Angelina Fibers & Off the Wall Friday

the blue tape is the center - to remind me that NOT to put anything there!!!

Okay.  I'll admit it.  I procrastinate.  I'm sure this is isn't a big surprise to anybody who knows & loves me.  But gosh - when you're staring at a composition on your design wall for weeks that is  lame, lame, lame (and that's lame - not lamay) - wouldn't you procrastinate??

I don't know.  Maybe I was waiting for the nighttime fairies to swoop in one evening and fix what obviously I couldn't.  Orrrrrrrr maybe I was just waiting  for an earthquake to just shake it all into the right place.  Still I had no idea that my salvation would come in the form of  a little pack of   Angelina Fibers - which is the best dang thing since BACON!


OMG - is this stuff cool or what??  Is that Sun/Moon neatolina?!?!  Yes  - I have no clue if that is a sun or a moon - but who cares when it sooooo darn cool (almost as cool as Bacon - but not quite - although a lot less fat and calories).

Its so easy to use!  All I did was take it out of the package  - sandwich it in my teflon applique sheet in a thin layer - press it for 5 sec on the silk setting.  And wal- la - very cool Moon/Sun - it was easy enough to cut into the shape I wanted.  I did press it a bit longer to give it that more crispy color!

I also decided the piece needed a dragonfly since none of my other lily pieces had dragonflies.  I got the idea for its wings from Sandy (who came for a visit today).  She loved this one piece of  special occasion fabric I had.  After she left, I thought - hey that would make great wings and it would balance off the Angelina shimmer nicely.  So I layered it on a piece of light sheer fabric - used Ultraviolet Misty fuse and made a set  of quicky wings.

So for only 2 hrs in my studio, I finally had a break through!  I think the rest of this piece should go easily - well until the quilting line has to be decided on.  Its always somethin' isn't it??

So what have you done creatively???

Lilies & Birdhouses Revisited. . . Bloggers Quilt Festival

 

Ecclesiates 11:7

"Oh, how sweet the light of day, and how wonderful to live in the sunshine".  

 24" by  36"

Commercial, hand dyed cotton, poly & cotton thread

Rough edge applique, Machine quilted 

2009 

I love this quilt. Out of all that I've made, this is the one that gives me the most joy. I don't know why.

 Maybe its because it was the first time I realize that I could take a photo inspiration and translate my idea of what it looked like. Or maybe its because its the first time I successfully conveyed a main idea and feeling through my art work. Or maybe its because it reminds me year round of my a favorite season -


 Summer.

In any case, it was the first quilt in process that got blogged about. It was also the first quilt in my lily series - which is now 5 strong. It set the tone of the whole series - where I take bright saturated
lilies - and place them on a dark field. I'm in the midst of 5th one now!

Please feel free to check out my own link party Off the Wall Friday - where art quilters link up what they've been doing creatively - please join us any week (its always open throughout the weekend!)

Also I'm inviting any quilter to link up their sewing space in my year long Sew Many Spaces link party. I highlighted my new studio space and I was hoping that everyone would show me theirs!

Back in the Studio - Off the Wall Friday

Am I the only one that gets jazzed to be back into the studio after a little break from creating?  When I left the lilies two weeks ago I was  totally tired of the piece.  It was dull, boring and just a bit annoying.  Now after my short hiatus, I saw all sorts of possibilities in it.

You really do need to excuse the photo.  Not only is this piece normally impossible to photograph, but this week the afternoon sun was shining in on my design board.  Great for sewing - not so great for getting the colors right in a photo.  But the sunshine did feel good!

As you can see its coming along quite nicely - welllll - almost nicely.  Looking at it now - I really have  to do something with that third lily.  I mean, there is no way I can leave it smack dab in the center of this quilt.  Sighhhhhh.  I do have some ideas though, but it just got too late to try them.  That's the nice thing about making these free standing appliques - you can move them around and try new compositions as much as you want.

Oh and you know what?

 I got to try out a new gadget this week.   With Mother's Day, approaching I finally took the plunge and bought a SewSlip.  Now for a long while I've been thinking about getting a Queen Supreme Slider but its royal price tag put me off.   I mean could it really be worth $50+??  With a little research I found the SewSlip and I thought for the $30 investment I would give it a try.  It arrived within a week and was easy to install.  It fits perfectly on my sewing table and I didn't have to trim it.

At first I didn't think it made that much difference.  That is until I took it off and try to threadpaint again.  OMG - you could notice the difference big time.  So it was definitely worth the 30 bucks.  I got the one with a bigger hole just in case I want to do some fancy stitches with it on.  The only thing I didn't like about it, is that you have to take it off to change the bobbin since my machine has a drop in bobbin case.  I can't wait to try it out with some bigger free-motion quilting.

So, What have you been up to creatively??

What's in a Name - Off the Wall Friday

I love my friend Joyce.  She's  funny, easy to talk to, and full of love.  All of that adds up to a perfect playmate for my day off!  I invited Joyce over for a creative playdate in my new studio.  She has recently re-discovered her more creative side  and started making jewelry - really pretty jewelry.  So while she beaded and clipped  -  I played with sheers. 

You see, this week I finally got a  new permanent seat (cubicle) at work.  Management encourages everyone to personalize their space.  To that extent, I thought I would make a quick little project to hang.   I mean, some of my closer workmates know that I quilt but beyond logcabins they really don't have an idea of what that is.

So that's where the sheers come in. I find layering sheers so interesting - I love how  the layers create shadows and how the shadows lend mystery - mystery is interesting.  Note to self - explore layering sheers more.

A special thank you goes out to Nadia who has inspired me with her free form layers.

I took some sheer scraps from the lilies, some pretty jacquard fabric (which for the life of me can't remember where I got) and thread to come up with a decent name plate.  I decided the "palette" for my cube was going to be primary with green as the accent.  I mean doesn't everyone pick a palette for their workspace?

Anyways - I'm all happy with the way it turned out.   I didn't bother backing it - just has the felt underneath - the edges aren't finished in anyways. Its  fun to just experiment for a while without some major art piece riding on every decision.   It was also fun to give the lilies a break for a bit since I've been working on them all week.

Right now though, I'm waiting for my Misty fuse to come in before I can do anymore.  You'd think that a city of a quarter of million people would have Mistyfuse somewhere in it but No!  sighhhhhhhhhh

So what have you been up to creatively?

20 years and Counting - May 1,1993

Limiting Color - Design Wall Monday

 

I remember that day where Elizabeth Barton told me that I should be limiting my color choices when doing a project.  My first reaction was WHAT???  Why in the World would I want to chose 4 colors for a piece when there are thousands of them out there?  I thought maybe she was just being mean.



But of course, she wasn't.  Limiting a palette for a piece makes your life easier and your piece stronger.  That's a lesson that has come back into play with this lily piece.  Its still odd for me doing this piece - planning as I go.  Normally the palette would have been chosen wayyyyy earlier - the fabrics laid out - threads pulled.  I like the structure of working that way  - plus with those decisions made it just makes the process go faster.  This week - it was pointed out to me why.  I mean every time I went to make a color choice - I would start looking at all  the colors in my crayon fabric box.  And as you suspect - that was not helpful.  Too many colors, too many values, too many saturations - too much frustration.


Finally  - the light bulb went off and Elizabeth's words came back to mind.  I pinched one of Tessa's notecards  to write myself a note:

Do you think that is plain enough for me?? I pinned it up to my board to remind myself to stop reaching for colors that are NOT on that card.  They are a lot like french fries right now.  Even though I love them, crave them, reach for them - they are not good for me. Sighhhhhhhh

So I continued to follow my rule as I chose the colors for the cattails and the rocks.  The threadpainting is going well.  I found I don't need a hoop when making the appliques.  The felt, tear-away stabilizer is plenty stable enough - there is very little puckering.  Its much easier to sew anyways without the hoop.  Its amazing how fast the time goes though when you're doing this kind of work.  Spent 4 hrs in my studio yesterday and the only reason I stopped was because my stomach was getting louder than my machine!

See more great traditional design walls at Judy's Patchworks.

The Lilies Continue - Off the Wall Friday

Its been a good week - if not very productive.  But I got some good news - twice!  First of all - you probably know that my piece was accepted into Sacred Threads - so I'm all happy.  Secondly,  I was accepted as a scholarship candidate for my week long class at Arrowmont School of Arts and Craft.  So I feel blessed all around.

Ohhh and the really good news - is that I finally - yes you read that right finally settled on a composition for my lily piece.  This morning while answering comments from my blog it occurred to me that the reason I was having so much trouble was I was afraid to cut into my fabric.  So I switched to tracing paper.  That way I could brainstorm cheaply and easily.  I tried a few compositions but went back to a familiar one.  I call it my smiley  face composition - but really its really tracks your eye around in a stretched oval. Its amazing how much easier it was to work with tissue paper!

With that done - I did manage to get another lily done (that's a lot easier now too!)

Oh and my laundry folded.

And organized my sheer pieces.

And help make dinner.

and now my Off the Wall posted.

So guess it was a pretty productive day!

One more thing - did you know that Quilt Daily offers Free E books on a bunch of really Quilty topics?  Check out the latest one - The Art of Thread Sketching

So what have you been up to creatively??