Class with Elizabeth Barton

I'm taking a class on Quilt University with Elizabeth Barton. It's called Dyeing to Quilt. It is sad that Quilt University will be closing down at the end of the year. With Carol Millers death, there is no one to run it so this will be it's last year. I'm glad I had signed up for this class. 

Some of the basic dyeing stuff I'm already familiar with. In the first lesson, we did a gray gradation to study value. I've never really done a value study and never made a quilt with blacks and grays. 

I decided to use this drawing that I made years ago after a class with Rosalie Dace called "Up Close and Personal". It was part of a word done in calligraphy. I really was drawn to the curves in it and the play of positive and negative space.  Even though I liked it a lot, I never did anything with it till now. I'd always turn to it  in my idea notebook but didn't really know what I wanted to do. For Elizabeth's class, I did for different value drawings. This is just one of them.

This is what the quilt ended up looking like.  I decided to go with an off center spiral for the quilting to echo the curves in the design.  I would like to keep going with this idea and use it for more value studies and also color studies.

I'm also excited that the classes for next years North Country Studio Workshops is up on  their site. I'm looking at the Quilting class with Cynthia Corbin and the Surface Design class with Jason Pollen. Both would take me out of my comfort zone and push me. Because Jason's class isn't just a "quilting" class, I would have to push myself more and be more out of my comfort zone. I've never really taken a class that wasn't a quilt class. Last years class at NCSW was the first class I'd ever taken that wasn't at a quilt show or workshop. I really enjoyed seeing all the other art that was being done. Elin Noble is teaching the Fiber class there but I really don't need to learn a new technique. It's a natural dyeing class and at this point in my life,  I don't need to learn something where I need to buy more stuff to work with.
Just need to decide which class I want to put as my first choice and which as my second.

Didn't Work

I found out that using marbo gum from Pro-Chem doesn't work with Jo Fitsell's marbling technique. When the fabric dried, the marbo gum made a plastic like coating that didn't wash out. I even tried washing it in the washing machine and it still didn't come out. It's flaking off now but the paint is coming off with it. I will be sticking with the methyl cel for this technique. Eventually I should be able to get this off and reuse the fabric or marble on the other side.  I'm glad I didn't try marbo gum first or I might not have tried again with the methyl cel.

                                                     You can see how shiny the coating is.

Another Day of Marbling

Here are some more marbling pictures. These are ones that I've marbled a second time. I really need to figure out how I'm going to use these. They are so different from what I usually use that it has got me a little bit stuck but they are so fun to make that I keep making more and keep asking what if I try this?? I have more fabric drying to marble later today. I pulled some more commercial fabrics to try and some of my painted hand painted ones.

I was looking at this one oriented vertically and thought it looked like a backbone, my friend, Debbie said a snakeskin.

These are all about 10"x13". The size of a large turkey roasting pan. I'd love to find or make something that is bigger so I can try marbling some bigger pieces.

Marbling - Day 4

Here are pictures of the marbling I did yesterday. It's interesting how the same color looks different when on a different background color. This first one was done on a piece of green silk. The one with a gray background fabric is also a silk.

These next two were made by splattering the paint on to the methyl cel. The first one was a commercial fabric. I like the way the changes in the background fabric show through the marbling. 

This one was done on a hand-dyed background.

I used the circle stencil for this one. Just wanted to see what it would look like without any other marbling underneath.

Marbling - Day 3

Here are the marbling results from yesterday. The first two pieces have a second layer of marbling added to them.

This one, I just used black and white paint.

This one had a second layer added to it. You can see the smaller circles in a grid. This was done by floating a foam stencil on top of the methyl cel and using it to keep the paint contained.

This is marbling on organza. Should have layed it on a piece of black fabric so it would show up better.

I did some more marbling tonight after I go home from work. This is really addictive!!! I tried marbling on some commercial fabrics and a couple pieces of silk. They are down on the floor of the basement drying. Not sure what I will make with these. Did I say this was addictive?? Really, really addictive???

Marbling - Day 2

Here's day 2 of marbling. I added more alum to the water I soak the fabric in. I followed Pro Chem's directions and it seems to have worked better. I also used colored fabric instead of white. I think that made a difference in how they look. A couple of them were hand-dyed fabric and you can see the mottling coming through the paint.  The 3 in the first photo, I have close-ups of. The 3 in the second photo I have all set to add a second layer of marbling. Jo Fitsell said she doesn't soak the fabric in alum for the second layer, but I have so much background fabric showing that I decided to soak them in alum just to be safe. I'll probably end up putting a second layer on the first 3 too.

It's interesting how different the paints look on different background fabrics. All of these were marbled with the same paint colors. Well, at least with having Gary down in Boston for another 5 weeks, I don't have to worry about how big a mess I make in the basement experimenting!!! Well, I'm off to the basement to have some more fun!

It Worked!!!!

For Christmas, Gary gave me Quilting Arts TV Series 1000. I was really fascinated with the marbling that Jo Fitsell showed. I ended up downloading her Marbled Fabric Surface Design workshop from Quilting Arts and decided I wanted to try it. When I went online to buy carrageenan and  alum, Pro Chemical and Dye didn't carry carrageenan but had methyl cel. Went ahead and ordered that. While I was waiting for it to come, I researched other peoples experience with methyl cel and started to get worried. A lot said it was harder to use than carrageenan and they had trouble getting the paint to float. Forged ahead anyways, mixed up the metyl cel, soaked fabric in alum water, and watered down some Golden Fluid Acrylics. And..... it worked!!!! 

There I am, down in the basement, yelling, "It worked!!! It worked!!! This is so cool!!!!" My kids come running downstairs to see what all the excitement is about. When they see it is paint floating on what looks like water, they give me "the look", roll their eyes and head back upstairs.

Here are the pictures.

I think I didn't have enough alum in the water that the fabric soaked in. The alum is used to make the paint adhere to the fabric better. My colors washed out a little. For my first attempt at marbling, I'm happy. I'll need to experiment a little more. I need to work on my color combinations. My favorite is the black and white one. I also want to try marbling onto colored fabric I did mine on white fabric.

Happy New Year

I hope every had a merry Christmas and a safe and fun New Years! Ours was quiet and and spent with our family. Working  at a grocery, we worked a lot of it. I haven't had a lot of time to do much and what I did do was for presents, so couldn't show them. Kara's old tie dyed pillowcase finally gave out so I made her a couple of new ones. I dyed them using the ice dyeing method.  Both of these were dyed in the same container but came out completely different.

This first one, I separated the 2 sides of the pillowcase and scrunched them differently. You can see that each side came out different. This was also the top layer in the container.

The second pillowcase, I kept the two sides together and did a rough spiral. you can see that both sides came out pretty much the same. this was on the bottom of the container.

"Making Fabric Jewelry"

I just found out that I won this book from Beading Arts.  Since I work with fabric, I had been thinking it would be fun to use fabric to make some jewelry pieces. Then I saw the drawing for this book and won!! 

Maybe this will help me make what I see in my mind. Can't wait to get it and start reading.

4 Circles Quilt

This is the latest circles quilt that I've been working on. The top is fused together then mounted on a background quilt. I had fun making this one. I used colors that I don't usually use for my quilts. I had a bunch of  silk clothing that I had collected and they were all in these gorgeous fall colors. I used these for my starting point then went through my stash to get colors that went with them.

Here's a close-up of the quilt.

A Quilter's Gathering

Had a lot of fun at A Quilter's Gathering. I think it worked out well at the new venue in Manchester. Although I had never taken a class when it was in Nashua. I went down Thursday with Marilyn and Susan from the Fiber Divas. We met Carmen and Anita down there for lunch. Carmen and Anita were in Diane Hires "Come Play with Me" class. Then Susan, Marilyn and I took a quick look at the quilt show and meandered through the merchants mall. It was nice having the merchants in 1 big room instead of several small room. Much more space. 

Friday I drove back down for my class with Diane Hire. I took "Vivacious Curvy Squares" Diane was a fun teacher. By the end of the class, I had the separate components done. I had the green strips sewn together and the curved pieces. Yesterday afternoon, I sewed all the pieces together into these blocks. Now to figure out how I will finish it. Some type of border. Gary wants me to make more blocks and make it into a bed quilt. 

I also spent more time looking at all the quilts at the show. Took some pictures of some quilts that I thought Kara might like to see. There was one that won best of theme, "Just by Chance". The quilt was a fish and it used pop tabs from cans for scales on the fish and bubbles in the water and other embellishments on the borders. I had always wondered what could be done but always thought any quilt I did would look tacky. This quilt wasn't tacky. The pop tops really fit in nicely. Then spent some more time wandering around the merchants mall.

This class was just what I needed with all that has been going on with my mom and with Gary. It was a nice getaway.

Kara's Landscape

It's taken me a while to post Kara's latest quilt. She made this before she went back to Houghton. It is now hanging up in her room there. A while back she made a drawing and decided that she wanted to make it into a quilt. She decided to frame it like you were looking out a window and each section would be a different season. She'd been collecting fabric for it since last March or so. To go to the orthodontist, we have to drive right by Keepsake Quilting. We usually end up stopping on our way home to see if there is something we just can't live with out.

I just realized a couple of days ago that A Quilter's Gathering starts this Thursday. Sure came up fast. Guess that's what happens when life gets out of control!!! This year it is being held in Manchester instead of Nashua. Only 1 hour and fifteen minutes instead of an hour and a half to get there. Thursday, the Fiber Divas are going to go down and look at the show and wander through all the vendors. Friday, I will going back down to take a class. I'm taking "Vivacious Curvy Squares" with Diane Hire. I need to start collecting my supplies for the class. This is the first class I've taken where the sewing machines are provided. Be nice not to have to lug my machine around. Just hope there are no problems with the machines.
 Looking forward to it. I need some time away to relax and have some fun.

Boston

Back in September Gary had surgery down at Mass Eye and Ear in Boston. While waiting, my mom, dad and I spent a lot of time in the dining room looking out at the view. We were on the 7th floor and had a great view looking over the Charles River. Watched the boats and Duck tours go by.  In my bag of stuff, I had included my camera just in case I saw something inspirational to take pictures of.  I think I might be able to get some good ideas from some of these. Since we live up in the boonies of NH, most of my inspiration comes from the woods and nature around me. 

There was a beautiful sunset that evening while we were eating dinner.

Glimpses

Here are some glimpses of what I've been working on. This first one is the leftover squares from another circle quilt I'm working on. I used this small piece to try out ideas on how I wanted to quilt and finish the larger quilt. These are not my normal colors, but I had picked up a few silk shirts from the Goodwill store that were fall colors. I thought the colors looked really nice together so I looked through my stash for other fabrics to go with them.

I made this with leftovers from the pillows I made. I thought the little squares in the pillows looked like windows or doors. I made the "doors" on this piece separate and will sew them onto the background

. 

Here's a close-up.

                         and a glimpse of the flock of turkeys that is hanging out around our house.