated in public forums, and were NOT allowed to speak to each other. Commander Alvarez talked of the wall tapping code prisoners derived to communicate with one another. That code, while a life threat if caught, held them all together. To quote the Commander, "Faith in God, Country, and self" brought him through.

Hubby Ray being a history teacher, already knew much about Alvarez and went to speak with him. A friend of Rays had bunked 2 bunks away from the Commander before Alvarez was captured. Their friend had been later killed in that war, and both remembered their mutual friend on this day. God Bless America and all those who love and serve.

Wanna Play ? Summer 2012 Exhibition on THE MOTHER ROAD!!

2011-11-10T10:40:00.000-08:00

I need to be doing some promoting of this great fun/nostalgic opportunity. I am co curating this traveling exhibit honoring The MOTHER ROAD a.k.a. Route 66. 24 x 30 inch quilts honoring/depicting a spot along the 8 state route through Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California will premiere next summer at the Rocky Mountain Quilt Festival in Colorado, and then begin touring including Jan. 2013 at Road To California Quilt Show in Ontario, Ca.
Check it out... CLICK HERE

For Our Veterans

2011-11-09T11:32:00.000-08:00

So... what does an art quilter/teacher do following a week of frenzy at Houston International?
Quilt !!! What else? I had loaded this philanthropy quilt for a U.S. veteran before I went to Houston. Quilting this scrappy/ loving quilt top made by friend Mary Lou Ripper was just what I needed to 'come back to the real world!' Mary Lou and members of her friendship groups made over 35 bed sized quilts delivered last week to a Southern California Veterans facility. They've already started on next years delivery. Kudos to Mary Lou and her friends and most importantly thanks to our veterans. Veterans Day is coming. We don't always know who some veterans are as they seldom speak of their experiences. About 5 years back, I thanked a Vietnam Vet friend I knew and was taken back by his response. First, he did appreciate the acknowledgement. He said it was the first time ever to be thanked for his service. We can all fix that!

Home From Houston

2011-11-07T08:43:00.000-08:00

What a blur of a week at Houston... I am barely home... not yet unpacked,
and 'am officially exhausted. One lecture, a machine quilting forum (105 participants), a media sampler (hundreds), 2 classes, and Meet The Teacher forum. Life at the Houston Festival is much like life might be in a turned on blender. Time in classes is so special... I had a great experience with my Santa's Secret Class members. Many took a leap of faith taking this class... anxiety about painting a portrait was high... but seemingly all were so pleased with what they produced. You know it's going well when people don't want to go to lunch or ask to come back early. My thanks to all students who participated. Here's just a few Santas. (click on photo for close-up)

My thanks again to all students, and my special teachers pets. You all were soooo great to spend the day with. I gifted all of you with 4 markers that were designed as part of an optional kit. Please enjoy and use them and hope to see you all again. I'd love to see a photo of your finished quilted piece. I had an optional photographed quilting plan available for take home and use or even handing to for hire quilters. This was a new type of offering. It seemed very well received.

My one entered quilt.."My Kind Of Dragon" ribboned in it's category. That's always nice. There were many exceptional quilts that were not recognized and thus I was blown away. Houston is quite competitive.
Patt

Mar 2012.. To the Caribbean...YEAH!

2011-10-31T15:43:00.000-07:00

A Caribbean DEAL March 2012

World of Quilts Travel has contracted me to teach next March 18 - 28 on a 10 day cruise of the Caribbean. Beginning in Miami... cruising to 6 ports, 3 days at sea classes... all that for $999.00 I've created some new and interesting / fun classes for this trip.

click here to check out worldofquiltstravel.com

Miami -
Fun Day At Sea - -
Samana
Tortola
St. Maarten
Antigua
Barbados
St. Kitts
Fun Day At Sea - -
Fun Day At Sea - -
Miami -

Packing and Heading To Houston

2011-10-31T15:34:00.000-07:00

I just went online to add another bag to my flight to Houston. No matter how we try.... we always need more space.... In this case... I wanted to take a few more of my quilts to show have at my lecture, quilting forums, and classes:
Thursday Nov 3rd morning 9a - noon Machine Quilting Forum
My part..translating non-quilting media into doable quilting design templates
Thursday Nov. 3rd afternoon 2-4p Mixed Media Miscellany
My part.. Drawing and Painting for people who don't draw or paint :-)
Friday Nov. 4th Lecture - 11am til Noon
A Painters Path To Quilting
Friday Nov. 4th evening - The Art of Quilting
Choosing Line and Color
Saturday Nov 5th Daytime Class - Santa's Secret
I can hardly wait to see what I forgot to bring!!!!
Ha! Not!
Hope to see some of you there...
I have an Honorable Mention Quilt ( My Kind Of Dragon) in the painted category. I was pleased and surprised at this recognition. The piece had a couple flaws I was NOT happy with.

One Last Thought

2011-10-25T10:25:00.000-07:00

It's that old ball game saying... It's Never Over Til It's Over.... so even when you're finished... their may be a chance for add'l upgrades.

I wanted the blue and rust on the mailbox to have a little stronger value... so out come the Prismacolor pencils. They work well atop fabric and worked fine atop the matte medium as well.

A final reflection: I definitely think I'll be using this stencil on another project someday too.

Border and Quilt

2011-10-24T05:29:00.000-07:00

Continuing on from previous post: I first chose to add a border because this piece is so small ( about 12 x 12" ... it asked for one!;-) I wanted to keep it in a light simple palette much like the background of the collaged piece. Because it still called to me for a bit more rust, I inset 1/2" channel of light rust in the border. I maybe could have gotten away with a slightly smaller width inset, but I like this overall.

After securing the border seams with monofilament top and bottom (I used a new Sharp needle size 70.), it's time to quilt. I chose a variegated brown/tan/black 40wt poly to outline the stenciled areas. One could almost get away with stopping quilting after this. I wanted a wee bit more.

For all stipple haters, I apologize.. I'm using a micro ( REALLY small) stipple to fill in between the quilted stencil areas. I used a light variegated 'sand' color.. again 40wt poly to knock down the background in order to show off some of the elements.

I like that little birdie...It was a stamp that I colored in with Tsukineko inks (my overall favorite working media).
I also did some other minor securing of elements with other colored threads, and now, I think we're about ready to move on to finishing... besides, I must now leave the studio to go pick up my 72 yr old hubby from his college overnight field trip to the desert. He likes hanging out with 'kids.'

A Journey in Collage on Fabric

2011-10-23T05:32:00.000-07:00

Here we go playing with a another class sample for next March's Caribbean cruise with worldofquiltstravel.com This will be a short class so I needed to plan a small project. We do have shore excursions to take ;-) Here I'm playing with collage on fabric of thin papers (napkins tissues, tea bag tissue) plus stamping, stenciling..... and eventually quilting. It reminds me of when as kids we played with all kinds of shapes of construction paper, and glue. Only here we are using fabric, tissue, and matte medium generally used in acrylic painting. The matte medium is our GLUE. Judy Coats Perez is a master at this. She's teaching a class at Houston on this process. Kudos to her!

This effort is free and fun... but I honestly got out every stamp, stencil, paper napkin plus a bunch of other stuff to create this little sample. I used about 1/20th of what I layed out for consideration. You don't need all that.... but we sometimes can't help ourselves just like buying fabric. I started by laying out a base fabric and tearing out tissue pieces I wanted to use (tearing tissue edges seems better than a clean cut... you'll see later) I auditioned some stamps too.

When I had a decent layout .... I left the stamps on the fabric ( sort of to save their space for stamping ) and began with a foam brush first applying a thin stroking of matte medium on an area I was preparing to 'glue' tissue. The tissue was then placed on top of the wet medium... then I carefully ( I mean really carefully) applied matte medium over the top of the tissues. A light hand is needed.... or the tissue will tear. Pigment Ink stamp pads were used to get the birdie image and an initial ( so vain of me)... a "P".

Once the stamping and matted tissue dried ( took a good while...hairdryers are wonderful things to speed the process!!) I knew I wanted to use a stencil to 'tie' everything together. I chose a stencil that had a happy, pretty feel .. very quilter like... and that would be my choice.

Out came those Shiva Paintsticks I bought years ago, a stencil brush, a piece of freezer paper I used as a palette and I was ready to do some stenciling right atop what I'd created on fabric. In some cases, when an important image appeared in a stencil opening, I stenciled around but not atop the important image... (like the birdie)

This quickly unifies elements. I like it.

One could now play and tweak color for some time. Every thing you do might prompt a change/enhancement elsewhere. I wanted to do some subtle color balancing. There was a rusty yellow/orange flower in the upper left... The piece called for some subtle use of rust elsewhere, so the birdhouse on the bottom right got the call.

I'll let this dry overnight before I consider anything else. Shivas need 24 hours cure time as they have oil in them.

Ya Just Never Know

2011-10-21T16:05:00.000-07:00

Sometimes the thing you think you'll hate is the thing you end up loving. Since I and most quilters have many tote bags I wasn't excited about zentangleing a tote bag. But I decided to make myself an interesting food shopping tote that I might actually remember to take in the store.
I first took a white canvas tote and water sprayed it followed by misting green and yellow fabric paints. I used a plain damp foam brush to 'move the some of the splotched drops around'. This took a few hours to fully dry

I liked the base paint 'mess' over which I will zen later.

Once I started drawing , I couldn't stop myself....The black pen drawings were first... then I just HAD to use some markers and inks to add a bit more color.

Color addition is purposely subtle. I like the integrated look of soft values.

Pineapple anyone?

finally I enjoy the quilted apple.

Well This Was Certainly Fun!

2011-10-20T17:05:00.000-07:00

I'm "zenning" a ball cap here... thinking a cap might be nice to wear as Caribbean Cruisers walk about on shore excursions. Any white or light value fabric hat will work. In playing here, I picked up inexpensive Tulip Paint sprays, water sprayed my white cap... then following instructions misty sprayed a variety of colors on the hat. It's fabric paint and it will dry permanent... and I set it in the sun to dry. See http://www.worldofquiltstravel.com for cruise details

Then ZEN...

This was fast AND FUN! First a palm tree outline on the head area of the hat and I added some fill textures within each leaf. A none existent flower on the bill... then some curved sectioned zentangle and quilting texture patterns. Click on photo for closeups.

I may need to experiment with adding color on white ...AFTER.. the zen is done. I'm pretty sure watered pigment inks will work well... There's a number of media I think will blend with Zenning. Exciting!!!!!! I've decided you can't do anything wrong with Zentangle... It's all doodling with a minimal plan.

Zen..ing out to sea!

2011-10-19T17:04:00.000-07:00

I'm starting to create samples for next March's Caribbean Quilters Cruise with World Of Quilts Travel.com It's already fun to think about it. YEAH!
I've created some half day classes with one is morning, another in afternoon so cruisers can learn more than one technique in one day. Since I'm soooo enjoying playing around with Zentangle on Fabric, I'm playing now with a class where cruisers may chose to Zentangle a white or light-valued ball cap, tennies, tote, or whatever they want.
The first I'm sampling is a more refined /simple Zentangle on my brand new sling back Keds. One will be guided thru a variety of approaches. In this 'simple' sample, I created a floral with a tropical them.

I've used a Micron Pigma before ( I like the fatter tipped pigmas for this) but this time I am using Pentels new Gell Roller for Fabric (I bought at shoplet.com) It seemed a easier applicator since it 'rolls.' There are lots of Zentangle books out there. I quickly figured out I could create a simple contour outline of something I wanted to create... and then just play with interesting textures like shown in some books...OR...quilting books. So here we go...
first a simple floral center

Outline some petals

Add a teardrop shape within the petal

Then create some weight to the overall image by adding tight circles within the teardrop

and leaves

I could have zentangled the heck over the entire surface but I kind of enjoy this clean deck shoe look. I couldn't help myself though... Using a permanent fabric marker, I added a wee bit of summer yellow to sparkle things up a bit.

When the white starts to get dirty... I'll add plenty of ZEN!!!!

I'll be working on a different sample shortly with fabric spray paints and zentangle.

A Day In The Park

2011-10-18T04:38:00.000-07:00

Okay... a major reason for the Colorado trip was to see Grand daughter Kaley play goalkeeper.

Her team won 3-2 but honestly against a very aggressive and talented offense from the other team. Kaley saved 4 big would-be goals in the first half. My gosh... I never knew she was such a scrappy tough assertive player. 'Made her Grammie proud.
In the meantime, 3 yr old grandson Max was making friends and turning soccer players into football buddies.

A Weekend In Colorado

2011-10-17T11:03:00.000-07:00

Well. last week I was a poor poster mostly because I was in a frenzy to get classroom materials organized, shipped to Houston for next Months International Festival. But for the weekend, I used some use them or lose them air miles to visit daughter Allyson and grandkids Kaley and Max in Colorado. We went to a REAL pumpkin farm where you pick them where they've grown. Great time with my'kids."

Beautiful Country!

Who needs a farm scarecrow when you have the 20' Pumpkin Terror watching over the fields?

No question... fall has arrived and is beautiful in it's unique warm way.

Now To A REALLY Nice Birthday Gift

2011-10-14T10:00:00.000-07:00

In one of my friendship groups(The Wanabe Quilters), whenever a member has a birthday with an "0" at the end, the group presents her with a quilt. This time, TODAY, is the birthday celebration for friend Karon. We titled this really big table runner "There Must Be 60 Ways To Leave Your 50's !"... and each member filled a flower pot with 5 needle turn applique flowers using their own fabric choices(5 x 12 pots) = 60 flowers. It was organized by the last "0" birthday girl Carol Brodie and quilted by pro-quilter Phyllis Reddish. This was great fun! This thing is so big ("let's just call it a quilted table cloth"), I couldn't get far enough away to get the triangular pointed ends of the runner in the picture.

I'm posting this as I head out to "the party"... so as you read this.... "Karon will hopefully be a happy birthday girl."

Reducing Fear

2011-10-07T06:07:00.000-07:00

YEP! It's my goal. I am always trying to think of ways to help newer art quilters continue their journey. Since the fear of quilting a painted piece often seems a big roadblock to finishing, on this piece for Houston, I have photographed how I tackled Santa. I purposely simplified the quilting on Santa so as not to scare anybody. If someone wants to give it a go on their own... they will have a guide or have a guide to possibly hand off if they hire quilting done. Then ofcourse, there's always the option of ignoring my approach and do their own. I REALLY like that idea too!

Click once or twice for closeup view.

Some Are Seldom Satisfied

2011-10-06T10:50:00.000-07:00

That would be me, I'm afraid. I periodically tweak my classroom drawings. This week, I'm working on putting together kits to pre ship for my Houston International "Santa's Secret" Class early next month. I do almost all my drawings at 8 1/2 x 11 so I can save them in my master drawing notebook in a sleeve protector. This afternoon, I'll take my 8 1/2 x 11 inch drawing to my printer to copy as an enlargement at 205%. That translates to 18" x 24"... a perfect class size.

Honoring Our Great Heroes

2011-10-04T06:00:00.000-07:00

Well how often do we get to do this? My hubby and I recently had the true honor of celebrating the 91 years of life of our dear friend Paul McCay from Glenkirk Church in Glendora, Calif. Paul served and survived WWII in France, and promised God if he got out of there alive, he would serve Him for the rest of his life. He did and he has served the Lord ever since. Glenkirk's homeless shelter is beloved by those in need and is the brainchild of Paul. Shown here at Paul's 91st birthday party is my hubby Ray on the left and birthday boy Paul in the kilt. Pretty handsome guy,eh?

Paul was a nice looking young man in uniform as well.

Not many men can say they still fit in their military uniform, but Paul can. I've never before seen a purple heart. God Bless you Paul McCay for your service to your country and our God.

This Made Me Soooo Happy

2011-10-04T05:57:00.000-07:00

When you have so much stuff, you can't find any one of the several same tool you need... It's time to honor Libby Lehman ( the worlds most efficient organizer of quilt stuff). For my working area of my studio, I bought stainless steel shelving from Lowe's, plus extra casters that fit, a new package of peel and stick label for my P-Touch labeler, and got to it. This is pretty self explanatory, so I won't bore you, but I will tell you every minute invested was worth it. I WON'T however tell you how many trimming scissors I found I own though I do now know where all are! ;-)
The benefit of the casters permit me to temporarily roll this shelving to another side of the room when I am painting on the adjacent table or conducting private instruction.

I'd like to think Libby would get a chuckle. She loves labelers.

Ben's New Face... actually Facing.

2011-10-03T10:52:00.000-07:00

I often enjoy facing my art pieces as opposed to binding them. It admittedly takes longer but usually seems worth the extra effort. To see the entire process of facing... CLICK HERE to see the April 2009 step by step facing of my mountain lion titled WINTER HUNT!
The brief desciption however is that once the quilted quilt is completely blocked and trimmed/squared, I add a finished edge 2" border of sorts to YES a finished quilt top. Then side by side, I roll the border facing to the back, press, pin, allow to dry, then hand stitch the loose edge as one would do with binding.

I most often use the same fabric used on the backing to create the facing but on this piece, the black and white backing (animal print) might have been distracting from a side hanging view, thus a black facing was used on Ben

You are looking here at one side of facing, rolled to back, steamed, pinned, and drying.

Ben is now done but for sleeves and label. I've posted enough of Ben in full view. I'll add an eye close up here as I am pleased with the emotion in his eyes.

If It Makes It Better- Just Do It!

2011-10-03T10:08:00.000-07:00

As I prepared to finish (face) the edges of Ben... My Gentle Giant... I had a small fight with myself. After trimming the quilted top of excess batting and quilt top unpainted fabric, it became clear to me that I had painted and quilted an outside edge area I really didn't need. Knowing that area I knew was not needed represented about 2 hours of quilting,so the fight was with myself for quilting it in the first place...NOT whether I would remove it. So... I measured/ measured... then cut off the unneeded area that would have created an excessive imbalance of Ben's face.

It's gone and it feels right!

So.. I'm busy facing Ben and will post shortly.

Just Use The Fabric As Your Quilting Motif

2011-09-30T05:54:00.000-07:00

Old habits sometimes justifiably DON'T DIE! In this case, it's good! When I started machine quilting in the late 90's, I was mostly self taught and my self-training experience embedded deeply into my wee brain. I used a couple of detailed $3.86 printed panel "cheater cloths" made into a quilt sandwich , loaded my machine with clear monofilament top and bottom ( so my boo boos wouldn't show so badly) , and free motion quilted the "OUTLINE" of every possible element of each panel... I mean every flower, flying geese, star block, filler square,triangle.. I mean everything!!!! By the time I finished, I had a good feel for free-motion. It's not nearly as difficult as our non quilter fear makes it out to be.

That was a long ago beginning for me, but I've kept them as a reminder to "just try stuff." Sometimes the magic works! ;-)
... The lesson to bring forward today is... sometimes the printed fabric can make a fantastic quilt plan. Case in point: I know it is September, but I am working on a Christmas wall quilt of one of my ink paintings of "Santa's Secret." I chose a 'fancy'border fabric for this quilt..and I didn't buy alot of it months ago when I planned this... ( I wasn't sure I'd like the fabric because it is a reflective nylon blend ( like flag twirlers use) over which is printed a metallic gold motif of holly leaves and berries and such. It was surprisingly easy to quilt so wish I'd bought more for future use. The quilt plan motif on this piece is the OUTLINE of the metallic gold images( I chose a red thread to disappear into the background). It take a good while to quilt this way, but it's pretty easy, even relaxing, and makes a spectacular finish.

Santa is all but edge bound here... I think he's kind of cuddly!

I'm teaching a class on the painting of an 18" x 24"ink image of Santa's Secret at Houston IQA in November. Students will get a take-home step by step photo/text instruction too on how I quilted each area.

One More Water Soluble Idea

2011-09-29T05:33:00.000-07:00

I've become obsessed with this experiment phase of looking at non traditional sources for quilting motifs. I have to stop playing but it's kind of like eating potato chips.... "Just one more" I keep saying. Here I found this scrapbook paper of an interconnected/overlapped stem/leaf pattern that might be great on a nature oriented quilt. The plan... same as before, using a fine tip permanent marker, tracing a pattern atop a piece of water soluble stabilizer then quilting on the traced lines before dissolving the stabilizer.

In this example, I stitched atop black fabric though have left the stabilizer on still as this is a sample for an upcoming quilting forum. Notice how 'shiny' the stabilizer is. It is because it is a medium to heavy weight one... i.e. thicker. This can be dissolved, though it's more work than the lightweight stabilizers shown in earlier postings. I've tried dissolving both, and much prefer the lighter ones for this process.

Rubbing On A Quilting MOTIF

2011-09-28T05:17:00.000-07:00

I love working with rubbing plates and even natural surfaces when I'm adding textures to my paintings, but DUH... it only now occurs to me that I might purposely use a rubbing plate for a quilting pattern motif. I just grabbed a plate that was 1/2 wood pattern, 1/2 brick pattern.

In this test, I used my Tsukineko Transparent Inks atop a piece of light valued modeled fabric ( a hand dye ). Placing the Rubbing plate underneath the fabric, then using a brush tip fantastix fiber stick to rub across the fabric surface and create an interesting surface design.

Once dry/ heat set, it can be used as 'the plan' for quilting.

The brick pattern worked too.

Stencil Your Quilt Pattern?!?!

2011-09-26T11:12:00.000-07:00

Sometimes, a stencil might be the ticket to not only add interest to your quilt top, but also serve as the quilting pattern itself. In this example I'm using a Shiva paint stick, stencil brush, and open area stencil atop fabric.

Placing some paint stick on a palette or better yet a piece of freezer paper that can be later tossed, scrubbing the paint stick material into the stencil brush, then securing the stencil while scrubbing color through the stencil and onto the fabric.

When all is stenciled on, remove the stencil and wait the prescribed drying time ( Shivas call for 24 hours)

After the paint stick dried, I outline quilted the stenciled area, micro stippled open areas inside the stencil, then added simple straight line structured quilting outside the stenciled area.

Non Traditional Design Sources

2011-09-25T04:48:00.000-07:00

It's fun to look for other ways to create quilting plans... There are a ton of design books out there.

Sometimes there are simple designs that seem to work. Here's one using the tracing on water soluble stabilizer.

Add atop fabric and free motion stitch. You'll get a perfect match to the design in the book.

Follow the directions for dissolving the stabilizer and the result is a precise match to the book design.

Block and Tackle Ben

2011-09-23T16:35:00.000-07:00

This may be the most important part of finishing a wall quilt. It's a bit scary too, not because you'll hurt anything, but because even when you've been careful to evenly distribute quilting, this is the time you find out if you did a good job. If you didn't, blocking helps but may not solve the entire problem. I have a piece at Houston in November that got an Honorable Mention which is better than I thought as "My Kind Of Dragon" could NOT be blocked as flat as what I felt would be competitive. I was right. Live and Learn!!

So... I block my quilts once for sure (at this stage prior to binding or facing), and sometimes even after all the finishing work in complete. So.. here's how I go about it. First, I'll be doing this on a padded tabletop, but I've also done this atop a sheet over carpet, or atop a hard bed covered with beach towels.

In this case, Ben is smaller that the wood table for which I had a big board ironing board made... not really for ironing.... but for this stage.. blocking! It drops on atop my work table. It is padded with batting and covered with a strong cotton. Once Ben is trimmed/ relieved of excess batting and backing, I lay him atop the padded board and spray him pretty wet... then the game is "smoosh" it flat and pin on all edges before allowing the whole thing to air dry.

He got really dark when wet.... I even felt obliged to add pins to his snout area. He looks like he is being treated by eastern medicine needle therapy.

Using NON Quilting Media for Quilting Templates

2011-09-20T10:58:00.000-07:00

I'm prepping for a quilting forum on this subject and have created a few samples to reflect related ideas. I'll post some of them over the next week or so. This one... from a last year quilt titled Proud Heritage called for an elegant but subtle background for a spanish folk dancer I know. I wanted something akin to flocked wallpaper but with more class.... so I found a flourished scrapbook paper with the 'answer'.

I then created a simple (traced) black and white contour drawing over which I placed a sheer water soluble stabilizer. Using an ultra fine permanent sharpie, I traced the drawing onto the stabilizer.

The above stabilizer process will be repeated as needed.
I pinned the stabilizer to the quilt top and outline quilted the image carefully following the drawn lines.

I tore off the excess outer edges of the quilting outline .

Then following the instructions, I wet and dissolved the stabilizer away, allowing the quilt top to dry before proceeding.

The rest was easy.. some tiny micro stippling around the outlined image and the results speak well, I think. The 'knocked down' background makes the outline quilting look much more difficult than it actually was.

The finish is one of those backgrounds that judges like... It was a surprise finish they didn't see from a distance...like here. Judges like nice surprises.

Am I lucky or WHAT!?

2011-09-19T06:00:00.000-07:00

I just attended my monthly meeting with my Wanabe Quilting Friends. I came home with this beauty... a 100% hand appliqued wool on wool "bed rug" that friend Mary Lou Ripper finished after having bought all the finished, but loose blocks and remaining kit for $40. at a guild UFO sale. WOW! Mary Lou finished it, and realized that someone who lives in snowy winter mountains should likely enjoy this more than she could where she lives. So I get this beauty in exchange for some quilting of one of her quilt tops. What a gal! I'd had it less than 24 hours and took 2 naps under it already!!!

Ben be done!

2011-09-18T12:58:00.000-07:00

Done quilted anyway.... I finished the left side cheek to match the right, and turned off my machine. I have a lot of stuff going on this weekend, but by first of next week will get to blocking Ben flat. It has been fun for me to see the change in stature/mood as I've worked on him off and on. In the early stages of painting in late 2008, he was plain scary. A softening of eye color completely changed his persona. He also seemed younger when I began... but ofcourse both he and I are almost 3 years older... Egads! At the finish here, to me, he is sort of a big lug... not too scary, but you know he has power if he really needs it. He definitely could benefit from a couple cucumber slices on his poor swollen looking under eye bags.

Note: (c)

Click Here to see the 2008 beginning of Ben.

A Cheek to Cheek Balancing Act

2011-09-16T07:00:00.000-07:00

Remember I said I seldom mark anything before quilting. I must admit sometimes it does help keep you out of trouble to do a bit of marking. I quilted down the right cheek to the bottom of Ben's face...continued under the lip area headed for the opposite cheek and realized I was starting to develope a direction of hair pattern that if continued would imbalance the frame of Ben's face. So I stopped just under the edge of Ben's lip and brought out my Conte pastel chalk pencil again. I loosely sketched in the direction of flow I wanted to compliment the opposite cheek area.

Now starting again at the higher arch ... I set up the quilting pattern to keep going back down to below his lip.

Sweet Cheeks of Ben

2011-09-14T16:09:00.000-07:00

Finally... the back of the head is pretty much quilted and I can move on to the lighter value cheek area. The photo below is the unquilted left check.

Secondly, the quilted right cheek using a variegated black,grey,silver 40 wt poly thread. This goes much faster than the back of the head pattern. It's mostly a mild elongated back and forth S curve taking advantage wherever possible of the thread value change.

Much more to do... but he's coming along.

Note : (c)

I must admit I got tired of quilting.. I have lost count of the number of monofilament bobbins I've already used. It's beyond 6. Considering a queen size bed quilt on my long arm uses 6 oversized bobbins of 40 wt thread for an entire quilt and a single monofilament bobbin holds 4 to 5 times what a bobbin of traditional thread would hold, it's no wonder I'm hearing the hmmm of my machine in my sleep. I feel better this afternoon as I took a break and cleaned 3 kitchen drawers for a sense of accomplishment and completion.

The Basic Background Pattern

2011-09-13T10:24:00.000-07:00

I admit I lost lots of sleep thinking about how to tackle this... then, I awoke one day sure I had a good plan. That gave me permission to start... and dang... I didn't do what I'd come up with as it quickly became evident this was a better choice... the choice being an almost leaf-like filler pattern made up of a central ( to the leaf) elongated spike surrounded by a slightly more graceful outer leaf edge that bent at the tip in the direction of growth. As long as this is taking ( especially since I'm going more slowly using black metallic thread ) this seems to work without too much need for preplanning. From a distance, I'm thinking this will work.

He's coming along okay. Probably 2 more days on the back of his head.... then on to his lower/outer cheeks.

Note: (c)

The Background Journey

2011-09-12T10:24:00.000-07:00

The background areas of any art quilt always offer a special challenge. Viewers of a finished quilt usually notice the focus areas and are inquisitive about how they are quilted, further wondering how hard was that area, how long did it take, etc. Surprisingly, those kinds of areas seem less difficult only because they are more interesting to the quilter, and as a result, time seems to pass more quickly. In focus areas as seen over the last few posts, each small area is a new problem solving opportunity and are usually finished more quickly than what comes later... thus... more fun! Background areas often take twice as much time as whats been done previous. The stitch patterns are often redundant and it seems like an eternity is spent here in areas less viewed but equally as important. We are in the hair at the back of this silverback's head. I've worked on it off and on for days and have at least half yet to do. I'm working with an upside down quilt here starting to add in some silver/black twist as in his brow area.

While I seldom mark anything for art quilting, sometimes a soft conte pastel pencil works nicely to create some general perimeter areas for planned quilting. Pastel pencils show up very well and brush off easily. Yeah!

Big Plump Lips

2011-09-10T09:00:00.000-07:00

If something is really rounded, I often want to use 3 values (light/middle/dark) to give adequate dimension. The middle crease of the lips was already quilted in very dark as it would be in greatest shadow. I wanted to add the 'plump area highlights using a silvery thread.

With the highlight in place, I used a light marking pencil to help me 'stop' the lower lip where tufts of hair come up to meet it.
After that, I used a variegated black/grey thread to represent the bottom edge of the lower lip.

At the bottom edge of the lower lip, I returned to using a silver/black twist to represent tufts.I may need to do more with this later. We'll see.

A Mustache of Sorts

2011-09-09T09:00:00.000-07:00

I have no idea what the tufts on either side of the nostrils are called. I tackled this area in 3 steps.
First up, I used the painted fabric as my reference to outline the inner and outer edges of the 'mustache'

Then, I took advantage of the areas of would-be shadow by adding dark ink in those shadowed areas.

Finally with a light silver thread, the highlighted areas get enhanced.

We'll move toward the lips next post.

Going for a Heavy Brow

2011-09-07T09:00:00.000-07:00

A mountain gorilla has an interesting head shape. They do have a brow area of sorts... it is often lighter than the area around the eyes, so I chose a twisted black/silver thread for this quilting effort. I wanted these brow-like areas to appear somewhwat haphazard, as they would in life, so I was allowed to stitch loosely one hair over another to represent a bad hair day appearance.

Continuing plan of working inside out, now that I have worked upward a bit from the eyes, I will go next to work to the left and right of the nostrils. That will be next post.