Envision, Explore, Evolve week 2

Busy, busy busy, but nothing seems to get done.

This week I have gotten a little done on my godess quilts inspired by Leah Day's free-motion quilting project.
Quilt 1, the one drawn and colored with Seta color and Ink intense pencils has not been touched.  I am having trouble deciding on what color to use as an outline.
 I had been thinking dark brown and then someone suggested purple.  I also was thinking about matching the thread to the  colors on the quilt. This sure would involve a lot thread changes.  Any ideas?







Quilt 2 - The batik quilt has all been outline in white.  The words need to be finished and all the thread ends need to be buried.  Will do this while watching Downton Abby tonight.

Qui;t 3 - The black quilt has been free motion quilted in white.  The words Envision, Explore,  and Evolve have been quilted.
Not too bad for a first try.

I used Jacquard sapphire blue and emerald green on the world.  The only Lumier paint I had was called Hi Lite Blue.  I actually thought it was white when I used it, until i looked at the name.  Anyway the blue did not show like I wished it had, so I brushed some of the Lumier paint over it while it was still wet.  It blended great and showed very nicely.  I put the green on and then brushed the Hi Lite Blue on to it too.  The puffiness of the batting really shows now that the world has been painted.  I used high loft batting because that is what I had and my goal this year is to use what I have.  Hopefully, when I quilt over the paint it will take care of itself.

I realized that my words should have been quilted the other direction to flow more with the quilt.  a lesson learned for the other two quilts.  I am not about to try to unpick this.

Tips for the week : two important tips I used this week that helped me with the problems of trying to use my Pfaff for freemotion quilting.  First: I used a separate thread stand.  This kept the thread from getting caught and ended my needle breaking spree.  Second: I used an embroidery needle instead of a microtex sharp.  This stopped the shredding of the thread.  Yeah!

Here are some snapshots of the charity blocks I made for my quilt group.  All our blocks were hand sewn.  The continuity in all the 8" blocks  to be made was wings.  The blocks will be made into 5 quilts  and then be auctioned of to support Berea's women's shelter.                                            

dyeing with grape hyacinth part 1

Yesterday, I took my grape hyacinth flowers out of the freezer and crushed then up. I added water in a 2:1 ratio and brought the mix to a boil and let simmer for an hour. Next I added a tsp of Alum to the pail mixture and it turned a very nice purple. This was let to sit for 24 hours.

This morning the mixture was strained for dyeing.  I wet the fabric I had previously soaked in soda ash and allowed to dry and used a pole wrap to create patterns.  Here is a picture of it dipped for just a minute.  It has more of a green shade than i was wanting.

I wet fabric, not soaked in soda ashed, in water and vinegar,twisted it and dipped it in some extra dye.  It instantly took on this lovely purple shade. 


 I splashed some vinegar on the other cloth and where it touched it became purple.   So I added about a tablespoon of vinegar to the solution. I like the two colors together. Will see the results in a few days.

 

After checking this evening the fabric looked more of a solid blue.

Last of the Snow Dyes

Here are all the scrap pieces I dyed.  I had lots of fun dyeing, but my fingers froze.

Looks like a snow cone, but don't eat!

Fushia and Black Dye

close-up

Mixture of dyes -mainly black

mixture - blue, yellow, black, and a fushia spill

Fushia, Turquoise, and Black

Snow dyeing - interesting surprise

 Okay, so I only had two racks - improvise when you are too impatient!

 here is the result.  This was on a scrap of PFD fabric.

 Close up of surprise in corner:  A butterfly (may be from South America)

Snow dyeing - more results

Here are some pictures of my synthetic silk piece.  The finished piece looked pretty good until I rinsed it,  It did not retain much of the dye.

Sketchbook Project Day XX and XXI and XXIII

Well only two more pages of my sketchbook project.  I hope you enjoyed seeing them and reading the haiku.

Sketch book Project Day XV III and XVIV

Only five pages left to post for the sketch book project

sketchbook project XVI, XVII

Sketch book Project Day XIII and XIV

Sketchbook Poject Day XII - Gulf oil spill

Gulf oil spill :0(

Sketch book Project Day VIIII, X, and XI

Here are days 9, 10 and11! Hope you enjoy!

Sketchbook Poject Day VIII - Mars

The background for this piece is of the silica spot accidentally found when the moon-rover  was having difficulty moving.   The background design was done with bleach and then the addition of a dark brown pencil.  It is a fairly accurate picture of one small section of the red planet's surface.

2011 Rainbow Scrap Challenge

While sifting through the avalanche of fabric scraps on my table and floor, I gathered up lots of blue for January's  Rainbow Scrap Challenge.  Here is a picture of my blue moon rose.

This 8.5" by  11'' piece is made with fusible web on a piece of light blue fabric.  I drew the rose on the fusible. The background scraps were put down first with edges cut to lie just under the rose.  Raw edges were folded under or tucked under the next piece and then tacked with my mini iron.  Next I made the rose from the center out, the same way and fused all.  I used a satin stitch to outline all the rose petals. Next the batting and background were added.  I put a scrap piece of blue tulle over the entire piece. It was a last minute thought and just fit with a bit of tugging.  I basted the edges and outlined the rose with invisible thread.  The quilting was free motion leaves in multicolored thread. Thread was mostly blue with analogous  colors purple and green.

Side note- I have a Blue Moon rose and they are more purple than blue.  Here is a picture of one from my garden.

 

Sketchbook Poject Day IV