Quilting Along the Ley Lines Tutorial

Princess Pearl

2010-09-12T09:04:00.006-05:00

My art quilt group, (We are) the Baker's Dozen is unveiling its second project, today - Baubles, Bangles and Beads.

Not being a handstitcher, I wasn't sure how I was going to pull this off. The notion of stitching on beads and sparkly things just made my head hurt. I can't see to stitch or thread needles. My knots fall out. I always tangle up the thread. I stab myself and get blood on the fabric. When I have handwork in my lap, Pearl wants up there, too. I understand most women get a sense of relaxation from hand work. Sadly, I really don't "get" it and would almost as soon poke myself in the eye with the needle as try to stitch with it. Handwork, to me, is just aggravating drudgery. I admit it. I feel like I am admitting to kicking my dog, btw.

Sigh. I never understood the appeal of clothes shopping, either. Maybe it is a hormonal problem or something is wrong with my X chromosomes. I keep hoping I will wake up one morning and fall in love with hand stitching. There is just so much I could do with it.

However, following my usual mental block at the notion of touching a needle, I finally came up with a design that struck me, I couldn't put it down - this was "pure fun."

My original design was to create a quilt photo of Pearl wearing a bunch of jewelry - a collar, earrings and a tiara. I started with a photo I took of her last Fall when we were still in Virginia that had her head lifted with her throat exposed. Evelyn (not Pearl) is my more elegant looking dog and I kept thinking that I should use her as a model but this particular photo of Pearl just seemed to work better.

As an aside, Evelyn in the following photo shows she isn't ALWAYS elegant looking:

I wasn't sure I would be able to pull off a quilt "painting" that looked realistic, which was what I wanted in this. I first changed it to a black and white photo, which, with a white dog, is just about a complete waste of time, especially if the image takes up nearly the whole screen. Regardless, I enlarged it with my enlarger and traced a pattern on paper. Using a blue, water soluble marker, I transferred the lines to white cotton. Here is a photo of the original photograph, the paper pattern and where I've traced the lines on cotton:

Sometimes, you just have to have faith.

I quilted along the blue quilting lines, using two layers of batting - bleached cotton Hobbs 80/20 on bottom, and Hobbs polyester on top.

Here is the result:

Once I reached this point, I was able to get out my colored pencils and add silver tips to the ends of her "hair."

I used the same silver to shade around the face for depth.

Samoyeds have heavy black pigment around their mouth and eyes. I call it their lip liner and mascara.
After that, it was mainly a question of filling in the tongue and nose, and trying not to smear the eyes.

Here is the paper pattern, original photo and colored block:

I messed up her back teeth by accidentally coloring them black. It really spoiled the look and balance but I was able to erase it for the most part and color on top of it. I am pretending that is just shading. I also used some black fabric pastel to make the lip liner really dark.

Samoyeds have brown eyes as part of the breed standard. I used textile medium - and heat set - to hold the colors. I haven't gotten any smears, amazingly, and have handled it a lot.

I ran into a design problem at this point because I realized that if I put a lot of jewelry on her, it would lay on top of her fur and look funny. In real life, you can't see any tags on the girls because their fur is so long and thick. Plus, I couldn't get a tiara that worked (I might try to create one at some point if I can stop vomiting at the thought of handstitching). So I ended up just putting on an earring at her throat like a dog tag. The earring was part of a set I bought at a thrift shop - the earrings and matching necklace cost 5 dollars.

Originally, I gave her whiskers. Pearl has whiskers that pop out all over and I have always called them "boing" whiskers.

I decided there wasn't enough beads and girly things so I took sparkly tulle and covered the top.

I quilted it down along her face edge. I used mono filament thread and didn't have a spot of trouble with it - no breakage at all. The tulle looks like the morning sun on snow - appropriate for a Samoyed, I thought.

I used white sparkly fabric for the binding (turned to the front, which is unusual for me).

I covered the edge with black ribbon with beads.

My original plan had been to frame her face with a white boa that I picked up somewhere. I really, really liked the look (hmm, maybe I AM girly!) but eventually decided to just go with the black ribbon and beads to keep with the theme of BBB. I am not sure if that is cheating on the handwork but after breaking two &^%$ needles, I glued it on. That is more my style.

Ta Da!!

It is not heavy on the embellishments but I am really happy with it and had a lot of fun doing it. I sometimes refer to it as my Velvet Elvis but it is still one of the projects I am most pleased with. I entered it in the fair and dropped it off, yesterday.

Start to finish, it didn't take much more than three hours.

My Boat Fabric Arrived!

2010-09-01T21:42:00.001-05:00

It is raining. Finally.

We got traces of rain on two days in August and it only rained on three days in July. Normally, Pearl freaks out when it "storms" but Evelyn is cool as a cucumber. They are so out of practice that even though it is only sprinkling, Pearl is trying to crawl into my lap and Evelyn is freaked out.

I'd ordered some fabric (Stonehenge) from the Fat Quarter Shop. It came in today's mail. I am a huge fan of the Fat Quarter Shop. They have competitive prices, they ship out IMMEDIATELY, and the packaging is fantastic. It is like Christmas when orders arrive.

Since the fabric arrived, I was able to work on Lady Melinda's boat, this afternoon. I wasn't sure if I wanted to go with a greyish boat or a brownish one. I ended up going grey/brown.

Here is the part of the pattern I focused on, this afternoon:

In this photo, I haven't yet stitched the gown/cape, to the boat but I made good progress on the boat:

I plan to use the blue/green fabric for the water but will likely add in some more pieces so it doesn't look like it is just stripes. I'm still thinking about how I want to transition to the fabric on top.

But it has been a long day and I am calling it. Class in the morning and we are getting to paint. More importantly, I want to feel the rain on my face and I can't do that while I'm blogging.

Lady Melinda and Drama in the Art Class

2010-09-01T09:58:00.005-05:00

I started a new art quilt a couple of days ago. I've had in mind to do a series of scenic art quilts for awhile. This one is similar to the Lady and the River but I wanted to highlight a stronger female figure with more movement. Here is the original sketch:

After scratching my head and thinking about it, I decided I would rather make her pregnant so here are a few adjustments to the original sketch:

I think the trickiest part of the quilt, by far, is going to be the torso against the background (lots of seams going every whichaway) and the edges of the boat.

My plan is to make this a redhead, or at least with more red than the Lady and the River art quilt. A girlfriend I went to high school with, Melinda, is a gorgeous redhead so I dubbed my boat woman as "Lady Melinda."

I made the pattern on wax paper. You can see how simplified it is. It also reversed because I will cut out the templates and iron them to the back of the fabric, Once stitched, the front will be facing the correct way.

I wrote the part of the quilt on the pattern (cloak, gown, boat, etc.) and tried to use a colored marker that corresponded to the fabric used. Gown 1, gown 2, gown 3, etc., refer to different fabrics I've selected for the gown, for example.

I wanted to use a fabric that is light enough to show the quilting marks. I think that is the key to making this work. The overall fabric pieces are relatively simple and the interest and depth comes from the lines you sketch/quilt/paint.

So here are the fabrics I originally auditioned for the gown and cloak:

I decided to go with a shades of gold for the gown with a green cape. I am still trying to decide how I want the pennant to look. I will probably paint the background behind the woman but use pre-dyed fabric for the water. Still thinking about that. Before, I've painted the fabric, separately, and then tried to arrange it to look right. This time, I am considering constructing the quilt top before attempting to paint the background. That is fraught with peril because the paint could leak onto the pre-dyed pieces, or I could otherwise just muck it up and be stuck with it. But since I mainly just want to get some light color, I think it will be okay if I am careful. I can probably add some wax barriers near the edges of the pre-dyed fabric to keep it from getting too close, too.

I am debating if the boat will be grey or brown. I have some grey I just love and that would look weather beaten. At the same time, I have a number of good browns of various shades on order and they might blend better. Still thinking on that one. Hopefully, they will arrive, today, and I can audition them.

I started out by working on several fabric pieces from the dress and the cloak that will stitch directly to each other. Here is a progression of the pieces as I complete them:

See the hash marks on the backs of the templates? They help me keep curved pieces lined up. There are some edges that I want to piece and some I want to fuse and that is the trickiest part of doing this. If I am stitching the pieces to another, I give myself a quarter inch seam allowance. If I am fusing them, I've tripled that to give me some wiggle room. Hope I can pull it together!

The front of the two pieces I just posted, flipped to the correct side:

Adding fabric pieces:

These gown pieces are primarily just pinned on, at this point:

The torso is a spider's nest of coloring, fused edges and pieced edges. Frankly, it scares me. Right now, it sorta looks like a blob of fabric because I didn't cut it closely. I left it a blob to give me room to adjust, depending on how I end up doing the edges. I wanted to add it, now, because I needed to stitch together the cloak to the gown and the lower edges above the sash are needed for that. One thing I have learned is that if I don't mentally work out a problem, ahead of time, trying to wing it just swarms on you. I have learned this, mind you, but am clearly not applying this knowledge in creating the pattern. So, I fully expect a swarm.

I plan to keep the face super simple. I have several ideas but will probably wait until I get the rest done to mess with it. It would be sad to do a good job on the rest of it but give her a face that looks like she is wearing a mudpack! Oh well.

Here she is, to this point:

The waist is a bit tucked in for a pregnant lady but THAT WAS A MISTAKE. I am not going to go back and fix it, though. That it is stitched, at all, is a minor miracle. It was a beast.

I signed up for a couple of art classes (drawing 1 and painting 1) at the local community college. What should be completely obvious is that I am self taught on anything artsy and I want to fill in some knowledge gaps that I am certainly missing, as a result (and probably don't know I'm missing). So far, they've been fun. I go Tuesday and Thursday mornings. While I am not working, it is good to have a bit of a schedule. However, even as light as this is, it is nice to not have to rush in on a Monday morning.

I carried heavy classes all through college and law school - no time for frivolous electives!! It is a pleasure to take a couple of classes just for fun. Watching the old hippieish art instructor (I consider anyone older than me but younger than 70 years old to be an "old hippy" even if they never were) dealing with the new generation of (frequently clueless and socially inept) art students who are about 17 - 19 years old is a trip. Yesterday, a young lady came in late, argued with him, repeatedly, throughout the class because she didn't want to follow his instructions and thought she knew more than he did. Finally, she dug in and refused to do one, altogether, because it was so "elementary."

The instructor showed a great deal of patience (although you could tell it didn't come naturally for him). When he finally told her (quietly) that he was the instructor and she was the student, so she had to follow his instructions, she became QUITE offended, claimed he was acting "like a dick," and informed the class that she had "clepped out" of numerous classes and didn't need to be taught something this simple. While engaging in her outraged fury, she gathered together her supplies and dramatically stomped out the door.

I am so used to guardian ad litem work, that I didn't really pay much attention to the tantrum until I noticed that several of the other young students were appalled and muttering scathing comments about her and her claimed high intelligence. That this sort of behavior in what is supposed to be an adult doesn't immediately strike me as outrageous tells me that my perspective has been warped by years of dealing with dysfunctional families. God willing, she will drop the class. Who needs that kind of drama?

I noticed that the young man who was chided for wearing ear buds and listening to his ipod so loud that it spilled into the rest of the class (right after a lecture about how such behavior wouldn't be tolerated) didn't come back to class.

But notwithstanding the unpleasant dramatics from children who have not been properly civilized by their parents, I also am enjoying the social interactions of the other babies. A couple of shy, geeky (but sweet) young men were falling all over themselves to open doors and chat up a sweet young beauty (she seems to be a genuinely nice person). Nature intercedes to make the most omega males assert themselves.

Yesterday's drawing class was on linear perspective. The instructor attempted to demonstrate the concept of "horizontal line" by lifting a flat plane of paper up and down. That was easy to understand because I constantly take photos of my quilts and have to adjust near and far to get them to fit into the screen. Moreover, I frequently take macros from near eye level because that tends to capture the texture from the quilting. Here is an example of a photo taken from eye level (horizontal line):

And here is one taken from a distance above, looking down:

Roughly the same object, taken from a different perspective. Of course, all that is obvious but now I have a name to put to it and that gives the old brain something to tag onto when I need to pull it up to use.

The vertical channel lock on my longarm was on the fritz (the switch wouldn't power up and the magnet wouldn't energize). I didn't have to use the vertical channel lock to finish up a couple of projects I just completed but it is a nice feature and one I definitely want. Happily, the Gammill tech had some ideas and husband fixed it with no trouble (loose wire, is all). The problem was clearly electrical and if he couldn't fix it, we were going to trot it down to Honest Ron's Guitars and ask Ron to try to track down the problem. Fortunately, she is stitching like a dream and we won't need to, although it is always a pleasure to stop in to see Ron at his guitar shop.

I am planning to work on Lady Melinda, paint the studio and pick up a quilt to be longarmed, today, so best get to it.

Lady and the River All But Done

2010-08-25T20:28:00.002-05:00

I've stitched on the binding for the Lady and the River art quilt and it just needs to be handstitched down. I've really enjoyed working on this project and am considering entering it in a show of some sort. I've never done that, before but am happy with how this has turned out.

I am posting a number of photos that I took while I was working on it since the last posting.

I used brushed wool yarn to embellish the tree trunk and cover the edges that weren't turned under:

I began by putting the yarn on the edges of the tree. That actually turned into somewhat of a problem as time went on because it just didn't look right to me. I used white bobbin thread and invisible thread on top. I expected to have breakage and other worries from the monofiliment thread but it worked like a dream. I didn't have a single break.

Here is a photo of the fur edge I added to the cape. I put trim on the edges of the sleeve and also added some jewelry at the belt that I picked up at at thrift shop:

In addition to the trunk, I put the yarn on the branches that end in leaves:

I didn't get ANY paint smears and believe me, this quilt was manhandled while I added the yarn.

I had quite a bit of angst over the tree trunk. I kept adding yarn, then taking it off because it just didn't look right.

I added some butterflies and doves but may not keep them there. There are kind of cute but also kind of lame:

There is some gold trim on the hair:

The girls kept me entertained:

Here is where I added a lot of yarn to the quilt:

I also swapped out the belt. I'd originally bought this piece with this quilt in mind and like it better:

The tree trunk with the yarn for bark:

I just didn't like that much yarn. It looked funny in person - threw off the perspective or something:

The girls:

I also didn't like the sleeve - it needed to have the lace go all along the outside so here is what I came up with:

I'm happy with the riverbank:

Tree bark:

Branches:

The belt:

Riverbank:

Okay, don't hate me but I was having a real problem with the tree trunk. I LIKED the grey fabric I began with:

Now that I am going back and re-looking at the pictures, part of me is sorry but I yanked off much of the yarn to show the fabric, beneath:

I may need to take off more at the arm that is against the trunk.

I'm suffering angst over this but, in person, I'm still glad I did it:

Pearlie's bunny outside the window:

I am using the grey tree trunk fabric for the binding:

Just need to hand stitch it down:

So there ya go!

Lady and the River is Taking Shape

2010-08-19T17:54:00.000-05:00

My husband was out of town for over a week which gave me time and energy to get quite a bit of work done on the Lady. When I left off on the last post, I'd finished quilting and was just about to start adding colors. Compared to the horror of the red dry erase marker, adding the colors was a piece of cake. I'm posting a few photos of the progress.

Here are the main leaves in the center of the quilt where the red dry erase marker once ruled, precolored:

I added in the branches and I have to be honest, those look a bit stark. They also look like a reindeer is hiding in the tree:

I added some shadows to try to soften the starkness:

Better, but I was still nervous. After that, I added leaves:

I began feeling better about it around this point.

If I have a part I'm proud of, it's the knee:

I shaded where I'd quilted and think I got the right color. I was not as happy with the results of the shadows on the gown (the lighter scarlet next to the aqua cape):

After that, I worked on the arm. I used my own arm as a model. Ha, ha, ha, I crack myself up.

It is sad when a piece of cloth has more muscle tone than you do.

I went back and added some shadows to the aqua cape and like it better, now:

At that point, I began working on the hair. I am not completely happy with the quilting on the hair but have some ideas that I can try to make it better. That will come, later. Here is the hair before adding color:

I started by filling in the whole area with the color "goldenrod."

I then added some yellow/gold on the locks for depth:

Some brown:

And even some little bits of scarlet:

Then, I finished up the locks of hair that fall in front. Here it is before being colored:

Same progression of adding colors as on the main mop:

I was pretty happy with how that turned out:

See where I filled in some matching grey at the crook of her elbow to look like the tree?:

Of course, I had to take some artsy photos. Hair:

Cape and gown:

Arm with the grey at the elbow:

Who needs to applique or piece when you can just color it in, I ask you? We quilters are clearly into pain and frustration. Those painters are all laughing at us. They are just slackers.

Feathers:

Requisite quilting buddy, Evelyn:

Requisite, "This is mine, I want it!" photo of Pearl:

More hair:

Artsy leaves that (let's be honest) look like reindeer antlers:

Showing texture from quilting:

Shading on the cape:

I am planning quite a bit of embellishing and will be covering any raw edges but the problem area that has me a little concerned is the sleeve:

Stop looking at the boob. It isn't going to pop out. Trust me.

I've got some ideas to fix the sleeve and am not losing any sleep over it. I would if this was something I planned to sleep under but since it isn't, I could use duct tape on it and call it art.

So here she is, ready for the next phase. Making this, so far, has been an absolute blast.

Close Calls

2010-08-15T11:35:00.002-05:00

After a major gaff, which I'll explain, later, I am making good progress on my Lady and the River art quilt.

I finished auditioning the fabric and pieced together the bulk of the quilt top. After some head scratching, I decided to fuse the tree trunk near the edges, quilt it down and cover up the edges at a later step. I don't think I can get the curves I want through traditional piecing.

Incorporating the pieced parts to the painted muslin that had partially fused fabric was tricky. Here is a photo, in progress:

It was a bit of a chore to make it all lay flat and I had to add some fabric to the left side because it had somehow gotten off. I finally quit fiddling with it and took it out to the barn to quilt. Here it is loaded up on the longarm:

You can see where I marked some of the quilting lines with water soluble marker.

I have tons of help in my longarm room from my quilting buddies:

Evelyn loves it when I quilt:

Things were going pretty well for awhile. The machine was loving the threads (I made a lot of thread changes) and I didn't have much tension trouble. I discovered my vertical channel lock appears to be have been damaged in the move but I think it is just a solenoid problem and I'll put a call in to my dealer, tomorrow.

The hair is by no means perfect, but I think I can work with it. I plan to color the hair, skin and leaves using the techniques I learned in Ms. Bluhn's class that I blogged about, recently.

I also plan to use embellishments to cover the tree edges where I fused it. The front sleeve of the dress is a mess but I am not too worried about it (yet).

Here is a closeup of the quilting marks I made on the gown using water soluble marker. Did I mention WATER SOLUBLE!?

At that point, self imposed disaster struck. I decided, to be on the safe side, to draw quilting marks for the branches that are in the light colored part of the top as a guide to quilting. Right smack dab in the middle of the lightest part. I reached for the water soluble marker and GOT THE RED DRY ERASE MARKER BY MISTAKE.

Just kill me now. I stood there looking at that big red THING slashed across the very center and front of the quilt I have been working so hard on. I had to stare at it a few moments for it to sink in what I'd done.

Here is another shot, showing where the disgusting stain is on the quilt - it is near the top of the following photo:

Crap, crap, crap.

Not knowing what else to do, I continued quilting. Here is where I quilted some of the gown and cape. I plan to add a white fur trim on the edges.

I pulled it off the longarm late last night. The light isn't great but, except for the red slash of leaf (which this light doesn't show but it is there, trust me) I was pleased, overall.

Pearl is a complete ham. When she sees me get the camera, she thinks she is supposed to get right in front to pose.

Another sad photo of my red leaf, post quilting:

After I took it down off the longarm, I returned to the house to try to figure out what in the world to do about the stain. Just so you know - dry erase marker doesn't respond to bleach, liquor thinner, soap, water, swearing, dish washing soap, tears, prayer or human sacrifice. I tried most of those things, last night.

Husband called when I was in the middle of trying to get out the stain and he was sympathetic, made some suggestions and reassured me that with those kinds of things, it just takes finding the right solvent. After he had calmed me down, he mentioned offhand that he'd had an adventure earlier in the day. While flying into a small airport in Alaska, the pilot got caught in a very bad cross wind that nearly turned the jet sideways on the runway. They aborted the landing amid screaming passengers and fishtailing aircraft. The pilot circled around and tried it, again, with worse results but he managed to lift off, again before the end of the short runway. Before making a third attempt, the pilot asked the passengers if they wanted to try again. "NO!!!!" they reportedly shouted, in unison, so they flew back to Anchorage. Husband reportedly was one of the few people on board who actually wanted to make a third landing attempt.

Good lord, that man.

Sort of puts a red stain on a quilt into perspective, actually. Red as in dry erase marker, not blood.

But, today is a new day. I got up early with a killer sinus headache and wanted to just crawl back under the covers. Regardless, I knew I had to continue to try to get that stain out as soon as I could if it was ever going to. Plus, the girls were dying of starvation, apparently. I forced myself out of bed, stumbled around to feed the girls, flipped on the coffee maker. I wandered back to check the quilt to see if a miracle had occurred in the night but it was as red as ever. Before I had a drop of coffee, I went back to the storeroom to rummage around for a new roll of papertowels.

This is when you start hearing the somber organ music picking up in intensity...

My eyes fell upon my favorite cleaning tool of all time. Mr. Clean Magic Eraser! I'd splurged some time ago and bought the REAL thing, not generic, and had a fresh, unopened box, right there, complete with that handsome bald devil, Mr. Clean, and his massive crossed forearms.

Yes, I have a thing for massive crossed forearms, I admit it.

The erasers were tucked behind the 60 watt lightbulbs I'd shoved aside the night before when I was searching for a bleach pen in the initial panic. Repeat after me: Bleach pen doesn't work on dry erase marker.

Without even pouring my coffee, I whisked the quilt out back to the patio for good light and began applying the Magic Eraser. When I dabbed it with a wet paper towel and saw a red smear transferring, I swear I could hear the hallelujah chorus.

Maybe prayer worked after all.

It isn't perfect, but it is close enough for me to live with. Here you go:

All in all, I am just sorry the shape is weird. Regardless, I am tickled with how it turned out. Here are some photos:

I used different quilting designs on the layers of earth. These feathers are full of mistakes but still fun to make and I am glad I used them on the light green. I used some lime green thread that was sent to me by mistake from Columbia River and I just paid for it rather than have them have to pay postage when I sent it back. WHO KNEW it would come in handy?

Here are the leaves I plan to add color to. The red has all but gone:

Like I said, I plan to embellish, cover many of the edges and color the skin, hair and quilted branches. It still has a long way to go but it is getting there:

I think a lot of quilters, particularly longarm quilters, enjoy the back as much, or more, than the front:

I've got nothing to be proud of on the different designs added to the hillside but am still happy with it. There are a few tension problems due to a particularly accursed bobbin but once I changed it out, it was fine. With the double batting, it puffs enough that the stitches are pretty well hidden where the tension problems were going on.

Top half focus:

Feathers (don't look too close):

The knee is sharper than I wanted and it is my own fault. I should have restarted a line of quilting to keep so many edges from meeting at one point but I got lazy.

As I said, I sill have a lot to do but I'm pleased, so far.

Bunny Hunting

2010-08-03T18:38:00.001-05:00

I've started on a new project and hope to make it primarily a combination of piecing and the coloring techniques I learned in the class I took, recently. I began by sketching out my original concept, using some tarot cards and photos from various books for inspiration. I was avoiding the face because I don't feel confident that I can do a face without risking a call for paper bags by anyone who sees it (either to put over the face or barf in, same difference).

This is what I came up with:

I'm hoping to quilt in the thin branches you can see in the above photo.

I took the sketch down to FedEx and had them enlarge it:

The lines in the gown are places where I want to quilt for depth and add shading.

I really like the light in my sewing room:

Pearl is in the background looking out the window. She is absolutely positive she will see a bunny. There are baby bunnies on that side of the house and, these days, bunnies are her life.

I hung the original pattern on my design wall:

From there, I could start auditioning fabrics:

I selected a fairly light fabric because I want to try to use the colored pencils to add shading along the quilting lines. I am using a few fabrics from the Shade Cascade line from Blank Textiles:

I tried the following sky fabric but just don't think it is working. Too dark or something. I think it needs a light, light yellow to give the quilt depth.

I started to go check my stash out in the barn to see if I had a really light yellow but decided to just paint some ready-to-dye Kona Cotton with Setacolor textile paint. I will let it sit, overnight, and see how it looks in the morning:

I added this green fabric on for the hillside:

Here is what I used for a river. It was supposed to be a lake but that doesn't look like a lake, to me:

That's okay, I'm flexible.

I used dark browns and greens for the foreground of the quilt, again, to try to get some depth.

I've some some grey mottled fabric that I plan to use for the tree and my plan is to use plain Kona Cotton on the hair, arm and breast - quilting and shading with colored pencils for depth. I think I may end up doing some applique on this quilt - something I have been resisting - but the alternative is to drive myself crazy. I saw some pretty cool ways to finish the edges at a recent quilt show and I think I can incorporate some of those techniques to get precision but keep most of the quilt pieced.

These photos are closeups of one of Charlotte Hickman's winning quilts. I love her work. See how she has used yarn to cover seams? I am going to try that. I am not sure what she used on the trees but it looks interesting and I am going to try to find out and think about doing the same thing.

Been a pretty active day, quilting wise, Time to call it a day, however. It is 103 degrees, outside, and I don't care. I am going to sit out there and have a glass of white wine. The girls love to hang out on the patio in the evening and Pearly likes to try to catch bunnies. They lay directly out of her reach on the other side of the fence, back legs stretched out, flat on their belly, eating grass and laughing at her. She seems pretty intent on catching one and those bunnies are really rubbing it in so we may end up having a bit of drama if they keep pushing it.

Freedom

2010-08-03T17:44:00.002-05:00

On August first, the members of my online group unveiled their "Freedom" projects.

That amounted to posting a photo on the blog, The Baker's Dozen. Go take a look at them. The members individually posted their projects so you have to scroll down to see all of them. Most people gave a synopsis of what they were trying to accomplish with the theme and most of us explained the techniques we used. My favorite line that was posted was by Thearica who, in describing her quilt, wrote:

"I hand stitched around the outer perimeter of the toilet with white thread and did a little quilting in the body with taupe colored thread by Robinson-Anton."

You simply cannot find that sort of artistry anywhere else. Even punk rockers look tame in comparison.

Nicki's quilt was a bra, entitled, "Freedom- Let the Girl's Fly."

My kind of woman.

Here is my quilting buddy (Evelyn):

I was pretty happy with my little 12 x 12 but a couple made by my fellow Bakers blew me away (not that it is a contest or anything). Here are some closeups of mine:

It is all pieced (to the non quilters, that means the pieces are all stitched to each other into one surface. Applique, in contrast, has pieces of fabric stitched on top of others).

I used shading and quilting to try to get some depth in the road.

Picking out the fabric was fun. I was glad to be able to use some of my wood looking fabric. More often than not, when you try to use fabric that is supposed to resemble rocks or waters or trees or something, the scale is off and it is less than useless.

It was a really fun little project.

God Uses First Class Postage

2010-07-29T11:23:00.005-05:00

I am a member of an online art quilt group called, "We are the Baker's Dozen." It is an eclectic group that has traditional quilters, longarmers, mixed media artists, art teachers, photography hobbyists, crazy quilters (and I DO mean crazy! ), crafters, hand stitchers, etc. and we are set to "unveil" our first project on August 1. The topic of our first project is "Freedom" and we were able to interpret that anyway we wanted to except that if we made an art quilt, it is supposed to be 12 x 12 inches. That is what I have been working on. Based on sneak peeks, everyone is approaching it differently. Some are incorporating patriotic themes, for example.  It should be fun to see what everyone comes up with.

In the last day or so, I have been finishing up "Freedom." I can post sneak peeks but not the whole enchilada.   Here are some teasers:

I have been laboriously attempting to learn about piecing art quilts, primarily by experimenting and reading books. I tried taking some classes but one was cancelled for lack of students. I have a two day long class scheduled in September that I've been looking forward to. I've resisted applique, needleturn, fused or otherwise. I have wanted to PIECE the thing. And piecing little bitty bits of fabric and blending said fabrics to display a smooth transition from one shade to the next is hard. At least it is, for me. Moreover, since I am drawn to more realistic quilts rather than abstracts, it is doubly frustrating. And I really don't like hand piecing so I have been attempting to do these tricky bits of creation with a machine. It is a little like trying to put a rhinestone collar on a feral cat using just a rake.

Why I would pick that style of art quilt but refuse to use certain helpful techniques is a question I can't answer. I have just been convinced I can do it (No lack of confidence here, right? Perhaps I can fly, too.). It is a little like in the days I was a law student/baby lawyer and would be given a legal issue to research. It took me a long time to figure out that, sometimes, the law is just against you. It never crossed my mind, in the early days, that I wouldn't find a binding case on point that supported the position I wanted, somewhere, somehow, if I just kept at it.  To not find a pre-existing case constituted failure on my part even if that case didn't exist.  But with time and experience, I have come to understand that, like the answer to a prayer, sometimes the answer is just, "no." And the real question is, "How far do you go before you are willing to abandon a strategy (or a love affair or a dream)?"  I was getting close to the point where I was ready to abandon my dogmatic refusal to be more flexible on piecing art quilts. Or at least in piecing intricate ones. Given a choice between handstitching intricate art quilts and piecing simpler ones, I was leaning towards piecing more simple ones. I hate hand stitching like crazy.

I don't have a formal art background and that probably contributes to my initially missing obvious things about color and techniques that a trained artist would discern, immediately.   Yesterday, while I worked on Freedom I was pretty happy with it but frustrated where certain threads would show, jarring the eye. I wished I could have managed to get some of the subtleties of color in the road (yes, it has a road in it). I'd deliberately used a fabric that had a mixture of color to try to give it some depth. The quilting helped but I wished I knew how to take it to a higher level.

Okay, FINE - this is a wee bit beyond a sneak peek. Don't Look, Ethel!!!

So anyway, just as I was finishing up, Husband brought in a big package that had arrived from Blick Art.

"Art Supplies," he announced. Based on his tone of voice and the look on his face, you'd have thought the box contained turds (he is not the artsy type but I love him anyway and, besides, it keeps him out of my studio).

I'd ordered a few things when I was dizzy with excitement over the wholecloth coloring class, last week. In the class, we used cheap colored pencils (Rose Art) but Ms. Bluhm suggested we try Prismacolors which, she claimed, are less waxy and have better pigment.

A couple of days ago I also purchased some Hobbs Heirloom bleached cotton batting, marking pens and some Prismacolor color pencils - which I had not yet tried - and blogged about it on Penny Quilts. I've been on a spending spree.

The Blick package held an electric pencil sharpener (halfprice)

and a 120 Prismacolor Premier pencils set, also at a killer price.  It felt like Christmas in July. So I opened up the Prismacolor set and simply drooled over the palette. My art techniques may suck but if a passion for color is indicative of an artist's soul, I'm there, baby.

While I drooled over the Prismacolors, Pearl went bunny window shopping and drooled on the sill (gross).

Evelyn is more laid back.

She loves the quilting room vibe and is not the excitable type. I was cutting out longarm patterns I'd laminated, yesterday (81!) and she doesn't care if I use her for a table:

One of the many reasons we love her:

So many colors!

I couldn't wait to sharpen them with my new electric sharpener. I wanted to immediately start sorting them by shade but also wanted to keep them pristine in the box. All my whole cloth materials from the class were put up so I looked around for some scrap fabric lying around that I could use to test a color. Any color. Sienna. Periwinkle, Henna, Chestnut, Peacock Blue, Poppy Red. Oh God, Oh God, Oh God. I was just frantic to try them out.

I get that way, sometimes.

In my fabric seeking frenzy, I glanced at Freedom.  And froze. Just stared from Freedom to the colors and back. I pick up "Chocolat" from the tray and held it up to compare it to the colors in Freedom.  I stopped breathing for a few moments.  I think my heart stopped. Abruptly, like a soap bubble popping, I glided over to the sharpener, quietly, like a stalking cat. I stood there, thinking some more. The earth stood still.  Then I began to move in earnest.  I fired up the sharpener, put a point on Chocolat and literally launched myself across the room to my little quilt, fire in my eyes.

OMG.

Okay, the first thing I think is that I am literally diving into chocolate. Creamy milk chocolate. Ms. Bluhm was right that the quality is better in the better brands but that woman was sandbagging. There is NO comparison between Rose Art colored pencils and Prismacolors. None. NONE. The Rose Art colored pencils shall be banished from my studio. You could grind them up and fill potholes with them and that would be a better use of their talent.   In contrast, the Prismacolors are smooth, soft, hold the point, transform the color like it was made for it (fancy that). None of this bruising of my index finger from trying to force it to transfer color. A Prismacolor pencil is a smoldering look from your lover. A Rose Art pencil is an obscenity shouted by a NYC cabbie.

I start working on the road that is on Freedom with the chocolat colored pencil and all of a sudden, I start seeing depth. It is going 3-D right before my eyes.

I sharpen up other colors and my little pieced quilt suddenly is showing shadows and little details that I am just not capable of getting with my beloved Janome and straight fabric.

Those threads that are jarring me? Gone, baby. I can find a shade to make them fade into the fabric. Yes, I can.

So, I am not sure exactly where I will take this, if anywhere, but it opened some mental doors for me. I am sure this is OBVIOUS to people with working brains, but for me, it was an epiphany.

Freedom is no masterpiece and it was pieced with the notion that every shade and shadow incorporated into the quilt needed to be stitched on. That makes it a little rough. Now that I realize what I can do with a pencil - or am beginning to realize - I believe I have taken a giant leap towards being able to simplify my machine piecing and still get the effects I am looking for. Like the answer to a prayer.

The old phrase, timing is everything? Sometimes, I think the Universe uses timing to open our eyes to the obvious. Thanks, Mr. Postman.

Ending a Quilt Project Relationship

2010-07-25T19:51:00.002-05:00

Like a lot of quilters, I am bad about starting projects that I don't finish. I suspect I am worse than most. Right now, I am looking at my design board and there are three unfinished projects hanging on it. Behind me, I have plastic bins with four other projects partially completed. There is a walk in closet in my sewing room that has three more partially finished projects and four quilt tops waiting to be quilted. I have a quilt partially done on the longarm frame and another about half done waiting to go up (my son's wedding quilt - ahem, remind me to get him and his sweet wife a ~~second~~ third year anniversary card). I have six more bins with unfinished projects out in the studio. Ridiculous. If these were romatic relationships, I could think of a few unkind things to say about my behavior.

The good news is that, today, I finished the colored quilt block that I began in class on Friday (yeah me!) and a quilted and embellished sketch book for a friend. I will post pictures of the sketch book after I give it to her in a couple of weeks (it is a surprise - she knows it is coming but not what it looks like).

I am not really as horrified as I should be.  Most of the projects that I have on hand were begun years ago when I first started quilting. They likely won't be completed as envisioned. The problem with not finishing a quilt in the time frame you began it is that, especially in the beginning, you improve your skills and really don't want to go back and try to patch good blocks in with the sucky ones you did while you were a rookie. Plus, you started out using crappy fabric that you really don't want to fondle, anymore. And your tastes in design and color often change.

Okay, okay, we all know those over achievers whose first quilt was PERFECT; completed in three weeks; they never picked up a needle prior to finding the fabric at Goodwill; and they won Best of Show with it at Paducah. Candidly, I think most of them are lying sociopaths who have moved to a new location and created a false identity as a novice quilter to cover up decades of failed quilting attempts and design walls filled with ~~relationships~~ projects they are sick of.  No, of course I don't mean YOU.

Alternatively, the problem with not finishing a quilt promptly is that you could have a stroke or something and not be able to finish it. It would be sad for me to look at my old projects and think of them as my glory days.

What I think I will do is take most of my unfinished projects and convert them to simple baby quilts to donate to charity. Babies won't care if I miss lining up a few seams and the projects won't go to waste. And they will quit staring at me.

Yup, those projects served their purpose in my life, taught me lessons, we had a few laughs, we got through some hard times. But now, it time to move on.

One of the unfinished projects on my design wall is part of a cooperative art quilting group that is "due" this week. So I'll finish it and it will come down off the wall in a few days.  I am spastic about making deadlines. People who miss deadlines are wicked, self centered, hell bound and don't care about the trillion dollar deficit.   That being said, right now, I am completely over extended on projects I agreed to complete by certain dates and I do not know how I am going to manage. Do not remind me of this post when I am freaking out and blaming everyone else and god for causing me to miss a deadline.

My beloved dragon quilt that has been taking up most of the design wall is going to go in a different direction.  I plan to try, again, using the techniques I learned in Friday's class.   The fabric that I already used on it can be thrown in the scrap trunk and maybe used again in the future. I'll post about that when I get around to it.

It is thundering in the distance and Pearly, the Fraidy Cat, is trying to get into my lap while I type. Now, she is under my desk, trembling, poor thing. I wish she'd quit digging her elbow into the top of my right foot. I need to finish this post and give her some TLC.   Quickly, here are a few photos of the colored block, in progress:

Pearl has fallen asleep on my foot. Now my foot is asleep...

After the center flower went muddy looking because I added the wrong colors, I put in some red to try to salvage it.

Pearly has put her muzzle in the folds of my skirt and is sleeping, peacefully. How sweet.

My butt is now asleep but I don't want to disturb Pearl by moving.

In a real quilt, I'd have dense quilted fillers near the block to make the colored parts pop.

Pearl is still in my lap and now I need to pee. I hope she wakes up, soon. Sigh. I hope you have a nice evening. Please pray that Pearl wakes up. Soon.

Penny

Coloring on the Lines

2010-07-23T20:43:00.000-05:00

OMG, I took the BEST class, today! Irena Bluhm taught a three hour workshop on coloring wholecloth quilts. She gave a presentation of her work at the quilt guild meeting, yesterday, so I had an idea of what sort of quilting she does. Here are some samples taken from her online photo album:

And here are some samples of her work from some of her books (she said she didn't care if people shared):

This one is in progress:

She is an incredibly gifted longarmer, as well as colorer!

She is probably the best teacher I've ever had, I am not kidding. She began the class by an introduction about how she developed her techniques. Then, she had us gather around while she gave step by step demonstrations. Her way of explaining the process was very concrete and she answered any questions we threw at her. By watching her actually take the steps, we could ask intelligent, pertinent questions.

As part of the class, we received a starter kit. The kit contained a wholecloth block previously quilted. Here is mine but the kits contained a variety of blocks:

Closeup:

The kit also included colored pencils, paint brushes, textile medium (to keep the color from smearing), a CD, and instructions. I'd never even HEARD of textile medium before this class. The kit had inexpensive colored pencils (although she has used this brand for award winning quilts). She said the better brands have less wax in them and go into the fibers, better.

After she demonstrated the progress, she turned us loose to work on our own wholecloth quilt blocks. During the class, she held up student examples, went from student to student to give suggestions and answer further questions (which she always directed to the entire class), and just generally made the workshop a blast.

I didn't finish the entire block but here are some photos of it, in progress:

I think the center flower needs a few darker colors for some umph.

I plan to add more colors to the greens - I didn't get a chance to get any further than this.

I do not have any art training and shading was a new experience, for me. I can't say I am thrilled with my color choices or shading but I AM thrilled with how it is coming together and feel confident that I can do better (of course, I would be using my own quilted blocks so I expect that would be the weak link).

To give you an idea of how many variations we came up with, here are a few photos of the other students' blocks, in progress. The first one was based on the same pattern as mine:

I love the way the following was turning out:

I think this one is gorgeous - another one based on the same design I used:

Near the end of the class, she verbally went over the entire process, start to finish, on how to design the quilts, create them and color them. I bought a couple of her books - one on coloring and the other on background fillers.

She has a number of other books and CD's and they are listed on her website and online photo album.

My head is reeling over the possibilities. My dragon quilt that has been languishing on my design wall is begging for me to try this technique. I can't wait to get started.

It has been a busy day. I could write more, but I think I would rather go sit on the patio with my husband and a glass of wine.

Cleveland County Quilt Show

2010-07-17T09:09:00.001-05:00

I had the happy opportunity to visit the Cleveland County Quilt Show in Norman, Oklahoma, yesterday. It is put on by the Norman Area Quilting Guild and I thought they did a really nice job - clearly a lot of work went into the show and it showed. It was hot and sunny, outside, but remarkably cool in the building, especially when you consider how many people were attending. An added benefit was that Prairie Quilt, the LQS in Hennessey, has a coupon for ten dollars in the gift bag. I would spend half of that driving there but it is always worth it to visit their shop.

The featured quilter was Carrie Carter Miller, a charming woman I visited with for a few moments when I first arrived.

She had a number of lovely quilts on display and what struck me was not only that they were gorgeous, but the extent to which they varied in style and color.

A second thing that struck me as I viewed the quilts was that there seem to be an increasing number of men who provide longarm quilting services. You still don't see as many men doing the actual piecing but they are coming on strong, otherwise.  Maybe it is the big machines! I mentioned this to my husband when I returned home and he responded, without a beat, that he might get into longarming, himself. Hmm. I think he has actually considered this. He backed up the statement with the comment that men are always better at these things, pointing at chefs and tailors. He should have quit while he was ahead. I suggested that they surely market themselves better, as a group.

The colors and designs of the quilts at the show were impressive, with an abundance of more traditional quilts (as opposed to art quilts), as one would expect from a local show. But there were a number of nice art quilts, including landscape quilts, also.   I took pictures of most of the quilts but it is a pretty large for a local show so I will only wet your appetite with a few.

There was a whole cloth quilt with trapunto by Carrie Miller that I was taken with. I would love to make one of these and someday plan to give it a try:

One lady had put a decorative stitch on some of her blocks. Why haven't I thought of that?

I loved this portrait quilt by Vicki Perkins:

She did a great job of including texture:

She also did some thread painting and I just loved the stitch on the denim pants:

I posted several other photos of quilts on my other blog.

It was so crowded when I got there that I didn't get a glove and look at the backs or examine the bindings so I can't comment on the workmanship, intelligently. Without identifying it, there was one quilt there that knocked my socks off - I loved the colors and the design. I was amazed that it didn't have a ribbon. The only thing I can figure is that the quilter binds quilts the way I do (duct tape would be tidier); there was a huge pleat or something on the back; or perhaps she embroidered "I love Obama" on the label (this is Oklahoma, afterall). Surely it would have nabbed a big prize, otherwise. But that is just speculation. I wouldn't be surprised if it gathered quite a few votes for a viewers choice award.

When I walked out of the show, I noticed a lovely garden planted alongside the building with some native Oklahoma plants. I took a few photos. I didn't get a chance to try out my new polaroid lens and the brightness of the sun called for it. Regardless, I got a few nice ones.

Coneflowers are one of my favorite flowers and they are fun to examine, up close.

I am working on a 9 patch challenge put on by a LQS, Oklahoma Quiltworks. The rules are flexible - make a finished quilt of the size and design of your choice that includes your choice of 9 patch block designs using your own fabric. Seriously, it does not get any more flexible than that. I had first intended to use up some of my Moda floral Jelly Rolls and I actually cut them out and was in the process of stitching them up for a queen sized quilt.

I was getting bored silly, although there is nothing that relaxes and makes me happier than simple piecing. I find myself humming and always end up having to step over the girls (Evelyn, for sure) because they pick up on the happy, content vibe and pass out in a high traffic area either under my sewing machine or, more likely, between my sewing area and the pressing station. Generally, four paws up. It is actually fairly good exercise because I have to run an obstacle course carrying a hot iron and sharp things like scissors or needles.

I stopped by Quiltworks a couple of days ago and after talking to the clerk, realized how flexible the rules of the challenge are. I have temporarily abandoned the Moda 9-patch (just what I need, another UFO - unfinished object) and designed a smaller wall hanging. Here is my first draft on my sketch pad:

I've already changed the centers to a hexagon because the 60 degree angles are likely to match easier. I actually like the first design, better, but the angles were giving me fits.

I plan to use batiks. I started out with some from the bali pops I have on hand and like an idiot, was drawn to the blues.

Well, I don't have any blue batiks that match on hand so that meant I needed to get more. I'd hoped to find some at the show but didn't have any luck. After the show, I drove over to Patchwork Place, a nice LQS in Norman, but still wasn't able to find some that I thought would work. I wish they would carry more batiks and since it is a college town, would expect there to be more art quilters who would want them. I suspect they know their customers, however, and I was out of luck.

After a great deal of thought (maybe 2 minutes), I headed out along HWY 9, to HWY 37 and up HWY 81 (great roads with farms on either side and heat mirages to entertain) to my favorite LQS which is in El Reno, K's Quilting Studio. They are always friendly, the shop is roomy and light, I can always find parking out front, and they have a great selection with decent prices (I understand that they are planning to expand their already excellent batik selection, soon - yeah!). They don't have the sheer volume of fantastic batiks that you'd find at Sooner Quilts but I found some that I think will work nicely.

On the way to El Reno, while still on HWY 9, it occurred to me that I might want to swing down to Chickasha and look for a quilt shop there, instead. At that point, it was closer than El Reno. I could also stop in and visit my old boss, a special judge for Grady County. I considered texting for the location of the LQS but was driving so decided to make that a different road trip for a different day. Just what I need - more fabric.

After nearly three weeks of being all but housebound because husband was mainly out of town and thunderstorms were freaking out the girls, I really enjoyed the day out. It was hot but we enjoyed a drink on the patio yesterday evening and the girls appreciated us sitting out with them while they chased bunnies and hunted toads. Here are a few shots of the girls, mainly Pearl, who is absolutely thrilled that her dad is home.

Pearl rolling on a bug:

Pearl will never have Evelyn's topknot but she is growing a very respectable ruff:

Evelyn had a bath the day before and looks fantastic:

My quilt related chore of the day is to straighten up the furniture in the barn from where I moved things away from the walls when I put out the bug bombs a couple of weeks ago. I hope to be able to start using my longarm to finish up some smaller quilts in the next couple of weeks after I finish up painting one of the rooms. I had taken a hiatus on the painting during the time that husband was out of town because the girls were so distressed at being left alone in the house. I am a willing slave to those beauties.

Painting and Piecing

2010-06-30T15:16:00.001-05:00

I am in the process of spiffing up my studio in the barn. It was quite neglected in the years before we moved in and needed the insects run off, a paint job and new ceiling tiles. I shoved all the furniture to the center of the rooms and fogged it, overnight. Yesterday, I vacuumed up dead bugs (there weren't nearly as many as I expected) and lay down spackle. I also sanded a small area that has new drywall. Today, I painted along the trim and corners.

I hope to put a fresh coat of paint on it, tomorrow. I am just going with a neutral color with white door and window trim. I need to deal with a couple of corners that have cracked paint peeling up.

I took a break from time to time and talked to one of the neighbor's cows:

Not to be morbid, but I hate to think of her likely fate... Which is why I keep telling husband that I do not want a cow. Some country girl I am, I know.

On the quilting front, I am working on my group project from "We are the Baker's Dozen." The first theme is "Freedom" and while I can't reveal the whole project, I can show some of my progress. We can work on a three dimensional art piece if we want but I am making a 12 x 12 wall hanging. And making a 12 x 12 wall hanging with much detail is harder than a 36 x 36 inch one, if you ask me.

I prefer to piece my quilts, when possible, and have been using Ruth McDowell's techniques. After sketching it, I used the window as a lightbox to trace onto the slick side of freezer paper.

After that, I flipped it over and traced what was on it. I break it up into pieces after selecting fabric and iron it to the wrong side of the fabric. That way, I can start putting it together to see how it looks. One thing I have learned is that even a tiny piece ends up being manageable once you add the seam allowance all the way around it.

Here is a sneak peek. I was working on it earlier, today, but have decided to take a break in the heat. I get groggy and that makes for mistakes. It is going together super fast.

Once I get my barn studio up and running, I plan to finish my pasture quilt. And maybe my barn quilt!

One of the local quilt shops is having a 9 patch challenge, this summer. It is free and you can use your scraps. I think I will participate because a 9 patch is just the sort of simple quilt that frees up my brain and emotions and it ends up looking fantastic. They are going to have a quilt show in December to display the quilts so maybe I will go with a Christmas or Winter theme. Thinking, thinking.

I am absolutely loving being back home for an Oklahoma summer. Those clouds are wonderful.

Off to fold laundry...

Gloss Mountains

2010-06-20T08:30:00.002-05:00

The 2010 Road to Oklahoma Shop Hop just ended and I went to seven of the nine participating stores, plus the Savage Quilter in Oklahoma City. The participating shops were in El Reno, Hennessey, Stillwater, Guthrie, Oklahoma City (all of which I hit on Thursday), Alva, Ringwood (which I hit on Friday), Norman and Ponca City.

On Friday, I drove from Oklahoma City up HWY 270/281 through Watonga and met my best friend in Alva. I didn't get any pictures but that is one gorgeous stretch of road, especially this time of year.

The shop up in Alva was nice and the staff was extremely friendly and helpful. We ate some fantastic burgers at Champs, then drove down to the Little Sahara State Park south of Waynoka just to see what it was like.

I took a few shots of flowers but it was mid-day and HOT.

I love summertime in Oklahoma. Makes you feel alive and like you could live another hundred years.

It was sandy and mainly used for ATV activities. We couldn't believe people were camping out in what looked like a parking lot. Uuuug. Heat rose off the ground, the glare was blinding and people had set up tents to camp. Yikes! The lady at the gift shop was very sweet and let my friend and I cool off and chat inside where it was cool.

I headed off to Ringwood after that for the last quilt shop and had forgotten that I would be driving in the Gloss Mountain area. (some people call it the Glass Mountains) I stopped on the side of the road and took some fun photos of thistles and the landscape.

I'm planning to incorporate some weathered barbed wire (aka bob wire) fences in my next art quilt so have been snapping shots of them.

Oklahoma has a fantastic mix of ecoregions.

Then I stopped off for a few minutes at the Gloss Mountains, proper.

My camera handles closeup shots but the landscape shots elude me. I can't do justice to the scenery.

I may need to get a life but I could look at the cracked clay for a long time without getting bored:

Dry stream bed:

Amazing how life manages to prevail even in extreme conditions:

The Ringwood shop was charming and they had a quilt show going, to boot!

It ended up being a long day but great fun. I've been looking forward to participating in the Road to Oklahoma shop hop, for years. Now that I am back home, I wasn't going to miss it.

Pasture Quilt in Progress

2010-06-15T11:58:00.002-05:00

It's going to take some work...

If at First You Don't Succeed...

2010-06-13T14:05:00.000-05:00

Okay, my good friend, Amanda, wants to see the ghastly first result so here it is:

Yuck.

I redid it, this morning and the second result is better.

I am not completely sure I will be able to use it on the Pasture quilt but even if I can't, I feel like I've learned some things and am confident I'll be able to use it on something.

First Labors are the Toughest Part 2

2010-06-12T20:20:00.004-05:00

I will spare you a picture of the final version of the painted background.

Back to the drawing board...

First Labors are the Toughest

2010-06-12T12:31:00.001-05:00

Well, I have learned a lot over the past three days working on my pasture wall hanging. What have I learned? Well, first and foremost, I don't have a clue what I am doing.

Thread painting:

I decided that I would try my hand at thread painting the horse's mane and forelock because that would allow the underlying sky, bridle and coat to show through. So what I did, was take some water solvable stabilizer and trace the area of the mane that I wanted on it.

I covered that with a piece of tulle and secured them in a 7.5 inch embroidery hoop so I could keep it tight while I stitched.

Let me tell you, that was an adventure.

I would periodically move around the hoop until I finished the pattern (trust me, I didn't actually follow it).

I then took out the tulle/stabilizer and soaked it in a bin of cool water for 15 minutes.

Then I rinsed it and soaked it, again. Once in the water, the stabilizer started dissolving almost immediately, leaving just the thread painting on the tulle. After the second rinsing, I rolled up the tulle to dry out the water, then laid it flat under my big, heavy board.

Here is what it looked like.

I still need to trim off the excess tulle and plan to use some clear thread to tack it down to the quilt top before quilting (I'll put some tear away stabilizer on the back when I do that).

My original plan had been to use yarn for the mane but I am not sure that would look right. That option is still on the table. I may do some more thread painting to make some more mane sections. I ran out of bobbin thread and ~~the thing attacked me~~ I had some other problems so I didn't make it as large as I had originally intended.

What did I learn from my first attempt at thread painting on tulle?

1. When you thread paint a horse's mane, it looks like what ends up in the shower when I wash my hair.
2. Be careful or the washaway stabilizer will roll back on itself and you will stitch it in layers on the thread painting and there is just no way to undo it. Don't even bother. That stuff has an attitude.
3. Give yourself plenty of room on the edge of the pattern so you can lock it into the hoop. Don't go cheap on the stabilizer or the bargain basement tulle that you got off the reject rack for a .97 in the first place. What, are you saving that extra 4 x 3 inch piece for a wedding?
4. Make more bobbins than you think you need because by the time you run out, you are are so aggravated that you don't want to mess with it anymore.
5. Don't be afraid to use colors in the thread painting. I could have used more and it would have been fine. Unfortunately, I started this project when I was about to fill a bunch of bobbins but put it off. If I had filled a few bobbins ahead of time, I could have used a number of different colors and it would have looked good, I
think.
6. Overlock thread doesn't work on a Janome 4800. Who knew????
7. Water solvable stabilizer feels like sticky cellophane, which is sorta nasty and uppity.

I don't want to make it sound like it was a horrible experience because it wasn't. It was just a learning curve and I feel much better about trying my hand at it, again. I may try some on my longarm, too.

Background fabric painting:

The next thing I worked on was the sky, which I wanted to try painting. I know nothing about painting. Nothing. I don't even do a particularly good job painting a wall. But why should that slow me down? I started out with my best friend's photo as inspiration.

I knew I wasn't up to doing it exactly but it gave me an idea of what I wanted to try to do.

I taped down my fabric and marked it off with a light pencil to have an idea where the horse's ears would go.

I gathered up all the supplies I thought I'd need and when the Setacolor transparent paints arrived, I went to work. Because some of the thunderheads have distinct edges, I used some of the white paint to thinly make the edge so that when I lay down a wash of blue sky, it won't fade into it. I also laid down a thin line of grey paint along the bottom of the clouds because in the summertime, the the grey often has a flat bottom. I did that, last night.

Okay, so that was ~~a damned~~ sort of a mistake. The white cloud edges practically glow and the grey lines are way too dark. I should have used a much lighter grey on the bottoms and I am really not sure what I should have done on the tops of the thunderheads where the white paint outlines them.

But, I decided to soldier on. I wet down the fabric with water from my ironing station spray bottle and then mixed up some light grey paint from the white opaque and the black transparent. It was at this point that I realized I didn't know how to mix up paint. I probably should have read up on that. Somehow, I was thinking I could squeeze some out of a tube onto the pallet but the Setacolor is liquid. Hmm.

At any rate, I ended up with three different paintbrushes going and several little dishes on the pallet filled with black and white and grey and dribbling in water and making a mess (fortunately, I had paper towels handy because I did think a little bit ahead). I used a paint brush to smooth in some of the grey on the bottoms of the clouds and it promptly ran all over the place due to the water.

Oh yeah, I was supposed to do a test on that. I DID read that. No problem, we can pretend it is raining in the distance.

Unfortunately, once the grey paint faded in the wash, it left distinct grey lines where I had put in an outline to keep it from fading over it.

So I quickly mixed up more grey paint on the fly and re-covered it, making it darker near the lines. Probably not a bad idea, anyway, but it may end up looking sorta intense. In fact, I may have to rethink my original plan. It started out as supposed to be a nice summer day and now it looks like that lady on the bicycle in the Wizard of Oz may come flying by. I may need to add a bit of green to the sky wash to indicate hail.

My next step is, after it dries, to wet it down and lay down a wash of blue sky to fill in. I'm thinking once I get the blue the way I want it, I can go back and clean up/smooth out some of those outlines that are left. We shall see. So what did I learn?

1. Pull back your hair when you are painting.
2. If you outline something to keep a wash in check, make it muted if it is white and lighter than a color that is dark. If I had used a lighter grey on the bottoms of the clouds, it would have worked just as well to keep it from washing over but wouldn't have been so obvious and harder to hide.
3. I don't know the first thing about mixing paint - need to read up on that so I am not in the middle of something and just have to make something up.
4. Hand sanitizer is not the same thing as soap (as in soap and water).
5. You cannot paint without triggering a husband's need for you to come RIGHT NOW and hold a ladder even when you warn them ahead of time that you need about 45 minutes to yourself.

6. Next time, I'll cut out freezer paper for shapes (like the ears) instead of using a pencil directly on the fabric. I am not sure how I would attach the freezer paper to the fabric but maybe I could just use it as a place keeper when I was laying down the wash.

Next step, like I said, is to read up on mixing paint. After that, I will proceed to add the blue sky, lighter towards the horizon.

Pray for me.

Progress on the Pasture Wall Hanging

2010-06-09T15:12:00.002-05:00

I've made a lot of progress on my pasture wall hanging in the last couple of days but have reached a stopping point so I thought I'd post some construction pictures.

Here is half my design hanging on the window so I can make a pattern out of freezer paper:

The top half of the wall hanging is just clouds and sky and at this point, my plan is to paint it. We'll see how that goes. I may end up piecing it if I am not happy with my painting results. My transparent paints haven't arrived, yet, so I can't go ahead and finish the top.

I try to set out the supplies that I'll need and am fairly maniacal about keeping them straight and the scraps of fabric picked up, folded or thrown away while I work. If only the rest of my house was so tidy:

Here is part of the pattern I created:

I went through my stash and selected fabrics that I thought would work:

I label the fabric by writing the name on a piece of paper that corresponds to what I wrote on the pattern (something like - ear - dark, or ear - darker). The tag is pinned to the fabric. I am really anal retentive about making sure that I don't lose track of which fabric goes where and will get up out of bed to come back and pin on a label if, after I go to bed, I remember that I just set it on top or something. Sad, sad, I know. There is probably medication for that.

Here are some fabrics I set aside for the part of the wall hanging that has a dirt road on it (on the left side of the scene):

I've been using Ruth McDowell's method of cutting out freezer paper templates and fusing (just by heating up the freezer paper) them to the back of the fabric. It is a pretty accurate method.

You need to remember to make tic marks so you can line them up.

I press open the seams unless for some reason it ends near a curve and you lose your seam allowance by doing that. I'm flexible, baby!

Here is the first section I finished piecing:

It's been my plan to add some embellishments to make it less flat and that is sorta making me nervous. When you do a traditional quilt and the quilt top is pieced just so, you leave it alone except for squaring it (and quilting it). I am afraid I will get this one pieced and then ruin it by trying to do some thread painting and get it chewed up in my Beloved Janome.

I have a lot of problems, don't I?

There are a lot of curves in this pattern but they aren't scaring me the way they used to (this is not the best example of workmanship):

One of my favorite commercial fabrics, these days, is a line by Blank that has a color in four different shades. I used the brown because it kind of reminded me of leather but the line has all kinds of color choices, including many brights. I understand that a lot of applique people use it because the colors blend so well.

Evelyn, my good quilting buddy, stayed in to help:

She is like a live stuffed animal.

Here are some construction photos, in order:

The top part of the WH is supposed to be clouds and sky and I still need to add the mane and forelock. My current plan is to incorporate some yarn for the mane and stitch it to some tulle before tacking it on. I could have pieced it but I wanted to try the tulle, first. I may go back and piece it in if plan A doesn't pan out. It will look better with a mane.

My thought was that a big, flat deep sky would be a nice contrast to the horse, which would have some 3D elements. We'll see how it goes.

Off to check the mail to see if my transparent paints have arrived.

Preparing the Pasture Wall Hanging

2010-06-07T20:50:00.000-05:00

I learned to quilt doing traditional piecing, self taught, but have been branching out into art quilts for the past six months or so. I started out seeing art quilts I liked and wondering how the makers managed to create them. I became woefully aware that my lack of any artistic training, or formal training in sewing was a major stumbling block. I am not even proficient in applique. I have been drawn to realistic quilts which require specific skills and techniques I've known nothing about.

It may be my legal background that sends me to the books for instruction and I am pretty comfortable with that method of learning. I began scouring the sales and Amazon and the half price book stores for art quilt books. I particularly like one by Bonnie Lyn McCaffrey on Layered Surface Design; Luminous Landscapes by Gloria Loughman; The Painted Quilt by Linda and Laura Kemshall (still reading that one). I have a book on Landscape Quilts and one by Katie Pasquini Masopust that I haven't gotten to, yet. I quickly reached the conclusion that I need to understand more about painting and embellishments in addition to how the hell am I going to STITCH the things (originally, that was my only question). So in addition to art quilt books, I've rounded up a number of books devoted to painting and drawing.

I looked around to see if I could find some art classes but none were really convenient and one art quilt class I particularly wanted to take kept being cancelled for lack of students. Apparently, art quilts are big around here (not?). I figure I might be better served by meeting some local fabric artists who can point me in the right direction for appropriate instruction.

Like most things, the more you delve into them, the more you find out what you didn't know (and the more money you spend). So as a result of my studies, time on my hands, and perhaps a midlife crisis, I have gathered up fancy thread, things for embellishments, cotton dying cloth, textile paint (transparent paint from Setacolor; Lumiere and Neopague; acrylic paints; permanent colored markers; mechanical pencils; and Shiva paintsticks), shower board (to put under fabric while painting), tulle (scraps I got out of the bargain rack at Hancocks), a cheap shower liner for a drop cloth (from Wal-Mart), yarn, stabilizers and fusable web. Fortunately, I already had plenty of fabric, including tons of batiks, and clear monofiliment thread.

Ruth McDowell has been quite an inspiration so I acquired a number of her books. My first art quilt top, using many of her techniques, was of our barn.

I haven't quilted it, yet. I am happy with it but it looks really flat. I originally set it aside with the idea that I would get around to quilting it when I felt better (I was struggling with poison ivy - nasty stuff). Now, I am glad I did because I've had time to start delving into some of my books and have some ideas I might be able to use to make it better.

The biggest project I am working on, right now, is a 36 X 36 landscape wall hanging. I used a photo of my best friend's pasture for inspiration and once I get her permission, I will show it to you (just haven't asked her, yet). I am putting a horse in it that wasn't in the original photo. It is mainly the horse's ears, a bit of pasture and a lot of sky.

I first sketched it out to try to get an idea of how I wanted things to be spaced.

Once I did that, I made a six inch square graph and resketched it to fit. That helped me to think about how I wanted to create the design to make it a little more doable. I resketched the design on a 12 X 12 inch grid. Then, I took it down to Kinkos and had them blow it up 300%. I didn't have them blow up the top half (the sky) because I plan to mainly paint that part. Here is the sketch/rough pattern:

I need to spend some time figuring out how to paint the sky between the horse's ears so that it blends in with the top half of the hanging. Some of that area will be covered with the mane, which will help. I think that is going to be the trickiest part of this wall hanging because of the tight curves between the ears. I may end up fusing on the ears but would rather piece them if I can manage it.

This morning, I auditioned some fabrics from my stash. I plan to primarily use batiks. I like to look at them outside in natural light.

At the risk of offending my children, I am clearly a fabric slut. I could stare at them for hours.

While I was out running errands, later, I bought some fancy thread that I plan to use.

My son and his wife gave me that wooden basket, many years ago. I love it. It reminds me of an Easter basket with the thread inside.

I love the crack in it, too. It is plenty sturdy for what I use it for - it is not like I am going to use it to haul water.

Evelyn likes to lay in the lily patch where it is cool. If I were a better gardener, I would make her get out. But I am a lot more of a dog lover than a lily tender.

My studio is in the barn but when it is hot, I like to work in the house.

I don't need to actually make anything. Just let me look at the colors.

I want to try to incorporate some thread painting in the wheat and the mane.

I don't know anything about yarn other than that there has been a resurgence of interest in knitting. My girls received knitting classes for Christmas and I think two of them have kept it up. I thought I'd pick up some inexpensive yarn at Hobby Lobby and/or Hancocks to use in the horse's mane or in another project and OMG, I am in danger because I got lost in the yarn aisles fondling it. I hope there wasn't a security camera trained on me because they'll think I'm a pervert. Honestly, it was a completely sensual experience which is slightly pathetic and disturbing. I went in with the notion that I would just get some cheap yarn, like the kind I bought thirty years ago when I wanted to learn to crochet, but good heavens, some of it was so soft and the colors were so rich... It is a good thing I didn't go to a "real" knitting store because I would have spent a fortune.

I wanted to get some yarn I could use to try to incorporate in the horse's mane.

For the love of god, I may have to take up knitting.

And then, there's this. That brown yarn looks like varmint in this picture. Maybe even a Brown Recluse spider. They should let you take the yarn outside to look at it before you pay cash money. It is a bit ugly but I still love it and have named it Harvey.

Doesn't this green yarn look like grass?

I don't know what kind of yarn this is but I know I love it.

Evelyn, as always, can be counted on to be my best quilting buddy.

Pearl was in the house. She likes the air conditioning. Evelyn has Harvey in front of her like it is some kind of dead thing.

Tomorrow, I hope to start transferring the pattern to freezer paper. Right now, I am going to go eat something.

Introduction and a Walk in My Pasture

2010-06-02T23:12:00.003-05:00

I am a lawyer turned quilter just returned home to Oklahoma following a ten year long exile to the east coast near Washington DC. I began blogging a couple of years ago, primarily focusing on traditional quilting, my Samoyeds, Evelyn and Pearl (and Jezebel), and my work as a guardian ad litem for children.

I took up quilting primarily as a stress buster because advocating for children in need is just about as stressful as it gets.

I married at sixteen, had my son at seventeen and two more girls by the time I was twenty-two. At that point, I started college and obtained a degree in education. After teaching junior high math and history for several years, I went back to law school when I was thirty two and graduated three years later.  I'd spent my whole adult life focused on the intellectual and academic and it was not until I was forty-five that I picked up some fabric (cheap as I could get - from Wal-Mart), and sat down to try to figure out how to thread a sewing machine. Before then, it never occurred to me that there was room in my life to be something besides mental. If you know what I mean.   When I began quilting, I didn't think I had the patience or the talent to do it. I found that I had the patience and that, in fact, the more I did, the more I developed the patient side of my personality. Which, trust me, is a god send and a minor miracle.

So over the next few years, I began surrounding myself with textiles and colors and sharp objects that would make you bleed if you weren't really careful or were blind from middle age and hadn't yet learned to compensate. I found that I loved learning new quilting skills and techniques, getting acquainted with different styles of cotton fabrics (I began with civil war reproductions, launched into florals, backtracked into blenders and batiks and am currently plotting to start dyeing my own just as soon as my husband vacates his workshop long enough for me to set up shop undetected).

I was determined, in the beginning to not make mistakes. So, of course, I made all of them and rarely even realized it, at the time. Squaring up quilt blocks is for nerds, after all. Just adjust the darn sashing if you are going to have a heart attack over it. And pressing seams? Are you serious? It's a SEAM. Who cares?

That being said, I recognized the truth when I caressed my first quilt (did I mention that I didn't bother with a pattern because patterns were too tedious?). The quilt was really pretty awful.   My husband looked dumbfounded and I am trying to recall what he said but for once in his life, I think words may have escaped him.   Even I didn't mind using it to clean up after the dog who'd gotten sick in the night. And I don't mean she threw up. I was just happy that thing was useful.

But for all the quilting and the pleasure I took from it, over time, I became more and more homesick for Oklahoma. When we learned in 2009 that my husband could be transferred back home, I was giddy. Packing seemed to take forever and we had months to do it but I believe if we had left a day earlier, it wouldn't have gotten done.

We were home just in time for the Christmas Eve Blizzard of 2009.

My three kids (and their spouses) all live in the Big Apple (my kids were raised here - how we all ended up on the east coast is a mystery, to me). They'd made plans to travel to Oklahoma to celebrate our first Christmas back home. Two ended up in motels on Christmas Eve (one was 15 minutes away on a good day).   The third nearly made it here but they closed the airport ten minutes before they would have started their descent. They sent her to Houston and I couldn't decide if I wanted to bawl or rejoice that she was safe - plenty of people - and kids - ended up on the side of the road in a frozen car and no bathroom.   Merry Frickin' Christmas Eve, Scrooge!!

Forgive me. I'm just being edgy. It isn't like me - honest.

I've been dragging my heels looking for another legal job and have become waaayyy too used to getting more than five hours of sleep a night and not dealing with angry and terrified family members on a daily basis. And a side effect of the lower stress is that rather than turning to traditional quilts as therapy, I have been leaning towards more artistic quilts and techniques. I think this is driven more by a lust for creativity than a desperate need to zone out and leave the world behind. And because of that, and because I am no longer doing guardian ad litem work, the subject matter of my previous blog has changed.

In light on my new quilting direction, I decided to put together a new blog focusing a bit more on textile art and Oklahoma, two of my passions. I am sure there will be a great deal of overlap, and I am also certain I will blog about Evelyn and Pearl no matter where I am writing (if I could bring them up in a standard job application, I probably would).

These days, I am attempting to learn about acrylic painting and fabric painting. I have a ton of books and bought some paint. So surely, I am all set. And today, I bought a cheap, chinese made value pack of three palettes from Wal-Mart for $1.23.  If you read my previous blog, you will know that I am proud of being cheap.   One of my sweet daughters hates Wal-Mart so I include references to Wal Mart ~~just to bug her~~ in the interest of full disclosure. Why don't you block THEM on Facebook, little missy, hmm?

But I digress.

I'm working with an online group, The Baker's Dozen, in a joint art quilt endeavor over the next year and a half.  Each of us has chosen, or will shortly choose, a theme for either a quilted artsy object or a 12 X 12 inch art quilt. My theme is "Totem" and some of the other themes are Symbol, Tempest, Home, Freedom, Hardware Store, Ocean, Celestial Objects, and Self Portrait in Song. I won't be able to post photos as I go but I hope to use some of the skills I develop on those projects to work on some independent art quilts. And to be honest, I expect I will continue to do traditional quilts because I love it so.

While I love crazy quilting and textured surface art, I lean towards whimsical quilts and realistic art quilts. Not that I can create them, yet, but that is my current preference and aspiration. I am a big fan of fantasy fiction and, in addition to creating some quilts to reflect my passion for Oklahoma, I hope to create some quilts that incorporate the Tarot and fantasy figures.

An additional joy is taking pictures and I took a walk in the pasture, today, looking for inspiration. Here are a few shots and I will probably post more at another time. It is just amazing what things look like, when you really look at them. I encourage you to click on them to enlarge them for the full effect.

The lowly clover is incredibly lovely:

There is nothing cuddly about this bee. But check out those cool wings:

The grass - is is so lovely. I rarely just look at it:

Most of the following flowers were tiny - no bigger than the end of my little finger:

Anyone from Oklahoma recognizes this familiar sight:

Thistles:

The "common" Day Lily:

Turtles tend to hang out in our lily patch.

My studio is in the barn:

When these blackberries ripen, I'll eat them right off the bush. I hope I can get a picture of a snake coming around to steal them.

Lawn utensil in case any farmers are reading this.

This is probably off a cattle egret:

Here is our roany little bunny. Enjoy him while you can because I suspect he is not long for the world. He seems to think that color pattern in his coat hides him. It doesn't. He will walk right up to you. That is one dumb animal. There is a reason they call them dumb bunny.

The austere Mr. Toad:

Those eyes are amazing. And close up, they don't look like they would be that hard to replicate in a quilt:

Pretty snazzy fellow, if you ask me:

Honestly, I think I am beginning to resemble toads as I get older:

Check out that stripe:

But here are some photos of much more cuddly girls.

Evelyn (who is a mama's baby and hates it when we are on opposite sides of the fence):

And Pearl, who is a year and a half old and the world's greatest cuddler:

I hope you will come back to visit and if you leave a message with your e-mail or you have a blog, I will do my best to write back.

Penny