GUTSY MOVE

There was always something about this piece that wasn't quite right....unusual colors yes, stretched design/setting....a bit of a failure.  I kept looking and looking to see how I could save it and the answer became clear.

GET RUTHLESS!!!!!

Out came the ruler and rotary cutter......

Holding my breath....I sliced it apart.  Then framed it...now I like it and I hope someone else will too.

TROPICAL FLOWER SEED PODS -  13" X 13"

Available here

Artist hand-dyed cottons, hand & machine applique, 

hand embroidered.

BACK TO TRADITION

Creating affordable art for sale generally requires a different construction approach.  That doesn't mean a reduction of quality, rather that stitching is mostly by machine instead of the much more time consuming hand work I've enjoyed since I began quilt making back in the early 80's.

My stealth project features hand applique....a labor of love.

NEW PROJECT UNDER WRAPS

I'm going to be working on a new project that will be kept under-wraps for the time being, therefore my fiber posts may be infrequent.  This is the last you'll probably see of the piece, but I'll be documenting the process and share when I can.

 I'll be focusing on other positive details, which will definitely not be politically related.  I'm totally fed up with all that's going on.  So, please check back won't you?

ANTICIPATION....

Still no in-person fiber group gatherings so I'm using my time to create, create, create.  

 Idea sort of sketched, fabric pulled.....of course this took all day.  No snap decisions here.

The background focus fabric was in my stash, flat dyed painted in 2015.  Unusual colors that took some searching to find companions that played well with it.  Let's see what develops.....

CHANGE OF DIRECTION

I've put the silk dipioni project on hold until I can come up with a better plan.....

Instead I'm heading in a different direction.....a deconstructed large tropical leaf motif.......

 ..........Perhaps paired with screen printed fabric. 

 Designing continues with the addition of fern like motifs.

Big change.......I'm considering drastically reducing the size to narrow the focus.....come back to see what I decide.

PLAYING WITH A PELICAN

Creating again.....

 A repeat look at the white/black patchwork quilt top recently stitched.

It's the backdrop for a colorful Pelican....sure, I know Pelicans don't look like this!

It's called artistic license!  There's many decisions and much stitching ahead....come back to see what happens next.

WORKING SLOWLY

WOW....who knew?  Starting with a clean, almost pristine studio should be invigorating with design avenues wide open.  Instead, I spent two days shuffling piles of fabrics, notebook ideas, and mental images not being able to settle down and select one direction.

Perhaps this rather uninspiring piece of hand hand silk noil is a reflection of the mood??

 It got more interesting when I pulled out this deconstructed piece and decided to marry the two.

  I tend to drift toward uncluttered whole cloth as backgrounds for my designs.  Hopefully not boring, instead the goal is to create pieces that can hang in a room and be enjoyed for a long period of time. I prefer to avoid making the big shiny star piece that wears out its welcome too quickly.

For this project's background, I chose a nearly tone on tone batik with the appearance of a woodcut.  To provide the stitching control and accuracy I desire.....painter's tape strips are cut, measured, and positioned on the stabilized fabric.

This will become a double straight line pattern......after sewing along the left side of the tape, it's removed and my pressure foot becomes the guide for line #2.  

Check back here won't you??

In the meantime check out these links to explore what other artists have been working on this week:  Sarah's Whoop Whoop Friday, Nina-Marie's Off the Wall Friday.

FISH WALL ART....IN PROGRESS

With so many household tasks on my to-do list, studio time has been very limited.  However, with a few breaks here and there, fabric choices and layout decisions have jelled.

I hope to begin the actual construction soon....stay tuned.....

Ice-dyed background & colorful fun commercial fabrics

4 GREEN TREES - AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE

After 10 days - averaging 6 hours each = 60 hours NOT including the hours spent printing the fabric nor the cost of materials.....the hourly rate I've earned is about $3.00, pretty pathetic!  However, the creative pleasure gained can't be measured.  Perhaps you'd like to give this piece a home?

4 GREEN TREES- 19" x 32.5"

$225

Artist deconstructed screen printed cottons, machine applique & quilted.
Prepared for hanging. Shipping included on this piece.

CONTINUING - DESIGN PROCESS - Facing & label

Part 6 -  Creating a wall art quilt - from start to finish.....

I'm now in the finishing phase so today we will look at how I finished the edge and created the label for this piece.

*Note - if you've missed the other posts, scroll back to see the entire process.

Some quilts benefit from a clean finish edge, rather than the addition of a binding.  4 - 2" wide strips are needed.  2 strips are cut 2" shorter in length than the vertical measurement & 2 are cut 2" longer than the width of the piece.  I've pressed a 1/4" hem on each.  Starting with the sides: match raw edges, right sides together & sew with a 1/4" seam.  

Before attaching the horizontal strips, press each side strip to the outside and stay stitch 1/8" from the seam line as shown.  This will make it easier and tidier to turn the facing to the wrong side.

 Stay stitching is completed and it's ready to turn to the back side of the quilt.

(Viewed from wrong side)....only the thinnest amount of the quilt top will be visible after turning and pressing the facing to the back. 

 I find it easier to get sharp corners if I take the time to turn, press, and hand sew the side facings before the last two facing strips are sewn.  Once that's complete, repeat with the remaining strips.  When hand sewing these last two strips, turn in the excess fabric at the corners.

NOW....let's look at how I create my LABELS.

 My labels are printed onto fabric using an Espon printer fitted with Durabright ink.  I've created a master form in my word processing file which can be changed with each new quilt.  Though I'm not a big fan of spray adhesive, I find it a good tool for this task.  A rough cut piece of fabric is sprayed lightly on the wrong side and adhered to a piece of card stock.  In this case I used a piece shorter than the length of the paper, the edges have been trimmed to size. Painters tape is secured to the top edge to keep the fabric in place as it's grabbed by the printer's rollers. 

 I sign it before removing from the card stock.

 Next it's peeled away from the card stock, heat set, fused with a paper-back fusible to the wrong side, and rotary cut using a wavy edge blade.

Finally the paper backing is removed and the label is fused to the back of the quilt.

One last step is necessary before calling this piece complete.  Come back and check out my method of creating a fabric hanging sleeve.

CONTINUING - DESIGN PROCESS

Part 5 -  Creating a wall art quilt - from start to finish.....

*Note - if you've missed the other posts, scroll back to see the entire process.

As you can perhaps surmise, the applique has been completed and 3 other more subtle details have been added.  I purposely stayed away from a bright color for the birds, choosing instead a more blendable color to allow the viewer to 'discover' them upon closer inspection of the piece.

A backing has been added and the tree motifs have been outline quilted to better hold the layers together.  The final step will be to finish the edges with a facing and I'll show you the method I use in the next post.

Linking to:  Nina-Marie's Off The Wall Friday & Sarah's Whoop Whoop Friday.

CONTINUING - DESIGN PROCESS

Part 4 -  Creating a wall art quilt - from start to finish.....

At last....I'm satisfied with the tree motifs which are pinned in position to the quilt top on my design wall.

I came up with a clever trick numerous years ago when working on a piece that required precision placement of its many small design elements.  Rather than trying to move work this size to a pressing surface and hoping nothing shifts (of course it will), I use a Clover mini-iron to tack each piece in place. Once the elements are temporarily secured, the entire piece is transferred to a large pressing surface and permanently fused together. 

Here's another trick to use when machine appliqueing to avoid those pesky frayed threads along the edge of a fused motif.  Before machine stitching, use a tiny paint brush to coat the edge of the applique with Fray Block - a June Tailor product. Batiks don't fray as easily, but being hyper fussy about high quality workmanship, it's my standard procedure no matter what fabric I'm working with. I learned about this product from my pal Linda Cantrell....well known for her detailed humorous appliqué quilts.  

With matching thread, I've machine appliqued each section.  The machine is equipped with an open toe embroidery foot and programed with  a narrow blanket stitch.

Again, being the control freak I am about tidy workmanship, I pull the beginning and ending thread ends on each and every section to the wrong side and tie off. Yes, it's very time consuming....and it's just another example of why it can take me so much time to create a quality wall art quilt.

It's almost finished.....stay tuned for the rest....

CONTINUING....DESIGN PROCESS

Part 3 - Creating a wall art quilt - from start to finish.....

 If you guessed this fabric, we agreed.....however, even after my 25+ years of quilting experience, teaching/speaking on the national quilt circuit.....I can still get it wrong! Most of my work now features simple motifs/uncluttered designs which is why I chose only 4 large tree motifs as the design elements for this busy background.

 However, since 4 tree blobs felt heavy and uninspiring, fracturing them seemed to fit the background style better.  Which is where I ran into problems....though this green batik fabric appears to stand out quite well in this close up....in person the pieces didn't have enough contrast.  I spent way too much time trying to make it work; outlining the edges with a brighter green, free motion stitching within the section, and even considering hand embroidering a blanket stitch around each one.  If I wanted to fracture the trees, I'd need to switch fabric.

So, I gave up and moved onto a darker batik fabric.  I'm days into this project already and this is what I have to show for all that time....a background, 1 tree blob, 1 dark fractured tree, and 1 lighter fractured tree failure.

 Okay.....moving on....I'm going with the darker fractured tree but another problem cropped up. Notice how the split between the top left two pieces nearly disappears?  The background in that section was too dark.....

 I tried moving the position of this tree but it needed to be where it was.....so I used an oil pastel to lighten the background of that area.

Here's the result....you'd never know the background fabric has been altered.  Next step......fusing and then appliqueing the trees in place.  Watch for part 4 soon.

DESIGN PROCESS CONTINUED.....

.......The collage background was a tad fussier to piece because the majority of the deconstructed screen printed fabrics were polished cotton.  That fabric printed with beautiful color and detail, but it's flimsy and difficult to work with. It wasn't long before I grabbed spray sizing to help to tame it somewhat.

 Top now pieced - about 33" x 20"

 The top is still more unstable then I'd like (that darn polished cotton!!), so I went ahead and added batting and straight line quilting to provide additional texture and strength.

 The vertical lines of quilting were stitched at varying widths from one another.

Now that the background is finished, more than an hour went into digging through my stash to find what I hope will be the right choice for main motif elements.  The plan is to use only 1....which one do you think I picked?

AHHHH, AN IDEA IS BORN

Are you curious about how a wall art quilt is made from beginning to end? Follow along as I begin a new piece. Sometimes, even before a design idea gets born, certain fabrics that I previously created start trying to get my attention. I know it sound silly but it's almost like they are yelling pick me, pick me....I've been waiting on the shelf too long.

 So I arranged several pieces of deconstructed screen printed polished cotton on my design wall. Still not knowing where this is going....I pulled some hand-dyed cottons in accent colors of greens and reds.

After several days of passively pondering over design options, I think an idea is finally born. The large pieces (plus more from my stash) are being cut apart, arranged and sewn back together collage fashion to create a background. 

Check back to see the next step.....

NEW YEAR - NEW WORK

A new project in the works....what a great way to start the New Year!

I've had this piece of ice-dyed silk noil (left) on my design wall for a couple of months, along with an ice-dyed linen napkin and eco-printed silk motif (right). The later came together fairly quickly and is already in my online gallery for sale.  However, a design for the other piece kept eluding me.

 After following many dead end paths, I'm now on a roll.....

 Of course a roll doesn't mean the construction is going quickly....hand appliqué can be so tedious when sewing through a stabilizer, not to mention the 3 layers that make up the moon.

Instead of tackling the many year end tasks every household must face, not to mention my little cottage industry, I spent the first day of 2018 happily stitching away while binging on episodes of "Vera".