Spring is Coming in...

"Two Shakes"

36" by 36"

It was sunny today,so I posed my lambs on a snow bank.




And a couple of detail shots.

I think I need to add a bit of ink or paint to the flower stems.  I quilted them in, but I think they would benefit from a little bit more color.  Or maybe not.  *smile*

Now that it's all finished, I think the legs on the left lamb look a bit awkward in the photo.  But then spring lambs are new at standing, aren't they?  

Linking up with Nina Marie Sayer today.

Spring: it's coming again

Actually it came and went.  I wrote this post last April and just finished it.

Okay -- maybe not here in Wisconsin.  But for most of the northern hemisphere, it is.  My guild, Lodi Valley Quilters Guild, has a spring challenge each year that coincides with Quilt Academy.  A choice of three classes are offered from a long list of possibilities; it's a really big deal.  I'm on the committee (I redesigned the brochure this year) so I felt more than obligated to finish my challenge for the quilt display we did with it.

The challenge fabric was this floral.  

 Totally not my style.  But I had to use some of it.  On the front.  Hmmm...

So I got this idea of spring animals frolicking in the flowers. I ironed fusible web to the entire fat quarter.  Then I sat at a meeting and later in front of the TV and cut out individual flowers.  I made it easy on myself and used textile glue to fasten the sheep parts to the background for quilting.

I pinned a thin cotton batt to the back and stitched all the lambs' wool with Aurifil thread.  Here are the finished lambs before I cut away the batting and layered it with the final wool batting.


I will post a photo of the finished piece in a week or two after the show on April 5.  I might have some fun photos of the guild members then too.

Okay, this is not true.  I will post the finished project sometime this month.  OK.  I lied again.  It has been nearly a year and here it is!

Tulips & Rose

"Tulips & Rose"

37.5" by 45.5"

"since the thing perhaps is

to eat flowers and not to be afraid"

- e e cummings, Complete Poems, 1904 - 1962

Tulips & Rose will be in the fiber art exhibit at Olbrich Gardens this winter.

The show runs from November 3, 2013 through January 26, 2014 at Olbrich Botanical Gardens, 3330 Atwood Avenue, Madison, Wisconsin.

The opening reception will be held on Wednesday, October 30, 5 - 7 p.m.  Here is a link to the Olbrich Gardens website.

I used raw-edge appliqué.  The tulip colors and Rosie's freckles were added with Tsukineko inks.  The rest was done with Aurifil 50 wt thread.  

And for Beth and Lynne, the backside.

Evolution of a Horse

In the last post, I discussed how I got the horse on the fabric.  I was playing around sketching with a brush and some watercolors and came up with this image.  I decided to use it for my Asia-themed quilt for Art Quilts Around the World.  

I transferred the horse to fabric with a blue washout pen, pieced the quilt together, then layered it with wool batt, Decor-bond, and Kona black cotton on the back.  I ironed the whole thing to make it flat.  I quilted the parts around the horse fabric with 50 wt Aurifil with a lot of stitching in the ditch.

I machine-sketched with the heavy 28 wt cotton Aurifil thread (the one with the grey plastic in the photo above) and a 90/14 quilting needle.  I used the washout marker so I wouldn't have to follow the lines exactly.

Then I got out my Tsukineko inks and those silly little pointy applicators and inked in my horse.  I hit it with the iron again to set the inks.

After the ink was set, I used matching black/brown variegated 50 wt Aurifil to do the mane and tail.  Then I quilted the background around densely with a pale color of 50 wt Aurifil -- yes, there's a thread theme going on here...

After I finished all the thread work and bound it, I rinsed it in the sink to get rid of the blue washout pen.

For a closer look, click on the photos.

Gone to the Dogz

I need some dogs for something I'm working on.  I took a photo of Rosie and inked it onto some cotton fabric with fabric Sharpies and Tsukineko inks -- sorry -- I didn't take a picture.  I layered the inked image with wool batting and used Decor-Bond on the back to make it stable, then I stitched all over it with my machine.  I did iron the sandwich to make it flat before I stitched -- and I had to hit it again with the iron to flatten it after the stitching.

I drew up some Jack Russell Terriers to keep Rosie company and did the same layering thing with batt and stabilizer.  I found some great variegated greys among my stash of Aurifil threads -- those would be the two grey ones on the right side of the photo.  These are all 50w spools.

Then I covered the little terriers with thread.

I am linking up with Nina-Marie at Off the Wall Fridays.

Hibiscus 4

The fourth and final in the series (so far).  This one was painted with thickened dyes over a flour resist -- click here to read that post.

I used wool batting and cotton threads.

The beetle is black Misty-fuse under a bit of foil for sparkle -- because you can't get sparkle with dyes.  I used 50 weight cotton Auriful thread for the legs and around its body.

And the back...for Beth and Lynne.




The four quilts will be hung together on Monday at Olbrich Gardens in a show featuring work by Madison Contemporary Fiber Artists.  The show will run through April.  I will go next weekend and photograph the show and then share some of the photos here.

Hummer Progress

I finished the painting part of my interpretation of Statia Dougherty's wonderful hummingbird photo.

I really like these paints from Prochem.  They behave like Setacolors (long my faves), but I think the colors might be brighter and more intense.  They're cheaper too and since I can no longer obtain Setacolors locally, I have to do mail order.  The only thing I don't like is the little jars they come in.  I made a bit of a mess pouring them on my palette.

I wanted the hummer to stand out from the rest of the quilt, so I added wool batting and stabilizer (I used DecorBond by Pellon).  Then I added thread.  I used 50 weight Aurifil.

For Beth: here is the back side of the bird after adding the thread.  No, I didn't trim the threads very well.

I left a bit of the stabilizer extending beyond the edge of the bird so that it would get caught in the quilting and make the bird stable.

And here is the finished hummingbird before I layered and quilted the rest.