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Archive for April, 2011

Busy, Busy

Wednesday, April 13th, 2011

I have not done much cutting but I have folded and placed my building fabric to construct a cityscape. Isn’t that sky fabric cool? I have been wanting to use that and I think a Portland sunset is perfect. I have some tweaking to do on this, but I think it is coming together.  I hope to get it fused and start the quilting after STASH meeting tomorrow.

I have been dorking around so much this winter that I have forgotten how productive I can be when the need arises. This morning I knew it was time to make a list!

I had an appointment with the eye doctor to talk about cataract surgery. She said mine are not drastic, but because of the problem with night vision, I probably should pursue it because it is inevitable. So, now, I have to meet with a surgeon for the next step.

I shipped Klee’s Castles to the SAQA auction and mailed a Twelve X Twelve book to Montreal, Canada. I started the work to get a quilt show entry done with a deadline of Friday. I also got my inventory for the Artist’s Among Us art show done and e-mailed.

Tonight, we had to leave early for dinner and class at Trinity so that we could pick up my car which has been in the shop since last Friday. They needed a part; when it came in, it was defective so we had to wait until today for the right part to get installed. Fortunately, I got an extra burst of energy when we arrived home and was able to get some work done in the studio and on the computer.

I have a cool new app for my iPhone called Pano which allows you to take panoramic photos. I took these at the Rhodie Garden a couple of days ago.

This is the bridge that is the entrance into the garden. Click these to see them larger.

Shameless promotion: If you are a member of the Alliance for American Quilts, you can go to their website and vote for my quilt which is #110, Pearls of Wisdom.

 

Chartreuse Reveal

Tuesday, April 12th, 2011

I made 2, well, if you count Klee’s Castles, I made 3 pieces for this challenge. I still have some fused fabrics so there could be more!! This one I call Chartreuse Square in a Square until I come up with something better. Maybe Chartreuse Joy because it is a very happy piece.

Here is a detail.

Here it is in progress. You can see how I drafted the piece on the paper beneath the teflon sheet. I used different sized squares that would fit into a 12 inch square. I fused the piece on the teflon with the drawing as a guide. Then the whole piece is fused to batting. I wanted to use lots of different colors to show how well chartreuse works as a neutral.

This is the second piece which I actually made first.

I named this one All My Exes. It is a riff on a Paul Klee painting.  Here is a detail:

I started by making fused fabric ala Melody Johnson.

Here it is in progress. I had a drawing that I used as a guide for this, but it was not as accurate as the square in a square piece.

Here is the piece fused and partially quilted.

It seemed lacking to me. I thought it needed a focal point and some texture so I added the large Xes and left dangling threads when I stitched them.

I hope you will head over to the Twelve by Twelve blog and see what all my friends have done  with my favorite neutral.

I Love Surface Design

Monday, April 11th, 2011

It has been some time since I have had a block of time to create in my studio. I mean to create new surface on cloth. I had fun today creating fabric that can be used to build a cityscape.

I used a vinyl sink mat for a stencil. I think I forgot to take a photo of the fabric.

I used the side of a plastic berry basket for a grid with mustard(?) deColourant on a rust fabric.

It did not work really well – too much seepage. This is heat set, but not washed so it will tone down a bit. Has some possibilities.

I was searching around for something else to use as a grid and remembered masking tape! I have it in lots of sizes.

 

Here is the result, unwashed. I like it.

This was done with masking tape. I have heat set part of this so you can see how nicely the heat gun removes the color.

Here it is all heat set, but not washed.

I used a plain deColourant on this gray fabric and used a small square sponge to make the grid.

I like the brown cotton with gold metallic deColourant which is up at the top of this post..

I have to get my chartreuse quilts up on the Twelve by Twelve blog. Tomorrow is reveal day. Can’t wait to see what every one did.

Out of Hibernation

Sunday, April 10th, 2011

I have lovely blog friends. This was gifted to me by Elisabeth B., one of my blog readers who ordered the Twelve by Twelve book. This is titled Lichen and uses a photo of the bridge at my beloved Rhodie Garden which she took on a trip to Portland. Everything in Portland had a layer of lichen or moss most of the year! I love it!

Mr C and I emerged from hibernation this week-end. Yesterday, we went to see The Lincoln Lawyer at our local movie theater. Today, in addition to church, we drove down to Dundee to the Erath winery for a private members event. We tasted wine and ate some yummy goodies.

Speaking of lichen, you have to love the chartreuse roof on this shed at the winery.

Here is our stach of wine, mainly pinot noir, that we brought home with us.

On the drive, I saw this sign which tickled me. Next time I am feeling blue, I think I will book some Joy!

I dyed some black fabric on Friday. I have always had problems with black and I was thrilled with my results. I used Dharma Jet black.

Tonight, I did some testing with deColourant discharge plain and metallic gold and used the heat gun. I am very happy with the results. This is before washing and after using the heat gun.

This is after I washed them. I think this will work very nicely for windows on my cityscape buildings.

 

 

Sunshine and Quilts

Friday, April 8th, 2011

Sunshine and blue skies and an afternoon at a quilt show — could the day be any better? As Terry and I drove north and over the Columbia to Vancouver, there was not a cloud in the sky. We definitely needed our shades.

The women of the Clark County Quilters treated us royally, a delicious lunch and a prime spot to sign our books and show our colorplay quilts. Here is Terry:

That beautiful large poster was provided by Lark — very impressive.

The quilt show chair, Vonda, who is a little dynamo, gifted us with a cute brooch which she created with the help of Elinor Peace Bailey. Every vendor received one.

I bought the beautiful roving up there in the first photo. I think my next Twelve by Twelve quilt will be felted with these beauties.

The sun was still shining when we went out to dinner at 6:30 tonight. Imagine that, I needed sunglasses all day long.