Serenity Pond

Serenity Pond is finished and hanging at the Umpqua Valley Quilters' Guild Show. The show is this weekend in Roseburg Oregon at the Fairgrounds, April 26-28, 2019. I had a lot of little details to finish up, the dragonflies, the shadow of the rock, gold painted highlights, and toning down the striped fabric on the branch. It all got done with time to spare, Including dyeing more indigo for the binding and getting the label sewn on. It is made entirely with my hand dyed fabrics.

I also added some brass Chinese coins to the squares on the left edge, to give it a bit of an Asian flare. And because the Fyber Café challenge was to add some metal objects to the work. The rocks have additional acrylic paint on them, I'm glad I added this, as the hand dyed fabric was beautiful as it was, but the paint made it even better.

The leaves and the moon have gold metallic paint added, the extra shimmer really adds depth and highlights. I'm very proud of this one. It was started in a class with Claudia Law of Ashland, Oregon. I am linking this to Nina Marie's "Off the Wall Friday" click here see what other talented artists are doing this week.

Indigo & Dragonflies

Just a little bit about several things. I am trying to get ready for the Umpqua Valley Quilters' Guild Show April 26-28, at the Douglas County Fairgrounds, Roseburg, Oregon. If you are driving up I-5, stop and see our talented regional quilters. They allow our Fyber Café group to have a small display of our art work. We have an annual challenge geared to being ready for this show. I have 1 1/2 weeks to get my wall hanging finished. I'll do a reveal when we set up for the show. I had to dye some extra indigo fabric, I did not have a big enough piece to cut the binding strips from. I did four dye baths, one plain indigo, one with indigo/turquoise, indigo/electric blue, and the last indigo/warm black, trying to get a nice navy. There is not a lot of difference between the indigo, and the indigo/turquoise. The one with black dye, separated out, so some dark green spots are showing. The one with electric blue is more teal than the plain indigo, but very close. So I'll need to pick the one that matches my Shibori dyed backgrounds, maybe I'll use several of them.

I also stitched a bunch of thread painted dragonflies, they are not as nice as the ones I did a few years ago, mostly being smaller. I should have made them larger, but I was trying to get a lot of them in the hoop. The green/purple ones have layers of tulle and Solvy, and are stitched in rayon thread, with Sulky shimmer holographic thread over that. They really shine, but you can't tell from the photograph. I also made two in red.

Talk about the nick of time. I called a friend to tell her the baby quilt was ready to pick up the next morning. When I saw her the baby had just been born that morning. It is just random pieced pink/mauve/burgundy scraps, free motion quilted in hearts and loops de loops. A good cuddle quilt for the new granddaughter. I've got lots of stuff to do before the show, signs, labels, flyers, and getting my quilt done! Then I'm off soon after for the Empty Threads Seminar in Asilomar. I have class with Gloria Loughman for 5 days. I am linking this to Nina Marie's "Off the Wall Friday" click here check out what other talented textile artists are doing this week.

Apricot Moons

A small, 8" x 10" journal page, made from a "gelli" plate mono print. In pale yellow/gold under printing, and masked with 3 round circles, and printed with a coral/peach acrylic paint. Raw edge applique with 2 branches in rust batik, and green leaves. Embellished with 2 folded flower buds and two 4-bud petaled flowers. Beaded in the center of the flowers and around the largest moon. A thread painted dragonfly is in the top left corner, with loose wings.

Gelatin Journal Pages

I decided to work on two of my gelatin printed fabrics, my favorite fern piece that I printed at the "Art in the Garden" and a double hand print from playing with masks.

I free motion machine quilted both fabrics, outlining the print/mask and adding details, like the life lines and fingernails on the hands. The fern background was done in small circles, around the sequin waste printing, and to fill in the background. The hands background was done in a horizontal back and forth, over Angelina fibers to add "reflection to the mirror." The ferns had 3-D details added to it, a thread painted dragonfly in the top right corner, and yoyo mushrooms at the bottom, with pipe cleaners in the stems. A small bright green rubber tree frog was sewn onto the tallest mushroom. A twisted fabric branch with hand dyed cheesecloth moss was set on the right edge, embroidered French knots added more texture to the moss. Moss was spread across the bottom also.

These small 8" x 10" journal pages are fun to do, they quilt and finish quickly, and make great gifts. I love to do them, instead of getting involved with a big project that can take me months to do. I have several large projects that I work on a bit at a time, and when they loose my interest or I have to think on them for a while, I can make a quick journal page.

How To - Thread Paint 3-D Dragonflies

I started to make some 3-D dragonflies to add to one of my Gelli print journal pages, and decided to make a "how to" with step by step photos. I hope you give this a try. It takes a little skill at free motion quilting, but it does not take very long to make one, and they are a great embellishment for any nature or floral quilt. You will need an 4" to 8" embroidery hoop, that will fit under the pressure foot of your sewing machine, they make some especially for this. Draw a simple outline of a dragonfly on a piece of "Solvy" wash away stabilizer with a felt marker. Make the wings long & narrow, short and rounded, swoopy, any shape you want. Try to make them an even size, but it doesn't matter if one side is larger than the other. I usually curve the tail, but you can make it straight too. Layer a piece of tulle (white or any color) then the Solvy drawing, then a piece of organza or chiffon scarf. I like the shimmer organza, but don't use any that has glitter or beads on it. I have used a variety of shimmery fabrics, silk and polyesters as a base. Hoop the layers with the embroidery hoop, and fill a bobbin with black thread. I love rayon thread for my dragonflies, but you can use a metallic thread too or regular cotton. I use a 90/14 needle, use a metallica needle for the metallic threads. Set your machine for free motion quilting, put on a darning foot, and drop the feed dogs. Stitch the outline of the body with a colored thread, purple, teal, orange, pink etc... Then zigzag inside to form an interconnected grid, continue stitching in a zigzag, then a back and forth manner until the outline is filled in. Next use an emerald green or lime green thread(try red too) for the eyes, stitch an area at the top of the head. Switch to a black thread, and outline the body and tail, making several segments in a series of figure eights. Stitch around the eyes, making two round areas at the top of the head. Next outline the wing shape, correct your drawn lines if needed, go over the lines at least twice, to create a thick edge. Start adding veins into the wings, I add a center line and go off of that like a leaf vein, each wing will have your own unique pattern, like a finger print. Do NOT thread paint legs or antennae, we will add them when attaching them to our textile art. I use a "Sulky Sliver Metallic" thread in a clear holographic color to highlight the wings and eyes. It is a flat mylar thread and reflects light beautifully. I have never had any tension problems with it, or breakage, I use my regular needle too. Stitch over the outline stitching on the wings, and some of the veins, only once, then do the eyes with a denser stitch. Make multiple dragonflies on the same piece of fabric, filling the hoop, and not wasting any of the space. When you are done, remove the hoop and trim each dragonfly close to the thread edge, with a sharp scissors. Don't worry if you snip some threads, it is not a disaster. Dab the cut edges with a little bit of Fray Check, and pin the dragonflies to something to let the Fray Check dry. To attach the dragonflies, use black thread and stitch around only the bodies, leaving the wings free. Now is the time to add legs or antennae if you want to. For dragonflies, add two rear legs to each side, with a bend in the middle, and one set of legs to the front, for butterflies or moths add antennae. Moth antennae are thick and feathery. Pull the wings up, to give them shape, and free them from the background. I usually don't washout the Solvy, it is layered in between and adds stiffness to the dragonfly, you can soak them in a dish of water if you want to remove it. You can embellish your dragonfly's eyes with hot fix crystals, faceted crystal beads, or fancy buttons. Go forth and populate your art with dragonflies, butterflies and other insects! Have fun!

"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.