An Art Quilt, Rita's

Here are a some pictures taken last week on our early morning trip to the beach. 

I can feel an art quilt coming on.  I could do an abstract one. I haven't done this  but would enjoy the adventure. 

What draws your eye the most? Is it a color, a texture, a specific spot in one of the three images?

Please leave a comment, each one gets you a spot in the drawing at the end of the month. 

Drawing items:

Hand dyed shibori piece

Hand dyed multi-color piece

Hand dyed trims

 Some teaser images,

Hope all is going well in your day,

Remember to leave a comment for additional entries into the drawing,

Luann

Important Dyeing Info, Inspiration Pictures, and August Giveaway

First and most importantly is the dyeing information. I was so disappointed when I experienced a major color loss of some hand dyed sheets. They had been properly processed, or so I thought. They'd also been washed several times. They looked like this, the colors were very saturated and we loved them. 

Well they didn't stay that way. About two months later, and many washings, the top sheet decided to 'go pale'!  So, I've been trying to figure this one out. I ended up asking Candy Glendenning, from Candied Fabrics, if she had any thoughts on the subject. In her response she pointed me over to Vicki Welsh's blog and the extensive experimenting and post about a similar situation. The address for this is  as follows.  

http://vickiwelsh.typepad.com/field_trips_in_fiber/2014/01/bleeding-quilts-please-read-this.html

Rather than me going into the whole process, I will let you read it and decide for yourself if you will change anything in your dyeing methods. I am going to do an experiment with previously dyed fabrics and all of the sheet sets that I did recently. I'll keep you posted on how things work out. 

Now for the INSPIRATION. Here are some pictures taken on Folly Beach, SC at sunrise. First my recent art quilt. I'm inspired to make another one with quite a bit of color change. 

Aren't those incredible colors? And it really did look like this. The wet sand radiated with the orange glow from the sunrise. We were standing on the pier, it was breathtaking!

And just a reminder about this month's GIVEAWAY ! The studio has too much in it, and things are going to find some new homes! Trims, buttons, commercial cloth, hand dyed cloth, etc etc etc. 

Post a comment to be entered. The winner(s?) will be chosen September 1, 2015. Best of luck to all. 

And if you share about those creative things you like to do, the package will be more in tune with your activities. 

May God bless the work of your hands,

Luann

Free Flow Quilt Update

I enjoy using lots of colors. 

I also have been trying to indulge my passion for new techniques as I whittle away at my collection of cloth. Basically I'm into trying most anything because I have fabric to let go of. Just a few weeks back I ordered another 25 yard bolt of pfd dyer's muslin and I want to have some space for those new treasures I will produce. So I've been feverishly processing fabric into art quilts, samples of techniques, experiments, and some lap sized quilts for giving away. 

My latest adventure has turned into what I am calling a 'free flow' quilt. It is exactly that! What ever was flowing thru my mind I went with. This can turn out good, bad, or even ugly. But if you just keep going, eventually it gets better or NOT. But if you quit you never know what could have been. 

So, a few days ago I chose these fabrics. 

 

Did a crazy cutting, shifting, and fusing into place. 

 

Then separated the four units and started enhancing the lines where each piece butts up to the next. 

 

And here's a close up of my favorite stitch. I fondly call it 'heartbeat'. 

And I am liking these pieces more than I thought I would. Each section will have it's own treatment. I may put three of them into a wall hanging. The fourth one is destined for some extensive treatments. Whether it works out well or not, I will show you how they end up. God willing, and the creek don't rise. 

May your Memorial Day be blessed with loved ones,

Luann

And The Results Are

Yesterday I showed you some pictures of sheets, pillow cases and fat quarters. They were basking in the sunshine, after having spent some time going through an ice dyeing. Later I finished them with a good pressing. And, here are they are.

 

I just love that purple highlight on the first on the right. And the mottled colors on the second one has me thinking about mermaids and under the sea stuff. 

  

Third one from the right could pass for a piece of rust dyed fabric.

 

And then we have some midnight sky, and ocean currents.  

 

 

Deep rich reds, golden bronze, and some that will work nicely as tree trunks. 

And now for all of them in a group shot,,,,

 

I sure do enjoy dyeing fabric. It doesn't matter whether I'm ice dyeing, low water immersion, shibori techniques, indigo vat, batiking, or any number of other methods. 

Surface design has become a passion of mine. I have dabbled in computer generated and printed fabrics, gelatin plate printing, screen printing (conventional as well as deconstructed), painting directly to fabric, and well, the list goes on and on. 

One last photo. I painted this quilt top back in the early 1980's. It was for my kids. I used acrylic paints watered down and some sort of permanent marker, and a Father's Day card. Yikes! It lasted through over 30 years of on and off use. The batting and backing have long since departed. But I love it,

 

I've been pondering turning it into a 'family art quilt'. I'd like to have all the "users" sign it, or doodle on it, something. It will be my fidget quilt when I am 127 and the great grandkids are carting me about! 

That's my plan, and I'm sticking to it!! 

Let's Create Pleasant Memories with Loved Ones Today,

Luann

 

Hibiscus Bloom

Isn't this lovely?

 

I just love the colors of this. Maybe I could draw it with fabrics, and start another art quilt. Hmmmm,,,,

Creativity is blooming too. 

Luann

The Princess Needs Something

My art quilt that I have named, The Princess, is in need of something. What that is I haven't quite figured out. However, several of my online friends (StitchinFingers and The Quilt Show) have been giving me some very good feed back. I have found that real friends will encourage you, and are willing to respond with thoughtful suggestions. I'm not one to use the phrase, constructive criticism, because I honestly don't think the word constructive can be used appropriately with the word criticism. I know it's a phrase that has been around for quite some time but I hope my remarks are never referred to as that!  My hubby said, "thoughtful suggestions" and I like that a lot better. Being kind and thoughtful has never gone out of vogue. 

But, I digress.  This is what The Princess looked like when I asked for suggestions. Even though everything measured accurately, and was square when flat, it looked out of kilter to me. 

 

 

I wish I had a B&W or monochromatic picture at this point, but I don't. 

After hearing back from my friends, I did a little 'snippet placing'. Now keep in mind that these pieces are just for trying to figure out what's not working for me. So, here are three pics. Please look at each one, then move to the next one, to see if you have any suggestions based more on the first two than the colored one. 

 

 

 

I felt that the long strips on the left side were making the right side look shorter. The design has her leaning to one side. It seemed to be adding to the "falling down on the right" look that was going on. That's why I put in the strip along the lower right portion of her dress. And, as I look at it now, I think she needs more hair, not a lot, but a bit more on the left side. 

She definitely needs something. And I will figure it out, and post more pictures. 

If you have any 'thoughtful suggestions' please leave a comment. 

Thanks for stopping by. 

And by the way, what have you been up to creatively this week?

May God bless you with many pleasant memories,

Luann

And then it quit working,,,

Yep, that's what happened late Tuesday evening. I had been working on putting an art quilt together when out of the blue, my sewing machine decides it isn't going to do any free motion quilting. First it wouldn't make the loop between bobbin thread and upper thread. Finally got that working and she decided to shred the thread coming through the needle! I wasn't getting upset, just perplexed. I finally just put the walking foot back on, rethreaded it with new thread, put the feed dogs back into motion, and gave it another go. Yep, go figure, it would work again!! Well, I wasn't going to be outwitted by my sewing machine! I just decided that I would quilt this one with an interesting stitch pattern. I used one I call 'heart beat'. I do like how it turned out!

 

 I'm not sure what the next step is going to be, but I found a quote that refers to what was going on. 

“When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has been opened for us.

HELEN KELLER”

Isn't it amazing that if you just go with the flow everything turns out fine. 

Off creatin' some more lovelies,

Luann