High-Tech Adventures

I've surprised myself today by learning how to download photos from my camera to Microsoft SkyDrive -- and thence to my memory stick or...I hope...onto this blog.

I've been working hard on the "roses" piece, to whit:

I'm now ready to re-consider the "grid" portion.  I wasn't sure that there was enough balance using only thread to stitch onto the surface, so this morning I tried a different tack: creating a thread grid sample with water-soluble fabric:

Grid stitched on Fabri-Solvy (R) - before dissolving

 Looked good...but then I cut away the excess fabric (yes, all the insides of those squares), dissolved the rest and pinned it over the background. 

Nope.  Even though this is just a sample (not secured) I can tell it's not what I want.  It's too wobbly, too 'all over', too imprecise, compared to the black applique squares I've sampled -- as in this photo, taken before I finished applying all the roses.

Next step: re-audition fabric squares.

Back to work -- but before I go, I'm linking this with Nina-Marie's Off the Wall Friday.  :-)  My next check-in will be Monday (God willing); have a great weekend! 

*Whoo-hoo!  Not only was I able to share this with you, but I was able to re-size the file so it wouldn't be too large to upload/download/share in an e-mail/store efficiently on my memory stick! 

In Like a Polar Bear

Even the hardiest Canadians are getting rather tired of this prolonged winter.  Here in Central Alberta the snow fell November 2 and has never left.  We had some last night, as a matter of fact -- a small amount, but enough to add insult to injury.

Add to that the fact that my kitchen taps haven't functioned since Friday (frozen pipes), and I've begun to wonder if we've been transported to Narnia, and just didn't know it -- you know, where it was always Winter and never Christmas....

Blessedly, the bathroom's appliances all still work (!), as does my furnace, and my sewdio is in my home (the largest of the three bedrooms), so I've been cozily working away.

Today I assembled the third in my current Block of the Month kitted top:

Four by Four BOM - Block 3: "Handy Andy"

Rather handsome, eh?  The pattern is in black and white, but even so, it appeared from the drawing that the red half-square triangles were intended to go around the red centre block.  However, if I were to make another, I'd think about putting the red ones in the four corners...because that plaid print is so red...it all seems a very large 'bull's eye' right in the middle!

I also put together a random green nine-patch (like the ones in the background I made earlier) and tested out two techniques for the roses I want to use to adorn the surface.

Upper left: cut-back applique version; lower right: fused applique version (rough edge, before stitching).

From a distance, as in the above shot, both look rather well against the green.  Closer up...can you guess my preference?  (I used the same fabrics for each sample technique.)

Yes...the fused applique -- for these reasons:

1. It uses less fabric than the cut-back technique;
2. It takes less time than the cut-back technique;
3. It creates less bulk in the quilt top than the cut-back technique.

The cut-back would work fine if I were doing a small piece with a few rose motifs on a smooth background.  The fact that the background is a pieced grid adds seams to the mix...making it tougher to stitch and to cut away, and adding to the bulk.  The grid concept is essential to this piece though -- based on Rennie Macintosh's work -- so... there you have it!

The rest of this week is tied up with a variety of things outside the house...so it will be next week before I get to work on this piece in earnest.  Still and all, I'm thankful that some decisions have been made about how to go forward, and I appreciate your kind support and encouragement, Gentle Readers!

Have a great week and...stay warm!

I Nearly Blew It

My mother never met a cliche she didn't like.  :-)  Every once in awhile she had occasion to observe, "The road to Hell is paved with good intentions."

Well.

For me, today, TRTH was very nearly paved with good InkTensions!  

It began very innocently.  I worked on "Sentinels, putting in the power lines and fence wire, and most of the prairie grasses poking through the snow.  Then, checking in with the original photograph, I noticed the shadows:

See?  There are shadows cast by the front pole and the fence posts.  If you look closely, you'll notice they're...um...blue.  Not quite as blue as the sky, but definitely blue.  Hmmm.

How to include them?

I said to myself, I said, "Self, why not quilt the shapes in the snow and colour them in ever-so-lightly with your blue InkTense pencil?"

I tried a wee bit on a scrap of the white fabric left from the snow piecing.  I wet it after colouring, and knew I'd have to do it very lightly and gently.

Oy vey.

It wasn't horrible, really -- it just didn't go with the stark lines in my piece -- all rough edges and angles, and there were these soft, slightly runny shadows.

What to do?  Some of 'em had started to dry -- meaning they would be there permanently!

I washed it -- soaked it, really, in a tub of hot water with Synthrapol...to see if it would fade the stuff.  It did, but not enough to make me happy.

I figured, what do I have to lose?  I'm going to have to cover up those "shadows".  So I threw it in the drier and had a think.

While I thought, I cut out some more green 3 1/2" squares and made some more four-patches for Easy Street (somehow, I was short on these and didn't have enough to make the last 3 blocks).

When that was done, I scoured the stack of fabric I'd used for "Sentinels" in the first place, and decided "Okay; if it's going to be a primitive interpretation, then why not have shadows as blue as the sky?"  I found some of the sky fabric, and fused Steam-a-Seam 2 onto it.  Then I proceed to cut out shadow shapes and stick them onto the piece.  So far they're only stuck there; I haven't done the final pressing to secure them. And there are shadowy shapes below the grasses next to the fence on the far right that I don't quite know how to include, so they're not there (yet).   However, I did take this photo:

And y'know?  I rather like it.  As Peggy wrote today on her "Playing with Texture" blog, there's value in a photograph.  Even standing back from the piece in my sewing room, I wasn't sure.  But the photo gives me hope.  There's still a bit more prairie grass to stitch in, so I won't do the final straightening-up and binding till that's done, but it's just about finished.

Lesson learned: sometimes a sample isn't really a sample; it's just an excuse for one.  Never let your hurry to do something get in the way of a proper trial!

And to think I nearly blew it.

P.S. Linking this up to The Needle and Thread Network for WIP Wednesday...

Sometimes...

size does matter.  That's one of the lessons I learned from this bit of sampling.  I really wanted to do some sort of free-motion quilting in the grassy areas, but quickly realized that creating the sharp-pointed 'stippling' in a tight space was tough on my shoulders.  I wasn't keen on doing it over a larger area.

Wait.

A larger area... Of course!  The final piece is going to be at least twice the size of the sample!  What could I do in that larger space that would be effective?  I decided to consult FMQ guru, Leah Day, via her FMQ Project -- and I found Lesson #37 -- "Jagged Lines".  Perfect!

To get an idea of what they'd look like, I tried them in the tiny space left on my sample -- see that brown area on the far left?  (Yes Carolyn, you and I were on the same wave-length here. :-)  Thanks for your comment! )

Then I added some hand stitching to see what it would look like (sorry; this one's a bit blurry).  I like it!

The 'what ifs' continued -- next with the sky.  Now, I'm not fond of stitching in the sky.  I'm always concerned about over-doing it.  However, I did try this:

It might work in the larger piece if I can get into the rhythm of the sky fabric, where clouds 'need' to be.  I know that others stitch in the sky, but they're not always working on batting.  (For example, I believe that Monika works on two layers -- fabric and some sort of stiff backing -- Timtex or some such thing that's not batting.)  When you have a stiffer substrate, your sky stitching has quite a different look to it, right Monika?  :-)

So...I reserve judgment on whether or not I'll stitch in the sky on the final piece.

There there was the bark.  I did go back in and play around with tiny bits of painted fusible web, with very ho-hum results, so I decided to try a technique I learned in a workshop with Anna Hergert in Edmonton in the spring of 2010:  stitched, painted and distressed paper napkins!

First you stitch a grid on your favourite paper napkin.  This one is from an inexpensive pack from a dollar+ store, free-motion stitched with whatever I had in the machine (brown, I think):

Next you paint the grid with textile paint.  I had brown textile paint (Jacquard) and black artist's acrylic, so I mixed 'em, diluted with a bit of left-over brown dye I'd mixed up a while ago:

You let that dry.  Then you spritz it with a water bottle, and distress it with your fingers to get this:

Actually, I think the plastic in the black acrylic paint kept this from being as distressed as it might have been.  On the other hand, it enabled me to get a firm tug on a piece, tear it off, and apply it to my tree trunks.  I used a touch of glue stick for the sample, but on a larger piece, I would stitch it down.

See the dark bits on the centre tree trunk?  See how much more effective it is than the snips of black-painted fusible web on the other tree trunks?  See how on a larger piece you'd have to be very judicious in your use of this material so it wouldn't overwhelm?

Yep; sometimes size matters!

Sampling Continues

Yes, I picked the layout I liked best, and I began to stitch.

Sulky (R) Colour #4034

First I fused the sky, earth and grass to a foundation fabric (light muslin).  Then I attached the strip of recycled  sweater, using Sulky Blendables 100% cotton thread in "Soft Blacks", using a zig-zag stitch, my stippling foot and the feed dogs up.

Sulky (R) Colour #4011

Sulky (R) Colour #4019

Next I added some thread painting between the hills and grasses, first with Sulky Blendables 100% cotton thread in "Milk Chocolate" and "Forest Floor".

Then I sandwiched the piece and fused the tree trunks, tot-stitching them down with a straight stitch, feed dogs down now, leaving a rough edge.  I stitched the first two with "Soft Blacks" but didn't like the harshness of it against the fabric.  Looking again in my stash I found a hand-dyed cotton thread that I bought several years ago from -- I think -- Stef Francis.  It bears no label, and I couldn't find it on her website, so I'm not sure she even makes it now (if she ever did).  Sigh...

The good news is that I've hardly made a dent in the spool, so I'll have enough of it for the larger assessment piece if all I use it for is stitching down the tree trunks.  :-)


Wanting to add some texture to the grasses (the brown section is grass that has died down), I debated: machine or hand or combination?

Above you see a section of the grasses free-motioned with a jerky stitch that I thought would give an interesting texture.  It was tiring to do on this small piece, so I can't imaging doing it on a larger one (I'm working on a domestic machine).  I kept reminding myself, "it's just a sample" and went on to play with hand-stitching.

First I tried adding some seed stitch to the already-quilted green area.  The dense machine quilting had made the piece relatively inflexible, so it was a bit tough to get the sharp needle to go through it.  I was using wonderful over-dyed cotton embroidery floss -- 2 strands -- "Celadon" from Weeks Dye Works -- a gift from my friend Jeannette Douglas when I went on a stitching cruise with her in 2009.

I like the way this makes the green grassy area look less stiff; somehow the hand stitching gives it life.  However, I liked this bit even better -- the hand stitching alone.

Here's an example of both, side by side.  I'm liking the hand-stitching alone more and more. (The brown is stitched in Gentle Art Thread's "Wood Rose", another gift from Jeannette.)

I thought about adding bits of painted fusible web to the trees for bark texture, but have yet to try it.  arlee's wonderful hand-dyed fabric is so effective that I'm not sure it needs anything else.  However, to be on the 'safe' side, I might just do it...just to see; just to answer the "what if?" :-)

Planning, Intuition...

or..."Sample, Sample, Sample"?

I know what I want for my C&G assessment piece -- in my head, anyway.  I can visualize it.  So...I set out to make a sample -- 9" square unfinished -- and began to audition for layout and colour.

First, the photo inspiration (a slice of a larger photo):

And its partner in grey-scale:

And the paper collage (from an earlier assignment):

And now the samples (note: nothing is attached; it can still be changed):

Sample #1

The first sample has commercial fabric for sky, brown and green background, and recycled sweater (inside out) for the "hills" or distant bushes.  arlee barr's eco-dyed cotton is used for the tree trunks throughout.  In the final piece I plan to add some bark texture with snips of painted fusible web.

Sample #2

The second sample has hand-dyed recycled sari silk ribbon for the 'hills', my own rusted muslin for the brown background and purchased hand-dyed green fabric in the foreground.

Sample #3

Sample #4

 The third sample is the same as the second, but the sari silk has been swapped out for the recycled sweater, cut narrower and placed right-side out.
















I like this last one best, but I don't have enough of that green to make a large piece (minimum is 18" square)...I don't know if I can duplicate it as I didn't dye this one myself.  I also don't have a large enough piece of this particular sky fabric, which is commercially printed, but I do have a larger one I hand-dyed, which I'm saving for the final piece.

Any thoughts?

P.S. 10 posts to 950...and another give-away.  Stay tuned.

Oh -- and my friend P's Barn Swallow Scarf is finished.  Here it lies across the top of my easy chair:

Play-ces

Zip-bag curing

I like dyeing in the summer, because -- even though I do it in my Back Room rather than mainly outdoors -- everything seems so much less messy because I can keep the windows open, including the one on the back screen door, and I can dry the stuff outside on my wee laundry rack.  So...one of the 'play-ces' I've been for the past 10 days is in the Dye Pot zip-bag, with low-water immersion dyeing.  I've put up 3 small batches of fabric, and there's a batch of Former Failures (i.e. over-dyes!) curing as I post.

I deliberately chose no 'recipe' this time out, playing only with Dharma Trading's Golden Yellow, Sky Blue and Scarlet.  From these three I made a variety of greens, red-browns, some definite sky fabric (I live in big-sky country, after all!) and a brown-black that I plopped in wherever it felt right.

Wanna see?

Dyepot 1 - All cotton, all the time

Dyepot 2 - More cotton

Dyepot 3 - Mixin' it up

In the third batch I dug out some different fabrics with which to play.  At the top: a piece of semi-sheer curtaining in white with little white flecks -- definitely some part synthetic something-or-other -- that turned into the neatest blue-flecked textured piece, as the flecks picked up the dye.  Next up, two white pieces.  Huh?  Yep.  Two pieces of definitely synthetic silky stuff that...didn't hold the dye at all.  Third from the top, my very favourite piece of the batch -- a piece of white cotton velveteen dyed plummy-brown (close up, below).  Then a tiny piece of something labelled 'brocade' that was originally cream-coloured, and a remnant of cheesecloth/scrim that I painted with a pipette -- red and yellow -- and then plunked in a bag to cure.  Last but not least, a wonderful piece of cheesecloth that's going to shred beautifully.  It's my second-favourite of the batch.  As my friend arlee would say, "Yumpth!"

My two faves, close up:

Cotton Velveteen

Cheesecloth

The second 'play-ce' I've been is out in the back yard, with a small experiment in sun printing. Margie Davidson is a member of SAQA Western Canada,as am I. I admire her work so very much that I hesitate to refer to her as a colleague; not yet anyway -- I'm just not there! Anyway, Margie does the most amazing sun-printing of leaves, and I decided I had to figure out how to do it -- how to work with them out in the open air where (at least here) the wind can stymie one's best efforts.  Sure enough, yesterday was perfectly sunny, but by the time I got the fabric prepped and the leaves gathered, a definite breeze had come up. I coped by using fine glass-head pins to tack down the leaves and feathers in my experiment, and was pleasantly surprised by the results.

Feather Print

Fern

Flowering Crab 

And simply because I had to add a little 'weight' into the mix....

Metal washers...or whatever they're called

While this dye-stuff has been curing, I've been keeping at it in the studio.  I finished another CQ block -- with TAST stitch-of-the-week #20, the Dreaded Bullion Knot.  Yes -- I managed to get the hang of it and discovered this:  it's much easier and more fun to make a DBK with wool than with cotton floss.  Heaven forbid I'd try it in silk!

Look closely -- there are some Bullion Knots in there.  My favourite part of this block, though, is the tie (used both right-side-up and inside-out) and finding embellishments to add to the seams so I wouldn't have to do too many of those knots!

I've also continued my sampling for All the Streets End in Trees, which is still in mock-up on my design wall.  I'm trying to create a lacy effect with the leaves.  I began by knitting a swatch of 1/4" fabric strips, and then made a sample of bits-and-bobs bonded by stitching using water-soluble stabilizer.  I combined one sheet of water-soluble Sulky Paper Solvy (r), and a piece of Inspira WaterWorks Soluble Film (I got this on a roll -- 8 inches wide by 10 yards long; can't remember where -- probably at a quilt show merchant's booth, and I can't find an independent website for Inspira products...).  The paper enabled me to draw out a rough 'leafy' sketch over which to place my materials and stitch; however, it didn't make for as sheer a result as I'd like.  At least, I think there was paper trapped in the stitching to make the sample more opaque than I wanted.  So...now I need to go back and make a sample using two pieces of the soluble film instead.  I'm also going to change up the colour of the hand-stitched yarn/floss.  See what I mean here:

On the left is the knit sample -- garter stitch, with live stitches still resting on a strand of red waste yarn -- and on the right, the stabilizer-stitched sample, a combination of machine and hand stitching a la Beaney and Littlejohn, whose DVD, "In Action", is a must have! (It's expensive, but I got it at the Central Alberta Quilt Show last month from our favourite show vendor, Copperfield's Books of Winnepeg. They always carry a wide selection of books, CDs and DVDs for textile artists of all genres, at discounted 'show special' prices.  Who can resist?)

And...today?  It's been cool, rainy and windy -- a perfect day to try 'light printing' (like sun printing but using my south-facing work room window, overhead light, and my daylight lamp), to catch up on this blog, to do some handwork in front of a DVD, and some spinning...Away I go.

Another Experiment

Some of you have been around long enough to know that most of the time, I work small, and that this is a great challenge, because one doesn't want viewers to look at one's work and remark, "That's a pretty place-mat."!

How to mount small pieces?  I am still Trying Things On.

In the past couple of months, a new art store opened in Lacombe.  I dropped in to view its wares (yummy!) and paid a return visit to check out canvases and paint.  The owner carries conventional white stretched canvases, yes, but also black SC and -- get this! -- linen SC.  The latter, I found, would be perfect for a piece I've made except that it doesn't come in the size best suited to that piece.  Sigh.

What to do?

I bought a tube of better-than-craft black acrylic paint (artists' grade at about $17.50 a pop for a 5 fl. oz. tube), a couple of 'better' (i.e. not-box-store) canvases, and came home.  I sat with them awhile.

Earlier this week, I resurrected a NBS canvas on which I'd unsuccessfully mounted an earlier piece.  I figured I had nothing to lose, so I painted it with my new paint.  A day or so later, I dug out an odd piece of linen from my embroidery stash (one unrelated to an existing or future project), cut it to fit the top surface of the stretched canvas, and affixed it to same using Liquitex (R) matte gel medium.

I've auditioned my piece on this background and am pleased with the results, but have to create and attach a label to it before I mount it to the canvas.

Here's what it looks like where the top meets the edge (remember, I painted it black), sealed by the matte gel:

The piece has unfinished edges (deliberately) and measures about 8.5" x 11", while the canvas measures 14" x 17.75".  I am undecided about where to put a signature, but am leaning toward the lower right-hand corner of the canvas. (There will be a label and signature on the back of the piece as well).

"Any questions? Any answers? Anyone care for a mint?"

I Don't "Swatch"

 Knitters will understand when I say that I don't like to "swatch" -- so much so that I can't recall the last time I did.

A swatch is a sample of knitting prepared before a project to ensure the knitter is able to achieve the correct gauge (stitches and rows per inch) with the yarn and needles he or she is using.

In the textile arts, a swatch is called a 'sample'.  I don't much like sampling, either, but it's becoming ingrained as part of my work in the City & Guilds program -- such that I actually sampled all the way along the process for my latest piece, the 12" square I'm contributing to the SAQA Western Canada Trunk Show, "Meet the Best of the West".  I've already posted a bit about my samples here and here.  Trust me, there have been more than these made in the past few weeks -- under duress because...did I mention I don't like to swatch?

BUT...I grudgingly have to admit that I think it's paid off.  There have been a few 'aha' moments, and I've even managed to learn not to berate myself over the failures -- just to be thankful they were made in the sample and not the finished piece.  Although it needs to be backed and labelled, the tough part is finished.  Ta DA!

"Mutt & Jeff"

Other Finished Objects this week include my final assignment for my Module 5 of the C&G, which I submitted to my tutor this afternoon.  It involved creating an Attic Window (yes, and tackling a  "Y" seam), and auditioning shapes to insert therein.  In the main, it was an exercise in colour/value (creating the window), technique (the "Y" seam), and design (proportion, scale, composition).

Empty window - 'right' side up

Empty window - 'wrong' side up

I was quite surprised by how easy it was to make this, based on the excellent instructions in the course book.

Next, I auditioned a couple of shapes.  Here's one example -- a lone bottle shape.  It looks lonely and dull -- and a bit over-sized for the window frame.

So I made it smaller and added a companion:

Neither of these samples are finished; to do that, I would fuse the shapes into place, stitch, sandwich and quilt -- but that wasn't the purpose of the exercise.  :-)  For now, it will sit on my design wall until called upon in some future assignment.

And then there's this:

It's a companion to this.  More to come...