SUN DRENCHED BAMBOO WALL QUILT

This piece was begun back in early June when I tried a new stabilizing process for the applique motifs, you can read about it here.

So, now it's finished. It feels more tropical than our local scenery but believe it or not, we have quite a bit of bamboo here in the mountains.

We also have a good number Florida folks that the locals dub 'half-backs'.  It's the reverse of the term 'snow birds'.  Most have retired in Florida from the East but escape the summer heat here in the mountains.

SUN DRENCHED BAMBOO - 19" x 27"

AVAILABLE HERE

Commerical cottons & ice-dyed linen, machine applique and quilted.

ANIMAL WORLD

Our curious dog, Sooty thought this large snapping turtle might be a good play mate.  Black labs are always so friendly and she is no exception.

What a surprise to see this very large turtle wandering along side of our road this morning while on our 'daily forced march'.

GIFT TAGS

Given the cost of our fiber materials, it's always so satisfying to come up with ideas to utilize as much as possible.

The bits and pieces of the mono-printed Woolfelt that remained after making numerous covered boxes were like an itch that needed to be scratched. They needed attention!  So, they were cut into a variety of shapes, backed with card stock, and will be used as gift tags.  YEAH!!!

UPDATE:   I'm always surprised  at the interest you readers exhibit!  So because I've already had two questions about this little project let me explain further.  The small left-over pieces of painted felted wool were glued to cardstock with Scotch Super 77.  

It WAS MESSY due to the need to handle all the pre-cut small pieces. They were placed upside down in a shallow cardboard box, sprayed and then at first using my fingers but later I tried a tweezers which was too difficult to manage, turned them right side up onto cardstock.  I covered that with a piece of plastic (grocery store type) and pressed down firmly to provide a good bond.  It was allowed to sit for several hours before cutting away the excess cardstock.

I'm not a fan of spray adhesives for many reasons but my experience has taught me that neither Wonder-Under nor some of the liquid glues would bond well enough to stay secure for any length of time.  The porous nature of the woolfelt can be an issue when bonding.

Also, after spraying my first batch, I placed a sheet of tissue paper in the bottom of the cardboard box to cover the sticky residue before positioning more felt pieces.  Do that each time you spray otherwise glue will remain on the front of the mono-printed fabric. A box used help contain the overspray!

 

A large-eye sharp crewel needle worked well to attach strings to the gift tags.

Here's my pile of completed tags.....  Hope this provides you with the info necessary to create your own boxes or tags.

MONO-PRINTED BOXES

The most recent Fiber Junkie play day found me focused on printing National Nonwoven's Woolfelt using stencils & acyrlic paints.

 This is one pleasing example. 

It was turned into this covered box. I'll opt for working with larger pieces of fabric in the future to cut down on the small leftovers pieces. 

It was such fun, I made more.......

SUNSET ON THE BLUE RIDGE

Handwork is still an issue for me right now and that has given me the push to reorganize my studio and spend more time at the sewing machine.  

This piece of folded/dye-painted cotton was uncovered in the tidying up process.    The horizontal bands nudged my design toward a landscape.  This was far more time consuming a project than I ever expected.  In part because finding the right blues in my stash to depict the Blue Ridge Mountains was a bit of a challenge.  In the end, paint sticks and variegated threads were a big help!

I also learned that just because I was using the sewing machine.....the massive amount of stitching still took a lot of time.

 SUNSET ON THE BLUE RIDGE   25.5" X 13.5"

AVAILABLE HERE

Dye-painted & hand-dyed cottons, heavily machine stitched.

Detail

Check out what other creative folks have been up to this week:  Nina-Marie's Off The Wall Friday, Sarah's Whoop Whoop Friday, and Crazy Mom Quilts.

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LIFTING SPIRITS

The most valuable bonus of my 25+ career as a quilt professional is definitely the folks I've met along the quilting highway.  It's only natural that once the travel stops, contact with so many drops off.

 

So when a package arrived in the mail from my friend Casey in Baltimore....well it certainly put a smile on my face.  How very thoughtful that during her first visit to the famous Lambeau Field and the Green Bay Packer Hall of Fame that she remembered me.

"The husband" and I had just remarked that the first Packer game is only 1 month and a day away.....now that's a true blue GREEN fan!  Until then.....remember these words   GO PACK GO!!!!

Thank you Casey!!!

IS THIS A SIGN??

Not wanting to sound like a broken record......but I will anyway.....my vision issues have gotten worse, which has obviously been pretty darn upsetting.  The good thing is the surgeon thinks he now knows what's wrong and I'll be having a special scan before the end of the week.  This will provide some answers which hopefully will be a guide to treatment.

This rainbow was visible on our 'forced march' today, so I'm taking this as a positive sign......

LET'S NOT FORGET

LAND OF THE FREE BECAUSE OF THE BRAVE!

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FIBER JUNKIES - JUNE SHOW AND TELL

Besides spending creative time together at our Fiber Junkies meetings, all 6 members are constantly producing new work.  We share our work to inspire, get feedback, and general brain storming each time we gather.

Judy brought several 3-d mounted pieces this month.  Each features techniques such as photo transfer & screen printing.

Besides trees, her favorite subject is leaves.....not surprising when you see her masterful use of color, design, and texture.

Every detail is considered, she even incorporates 'back art'.

Gen has kept her sewing machine purring as she continues on her piecing marathon.  Careful use of scraps make for such happy quilt tops.

Denny's denim/scrap backing of her quilt made us all smile.

Yikes.....correct me girlfriends....was this Kate's or another one of Gen's??  How great is it that our show and tell is so expansive that recall is difficult once I get home! (Or how bad is it that my memory is so poor?) 

Above and below - Perfect for that 'off to college" gift.

FIBER JUNKIES - LATE JUNE MEETING

Fiber Junkies meeting day is one we look forward to all month. During the summer we gather at Val's, who not only generously shares her studio......but we overrun her house as well.  Instead of a single theme this month, we each kinda did our own thing.

 This is a dream group.....talented and giving members who blend together so well.  We each have our own spacious table and supplies are freely shared between everyone.  Note the back wall.....it's FILLED with Val's silk screens....aren't we lucky to have access to them!?!

 Here's one of her border screen....sorry about the poor quality photo.

 And here's a piece Val just screened using one of the designs.

 Judy is tackling a major project, with a deadline closing in, so her goal was to create some fabric that appeared old, with crackling/peeling paint to be incorporated into her design.

Val, whose touch is always magic, is helping Judy with the paint layering process.

 Kate brought previously dyed/painted fabrics to enhance.  She's drawn to images of coastal South Carolina and this fun piece is going in that direction.

 Gen will be moving soon, hopefully nearby, and has decided to get a jump on organizing her fabrics by making kits from her scraps.  A really smart idea. 

We are all soooo very happy Denny has been able to join us again even though she continues to oversee some family health problems.  She can be counted on to get us interested in new directions for our work.  This 'transfer' image technique is one we will be exploring in an upcoming meeting.

 My quest was to mono print some National NonWoven's Woolfelt.  We came up with this (new for us) method during our last mono-printing session.  To obtain good prints when using stencils, one is positioned (or other flat item) beneath a blank silk screen.  Paint is then drawn through the screen....here I used an old gift card.  The screen is simply moved from place to place on the fabric one is printing.

This approach keeps the stencil flat and helps to keep the paint from migrating beneath the cut out areas of the stencil.  It's doubly important in this instance because of the wool's nap. 

 I borrowed stencil from Gen to mono-print dots on the other half.

Once dried, one of Judy's fabulous small screens was used as an over-lay and printed with black paint.

Next, I switched gears to try to give a face lift to this purple (though it may not look purple in the photo) silk noil.  It had been previously altered by bleaching with dry bleach.  The small discharged areas were simply not interesting enough.

This is better!!

 

More printed wool felt 

And a final one.....  I have no plans for their use right now....just happy to know they are there when inspiration hits me.  

Stay tuned for FJ show and tell next post....in the meantime....see what others have been up to this week:  Nina-Marie's Off The Wall Friday, Whoop Whoop Friday, Crazy Mom Sews.

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