Paintsticks, Stencils, and Frogs-- Oh My

So I decided to do a frog for my Small, Green, and Gorgeous piece.

I made a stencil from freezer paper and ironed it to a piece of blue hand-dye.  Using a brush, I colored in the stencil with Leaf Green paintstick.  Then I read the directions for the challenge.

Whoops.  It was supposed to be made using recycled and/or found stuff.  So I set this aside and created this here, using the aforementioned recycled, repurposed, and found stuff.

I set the frog on hand-dye aside and kind of forgot about it.

Fast-forward to today.  At Quilt Expo, I discovered some new colors of paintsticks at Laura Murray's booth -- Lime Green!  And some others.   So of course, they had to come home with me.
I immediately thought of the frog when I saw the Lime Green(!) paintstick and remembered the punchinella I had purchased last spring in Chicago.  At the time, I was planning on using it for stenciling (polka dots!), but I've been too busy with other stuff to try it out.

While waiting for the washing machine to do its thing, I thought I'd test drive the new paintsticks (Lime Green!) on the frog.  I retrieved the frog from the oops pile, heat set it with my iron, ironed it to some freezer paper for stability and ironed the stencil I had made back on.

Then I grabbed the punchinella (which is also called sequin waste) and, using a small stencil brush, added some of the Lime Green (!)
paintstick for warts.  I used a little Emerald paintstick on the belly of the frog and added an eye with the brown paintstick.

The thing about brushing on paintstick color is that you really can't see it while the stencil is in place.  But when you remove it -- wow!  The color is amazing.  Not subtle at all.

You can do subtle, you just have to be careful to use color with less contrast and a (much) lighter hand with the paintstick.

So now the frog is curing -- it has to sit around for a few days -- the heavier the application of paint, the longer it must wait -- before heat-setting it.

I use my iron on the cotton setting with the fabric in between two pieces of parchment paper so I don't get paint on my iron or ironing board.  It needs to be heat set to "complete the chemical reaction that occurs when the paint dries,"  according to the information I found on Laura Murray's site.

Then the fabric can be washed to remove any residual oil from the paintsticks.  Dry-cleaning is not recommended because the solvents will remove the color.

I like these because they're like really big crayons (who doesn't like crayons?) and they don't change the hand of the fabric.

Also, there aren't a lot of things that you can use to put light color on dark fabrics that don't stiffen the fabric -- iridescent paintsticks are fabulous for this.

Quilt Expo Pictures

I had a bit of time today to take some pictures.  The show was really crowded, so the best pictures were the ones I took of our "Pieceful Nights" exhibit.

  The quilts looked like jewels lined up along the wall.

 Unfortunately, the lighting is not the best.  And there were all these people examining them.    But it was great seeing them hung all together.

This one was made by my friend, Fran.  I like the way she emphasized the center star and found the star in each of the blocks.

And the quilts from the Prairie Heritage Quilt Show challenge were in another special exhibit.  I haven't seen my little quilt, "Winkin' Blinkin' and Nod Set Sail" since last spring.  These little quilts go on a tour that includes Paducah and one of the Dakotas, South, I think.

Cool Winnings

Yesterday, I received a package of goodies from SewCalGal!  A whole bunch of Sulky goodies to play with!

Thank you to SewCalGal and her fabulous Pets on Quilts Show.  And a really big thank you to my readers who took the time to go over there and vote for me!  Rex the hamster took second place in the "other" pet on quilt category.

I have been working at Quilt Expo in Madison, Wisconsin.  Yesterday, I helped hang quilts -- including those in the main exhibit, and the special exhibit of "Pieceful Nights."  I spent today helping out at the vendor mall.  If you have a chance to go to the show, be sure and visit Cathy at Quilting Books Unlimited.  She's a ton of fun and has all the new and old quilt books anyone could ever want -- even me!

I don't have any pictures of the show -- I've been too busy to shoot any.  I'll try to take some tomorrow and post them tomorrow or the next day.  Now I'm off to soak my feet.

Mag30

First Day

A shiny crisp apple and a long yellow bus

New old clothes from Jamie next door

Mother cooked us eggs and toast 

A whole new year for a whole new me

leave those old bullies behind and find

some new ones to torment me

Lockers of terror and desks of despair

taunting teachers with chalk

blackboards and erasers

Dark-fanged student emissaries

a cadre of peerless trolls bent on

butchering self esteems

A shiny crisp day and a whole lot of fuss

hand me down worries

and another damn bus

-kls 2010

This was written in response to a prompt at Magpie Tales.  Write your own and click here.

1st Annual Bloggerversary!

One year ago today, I started this blog.  I began blogging to force myself to be more creative.  I find myself doing more creative stuff just because of the responsibility of this blog -- which is good.

I have found a couple of advantages to blogging that I didn't expect.  I now have a record of my work -- finishes, starts, and works in progress.  I also now have a record of the various different things I've tried -- stitching, adding color, and different techniques for embellishment.

Best of all -- I've made friends and influenced people.  This last was something I never dreamed would happen.  How cool.  It seems a little immodest to crow about having influenced people -- but I have had people tell me so.  And it's influence in a good way.  Not like when your friend's parents don't want them to hang around with you.  Or your friend's husband.  Or your kid's friend's parents.  Um, but anyway...

And last, but not least, I'm writing again.  A poem a week -- at least.  Although I don't always publish them -- I gotta have some standards.

This is probably a good time to thank my family and my followers for their support in this endeavor.

I've included photos of some old pre-blog quilts.  They were inspired by quilts in magazines or made as samples for my LQS.  I always hang the Halloween star when the kids go back to school.

Flora is Finished (Maybe)

"Flora Checks In"

21" X 23"

Turned edge appliqué, raw edge appliqué, thread painting, Tsukineko inks, commercial cottons, hand-dyed cottons, cotton thread, and wool batting.

I'm trying to decide if the flowers need some stems.  It's not "due" for another week and a half, so I may just add some.  And I can see now that the butterfly needs some antennae. Hmmm...

I created this for the Olbrich Gardens Quilt Challenge, 2010 Fall Show, "Quilts in Bloom" in Madison, Wisconsin.  It will be on display from September 25 through October 17 with the other challenge pieces and 40 other quilts, each featuring a botanical theme.  They will be displayed in a lush indoor garden created especially for this show.  It is always spectacular.

This is a picture from last year's show -- that's my quilt on the left, "Rainbow Garden."

There is a Viewer's Choice award, so if you're in town, please stop by, enjoy all the quilts, and vote for "Flora."  The prize is a year's membership to Olbrich Botanical Gardens.  I won this prize in 2008 with "Forest Faeries."    I'd love to win again.

Chubby Stars and Chain Blocks

A couple of posts ago, I started playing in EQ7with the Chubby Stars that Tracey at TracyJay Quilts is featuring in her Quilt Along.  I have figured out how to do it with the chain block in between the snowball blocks.



What a fabulous quilt this makes!  This is the twin size layout.

Here is the Full/Queen size layout.  I saved it without the lines between the patches.

And just for fun, I recolored it in the throw size.

I did one in king size.  With border blocks that complete the chain.