New Stuff For my Show on Sunday

Just some pictures of the new item that will be at the show on Sunday, There will be alot of other stuff that was previously posted on this blog.

Spring Show in Corvallis Sunday May 2nd

http://madisonavenuetaskforce.org/springgardenfest.html

How to make a quilted leaf

  First draw a leaf pattern on stabilizer, you can freehand or trace a real leaf. Sandwich this with batting (scraps can be used) and one leafy fabric. I use glue sticks to assemble this sandwich.

Next stitch around each leaf, this is just so you can see your traced lines after you add the next layer.

Go ahead and glue on another layer of your leaf fabric to the stabilizer. Stitch around your previous outline and add veining at this time.

At this point you should have a quilt sandwich that has fabric, batting, stabilizer, fabric and all the leaves outlined with stitches and veins. You can now cut these out.

 If you want to add a picture as I did, rough cut it out and glue to one side of the leaf, then trim, leaving as much next to the edge of the leaf as possible.  

You will then sew a couple of rounds of close zigzag or satin stitch along the edge. I have found that if I do one round then another it has better coverage of the edge.

Tip: if there is still white batting showing thru to the edges, get your colored sharpies out and fill in; nobody will ever know the difference!

 Have fun make a bunch and let me know if you come up with any other tips.

Check out all the winners!

 

Update on a House in Harlan, It is now in the hands of the curator of the Rust-Tex collection! That’s right I was juried in to the show; I had the privilege of being one of the 24 picked from among 118 awesome quilts. I was not nervous about entering the challenge until I was picked to send off my Quilt, then all kinds of thoughts run thru your mind, will they like it in person? will it get there in one piece, clean and dry? Ahhh the stress! Well UPS did delivered it in one piece, to Lois Jarvis last Friday, it was well received; she said it was even better in person that the pictures could show… whew what a relief.

 Lois is planning on posting a blog entery about each artist that will be in the show so check them out here 

(I will let you all know when she post my info)

Here are the venues that are currently scheduled …

The Rust-Tex Collection, will premier at Spring International Quilt Festival in Chicago April 16-18, 2010. It will also be displayed at the Festival of Quilts in Birmingham, England August 20-23, 2010. Other venues to be announced as arranged.

Pieces of History - Family Trees

 This rusted cloth was the first I ever, made with a cheap piece of cotton from Jo-Anns, it even had a hole in it , but I just wanted to try some rust-dying, so I used what I had on hand at the time.Well I have been trying to recreate this type of patterning on "good" fabric ever since, I have gotten some other cool prints but nothing similar. Lesson here don't use Junk when trying a new technique, because it might be the one you like the best.

I see a tree in this, a big old knarlly river willow, leanin' over the banks of the Big Elk River.

I have been hanging on to this for a couple of years trying to decide how to implement my vision, I played with some computer doodling when I first took these pictures; to get a better vision of my tree, and to see which side of the cloth I want to use. You always get design on both sides with rust-dyeing.

So every leaf will have a photo transfer from one of my family photos. I have had fun trying different transfers for all the leafs. I am thinking either hand stiching the tree outline with some heavy hand-dyed threads I bought a while back from Artfabrik , or machine "thread-sketching I have a few different sizes, some I can run throught my machine and some I can not. I think the heavier the thread the better it will help to define the tree, but I have never really handstiched anything.

I had the idea that I needed to mark or outline my cloth to get have a better visual, I have no non-perment marking tools at the moment, so what to do... Light bulb moment! freezer paper, iron on and hang on the window and draw all you want .   I had a new idea should I cut out the tree and applique onto a different background fabric, or would I lose the effect of the whole cloth printing? More desicions...

Piles of leaves....how to make the leaves later.

Rust Quilt Entry

A House In Harlan

  

I have been making Rusted cloth for a couple of years now, and this "call for entry" came from Rust-Tex, the sponsors of the exhibit, a group of ladies that I know challenged each other to enter with some rust dyed cloth that we had created during a summer workshop,

This is the first Juried Show, I have ever entered (or any quilt show for that matter). I don't know how I will do, but it was no pressure, my Goal was to get them finished and entered which was a Big step for this procrastinator! I have about three other Rust Quilts in the works but I feel very good about finishing these  and getting them entered .

This Quilt - A House in Harlan is a very personal quilt made with old family photos, from my Dad's Mothers Family, The pictures date from the 1930's.

  A Rusted Family Tree

 this small quilt includes pictures from my Mothers, Grandmothers Family, Each leaf is constucted of a photo transfer, and layered with quilt material.

Summer Fun -Revisited

As I prepare to help teach a Gelatin Printing Class at my local Quilt Group I enjoyed looking back through last years Botanical Prints, it is always so fun and I always go way over board with the printing and still have not made any journal quilts with the prints yet . I am trying to decide if a whole Art quilt needs to be pieced with the series of prints, or do I make individual quilts? Maybe that is why I haven't decided what to do with them, right know I will enjoy reviewing them

Sword Fern

Here are some pictures of some Botanical Gelatin Prints that I made last summer.

         

Bracken Fern

As you can see there are usually two - three good prints from each subject, I have dozens more these are just a sampling.

Grasses