Double posting today.....I'd been having trouble getting my photos to load on my blog.....finally figured out what was wrong.....and since I have now finished my latest tree piece.....here it is.

Now available with free shipping.

 

5 TREES  -  28.5” x 17”

Gelli printed grunge style trees on cotton, raw edge appliquéd, commercial batik background, densely machine quilted, hand embroidered, faced edges with hanging sleeve attached.

GROWING

My trees are growing...........................

BE MORE FLEXIBLE

Just because you want to use a specific piece or style of fabric, doesn't mean it will work! Continual reminders like this are still necessary despite my 40+ years of creating original art quilts.

I WANTED to use one of my beautiful ice-dyed fabrics as a background for a new art quilt that will feature some of my newly made 'grunge' gelli printed fabric. You can clearly see another option was going to show off these gelli prints more clearly. Okay, just do it!!!

Quilting on the appropriate background fabric has begun! 

"THE TWINS"

 It's been my habit to share mostly quilt/fiber related art on my blog and Facebook page.  It acts like a journal for me to document my projects and development of  techniques.  I'm grateful others find it interesting enough to follow along.....thank you.

Today it's more personal...........of thoughts floating in my mind, especially at the beginning of April each year and July 2nd and the urge to speak out loud (or rather via a keyboard)..  ****No quilting remarks today so hit delete if you wish.

We were always referred to as "THE TWINS".........not necessarily Nancy and Mary................but just "The Twins".  The pictures here show you why.  It's now been 23 years since your shining star became visible from above.  Oh the memories.......

The summer we spent 2 days in a row sitting through back to back showings of "Bye Bye Birdie"........and sang that song over and over as we swam in Cedar Lake, the day I drove you to the hospital after you broke your leg, the time you talked me into practicing your developing hairdresser skills by streaking my hair and turning me into a skunk!  And the biggest shock of all, when Dr. Parker of the City of Hope Hospital informed us DNA tests confirmed we are identical twins, rather than fraternal as we had grown up believing.  As he said, "The DNA does not lie".  

Think of you most of all today Nancy......my twin.

GELLI PLATE RABBIT HOLE

 I've gone down a rabbit hole! I'm so smitten with Gelli printing on fabric, mostly trying to understand and learn to be more intentional, though results are generally still happy surprises.

It was high time that I used some of the growing pile, printed only on fabric...no paper. I've used pieces in art quilts but wanted to find other uses. Here are two large composition sized book covers that are stitched/pieced/appliquéd - not collaged.

With another Artisan Faire coming up in the fall my goal is to grow that inventory of products. The last two books I've shared here are made using deconstructed screen printing and rusting on silk noil, plus digital photo transfer on fabric. *Available

MAXWELL'S GROWTH CHART

 Hurrah!!  I've completed the commission.  It was truly a pleasure to challenge myself to creating the now 7th growth chart.

I had a dickens of a time trying to get decent photos of the entire piece....backgrounds such as this energetic one seem not to cooperate with the camera.  The detail views provide a more realistic look.

MAXWELLS' GROWTH CHART -  19" x 43"

'GROWING' A GROWN CHART

After creating numerous growth charts , the process is becoming more and more enjoyable.  Narrow vertical designs have their own unique challenges.

Construction progress continues......

NEW COMMISSION

 It's always so gratifying to be commissioned to create a piece...this is the 2nd one I received from this couple.  The request:  a Growth Chart for their new baby boy.

I received some guidelines such as color, theme etc. and was sort of  surprised they strayed away from traditional pastels.  Instead they asked for a nature theme; trees, mountains, animals.  Colors:  browns, greens, tan etc.

                                      

The first step was to select a background.....I always feel my fabric stash is more than adequate but surprise....I only had two pieces long enough that worked.        

                      Next design ideas and colors are auditioned.

Using both fabric and paper motifs the design is beginning to develop.  Come back and see how it 'grows'.

Geli Printing

 A friend enthusiastically purchased a geli plate.  It was just the excuse we needed to do some playful printing.  Because she's a newbie to this method I introduced her to simple, but effective 'mark making'.

My goal was to get more constant & dependable results, especially the desire to fully transfer all the paint from the plate.  

The first photo is Dianne's fun prints.  Love her 12" x 12" plate....it yields more useable sized prints than my 8"x 10".

The rest of the photos are my experiments....you can see most of the prints are muddy and with very little texture.  THE REASON:  I over-printed some of these 3-4 times in an effort to improve (ha, then destroy) the original print.  No worries....today I discovered a valuable trick that I can improve upon as it pertains to printing on fabric.  

NEW WORK AVAILABLE

It’s not a surprise when I lose perspective over a project that required both a long design and construction process.  Relief at completion can be accompanied by uncertainty and delight!  This piece comprised both an immense amount of work and practiced skills.  Smaller complex pieces can often be extra challenging.  I’m very pleased that my geli printed stones inspired a walk through a woodland filled with tiny wild flowers.  I hope you enjoy it as well.

PATHWAY THROUGH NATURE -  21.5” x 16.5”

$325 - Free US shipping 

Cotton batiks, Geli printed stones, raw edge appliqué, machine & hand embroidery, and machine quilted.  Double fold binding, ready to hang with fabric sleeve attached.