Surface Design

In 2004, according to my notes, I took 2 workshops.

The first was my introduction to fabric dyeing. I luved it.

The second was my introduction into surface design. I luved it.

The third event was the Wave, an artists' studio tour along Lake Winnipeg's western shore. Luved it.

Since then I have been amassing supplies, planning my workspace and dabbling a bit. I want to do much more.

3Creative Studios offers play times. The Technique of the Month has a monthly tutorial and this month was screen printing. Because my computer is on dial up I can't always access the big downloads or videos but I remembered that I had made a screen during the surface design work shop so I went on the hunt for it and my notes. And I gave it a whirl.

I'm pretty sure I have the screen on the wrong side and trying to fix it made a boo boo! So I used it as it is and scraped some Pebeo Setacolour black paint over the screen. I had used a graphite pencil to write /scribble a vague letter. Then the gal used her machine to give us a screen to take home. I can see this needs some finesse!

First pull on my rusted fabric. I probably have too much paint .

Second pull on a white print fabric. Not too bad.

The third pull I was sloppy with the right side. The smear on the left is the boo boo on the screen, but I am way too sloppy.

A good mixed media gal has additional stuff laying around to use up the leftovers so I tried on a coffee liner.

Then I tried on a piece of paper that I had spread some colour, probably acrylic.

This is quite fun and has whetted my appetite once again. I have a pretty good accumulation of resource books and I'm thinking I would be better off if I just picked a book and worked ny way through it rather than 'dabbling'! Now, which book?

The shape of colour

The second colour class has been and gone. After I got everybody to make their very own colour wheel based on the common clock face we were ready to talk about colour families.

Colour wheels are readily available at art stores and even fabric shops. I do recommend making your own because it reveals what you have in your stash and helps notice subtle differences. The commercial ones can sometimes be intimidating/confusing with all the extras.

This wheel has cut outs for helping identify the fabric colour.

This is the back side of the artist's colour wheel which has two layers and can be rotated.

Both wheels show the shapes that help chose colour combinations.

If you put your finger on any single colour you have an individual. By using every tint, shade, bright, dull, light, medium, dark, patterned or solid fabric in your stash you will create a monochromatic quilt. Easy Peasy! But if you want to expand from single to couple, you need to find a partner.

A partner can be the next door neighbour or the guy across the street. Very often we pick opposites. The key to a successful relationship with opposites is one needs to be noisier/bossier/smarter/ etc. So the key in quilts with two colours is in the amounts of each you use. Red and green are opposites but even flowers know to have long stems, leaves and even thorns to balance that deep red rose.

Then the kids start coming!

If you married the guy next door the kids are probably similar. If you married out of the neighbourhood the kids are going to relate to those differences in exciting ways.

Shapes can give visual clues just like photograph albums reveal familiar family characteristics.

The semi circle shows colours that touch one to the other. These are analogous colour schemes and are fairly soothing. The kids fall somewhere between the parents who can be at each end. This can be a family of 3 or 10! A complete circle would be polychromatic.

Often children are different from their parents. This would be represented with a triangle. The triangle can be equal sides or 2 sides equal. This is a triadic colour scheme.

If the family is our four and no more then it is a tetra. A square or rectangle will touch the four key members.

And then of course are all the other variations that are found in families who do family planning. A coloured pencil and a blank colour wheel and you can plan the perfect family. Of course the first colicky kiddie and then gramma comes to stay! LOL

When making your own colour wheel place the red, yellow, and blue colours first. Then add orange, green and purple next. This will make finding those remaining, inbetween colours much easier.

Disclaimer! I am no expert on colour but because I have found it quite fascinating and luv to have pleasing arrangements and examples in my home, I have spent lots of time reading, analyzing, and studying. I hope this is helpful to those who also want to understand colour. If someone further along this fascinating road has something more to share or correct I hope they'll have the freedom to do that.

Next class is my Achilles heel. Value!

After the portage, the journey continues.

Journal Quilts

Week 8:

I had a lot to do before I had slipped away for a little retreat. Then in the flurry of catch up I got *caught up* in a blizzard of Kleenexes as I had and still have, the worst cold. This little quiltlet represents my try at Nina's patterns and my frustration with these necessary Kleenexes. I tore strips to sew down and then felt my strength waning so I did some programmed stitches and then I just grabbed the Kleenex and went off to bed in a huff. But now being behind made me finish it up and move on.

Week 9:

I have two tops made for the bunk beds and had considered adding some circles. During the Workshop in Progress day a concern was raised that the busyness of the background and the patterning in the motifs, may cause the circles not to be seen. I did want to try my new MistyFuse so I cut out a few of the smaller circles to see. I'm kinda liking the effect. This was a *useful* journal quilt.

Week 10:

3CS also has a colour palette challenge. Nice colours but not something that I am hankering to make very big. It did remind me of an old fabric I have and I definitely see the pointy leaves of the iris. My word this year is FIND and I definitely find that part of my style is using many fabrics of one colour so that is why there seems to be a repeating theme of pieced backgrounds. I encountered a few logistic problems and the size grew a bit but that is what seemed most pleasing, a bit bigger than 12" x 12". I'm not sure I can explain all the mid course corrections but it is all done by machine.

Things are sketchy at best!

Before I went to the city I spent an hour or so looking for the utility bill I had opened, made note of and was prepared to pay. I decided to carry on but a stop at the mail and there was the utility bill. ??? I thought I was losing my mind but hubby assures me I did see it but they have reissued a correction. phew!

I am definitely thinking about taking up the whole sketching plan again. I have been thinking about what appeals to me and I reread an old book on Journalling. I had 2 coupons for Michaels that sent me to both stores to redeem them individually. The gal said "one coupon, per customer per day"! And I said (to myself) "per store". Then I came home the long way around and scooped the second coupon! Now I did leave 3 more great and necessary 'must haves'. I wonder if I can enlist DD as an accomplice next week???

Now I need to sketch a self portrait and see if I can capture a sketchy character! ;^)

Workshop In Progress, too

I'm not sure if I'm progressing?

This was a previous WIP that I got lots of help with. Cheryl's suggestion that the circles may not even show on the background halted me in my tracks. I thought yippee, I'm done. Then I decided to whip up a little quiltlet to see. hmm, I may be making circles yet.

yes, no, maybe so???

The original post on finding the mystery blocks I made WAY back when are finally up on the design wall. The WIP post where we discussed options was very helpful and a general consensus was reached. I'll be sewing all the various setting triangles and arranging the sashing and cornerstones in a pleasing way. One comment cautioned about losing the whiteness that is in some of the blocks and that was excellent and I will be watching to keep that. Thanks Lotje!

My project (s) await. But first I need to go see what everyone else is up to Please join me over at Naptime Quilter and let's see what everyone is working on.

Alzheimer Quilt

Our Common Threads Quilt group made quilts for the Alzheimer Society here in Manitoba. The small lap quilts are made up of 36 textured fabrics that are cut 6 inches square. The sense of touch is soothing. I had been given a kit to make up and I kinda agree with the various comments that they are not easy to make.

The fabrics are not beautiful and there is no cohesiveness to the various colours and textures. I did find a few substitutes for the very ugliest.

The fabrics are not always on grain and sewing fabrics with all kinds of fuzz, ravel and stretch made me very glad that Nina has dual feed. I pressed the seams open to reduce bulk and I planned to do the machine quilting with a triple zig zag stitch so the open seams were reinforced well.

The batting was polyester which I never use anymore but this lap quilt should be soft and have minimal quilting so the patch surface offers touchableness. There is also so much fullness to these patches that lining up every seam is impossible and the few little tucks need to be absorbed somewhere. This quilt brought back so many memories for me as I remember ripping and trying to get stuff to line up when I first began quilting. lol

The backing was a white double knit that I saw absolutely no sense in using. A ripply top, slippery batting and stretchy double knit were not conducive to my recuperating from the worst cold ever. So I found a cotton fabric that I thought would provide some 'eye spy' opportunities.

Not too bad. All things considered, actually pretty good if I don't count the down time from disentangling the even feed foot from that orange hairy patch. I decided on a double fold binding but I just prepared it like bought bias seam binding. I encased the edge and zig zagged it down.

I don't think I've ever made such an ugly quilt and that bothered me the most.

I know of 2 sisters with this affliction. The one has a number of years under her belt while the other has been recently diagnosed. They live on the same property but are quite different. One wears classic, richly textured and coloured clothes and is very musical and likes cats. The other is a blue fortrel gal who'd rather be in the kitchen when she isn't playing with her little dog. I am challenged to marry form and function as I consider trying this again with my own stash.

My question: can the sense of touch be evoked by fabric that looks like tree bark, or water, or pebbles? The satin, lace, etc. shouldn't be a problem but I was wondering if elements from the natural world can be included.

Now where was I?

I was thinking I needed to take a bit of time to see where I was headed as Spring is next up on my calendar. I didn't think I'd be buried under my blankies and blinking thru the waves of Vicks and mounds of Kleenex that surrounded me.

The sun is starting to rise earlier and I actually hear the old rooster rousing his gals so it is time to rouse my own self.

Before I succumbed I had a wee bit of a buying spree which totally fits that prespring fling that happens in the frozen months of February. Nina came and then I decided to prepare for the rise of cotton by taking advantage of a 'deal' on a roll of batting. Spring cleaning will involve finding a spot to store it. I have everything to finish the bathroom, well, except towels. Then our Canadian Tire had an amazing deal on a basket front chest that was intended for hubby's stuff on his side of the bed. It doesn't quite fit so he'll be putting his 'other' stuff in it down in the entrance hall. And yes, the phone books are his! lol And as things go, the mirror that was there is now totally wrong so the deal of the year was a $40 mirror that again doesn't quite fit so some fiddling will be necessary, but is SO worth having. I had some time to think about all that as well and I can hardly wait for a focus week on home decorating!!!

But the Focus for this week will be sewing. I am behind sadly on the Weekly Journal quilts so those are a priority. I also agreed to make an Alzheimer's quilt. I want to keep up with Workshop In Progress and 3CS. Not sewing but fabric related is the next colour workshop which is values: light, dark, dull, bright. Perhaps I can combine that with some of the journal quilts. Now that is really pushing my limit of Five things but I do have five days.

I was also contemplating giving up the Sketchbook Project as it seems beyond my abilities and time constraints but I flipped thru one of my first 'how to' books on journalling and I still want to do that so I shall pause before I do the final clean up on my side bar which is also sadly behind.

So where was I? I was on my way to fire up the washing machine and Nina. Ladies! Start your engines.

Down for the count

The Five Step Program

I'd like to take some time to answer a question about my five step program.

Five is an easy number to remember. I just look at my hand and mentally go thru Peter Pointer, Ruby Ring, etc. I need a trick, a catchy tune, whatever, to keep me focused.

So in January I thought of five areas that embrace the whole concept of health, wealth and doing things wisely. I listed 5 major things I want to see accomplished in 2011. Then I broke that into seasons because some things are better done at certain times of the year. If I have a plan for the summer months then I can track it by breaking it down to manageable bites. I am very bad for underestimating what can realistically be done in a given time. A bigger project will take a season but I write down the job for the month then roughly plan the week with each morning being more specific. Sounds complicated but it is more about reminding myself what needs doing and often the five things in a day is a full day.

And it is 5 days because my weekends are not figured. I call them leftovers but often my hubby plans what Saturday will entail from my month or weekly to do list and he insists we do them together. You know, the family that works together, stays together thing! :D He has his own hobbies and we are cool to be on our own as well.

For example; we needed to renovate the bathroom. It involves flooring, paint, trim, fan, lighting, etc. One week all I had was Buy Flooring! But it got done and I could put down the next thing. Now I'm already to start writing down things for the kitchen but my dearie is holding me to the plan. We put trim in but it is too skimpy and we were back to get wider so this weekend is more trim. Not a problem, I'm still focused and I will be ever so glad to close the door on a completely finished bathroom.

Health, house and garden, hobby; I find it works for big things and small things.

High Five anyone?

Marching on

I had a wonderful four days away that nourishes the best part of me, my spiritual self. Regardless of the weather the Son shines warmly.

Time away helps redefine priorities. I've been pleased with my progress so far as I find better ways to get things done and even identify what exactly needs doing. I need to watch my on line time but it has been improving as I find what wastes time and what motivates.

I think the best indication is the playroom itself. I'm keeping it in better order. I have one major pile that avalanches every once in a while and I'll be dealing with it soon. But it doesn't take two full days to start anything new.

The whole idea of Fives is serving me well. Five per year, 5 per month, five per week and 5 per day. I'm especially doing the daily and need to keep the others up front so I have a good reminder.

I'm happy to be marching to the beat of a 5 step drummer and I'm keeping an eye on the icy patches.

Away we go!

The zig zag star quilt was bound, washed, dried, and sent on its way. This is probably the truest colour representation.

It was approximately 54" wide by 72" long. This is the size of a double bed but it will be meant for a couch quilt.

The navy Bali was my starting point. I made the stars with a variety of teal fabrics but the star itself is a soft aqua with some mauve shadings. The centre square was a bright aqua. The zig zag was squeaked out of a mottled fabric that had some teals and touches of purple. It went well with the Bali and I did a bit of piecing to get my last triangle. You cannot cut a pieced block in half for the edges. You lose the seam allowance so they were especially made as half blocks.

The quilting was done with a variegated blue thread. I'd have preferred a better, more subtle blend of the blues but I had 2 spools of it and I wasn't as smart as I am now. lol A touch with a permanent marker fixes up a few troublesome stretches of the very light blue on the very black background. ;^) The quilt needs to be soft. I use cotton batts but kept the quilting about 2 inches apart so the quilt is pretty cuddly.

The backing was pieced and I would pay better attention to the fabric edges as the backing thread needed to change colours. Toile is such an excellent backing as the thread just disappears whether it be light or even the darker thread colour. This was left over from another quilt backing and it was really wide. I wish I had more and other colours but who knew how great it would be!

I hope I've answered a few questions about my process. The wee bit of pieced block peeking out from my design wall is probably my next project after I get my WIP blocks all pieced and the layout confirmed. Something to look forward to as spring approaches.

I'm off for a winter weekend away. I'll be thinking about my weekly journal quilts and the possibility of making them colour studies. I'll post this weeks quiltlet next week because I won't get to it till then.

When I wish upon a star

When I met my new neighbour many years ago she invited me to come learn to quilt. Making more work for myself by cutting and resewing didn't seem like something I wanted to do. I sent my little girls. But we became fast friends in spite of our differences and when she moved again within the year I went to visit her and she took me to Quilt Canada. Whoa!!! Totally changed my work ethic! LOL

She has been diagnosed with the big C and I knew she needed a quilt. This zig zag star top has been in my Loose Feathers section waiting for this moment.

I got to know my new machine when I did the zig zags. I used the walking/evenfeed foot and the guide to mark my line. I am constrained by time and I want a soft quilt so the lines are far apart.

I did a free motion heart in each centre and then I did a curved outline around the centre and around the star. This was surprisingly easy to do. I'll do more.


I wanted a free form, unmarked shape for the outer square. I was thinking something like an ele in script but it morphed into a kinda bud or leaf shape. By the time I was done I had figured the best way to do it and I unpicked the first 2 blocks to improve them.



I got to luv Nina when we finally got into the free motion MQing zone. I remembered why I luv machine sewing!


I like the effect of variegated thread but I do not like the real light on the dark nor the real dark on the light fabric. I wish I could find a better blendable brand of variegated thread.

I will use that walking foot to put on the binding because this afternoon another neighbour and good friend is coming to help hand sew the binding. She sews but doesn't quilt.

I wish everyone had good friends, best buds.

I wish everyone had good health, robust.


I wish everyone had good hobbies, creating.

(I also wish I could take better photos.)

Collecting/Making

I spent yesterday organizing, sorting, selecting colours for the colour class.

This was part 2 as we used the colour wheel to identify various colour groups. The class itself was the bonus as I had already begun to identify some glaring gaps in my repertoire!

According to my file folders I collect particularly strong complimentary colour groupings.

But according to my actual quilts I make monochromatic or analogous colour schemes.

It seems I play it way too safe.

I think I want to change that.

Pecking away!

Any visitors before lunch today will likely catch me in my jammies. A busy day here in the Coop and Saucer Playroom. I'm so busy my brand new fat pocket book is firmly placed with its face to the wall so I can resist the urge to check the next chapter. lol I will be dressed for lunch as the truck is scheduled for an oil change and the next chapter will keep me from gnashing my teeth as I consider my down time. ;^)

The 3CS weekly Journal Challenge is due Fridays. I'm so impressed I'm keeping up but decided a quick free motion stork ( Crafter's Pattern Source Book) on a Bali was all I could manage this morning. I need to upgrade my MQing skills on my new machine which does things a bit differently.

The quiltlet is a quick finish edge and a snazzy backing that has a slightly oriental theme.

Next up is a comfort quilt for the friend who introduced me to quilting. Because this is a new machine and a new set up I put in lots of pins. The better you are at MQing, the less pinning. This would be a good amount of pinning for a beginner. I straight pin the edges and then machine baste with the even feed (walking) foot right away so I don't get stabbed too much. I trim off the extra batting and I'm ready to begin. Often prepping the quilt sandwich gets the ideas perculating. This helps with the placement of the pins as I'd rather not stop at everyone to remove it.

I really luv my big craft table and noticed how good I felt standing to work so I began to sew occasionally on it. Turns out my new machine is too big for my old cabinet so I folded it up, stuck it at the end of the cutting table and added some boards to get Nina even with the table top.

Hmm, I need more room on the left and whatta ya know... The cupboard I've used as an ironing station and scrap collector is as high as the tableand is right behind me. So I shoved that close. My cutting mat smoothes the transition over the various edges. I'm good to go. I'll be tweaking this I''m sure but for now it works. I really was intrigued with Monika at My Sweet Prairie. She uses that thick pink foam core insulation to surround her machine. Ah, two staples down here on the farm are twine and styro foam insulation. I got access!!!

I'm using the even feed foot to straight line the zig zag on the quilt and then I'll free motion the stars. At least that is the plan. I hope to zig zag my way thru the day and probably thru the weekend. It was great having coffee with you!

elle

Nice Nina

I am so glad I quieted my beating heart thru the initial learning curve. Nina is amazing! Way beyond my expectations and much simpler than I expected.

I find the start process a bit awkward still. No lever to raise the foot and you start sewing in what looks like mid air to me, but it works. I am relearning the free motion skills. The stitch regulator is confusing me a bit and I'm hesitating too much trying to anticipate what the sounds are all meaning. I never studied the needle as it hops up and down in the past so I need to quit doing that and focus on the path and the picture in my mind. And I sure have room to do it.

This little baby quilt has been washed and dried, a very necessary step when finishing a quilt in my estimation. A good warm up for my next project. Sorry it is a bit blurry. The sun has sank and the storm, she is rolling in. I won't mind in the least. I'm partying with Nina!