Catchng up....

So earlier this month I promised I'd share some of the things I have been working on.

Well the first project I can only share a corner as it is a challenge piece for one of my guilds.  It is another piece done with my mother as my inspiration.  This time it is a salute to her strength and fortitude.  I can't share what just yet, as it will give away my piece, but here is a quick peek at some of the quilting.  I love the piping, as the black polka dots on the fabric are random, so the sliver that shows in the piping is truly sporadic.

This piece is quilted with Aurifil 50 weight cotton.

Once that piece was done and ready to be turned in to the challenge team, I picked up another UFO from last fall (yeah, shamelessly I have more UFO's than I care to admit.  I remember when I made sure I never had more than one other piece in process.  Oh well!)....  It is a piece that was started during my semi-annual Friday Night Fun at the CQ Getaway.  Yes, this piece took more than just the Friday evening.  I didn't actually finish the top until mid-day on Saturday.  But I finally took it out of the bag and finished it.   At the retreat everyone kept coming up to the piece to see the chickens running loose in the yard (by the base of the tree).

I did a bit of thread play on the top before quilting this piece.  More than half of the sun rays, as well as the little patches of grass on the hills and all the stitching on the leaves were done on the top only.  (disregard the little bit of lint...  it is amazing where these lint balls try to call home)

I enjoyed adding dimension to the piece as well.  The beige tablecloth in the laundry basket is sticking out and just hanging over the edge, as well as the purple one behind it.  The quilt the ladies are hanging on the line is a full quilt (all 3 layers). I still have to add the handwork to represent the 'clothes pins'.

I should have took a close up of the boulders I quilted in the boarders.  I love the texture it gives the piece.


"Laundry Day" as I have named it, is a true testament as to why as a quilter you probably need more thread than fabric :-)..  This small 24" x 26" has 10 different threads in it.  Sulky solids and variegated, Aurifil 50 wt cotton, Superior Masterpiece/Sew Fine/Rainbows, Mettler Twists, Gutterman and Isacord.

 I used Quilters Dream batting in both pieces.

Cross one off the list, but I have about 8 other UFO's sitting there waiting to be finished!

Pictures as promised... and finally a name for the Woven Challenge

Teri... beat me up this morning for not posting pictures last night. Ok, well not literally, but you can see her comment on my post from last night. So.... here we go...

The unveiling of 'Sistah Chat'... a.k.a.: Woven Challenge....As I mentioned last night, the piece is not 100 percent finished. I have added the shawls which are actually drapped from behind the sistah's shoulders and will just be tacked down for a 3-D effect. All the quilting is done, but I need to do some more embellishments... earings, rim of the brown vase in the center, beading of their necklines, friz around the masks, etc.... Then I have to decide on how to finish. I don't want a traditional binding. I really want to do some sort of fluffy fiber boarder, although I will probably add a dark fused boarder first to wrap around the edges, so that the batting doesn't show. But that is still up in the air at this point. What do you think?

Next here are the pictures of my trapunto playing... and tonight I did two more with bamboo batting. You can definitely see the difference... oh yeah, you can see where Dancing with the Stars sort of distracted me and I snipped the fabric while cutting out the extra batting... duh....

This was done with 2 layers of cotton batting, Superior vanishing thread and then quilted with variegated Sulky thread. Not enough puff for me and the variegated thread is too overpowering.







This one was done with the same vanishing thread,
but regular weight black cotton thread and 2 layers of cotton batting. It looks better overall, but still not enough puff for me.

So tonight I tried bamboo batting. I like these results better....

This is two layers of bamboo batting and the same thread. Better, but still not great. The picture is bad, but you can definitely see the puffiness is greater.









This is 2 layers of bamboo batting, but with a lighter thread, 60 weight cotton. It looks heavier, but I ran out of scraps of black fabric, so it shows up more. I also was tired of doing an all over stipple, so I played with another quilting pattern, just quite a bit smaller than I have ever done.







I like this one the best.... You can definitely see how puffy the piece is.... but you can also see my snip throughs... oh well, it was only to play.



So, I think my batting choice for trapunto is definitely bamboo over cotton. I hear wool is also nice, but that will have to be for another night.

Night!

A Good Day... woven piece, trapunto and more!

Today was a good day... rainy, so what better to do than play with fabric and thread!

I made great progress on my woven piece that I have been working on since January. It is all quilted, and I am adding the embellishments. But it looks like I will need to take a trip to the store to find the right pieces for earings, etc... so I squared it up and then began playing with the black and white piece I had been working on.

Well, actually it is ready for quilting, so I didn't work on it. Instead since I want to add trapunto to this piece, I decided to practice the various techniques I have been reading up on. I have read Philipa Naylor's book and she adds quite a bit of trapunto to her pieces. I tried her double batting technique and I like the puff, but of course I used my scraps of cotton batting, which didn't make it puffy enough for me. You can see more of her amazing work in her online gallery.

So I began chatting on facebook with my friend Teri and she gave me some tips as she has also started using trapunto in her work lately. So tomorrow night I think I will have to pull out some of my old polyester batting and give it a try. I hear it puffs up much nicer. I also hear the wool is the best, but since I just brought my first package of wool batting and it is quite pricey, I will wait until I perfect my work alittle bit first. Oh yeah... I have some bamboo batting around as well from another project. I will give that a try to see which I like the most. Do you have a favorite trapunto technique or batting you think I should try?

I know, folks have been asking for pictures of the progress on my woven piece and I promise.... I will take pictures tomorrow and post them!

For now, good night!

New Challenge: Post #8

Ok, here is tonight's progress.... it is amazing but the applique part of this progress just seems to lift me. I was dancing and singing in the studio as I worked. I really enjoy playing and creating the appliques to transform the vision I have in my head into reality.



Not sure, but the black and white vase on the bottom left may be a little too big, but it can be trimmed if need be later. I still need to add the tree trunk on the left, but I also think I need more palms on that tree. The green on the left balances the green mass of bushes on the right. I enjoyed creating the small masks hanging on the stone wall. This brings color out from the center of the piece. Need to think about whether I need to do the same on the right side, somehow.

Hopefully I will get to the fabric store to get some gold satin or lame to make the shawls for the ladies. My DH keeps asking about their arms :-)!

I am happy tonight. I can go to sleep dreaming of how this will evolve over the weekend.

New Challenge: Post #7

Well, I guess I had to make up for lost time. Teri, even responded to my post on Facebook that she was shocked I hadn't done much of anything for a week... I think she used the term "quilting withdrawal syndrome" :-).

So tonight I added a brown wicker basket to the middle of the piece and the foliage on the right hand wall. I really like how the green foliage really adds some life to the stone wall. I think it is really starting to come together.


Can you believe almost a month on this piece and not a bit of sewing. Nothing is actually sewn. Various sections are just fused and for now pinned together to form the piece.

Now what to do on the left hand side of the piece... hmphhh....

New Challenge - Post #6

I haven't had much energy over the last week to quilt or to design.... always so much to do. Life can seem to get in the way of creativity at times :-). But I thought I would share what little progress I have made on my woven piece. Good news, no more weaving... bad news is finding just the right fabric to go with all these colors is a challenge... and I LOVE color.

Well I have created my 2 ladies and two of the baskets that will go between them. I still need to create a basket on the left side, but the left hand dress is sooo busy I need to tone down all the choices I have come up with so far. But here it is....


I still need to add the ladies shawls, some trees on the sides of the walls and maybe some leaves coming down over the top of the wall, and, and, and.....

But that is another day...

New Challenge Update - Post #5

Well... after playing around with the sky and floor with various fabrics draped around it, I decided to not make a second sky section until I had the stone wall created to frame the view. So I spent the last few nights creating my grid on Wonder-Under, transferring it to the two fabrics and weaving the two batiks to create the stone wall. I am glad I did..... take a look....

I am pretty pleased with the results, although I think I will still add some blue on the sides of the sun where it meets the floor (the horizon)... just to help delineate visually the sun from the sky. The sections are just pinned together at this point.... I am still trying to decide if the brown fabric I selected for the archway is too reddish in nature.

I also made my templates for the applique women and baskets tonight, as well as auditioned fabric for the dresses. In going through my African inspired fabric, I think I found two pieces that are pretty graphic in nature, yet on a small enough scale to work as dress fabric. They both have a deep blue as the primary color that will help tie the background together. That will be tomorrow night's project.

Looking at the piece I think I will definitely need to add some green leaves or ivy to the wall... or maybe a palm tree... hmphhh... well, I will cross that bridge when I get to it. Tonight I will enjoy the fact that I am pleased with where this piece is at the moment. Although the stone wall took FOREVER to weave........ ughh!

Night!

Not sure if I like the sun and sky (New Challenge Post #4)

Ok, I was so inspired after my mini group left Monday, that I had to get right to work on moving this piece from paper to fabric. Last night I created the floor. I love the fabric choices. It really does have the slate/marble look.

Tonight I played with the sun and sky. I say played, because I made two of them and I am not sure I like either. This one is the best, but I don't think that by bringing the sun fabric up into the sky, to create that morning sky effect, that there is truly enough contrast once the two fabrics are woven.


I am going to have to sleep on this for the night. Maybe tomorrow night I will make one with the sun, but with a true blue woven into the blue/pink/orange stripe for the sky.

Well I know this piece would be a challenge, so I will take it slow and easy and see where it takes me. Remember from the sketch that the appliqued ladies will be standing in front of the sky, so maybe I won't be able to decide on the right sky, until I decide on how they will be dressed. Oh, that is what makes this so fun and adventurous!

Night!

New Challenge - Post #3

Ok, so none of the previous sketches (post #2) made the cut. Instead I am going with this one:

Tonight at my mini group gathering. Sandra Parrott helped me fix the arch from a visual perspective and gave me some ideas on fabric choices for the sky, considering the design is that of a rising sun. Sandra, Ann and Giovanna are very good with perspective, etc.... from an artist point of view and helped me think of how I wanted the various aspects of the piece to work in relation to the other.... for example the stone wall receding from the scene of the two women, standing in front of the rising sun and the rays of the sun and it's affect on the color of the morning sky. Me, I am just a struggling crafter turned quilter, trying to move into art quilting. So tonight was extremely valuable in more ways than one.

Thanks ladies, now I am all fired up and ready to begin actually working on the piece vs scribbling on paper :-)!

New Challenge.. Post #2

Spurred on by Teri's comments, I now have two sketches as starting points. Not sure if I will end up with either, once I go to the class, or maybe I will modify them once the juices start flowing, but either way, it is a start.

With this one, the thought was to incorporate curves and angles, along with color gradations. The theme of the piece would be no matter where in the world we come from Hats are a common thread amongst the diverse cultures... in many cultures or periods in time, you weren't dressed without your hat. (Sorry the pictures aren't very clear.) The colors in the globe are blue and green. I would need to find the right yellow and orange dyed fabric to make this work as drawn.







In the second sketch, my love of circles and stars come out. I don't have a theme for this piece, but I do love stars and circles, so it was a way to incorporate both in one piece. I am struggling though on how to add a dimensional aspect, making the stars seem further back in the piece. The woven background in this piece would be dark blue and purple, with bright colored stars and circles. I want the stars to seem further away then the circles, without having to lose the bright colors. Not sure how to accomplish that, but hopefully we will discuss that in the workshop.

I'll let you know how things go after the session tomorrow.

Cheers!

A new addition...

I have been taking a class at The Country Quilter this month, based on the fabric weaving technique of Anna Faustino. We have had two classes. The first taught us how to weave the fabric and the second talked about quilting techniques, including the use of toule over the weaved fabric to simplify the required quilting. I liked this idea, so I used red toule... it really enhanced my bright colored background. This allowed me to use a straight stitch to quilt the piece with the back on, all in one step. We were free to applique whatever we wanted on our piece, so I decided to add silhouettes of dancers. I took the general shapes from a piece of African fabric that I had by Jordan Morris, for Michael Miller Fabrics. I modified the shapes for my purposes and then did some thread painting on the black silhouette to add the clothes, bangles and shakers. I really enjoyed the thread painting. I didn't want to do it as part of the quilting, so I outlined the shapes on the black fabric, then did the painting using different thread on each shape. I then fused them onto Wonder Under, cut them out and fused on to the already quilted background. Then I used free-motion quilting to outline quilt the shapes on the piece.




This is a really simple technique. I will definitely use weaved backgrounds again. The only thing I will do differently next time is to use the pillow-case technique, as the binding isn't as bold as the rest of the background fabric becuase it doesn't have the red toule over it.

Actually, I just had a thought... maybe I will fold the binding over onto the back, making a facing finish vs the binding, so the binding fabric doesn't show.

Oh well... it is an idea. Hope you like the piece.

Cheers!