She Flies With Her Own Wings

"She Flies With Her Own Wings" is the challenge theme for our Fyber Cafe textile arts group. It is the Oregon State Motto. My cousin's granddaughter loves her pet chickens, and I thought she would want to fly with them if she could. So I asked her mother to take a few photos of her with her hands out to the side, sitting on the lawn. I'm going to put feathers in her hands and chickens in the background.

I enlarged the photo and traced it onto clear plastic to make a pattern. In Photoshop I printed it in poster mode to get a 2 x 2 sheet for a pattern. With cropping, it comes out to 18" x 24" when I add extra width for the feathers. I worked on the flesh tones first, I have an assortment of 8 x 10 fabric gradations, in pink to beige to tan brown hand dyes. I picked them up at a quilt show just to do faces with. I've added a few pieces of Kona cotton and others to give me a wider range. Next I want to try dyeing my own fabrics for this purpose, I love to do portraits. I used a clear plastic outline of the face to get the positioning just right. With this type of pattern I use the fusible instead of raw edge applique, because I need exact shapes. Wonder Under fusible interfacing gives me sharp outlines with little raveling.

Working on the blouse and skirt next, I followed the colors in the photo. The left side shadow will be changed, that fabric has too much contrast. Making the skirt I used some vintage fabric hexagons, so I folded the one edge and overlapped it with the first piece of fabric, to look like folds in the skirt. Instead of looking like my fabric pieces were too small.

I hope the black lace gives the folded skirt more dimension too. I had enough to put along the bottom edge also. A 1/8" pink satin ribbon will be embroidered at the gather point of the blouse and tiny buttons added. The grass is beginning to come together. I have collected landscape prints for quiet some time, so I had a variety of grasses in several sizes to give depth to the picture. I still need to find some cute chicken pictures to make a pattern from, to put in the background.

I had two fabrics, a gray and black colorway of feathers, I cut them out and made them shorter and narrower, and I also want to get some real feathers to embellish with. Thread painting will help the fabric ones look more real. So I am making progress, the deadline was November, but it really just needs to be ready for the Guild quilt show in April. Hopefully I'll have more to show you next Friday.

I am linking this to Nina-Marie's "Off the Wall Friday" to click on the badge in the right hand column and see what other wonderful textile artists are doing this week.

"Handmade"

I finally finished my challenge piece for the Fyber Cafe group. It is titled "Handmade" and is created with a basketry theme for the "Weaving" challenge. I used my original photographs for the background of the small quilt, and embellished it with acrylic paint printed grids, then I sewed on pieces of rug grid with cross stitches and beads. Then I used cross stitches to attach four sections of basketry I cut up. The words "Handmade" and "non-machineable" were rubber stamped on to the background, as I have never seen a machine made basket, I think a basket is something that has to be handmade.

Before I cut up the baskets I used superglue on them, so they would not fall apart when I cut them, I also coated them with matt medium to preserve them a little bit better. It is my first real abstract piece and I am very happy with the way it turned out. Each step/layer that I added just came to me as I was working on it, I just had to keep going and it all came together.

The White Album

As we are getting ready to put our Beatles Challenge pieces in the Sutherlin Library, an idea popped into my head. To stitch white on white, a picture of the four Beatles, and call it the white album. My supervisor at work, is a big Beatles fan and had several posters and pictures in her office. So I borrowed one that is a black and white silhouette style, traced it onto tracing paper and then onto white fabric. I used a red, heat disappearing pen to draw the pic, and free motion machine quilted it. I added lyrics and song titles around each head to add texture and fill in areas. It looked really strange with the red markings, and I was worried they would not come off. I wish I had taken a picture with the ink still on it. A quick hit with the hot iron and it instantly disappeared!! WOW, Magic!! I got the binding on and finished the sleeve, and had the whole thing finished in about 1 1/2 hours. The black and white picture is really good contrast and you can see how it really looks like them, not so much the outline only. It was difficult to photograph the white on white, I set it on my ironing board and put a small lamp, low so it was table level, casting as much shadow as possible. I had to lighten/whiten it up in photoshop cause it looked all creamy colored, like dark muslin.

We got quiet a few more pieces done for the challenge, so it will make a nice display at the library.

Beatles Song Challenge

I am working on the new challenge for Fyber Cafe. Our textile group is going to do a 12 x 12 block with a Beatles Song theme. I got an idea in my head for a strawberry design, then refined it into a diminishing spiral to signify the "Forever" part of the song title. I did a quick full size sketch to get the size and dimension of the spiral correct, then sketched in strawberries, getting smaller and smaller along the spiral.

Selecting an assortment of red Bali batiks, I immediately started freehand cutting strawberry shapes, then I had to choose a background. The complimentary color of green worked well, a bright lime for the spiral and a darker green with lime dots for the background. Adding green tops, and using a glue stick to glue it all down was the next step. My sewing machine is going to be in the shop, so if I get out my spare machine, I might get the quilting done too.

making progress

oops wrong pic again, the upper one is the landscape, before quilting, it goes left to right - tropical, forest, woodland, mountains, desert.

The Fyber Cafe challenge is making progress, I have gotten the major portion finished. The landscape section across the middle was the main focal point. I started with needle felting some pine trees on wool felt, I used various types of yarn, but they were all too lime green, and too high a contrast. I didn't have much selection in darker greens. I ended up using a medium green wool sliver and some dark green yarn with a sparkly core. I made rounder lollipop shaped trees with the felt also, but they look real clunky, they stitched down ok, but they are not my favorite part. On the left I made a palm tree, with a double layer of olive green fabric with fusible between. This allowed me to cut fringe on the palm fronds that won't come apart. When stitched down I curved the branch and this made it pop off the background in a good 3-D fringe effect. On the right side I added mountains, a mesa and cactus. The cactus are made with a light green felt, stitched with light green rayon threads, and then I hand stitched spines on them with darker green cotton thread. It is very delicate looking, and I added pink vintage rayon embroidered french knots, and yellow chain stitch flowers. Across the bottom I added rocks, sand, pebbles and some greenery, flowers and tufts of grass. I machine stitched it all with matching rayon threads to applique and quilt it.

wrong picture

oops wrong picture, could NOT figure how to delete it once it was in, not even from edit drafts. So here is the right picture, I hope. There we go.. an image of the sky, Angelina and blue velvet.

2010 Fyber Cafe Challenge

The theme for the new Fyber Cafe challenge is "What's My Line" We decided to do textile art work for an exhibit, we will prepare and then try to get into different galleries, venues and shows. We will mount them all on 24" stretcher bars with a silver/gray fabric background. The pieces will be no bigger than 18" and three dimensional and larger pieces will be mounted on an 18" cube. We were all given a sketch book to journal in, that will be part of the show. Sketching and writing in the journal is mandatory, to keep everyone on track with the deadlines, and to show your progress. I started sketching in my purse sketchbook and have had to transfer everything over to the larger journal, but as I did that I expanded and elaborated on my original design and theme, so it added something extra to the process. I was also able to sketch in color with pencils and crayons which I can't do in my purse book. My thought process went...."from a long line of fisherman, line of creative people, to gardener, nurturer of the land, mother nature holding a globe" My original sketch of mother nature with a globe, had crazy patch continents, arms and neckline with lace collar and sleeves, a calico dress, and hands supporting the globe. As I continued to sketch I wanted to be more abstract, so I changed patchwork countries to geographical features, lakes, mountains, grasslands, jungle, etc... I removed mother nature and just went with the globe, I abstracted it to swirled layers of trees, shore, underwater, sky and Northern and Southern polar areas. I might still keep hands cradling the globe, but that will be a later decision. I sketched a full size template on freezer paper and colored it with crayons. See photo above. Now I have somewhere to begin.

"Roots" more pics

Here are a few more pics

"Roots" part IV

The Umpqua Valley Quilters' Show was last weekend, I managed to get my project finished with NO time to spare. It took all of my effort the last week, to concentrate on all the detail. I printed more photos to hang from the bottom, with the yarn roots. I tea dyed fabric to put on the back with fusible web, and wrote names and descriptions with a Pigma pen. My research at the last minute found 6 great-great grandparents photos. I had to put the names together with the genealogy, maiden names, and figure out who was who. I almost didn't add the extra photos, do to time constraints, but I am very glad I did. It added a finishing touch, as well as a link to further generations. I also added a few extra pics of grandparents, and places, like the old Wipperfurth farm in Germany. I need to find out what town it is in. I had the hardest time trying to find a picture of myself to fit into the knothole. I ended up with an early picture from around 30 years old, all the relatives pictures were the earliest I could find. So I decided not to use a current pic of myself. The detail on the quilt got to be overwhelming, I wanted to add everything I had put into the original sketch, each thread painted butterfly, each glass ladybug bead. The fern curl was one of the first things I put in my sketch, and the last thing I sewed, but it had to be there! I used the "Tube turners" and stuffed a bias strip with poly batting, it was tricky to get it stuffed and to curl nicely, hand applique was also difficult as I had to work around all the other finished stuff. The thread painted butterflies and dragonfly were done on a layer of tulle, and a layer of wash-a-way Solvy film. I used rayon thread, with a matching poly thread in the bobbin. They were outlined in black and highlighted with an iridescent pearl mylar thread. Sewn on with black thread on the body only, so the wings were free and 3-D. I added clear glass seed beads to the spider web to highlight it, the silver thread I used to stitch didn't show up very well, the beads added a lot of sparkle, also last minute. The two Steller Blue Jays were not entirely thread painted, they were fused applique first, then free motion quilted to outline and add detail. I used about 8 different fabrics on the jays, and 6 colors of rayon thread. I painted the black eyes and the white highlights on the eyes and face with acrylic paint. I added a touch of "Fray Check" on the eye to make it glossy. I figured if I had nuts in my tree, then I needed jays or a squirrel, I ran out of time on the squirrel. The fusible web did a mirror image on the bird, so I had to make a second one, the correct direction. I think having two blue birds at the top really balanced the design, one of the few things not in my original sketch. All of the 3-D leaves, trees, branches, and flowers, are one of the main features of the quilt, they ran through the middle level of the design, climbed the tree, and popped off the fabric, giving a real sense of depth. Depth was achieved several ways, I printed ferns and leaves onto the background with acrylic paint, then added raw edge applique with leaves stitched to the background, and finally 3-D leaves overlapping each other. Adding mushrooms, hand dyed cheesecloth moss and lime green velvet moss to the foreground added a lot of detailed layers. I had wanted to add more detail to the moss with silk ribbon french knots and green seed beads, but no time. I made the 3-D leaves several ways, I used fabric fused front and back to itself, for a stiff, but thin flexible fern frond, I stitched it only on the stem and left the leaves loose. For the trillium and vine on the tree, I stitched fabrics wrong sides together and turned them right side out, for a two sided leaf. These leaves had more thickness, and stitching added detail veins and highlights. Of coarse the mushrooms were the best, I made round yoyos for the tops, and took a little tuck in the back edge to make more of a cone shape instead of a flat disk. Most of the stems were stuffed with pipe cleaners, and gave them stiffness and flexibility. I tucked them into moss, and also stitched at the top edge of the cap to attach them. I had gotten 3 small rubber frogs that I sewed onto one shelf mushroom, and two other regular mushrooms, they were very cute!! Can you find them in the photo? The purple flower on the left has two layers, darker purple behind the top lavender petals. Seed and bugle beads in yellow are dangled from the inside with a round purple glass bead at each end. I embroidered the detail veins on the petals with vintage rayon embroidery floss. I finally added a few purple and white silk flowers to balance color and fill in some blank spaces, they are all attached with a seed bead. The only part I didn't like, is the bottom edge where I attached the yarn roots, the edges are all cut and stick up. I want to put some small antique bone beads over the raw edges, to give it a more finished look. The zig-zag bottom edge worked great, I only had so much tree fabric and the roots only reached so far, so I trimmed it that way on purpose. I like the effect it made of blending into the ground below. A straight edge would have been too abrupt.

"Roots" challenge, part 3

I got all my photos printed onto treated fabric, took a while to figure out the family tree. I applied them with fusible interfacing and zig zagged around them with clear nylon thread, I never trust fusible to stay permanetly. I stitched the roots down with rayon threads, making sure not to quilt the folds down, and to leave as much texture as I could. I hand lettered names and dates of the photos, trying to get as many maiden names for the ladies as I could, so it can be followed back another generation. I tea dyed the fabric so it wasn't glaring white fabric. I have some older photos of people, family? I'll talk to my dad when they come to visit. The extra older photos, and some place photos, I'm going to add to the bottom, and dangle them with yarn "roots" off the bottom edge. I'm also going to add my photo to a knot hole up on the trunk of the tree, haven't chosen a photo yet. Don't know if I want to go young, 3-5 years old or current age, something newer. I've started to work on the foliage and the detail now. I made some ferns, with two layers of batik fabric fused together, I then stitched the stem and veins, and cut out the individual leaves, I was going to use a scrap book scissors with zig zag edge, but it wasn't sharp enough. Same with my ancient pinking shears, DULL! Can't remember when I used them last, ha ha ha. I looked up trillium in my wildflower book, they have very interesting veining on blue grey leaves, I made them with two layers of batik fabric, turned right side out, not fused, then stitched with rayon thread. They look very textured and wavy. I will make the white flower petals the same way. They also need a yellow center pistals, probably use yarn. the foliage detail is going to be fun. Next stuffed mushrooms and shelf mushrooms, and lots more simple leaves.

Fyber Cafe Challenge, part II

Getting started on the challenge project has been fun. I painted a large piece of muslin with Tsukineko Inks, in a water color wash technique in emerald green, celadon green and a little forest green and some splatters of rust. It was a mid range value, but faded to a light green when it dried. I wanted something more colorful, but I'm happy with the results, cause the center glows and it was light enough to print on, without the printing being too dark. I used green acrylic paint to stamp fern leaves onto the fabric, and because it is winter, I used a variety of silk leaves to scatter in the upper corners, and around the fern leaves. The silk leaves printed very well, I was afraid they wouldn't have enough detail, I used a foam brush to apply paint, and pressed them down by hand with a paper towel. They are very subtle for a background, I'll be applying applique leaves and ferns over them, but they will add a lot of depth when quilted around. The tree trunk fabric has been interesting, I choose a Bali batik in rust, browns with tan swirling lines, and a matching color print that looks like a comb was dragged through the paint. One of my books said to texture the fabric, twist it up into a knot when wet and let it dry over night. This gave it a nice wrinkled texture and you are suppossed to iron interfacing to the back to keep the wrinkles, but it was too flat for that. So I cut pieces of interfacing, traced my trunk and root sections, and manipulated my fabric into folds and wrinkles in small sections with my fingers and pressed with a small "Clover brand" iron. This gave LOTS of texture, I stitched free motion with rust rayon threads and flipped the folds back and forth, it will need lots more stitching, and embellishing with moss, beads, etc. I also made long tapered strips for roots to fit my sketch. The photos are ok, but not sure about the color, I think you can see the folds and stitching. Next came the photos to be tucked into the roots, I couldn't finalize the roots with out knowing how many photos and where they would go. I searched Dad's picasa photo albums on the web for old family pictures, he has pics from all my great grand parents and also a log cabin in the Wisconsin woods and the old Wipperfurth farm stead. I got my parents wedding photo too, and decided to add a photo of myself in a knot hole high up on the tree trunk. Haven't decided which photo of myself to use tho. I'd like to add a blue jay and a squirrel to the picture, if you have nuts in the tree, they will be there ;-) Maybe at the last minute if I have time to thread paint them, ha ha ha. So I am making progress, I haven't decided if I want to attach the tree and roots first or add more stitching now. The greenery will be next, 3-D leaves and flowers, I want to make little stuffed mushrooms, shelf mushrooms on the trunk, and I have some really nubby lime green fabric to use as moss.

Fyber Cafe Challenge, part I

Fyber Cafe is a textile arts group I belong to in Roseburg, Oregon. We have about 15-20 members, of all sorts, dyers, weavers, spinners, quilters, wearable arts, costumers, mixed media, etc... The Fyber Cafe 2010 Challenge is "Roots", so I have been sketching in my notebook/journal/sketch book whatever you call it. We need to have a project done for the Umpqua Valley Quilt Show in April. My main focus has been photographs on fabric of old family pictures, with the roots of a tree surrounding them. I have been having so much fun with Photoshop Elements, that I want to do something photographic. I have a lot of tree photographs, but nothing with "roots", there are other "root" definitions in the dictionary, but I keep coming back to family. As I sketched I wanted to add the top of the tree with current photographs, but that sketch got to be a very big project. So I scaled back to just the bottom of the tree, with lots of ferns, mushrooms, leaves, and wildflowers. The tree had to be very textured, with moss, and bark, lots of stitching, maybe some beads for texture too. I penciled in a full size drawing on a roll of newsprint that I have, when I liked the results I go back over it with a black "flair" felt tip marker, to make more finalized lines, and really see what I have done. Next was the BIG box of Crayola crayons!! I have to have the big box!! It was one of my favorite memories from Christmases past, getting a new big box. I laid in some basic color blocks, brown trunk, green leaves, roots and places for the photographs. Pinning the sketch up on my design wall to stare at for a while is always recommended. I was seeing a pattern in the roots that I wanted to emphasize, mostly in the negative space. Adding the crayon to make the contrast from dark roots to light background brought out the negative space, the roots were weaving together to form diamond shapes, where I am now going to place the photographs. So now the major design ideas are in place, I am looking at my drawing, thinking that if I want to do this level of detail I better get my butt in gear and get started. Next installment, painting the backing fabric and textureing the tree trunk with photos of the starting process.