I have been busy with new fabrics and whole cloth ideas, free motion quilting and patchwork. Here are some pictures and descriptions:
Lots of quilting being accomplished here!! It's lying on a bumpy mess so it looks less smooth than it is. I've named it 'Golden Memories" The quilting design is relatively simple and was easy to come up with. Inspired by cut glass, of which I am fond.
And then there is this patchwork which is pretty much making itself:
I'm about 2/3 done getting all the blocks begun. It will be a log cabin variation of some kind or another.
I found this tonight and decided to take it to the next level:
This started as bleached print cloth in 2005. I have a technique that involved dyeing and over dyeing complex colors, then bleaching out designs and painting dye back in using MX thickened with alginate. I didn't know what to think then except that I was pleased with it. Its been waiting til now. Tonight I took a fabric pen to it and concentrated on outline and negative areas and I think its ready for sandwiching and free motion quilting.
My mom has been downsizing her fabric and as I slowly go through it I keep finding treasures. 2 whole lengths perfect for a matching front and back wholecloth, one hot deep pink in polished cotton and the other a rosier medium pink watered voile. Washed and set aside. You might find it silly that after 15 years as a dedicated quilter I am just now drawing my own quilting designs but its given me a freedom and direction that makes a lap sized Welsh style quilt do-able with free motion and straight line quilting. I do both on my Bernina, and am gaining confidence.
I remind myself that my word for the year is 'Closure' and part of that includes finishing as many as I start. I made 7-9 quilts last year and suddenly there are few left. Not for long. Just gotta get em to completion.
The one above is a familiar face. I had a waking moment where I saw each smaller rectangle with a much much smaller white rectangle, upper right corner, half filled in and half empty, just white outline. I guess it wasn't finished after all. This is also all entirely hand dyed and thread painted.
If you can get past the tie dye underneath, the fabric and patchwork are a cross over gradation of 36 pieces, from blue green to fuschia. I am slowly making half square triangle units using black with the colors. There will also be solid black squares and solid color squares. Its going to be a good sized patchwork. I am on the hunt for the complicated old fashioned pattern to set these blocks off to perfection. Well, all my perfection is wabi-sabi (imperfect, impermanent, incomplete...well mostly complete) so we'll see what we get.
And finally, a peek at what is under the tie dye:
'Cloister Garden'. The quilting is started and ready to be continued. Soon enough! I change my bobbin almost every day; sometimes twice. Every time I go to finish one, a new one pops up!
We are tapping our sugar maples for sap to boil into syrup. We have just begun with great potential for success and it's a new and exciting adventure. We had fresh maple sap boiled for our coffee the other morning. There was just a hint of something more and it was so delicious, and promising!
I am hooking up with Nina Marie on her Off the Wall Friday blog too. Thanks again Nina! I love browsing with coffee on weekend mornings.
Happy Spring! Soon the flowers will come out to play!
Love,
Sue
Lots of quilting being accomplished here!! It's lying on a bumpy mess so it looks less smooth than it is. I've named it 'Golden Memories" The quilting design is relatively simple and was easy to come up with. Inspired by cut glass, of which I am fond.
And then there is this patchwork which is pretty much making itself:
I'm about 2/3 done getting all the blocks begun. It will be a log cabin variation of some kind or another.
I found this tonight and decided to take it to the next level:
This started as bleached print cloth in 2005. I have a technique that involved dyeing and over dyeing complex colors, then bleaching out designs and painting dye back in using MX thickened with alginate. I didn't know what to think then except that I was pleased with it. Its been waiting til now. Tonight I took a fabric pen to it and concentrated on outline and negative areas and I think its ready for sandwiching and free motion quilting.
My mom has been downsizing her fabric and as I slowly go through it I keep finding treasures. 2 whole lengths perfect for a matching front and back wholecloth, one hot deep pink in polished cotton and the other a rosier medium pink watered voile. Washed and set aside. You might find it silly that after 15 years as a dedicated quilter I am just now drawing my own quilting designs but its given me a freedom and direction that makes a lap sized Welsh style quilt do-able with free motion and straight line quilting. I do both on my Bernina, and am gaining confidence.
I remind myself that my word for the year is 'Closure' and part of that includes finishing as many as I start. I made 7-9 quilts last year and suddenly there are few left. Not for long. Just gotta get em to completion.
The one above is a familiar face. I had a waking moment where I saw each smaller rectangle with a much much smaller white rectangle, upper right corner, half filled in and half empty, just white outline. I guess it wasn't finished after all. This is also all entirely hand dyed and thread painted.
If you can get past the tie dye underneath, the fabric and patchwork are a cross over gradation of 36 pieces, from blue green to fuschia. I am slowly making half square triangle units using black with the colors. There will also be solid black squares and solid color squares. Its going to be a good sized patchwork. I am on the hunt for the complicated old fashioned pattern to set these blocks off to perfection. Well, all my perfection is wabi-sabi (imperfect, impermanent, incomplete...well mostly complete) so we'll see what we get.
And finally, a peek at what is under the tie dye:
'Cloister Garden'. The quilting is started and ready to be continued. Soon enough! I change my bobbin almost every day; sometimes twice. Every time I go to finish one, a new one pops up!
We are tapping our sugar maples for sap to boil into syrup. We have just begun with great potential for success and it's a new and exciting adventure. We had fresh maple sap boiled for our coffee the other morning. There was just a hint of something more and it was so delicious, and promising!
I am hooking up with Nina Marie on her Off the Wall Friday blog too. Thanks again Nina! I love browsing with coffee on weekend mornings.
Happy Spring! Soon the flowers will come out to play!
Love,
Sue
You have a lot on the go - I am always impressed by people who can juggle lots of projects. I especially like the colours in Golden Memories, and can't wait to see Cloister Garden finished.
ReplyDeleteKaja, thank you again for your kind words! I sometimes make myself crazy but I do love all my babies ;D
Deleteoh Sue you remind me of the joy of sewing!! There is always a project waiting for something to be done to it, there are so many ideas and ways to interpret life in fabric! So much to make and then life gets in the way. Glad you are getting into it, and using your word of the year. What are you leaning about closure? LeeAnna at not afraid of color
ReplyDeleteHi LeeAnna! I'm learning that it means finished and done with more than the one I've finished so far lol...but a reminder to keep moving forward, that even a little bit leads to a lot over time and really I'm just glad that the motivation keeps coming.
DeleteHi Sue... Love your dye painted piece... and the blocks growing into a quilt at the sewing machine. Thanks for hosting the Quiltart Challenges this year...and for sharing your time ith all of us.
ReplyDeleteBethany
Thank you Bethany for sharing your kind words!
DeleteSo funny to see on quiltart that you're from Detroit, too. I lived near 6 Mile and Grand River in the Redford area, walked to school every day (Christ the King catholic school) and loved the Tigers! We moved to Livonia after the riots in 1967 when I was 10 years old. And I'm glad to see that someone else has as many projects going on at once as I do, my goal is to keep on plugging away and finish up things this year!
ReplyDeleteI went to Christ the King church as a child! We lived on Northrop St., 2 houses behind the funeral home. We moved to Plymouth in 69. Small world. I have recognized the old neighborhood in the speech patterns of new acquaintances over the years. I wish I would have gone to Redford HS. Its closed now too.
DeleteNice to meet you Laura!
I took swimming lessons at Redford high school. I lived near Greensboro NC for about ten years and one of my coworkers there also attended Christ the King, I found out when i asked her if she was from Michigan because she sounded like it to me. She had lived only a few blocks from me.
DeleteDo you have family yet in the area? I do, and my husband and I are relocating somewhere in southeast lower MI hopefully this fall. My son lives in Livonia, my daughter in Commerce Twp. We're heading to Livonia for the Easter weekend. I'm glad to have made your acquaintance Laura. If I can find you on FB I'll send a friend msg if thats ok
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