Power Suit Quilts

Saturday, my 3 power suit quilt challenge pieces were returned.  They have been on the road since September 2011.  They have been in numerous venues and shows.  There were a total of 108 quilts in Cyndi Souder's Power Suits challenge.   Power Suits also appeared in the Fall 2012 issue of Quilt Trends magazine.   Here is a copy of the venue schedule they traveled.

Saturday, October 22, 2011 4-8pm	Exhibit Opening and Artist's Reception at Artistic Artifacts Free admission
Sunday, October 23, 2011 noon-5pm	Artistic Artifacts Cyndi & Judy will be available for questions Free admission
October 24 to November 23, 2011 during shop hours	Artistic Artifacts; Free admission
March 14-17, 2012	Lancaster Spring Quilt Show Host Resort, Lancaster, PA
June 7 to July 20, 2012	The Morin Gallery at The Arts Center In Orange Virginia National Bank -- 102 East Main Street, Orange, VA The Law Offices of Sean D. Gregg -- 111 East Main Street, Orange, VA
August 1-4, 2012	Upper MidWest Show/Machine Quilting Today Oconomowoc, Wisconsin (near Milwaukee)
September 7 to October 27, 2012	School 33 Art Center 1427 Light Street, Baltimore, MD 21230 Artist's Reception: September 7, 6-9pm
January 24-27, 2013	Road to California Ontario, California
March 1-31, 2013	Del Ray Artisans' Gallery Alexandria, Virginia Power Art; Featuring Power Suits/A Show Within a Show Showing selected Power Suit Quilts
June 27-29, 2013	NQA 44th Annual Quilt Show Columbus, OH

3 Day Dog Quilts - Dog 2 Thread painting

I finally found time to sew today and finished the pug.  There is always a stage where you think that it all looks bad, and too much thread has been used.  This is when I keep going and add some more. Here 's a look at the thread I chose to paint the pug.  The following are some pictures of the dog in various stages of being thread painted.

3 Day Dog Quilts - Dog 2 fabric

Fabric Dog Stage

Here are some pictures of the process of adding the fabric to my canvas sketch.  I free hand cut all the fabric, added each piece and then choose and cut another piece.  I think the blue and purple under the black thread painted layer will help add dimension.


To hold everything together until covered with thread painting I use a bit of elmers washable school glue and freemotion zig zag stitch with invisible thread.

3 Day Dog Quilts - Dog 2

Sketching

Here is Dog 2  - such a cute little pug.  I will need to narrow the black section on his face a bit.  The camera angle really distorts the face on the drawn picture.   The sketch on cloth will be where I make the changes before adding the scrap color layer.  

  

3 day dogs- dog 1 finished

Okay so it took more than 3 days, but only because I didn't get around to sewing.  I spent 3 hours last night doing the thread painting over my fabric dog.  I am really please with the texture and the colored fabric that shows threw all of the thread.  Used 3 bobbins of sulky invisible thread for the thread painting.   I used mostly Isocord thread on the top which is one of my favorite threads.  Seven colors used, not including the Superior metallic for the collar.  I cropped and added a backing and batting and then out lined the dog and areas I wanted to stand out.  The background was densely free-motioned quilted with a variegated Superior thread in the top a and variegated brown in the bottom.  I used another whole bobbin just for the background even though the entire piece is only about 8 by 7.

3 Day Dogs - Dog 1 (day1-2)

I've been very busy and have not posted lately.  My newest project is to try and improve my drawing skills and my thread painting.   I downloaded some copyright free images of dogs.  I am using 1 day to sketch the dog and transfer to fabric, one day to freehand cut out fabric and tack it down.  The third day will be to finish with thread painting.  Now I'm not planning on spending an entire day, just allowing a short practice time.

Here are some pictures showing my transition from day 1 to 2.

Sketch redrawn on duck cloth

I changed my mind on the black back ground after sewing all the loose fabric down.  It looks too much like it is the dog's fur.   Here is a cropped pic of the before and after change.

Pigs in Mud Cake

 really liked the pig cake I saw on pintrest, so here is my version.  
First I made my favorite and easy chocolate cake from scratch.  Super rich chocolate and no egg or milk so my daughter can eat it.  All you do is pour all the ingredients in a bowl and stir with a fork.  I'll post the recipe later.
I used chocolate frosting then covered it with a mix of melted dark chocolate chips,white chocolate chips mixed with almond milk.   I used pink and white fondant kneaded together for my pig color. Other colors were white fondant mixed with food coloring.  Here are some other views and some close ups.

Hogs -N- Kisses sign and basket of towels with mud drips.

Pig floating with drink

Pig in hat with flower

Pigs soaking under water

Pig with nose emerging from mud.

Anyway hope you enjoy our pig fun.  My daughter and I enjoyed making this project for my mother's and my husband's birthday dinner.

My first latte'

My very first latte'!  No still wouldn't drink one, but since they look so cute had to felt one in a teacup.

Vintage Singer Machine

I was browsing through a quaint little antique and junk shop last week and found a nice cabinet for my daughter's machine.  I thought with some work it would be really pretty.  Then I found it housed an old singer.  Now that was covered in black grease and layers and layers of dust.  I plugged it in and it worked great.  So now I am the owner of a 1948 model 15 Singer sewing machine.

The cabinet turned out beautiful just by rubbing it with dark oak restoring stuff.  The machine cleaned up quiet nicely, as well.

My silk dyed fabric from Betty Busby's workshop.

Here are some dried samples of silk dyed over lace and other textures done in Betty Busby's workshop.  Be sure to click the thumbnails to see all the detail.

 These silks were dyed first and then have shiva paintsticks added.

I am planning to add tree silhouettes to this one for a recreation of the view from our back porch in the morning. (actually I see this from the kitchen sink window)

Betty Busby Workshop

Last Thursday and Friday I was privileged to get to attend a workshop given by Betty Busby.  We learned about non-woven materials and painting and dyeing with paintsticks, acrylics, ink-intense pencils, and fabric dye.  Betty is an extremely good and generous teacher.  We learned a lot and had lots of fun.  Here are some pictures of the workshop.

Not mine- but one of my favorite pieces

A section of one of Betty's quilts