Playing with Paper and Fabric

 This month over at the "...Fire" blog we are playing with glue and paper and fabric (click here for Rosalita's post).

I really like this technique.  A while ago, my daughter and I had a blast making paper/fabric valentines and Christmas stars (here).

So I took some of my precious Godiva tissue (DS#1 likes to give me truffles for gifts and they always wrap up even a purchase of 4 truffles with the gold bag and this wonderful paper that I've been saving for a special project).

It was kind of boring with just the Godiva tissue, so I added a couple of paper towels that I had used for cleaning up a previous project.  Then it looked a bit like the ground in late fall after a hard rainstorm (except for the color), so I sprinkled over a few maple pods for resist

and sprayed the whole thing with walnut antiquing spray.  Then I let it dry in the sun.

So now I have this canvas for stitching.  I'm thinking of layering it with batting, then adding some paint.  And maybe burning the edges for an unusual finish...

Quick Monday Update

Just a quick update for Monday.  It worked!  Here is the dye-painted hibiscus.

I'm thinking of using foil to make the beetle sparkle.

And I've commandeered the kitchen table again -- this time for a rendering with Setacolor fabric paints.

For other design walls, check out Judy's blog here.

Taking Advantage of a Situation

As long as I had the table, I figured I should take advantage and do something else.  I haven't really ever worked in a series, but I like this photo and it seemed like a good idea.


I haven't done any dye painting in a long time.  I have lots of dye thickener in my refrigerator from some "...Fire" blog experiments.  And I have the table.

I have some fabric in the dye studio (AKA the NE corner of the garage) that was in a box labeled "soda soaked fabric."  I took a piece that wasn't too wrinkled and taped it down over the plastic protecting the hibiscus pattern.  

I hope this works.  I don't know how long that fabric has been in there.  I don't know if it is really soda soaked.  The dye thickener was on its last legs -- I tossed the remainder after I finished painting the fabric.  And the trouble with dye painting is that I haven't done it in so long, I had to get out my notes.  I hope I mixed it up right.  I won't know until after it batches and is washed out.  This is somehow worse than the usual excitement with dyeing.  I hope this works...

And instead of my design wall, the action is all under the needle today.  I have started quilting the ink-painted hibiscus.

To see what people who are using their design walls are doing, click here to go to Judy's blog.  

Creating my Own Reality

I've been doing my painting on the kitchen table.  This means two things:

1: no eating at the kitchen table  (I don't consider this a problem because it also means: no cooking in the kitchen).

2: The light from the fixture above the table is great for eating and homework, but not so good for painting.

So I rescued my little ott light from the art table corner of the family room and set it up.  Ahhh... much better.

I was having a little trouble getting the color right for the flower.  The photo is more pink and the flower is more orange.  Of course, I don't have to do either color (I could make it purple, if I was so inclined), but I like the color of the flowers.

They are pale peach during the winter when they grow inside; but in the extreme heat we are currently experiencing, they are a lovely shade of dark pinkish orange.  So I brought in a flower and played around with the inks until I had a color I liked -- somewhere in between the photo and reality.  

I think it is ready for the needle -- I have to suppress the urge to keep adding more paint because I can do so much more with thread.  

And Rosie after her walk.  In case if anyone was wondering if it is hot here...

Stop Stressing

And do something!  This should be my new motto! 

I really wanted to get started on my "Wild Thing" piece, but all my photos, drawings, ideas, and inspiration are buried on my original hard drive.  I can get to them, but it takes gyrations that I'm just not up to right now.  And I have it on good authority that my computer will be back to normal (whatever that is) within a week or two at most.So I don't want to do anything that will change things over to the hard drive I'm using right now.  Also, this computer is maddeningly sloooooow and I'm just a wee bit spoiled, I suppose.

So I took this photo in my garden yesterday.

And these supplies.

And a tiny bit of what's left of my precious PFD fabric and did this.  Not a bad start, is it?

Stripping Redux

In my previous post, I was whining about my discontent with this piece.

So I took another piece of monoprinted/resist-stenciled fabric from the same batch and set one on top of the other.

I cut them up and laid them out so that I would have two pieces after they were sewn back together.

I like the wavy cuts, but I wasn't real careful when I stitched together the curves, so they're not real flat.  They have some gathers and tucks, but I decided that this was a good thing.

I slashed each finished piece across the diagonal and stitched one to the other.

These are the two "finished"pieces.  I then sewed them together so that I had one big piece.

I still have the stack-o'-turquoise out, but there was this little tiny strip of orange left over from the owl project.

So I sewed it in.  And I liked it.  So I cut some more thin strips. The key here is to use really thin strips.  And about a 1/8 inch seam allowance.


I added a couple more tiny orange strips and....

voila!  I like it.  I'm not sure if I'm finished or if I'm going to add some more strips. Or paint.  Or maybe just layer it and quilt it.  And then add some paint...

First Time Stripping

In an earlier post I talked about doing something different with these lovelies.

Over at the "...Fire" blog we had a guest artist for June.  Kathy Loomis posted a tutorial for slicing and stitching fabric (here) that is a fine way to "do" something with those bits and pieces of hand-dyes, monoprints, and artcloths that just need something.  

So I went through the "Summer O' Turquoise" stash and pulled these fine candidates and started cutting strips.

Kathy recommends using "flimsy" fabric for the little strips to avoid adding excess bulk, but I like the sturdiness of the hand-dyes.  I'll have to play around more another time with "flimsy" fabric.

I pulled this monoprint from my stash that I had overdyed with a flour resist (here).  I like the colors but it doesn't really stand on its own.  

I cut some strips from the Caribbean-colored fabrics and joined them end to end.  I ironed the seams open because I figured they would be much easier to insert that way.

This is the start.  The orange/blue stripe was a mistake.  But I decided to go with it.  I kept adding more and more slices and strips until I got this:

This is where I finished.  I really like the thinnest strips.  I think the chunky strips look clunky. The really thin strips (3/4 inch or less before sewing) look much better.  Kathy uses less than 1/4 inch seam for her strips and, while it's scary sewing that tiny a seam, they look much better with the tiny seam allowance.  And it's not like it's going anywhere.  I'll post another photo after I add more strips.  I'm not sure I should continue with the turquoise though...

Cute Little Owl

I'm still battling with my computer, but I took a wee bit of time off this weekend to play.  I made this little stuffed owl for my daughter.  It's about 11 inches tall.

I think the tail is pretty cute!

I used this pattern that Darling Daughter saw at a quilt store in Rockford, Illinois and just had to have.  It was a nice little project to help forget all the things that are currently causing woe.  

July Design Wall

After the very intense family visit and multiple computer problems battle, here is my design wall for today.

I'm still battling the computer -- so it's unlikely I'll be posting much for the foreseeable future.


To see design walls belonging to people who aren't ready to throw their computers out the window and give up, click here to go to Judy's blog.