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Archive for May, 2006

Making Thermofax Screens

Tuesday, May 30th, 2006

I think it was Kristin who asked me to show how I make thermofax screens. Today,(since I am still waiting for supplies) I made a couple of thermofax screens for Debra. She is making some t-shirts about blogging. To warm up, I made a screen for myself. One of the screens that Jane Dunnewold had for us to use was a wonderful little screen with a filigrees design. She said it was copyright free clip art. So I played with some clip art, enlarging and isolating elements, putting them together, then reducing to get a fun screen.

First of all – this is my good old thermofax. I bought it on e-bay a few years ago. I have had to replace the belt which is a wide circle of heavy duty vinyl or plastic.
Thermofax_2

Here is the roll of thermofax film. One side is smooth and the other size is rough – it is the mesh. When the screen is passed through the thermofax, the smooth side is melted away where it is next to the photocopy.

Thermofaxfilm

Here is the image that I created with a sheet of film in a carrier. The image must be made with a carbon based material. The new digital copy machines do not work. Some pencils and India Ink will work and I discovered today that pigment based inks in Epson Printers work.

Thermofaxprocess

Here is the final image burned into the film:

Finished_screen

The screen is then attached to a frame. I use cardboard frames for transparencies, purchased from office supply stores. I then seal the edges with duct tape.

Tapedscreen

Here are my simple supplies for screenprinting: a padded surface, fabric, textile paint, a credit card, a spoon and the screen. I place some paint on the screen above the image and pull it across the image with the credit card. The screen can then be washed and reused many times.

Screensupplies

Here is the final print on the fabric:

Screenprintonfabric

And there you have it!

Yesterday,I went shopping with Steph and Mia. Mia is going to be a flower girl in her Aunt Katie’s wedding in NC in July. We found a beautiful dress at Nordstrom. It is a simple tea length white dress with an organza overlay. We are going to get a sample of the bridesmaid’s dresses and make a sash to match them. We looked for shoes, but didn’t find the right thing. Mia has the Congdon female shopping gene, I am happy to say. She had a wonderful time.

My step pedometer arrived today and since 11 this morning, I have walked 7327 steps. Debra tells me that it takes 5 miles of walking to reach 10,000 steps. This is going to be a real challenge. Of course, I spent a lot of time at my computer today uploading the quarterly regional reports to the Surface Design website.

Oho, the Wellth Fargo Wagon ith a-comin’ now

Sunday, May 28th, 2006

I feel like the little boy in The Music Man, waiting for somthin’ special to arrive. Here is what I am waiting for:

  • Superior thread from The Web of Thread in Kenmore, WA
  • Beautiful hand-dyed extra large backing fabric from equilter
  • Cotton batting by the yard and extra large felt to cover my design wall from Fabric Depot (This I could have picked up, but they do free shipping and I am afraid to go in the store until I get this current project done.
  • A custom designed quilt hanging device from the Quilter’s Husband (also some spray fuse).
  • A step counting pedometer because I have joined Debra’s walking challenge: Quilter’s with No Fat Quarters. All we’ve agreed to do is wear a pedometer every day and attempt to do 10,000 steps/day for 2 months.

I  have finished fusing the liturgical piece and can’t do anymore until the above supplies arrive. So I am working on the fish quilt. Here is a photo of the piece as it now lies draped over my work table.

liturgicalfusingupdate

Last night we went to see the DaVinci Code. I enjoyed it. It was a very faithful interpretation of the book. Then we went out for Japanese food – Yaki-soba and some spicy California roll.

Today was family dinner day. Here are the beautiful peonies I picked up to go with my peony place mats:

peonies

Sundaytable

Steph and Jack dropped of M & M while they did some shopping for his new office. Milo showed me his tattoo of a dragon:

milotatoo

And Mia twirled around the living room: (clickable)

Miatwirl_1 

Miatwirl2

Miatwirl3 

Miatwirl4  Miatwirl6_1

We enjoyed a meal of grilled Copper River Salmon, tri-tip, pasta salad with fresh  mozzarella, tomatoes and basil, asparagus, bread and strawberry shortcake (biscuits made by Steph, Yum!)

Hope you are all having a great long week-end!!

 

 

Rainbow Fusing

Thursday, May 25th, 2006

Today I finished the layout of the middle section and did a light fuse. I tried to stand on a ladder to take a photo. Here is the best I could do:

Rainbowgradationmiddle

I now have to do the top and bottom and then I will put it on the design wall to check the over all look and make any corrections before I do a final fuse and  do the quilting. I am quite happy with it so far. Even Mr. C was full of compliments.

I took some time off this morning to get my hair trimmed. Tonight we had dinner at a very interesting restaurant, Navarre. You are presented with a list of items and a pen and make out your own order. I liked it because you can get small plates and try lots of good things. We had Buffalo tritip (delish), scallops and lentils, crab cakes, braised greens,  wonderful, wonderful fresh salad greens, dressed perfectly, and bread and french cheese. Oh, and a fabulous Oregon Pinot Noir. One of the tings we love about Portland are the neighborhood restaurants. We go out every Thursday, and don’t have to deal with the week-end diners. We can usually walk in without reservations and we are sampling some wonderful food.

Progress Report

Wednesday, May 24th, 2006

Here is the set up for working on the very large piece that has my attention. Mr. C fashioned these tables that are long enough to work on a section of this at a time. I am starting with the center, which will get lightly fused and then I will do the top and the bottom. I then hope to put it on the design wall and make any adjustments. After that I will give it a final fuse and start quilting. The crosses will be added after the quilting phase.

Comstarted

Here is the warm color end:

Redfuchsiaend

Here is the cool end. I started on this side, but decided I was not happy with my blues and greens so I dyed some more today.

Bluepurpleend

Here are my new blues and greens so I can get back to my layout tomorrow.

Morebluegreen

I knew this would be a big job and now I am right in the middle of it and I am getting excited to finish the fusing and start quilting. The quilting is fairly simple so I am hoping I can do it on my Janome by rolling up each end while I quilt the other. I know that people have done king-size quilts on normal machines so I have high hopes!!

As a reminder, here is the original quilt that I did for my church in Santa Rosa. It was seen by the folks in Alabama and that is why I was asked to to this. This is 98 inches long and 18 inches wide.

Silkbanner

OOOOH! Pretty Colors!

Monday, May 22nd, 2006

Sorry, Diane D., but I just had to use this for my post tonight!! My first task this morning was to draw a grid on the white cotton background:

Backgroundgrid

After a trip to the post office to mail quilts to Dee and Teri, I got to work rotary cutting 3 1/2 squares of the fused silk. I will probably suffer from rotary wrist tomorrow! Here are the squares; now everyone say Ooooh! Pretty colors!

Stackofsilksquares

My next project is to pad the table and start laying out the design:

Silklayoutsample

Look at what I found today. I just love these colors (of course) and the designs:

Kleenexboxes