Painted Fabric - September 2019

Well everything finally came together and I this morning I had time and space to paint.
It feels like it's been a very long time, but since I had sold a number of FQ in Orillia last spring I've been aware my supply was getting low. And I needed to replace my Birch Tree bark.

My first efforts felt a little awkward and didn't grab me right away, but using salt or scrunching them I 'saved' some of the first efforts.

There will be more.
It looks like a good Fall to paint and eco dye.

6 inch Mosaic Frog

I've been putting together some samples for the workshop I'm leading on the 28th. I want to show the versatility of what I consider a real short cut, hooping detail work off the quilt.

This is the guy I decided to do and while he turned out great he's not really practical to use in this lesson. He took me 4 hours but then the whole thing 'grew like topsy'.

Step one: trace the image onto both light stabilizer and a tearaway 'solvy' product.
                Add registration marks top and bottom for re alignment

(But then I veered from my original intention and I decided to treat it like a mosaic. I had these confetti  from another project that were just a perfect Frog colour.)

As there is no adhesive on these bits so each was anchored with a glue stick.

Step 2: Colour the body of the Frog with the method of your choice. Material, paint, crayon....

Step 3: place the 'cartoon' into the hoop layering it in the following order.

            !st layer - netting (for strength)
            2nd layer - stabilizer with image
            3rd layer - green organza
         
Step 4: Hoop the sandwich.

           4th layer - pin the second image of the frog over the sandwich matching the registration  marks     and outline. It was too fiddly to keep the four layers aligned so I added the solvey after everything was secure.

Step 5: The image was stitched all round in green. With its purpose finished, the solvey was torn away. The cartoon was removed from the hoop to facilitate satin stitching on another machine.

And as a nod to Neil Gaiman (Coraline) .....Button Eyes

 

The stabilizer will tear/trim easily as the edge is full of holes. The structural strength now comes from the netting. It may not be necessary to remove it. It all depends where it is used.

Summer 2.0

Glorious weather leading into Fall.
Time for some of those messy chores that are always in the back of your mind.

A) Washing the Wool Duvet.
MY machine is too small for a King size duvet so laundry tub it was. Barely!
I did spin it in the washer a couple of times but I was getting a little nervous about the sounds of labouring gears and/or belts?
A quick run from the basement outside with a still wet and heavy duvet to the drying racks.
It's been there 3 days now and is almost dry. I covered it each night with a tarp to keep the dew off (though in retrospect it probably wouldn't have made a difference.)
And the Sun has certainly helped with the yellow discoloration around the edges from heavy use.

Just one corner stubbornly wet. Maybe tomorrow I'll take it to the drying and make sure it's really dry.

b) Splitting and Repotting.
I know I just did this last year but the warm wet summer made my Kafir lily grow to the point where it was all I could do to get it off the deck. 

While it didn't bloom this spring, either because of wonky weather or the fact that I re potted it last fall, it definitely was healthy and big.

Note the knife buried in its guts, (sorry, root ball). With liberal hose spraying to get the dirt out and brave but steady tugging it apart, I ended up with 5 good sized babies. But like a litter of kittens you daren't keep them all. Three into a bag and free for who ever wants one and two potted. This is up from the one pot Ive usually kept for the last five years, but I just couldn't throw them all out.

These two will sit in the front window now until April/May.

I know they won't bloom for at least two years now. They like to be pot bound.....but not the way they were.

XMAS (Don't hit me!)

Another Grand for my sister and a request for the Christmas Stocking.
My mother started this and it has spread through the generations but I think we've hit a road block.
No one under 30? in my family knits.

If you're game the pattern link is at the bottom.

Mom made the originals in wool. Back in the 50's I don't think anything nice was available in other fibres. The wool yellowed over time and she replace the orginals (4) in acrylic.
But try to find an acrylic in the right weight in 'nice' Christmas colours. So this one is much larger than the original. More Santa loot?

Once you get past the Fair Isle work it goes very quickly.

If I remember rightly, the last few I've knit have been bigger. (Those electronics come in big boxes.)


The pattern is a little vague in spots but it's a standard sock pattern.


Christmas Stocking

Quilting Someone Else's ART

It's one thing to finish a bed quilt for someone. They generally know what they want and the actual quilting is seldom the star.
An Art Quilt can be different.
A member of my SAQA pod passed over her hand painted, silk screened panel she had birthed at a class. She was delighted with it but was at a loss as to where to go now.

In some ways, someone who does know what they want can be more difficult than someone who only knows  what they don't like. But we made it through. Progress photos were e-mailed daily. Some things were discussed and left, others were changed.
In the end was my decision that left the work off square rather than damage the motifs.

I hope my friend Diane will be pleased with how I've finished her work.