something stitched

As spring brings forth the new green I am inspired to try a new to me technique.  Taking a simple leaf shape and dividing it into sections is an easy way to then pull all those small green scraps (or in my case pullling from the many greens dyed using various substrates) into several leaves to scatter over a pieced background.  My process was to trace the leaf sections onto paper backed fusible and then to fuse them onto the chosen greens.  I incorporated a variety of fabrics including silks, vintage linens, home decor, commercial cottons, anything green. You can see in the photos that the sections were fused to a background of wool felt then satin stitched and background trimmed to barely reveal the black.  i also added some painted Tyvek leaf shapes that were stitched to the background before the larger leaves were applied.  Just to have fun I used Inktense pencils to “paint” the leaves in the background.

What will you do to celebrate the spring greens?

 

 

 

 

Mistake: Challenge or Opportunity

I set out to make a simple pinwheel quilt so grabbed the specialty ruler and began cutting triangles from the colorful fabric I had selected.  I sewed block after block to make the triangle into a square to be pieced.  Ready to piece some sample blocks I made a dozen before realizing   I had rectangles rather than the intended square blocks.  Where did I go wrong?? Oh, grabbed the wrong triangle ruler. Since I was at a retreat I switched to another project (don’t we all have more than one project in our retreat packing). A day went by and it was really bothering me that I couldn’t work on the pinwheel type project.  I hate it when a plan doesn’t work but I also know that there is always another solution. The light bulb came on.  Cut it up, what could I lose?  Rather than cut into halves or quarters I decided to try thirds.  An interesting block emerged and it was square when finished.  I like rectangle blocks but I had square blocks in my mind.

I moved forward with sewing the rest of the triangles into the rectangle blocks and am ready to start cutting and sewing again.  A new block means thinking of a new arrangement and there are so many possibilities.  Until I get all the blocks cut and sewn into the new block I’ll continue to reflect on the possibilities.

Quilting mistakes, a challenge and an opportunity.

After giving a presentation to a group of campers staying at the Mark Twain Cave in Hannibal, MO I decided to share a quick overview of the ice dyeing process that I use via photos on a current project.  This does not give the details but gives a hint of what it looks like to dye an assortment of vintage linen napkins. Enjoy!!

And consider learning more to change those “languishing linens” into a modern day useful item–in a quilt or on your table.

Step 1 treated linens with soda ash fixative

Step 2 cover with ice

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Step 3 sprinkle dye powder in colors of choice.     Step 4 let set and ice melt for at least 12 hours

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Step 5 rinse, wash and dry