Finished

So after all of that work I find that my free motion work leaves alot to be desired. You notice there are no close up of this one. I feel the need to do another one like this one....guess thats how series works are started. The outside border was just too plain to leave square so I cut them at angles to change the look. By the time I got done with the quilting I wasn't in the mood to put a traditional border on it so I just did a raggedy zig zag finish on it. I learned a valuable lesson there about the top thread I was using. Its an embroidery thread that is quite fine and continued to break. I changed the needle twice. Since I had one side done I was committed to the thread so I just kept rethreading it, growling as I went. So, onto the next stop in the journey.

Bottom line practice piece

All this just to test the new bottom line thread I got. You know how it starts. First you throw out some fabric, then you find a few that you like together, and finally you decided to put something on top of it. This one is called "Sticks and Stones". What started as a practice piece ended up being a complete top.


Now to test out the thread, a week later!

And Here comes the weekend

Unfortunately my wrist is acting up again and I won't be able to play with my newly dyed fabrics. Why is it that this happens on the weekends? I want to play and something comes along and tries to keep me from doing so. Luckily I use the rotary cutter in my left hand so I will be able to at least cut the fabric. Teeth are always an option. You would be amazed what you can do with one hand and your teeth. I know, there is a disturbing visual here but you will have to use your imagination.........

Dye Fest

Finally I have recouped to the point I could join Deb and do some dying. AND it was physical therapy for my thumb. Not to say that I didn't pay for it that evening, but it was worth it. I think these are my favorites . I can't wait to do something with them. But for now they will have to sit and wait for me. I have a large blue piece to finish. A picture of it later......

The thumb

Well I am a week out from the thumb surgery and poking along with one finger typing.
I got a huge basket of chocolates from my buddy Suzanne, Thanks Suz, this will guarantee that thr 25 pounds I lost will find their way back sooner than I expected. Not to worry, they knew the way back anyway.
I got the pretty blue cast yesterday. Now I am really dangerous. I in the process of learning how to do things with this lead fist so far I have figured out how to open the pill bottle. Heck who cares about the rest. Chocolate and drugs are all I need.

The cat lady

Mom sent me the cat lady, she found her at a yard sale. Mom, didn't you just say I had too much clutter in the guest room?

Right now she is perched on the mantel with the other things I love to look at.

The dogs want a piece of her bad. They thought it was a new toy.

Ok, last post from me for awhile.

Painting today

Last day to play before thumb surgery. I painted a couple of pieces of fabric that I had hand dyed and needed something. Here is one of the pieces. I love the bright colors. I added it and many, many others to my web site for sale.

Rorschach indeed!

One last piece here. It was the end of the day, we had dyed waaaaaay too many pieces and it was hot and very humid. I threw this piece in a square tub, squirted a different color dye in each corner, let it sit for about 20 minutes and then rinsed it out. Some interesting things in this one for sure.........

New dye day

Well Debra and I had the last dye day before my thumb surgery with had some pretty amazing results. I played mostly with shibouri dying and here are some of the results. The first piece I call "Lilly Pad", the second reminds me of reeds of straw and gras one might find at the beach. The black piece was one that I had dyed previously and didn't like. After redying using the shiborui method I still wasn't satisfied so I put the piece back on the tube and applied some bleach paste to lighten it. I love the colors that came out.

I still had some that came out a bit light so I am using them to play with hand painting and stamping. Photos of those tomorrow. (can you tell I am playing a hundred miles an hour to get things done before surgery).........

Dying frenzie

Just a few of the hand dyed fabrics I am selling on my web site. The first was done by shibori method and I fell in love with it. I will be doing more of these in the very near future. The second one just makes me happy.

String Series #1

Awhile back Debra Lacativa and I did some fabric dying. She found a spool of an interesting string of her fathers and we dyed all of it. I put some of it in the piece below. It has a very loose weave and you can pull it apart for some interesting effects. This is the first of a series playing with the string.

I used Wonder Under on the background fabric and then laid down tons of thread and the string. I tried to fuse it all to the background and when that didn't work I added a layer of tule. Next time I would like to try to tack it down without the tule as it detracts from the interest of the string.

Simple Still Life Challenge

My three entries for the These are my three entries for the "Simple Still Life Challenge" (Click on the pear at the right see the challenge blog."Simple Still Life Challenge" (Click on the pear at the right see the challenge blog."Simple Still Life Challenge" (Click on the pear at the right see the challenge blog. I chose to manipulate the photo this time around. I am having thumb surgery in a week and know I wouldn't be able to make the deadline of a quilt. It was fun playing with the photo. I used a Corel Photo Paint's effect called Terrazo to create these three photos. I could have gone on forever but stopped at three.

As you may have noticed I was able to get the icons to upload today. Blogger emailed me to say that they recognized there was a bug that needed to be fixed. Either they fixed it or I found a work around by clearing my cache. (As you can see I'm not great at getting the pictures where I want them but they are there!)

Still no icons

How disappointing that I still have no icons. I have sent emails to Blogger with no response. I have so many pictures to share. Lots of hand dyed fabric and it all wants to be cut up and put back together. Today was a work day so I wasn't able to comply with their requests. Wednesday will be the day. I've played with all the different tecniques of sewing together curves of fabric but the one that I like the best is simply fusing them down. Anything else is too slow for the creativity. So, for now I create in my head. Back to work tomorrow.

No pictures

Well, I guess I'm not going to get the icons for posting a picture tonight so you will just have to imagine the great fabrics we dyed last weekend. Tonight I lay here high on anti-inflamitories. Hip bursitus has popped back up and I can't do anything but lay here and let it recover. No playing in the studio. I can, however, use Corel Draw to record my ideas ande put some color and form to them. The faster I get them out of my head the faster I can get to sleep at night.

Dreamin an Schemin

As it is on work day. Sitting at working dreaming about what I want to do in the studio when I get there. With three years until retirement you have to know that I really appreciate the time I get to spend in my studio. For now I plan and scheme. I have a large blue piece on the wall, it is half quilted awaiting my arrival. I promise a picture tomorrow before I leave for work.

The ideas they come

I took this picture one day right after it had rained. The reflcetion of the window on the wall with the drops was really interesting and I wanted to capture it. There is a piece in here somewhere.

Second stamped and painted fabric

I discovered only too late that the ink I got for stamping is not permanent. I tested it and it washed out. Sooooo....I used fabric paints to stamp with and really like the look.

As an after thought I realize that most of my art quilts most likely won't be washed anyway. When I sell a piece I give the purchaser a large piece of tule that is the same size as the piece and tell them how to put it over the top and vacuum the piece. Just a simple dusting through the tule usually freshens the piece up.

Stamping and Painting continued....

Finally got some photos taken of the fabric that I stamped and painted over the weekend.

No time for fun today, the dogs need attention and so does the house. Such is life, sometimes we just have to put off playing. And while I am cleaning and scrubing I can dream and scheme about the next journey I will take.

Finally the icons

I am so excited to see that I finally have icons. I can post photos and change text and everything. Funny how the simple things excite us.

Ok, down to business. This last weekend I played with stamping and painting on fabric. I had a couple of piece of hand dyed fabric that I wanted to overdye because they had come out lighter than I wanted. I decided to use them to play with prior to overdying them. When I got done painting and stamping them I fell in love with them. Not sure how to use them but I sure like the texture of painting and stamping. More stamps more paint..... now.
Above are two of the pieces that I cut up and did some simple strip pieceing with. The stamping adds such depth to the fabric. I"m afraid that this is going to become an obsession that will cut into my time. I will have tons of hand dyed, painted and stamped fabric and not want to cut into any of it.

Along the Journey

This weekend has been a study in painting and stamping fabric. Cutting it up was the hardest part.