The Bride Series - The Bride Painted

This is the last of this series of pieces - and this one is different to the other two in that it is a framed piece, rather than a 3D mask.

The inspiration came from a photo of a young South American girl, her face painted and her head part shaved, that I found on Pinterest.

I used the 'quilt as you go' method using my hand dyed fabrics to represent the painted markings on her face and the bluish shaved part of her head.  A mask shape made from painted and heat treated tyvek continued the Mask theme and a flutter of fabric leaf shapes decorated her hair.

This piece was framed to protect the fabrics.

Before it was framed - I couldn't get a decent shot after it was framed because the light kept reflecting off the glass.

The Bride 1 – Painted

Height:   85 cm

Width:    90 cm

Depth:    4 cm

Materials:             

·         Tyvek, painted with acrylic

·         Hand dyed cotton fabric

·         Cotton batting

·         Silk cord

·         Cotton threads

·         Perle embroidery threads

·         Linen threads

·         Silk threads

The Bride Series was my contribution to our first, 'real' exhibition - 'our' being my Textile Arts cohort, collectively known as Stitch Theorem.

It was a huge learning curve and the experience held us in good stead for our Graduate Exhibition - and what I'll be talking about from next week.

Dyeing to meet ya - or how to become Na'avi in one easy lesson

So I thought I'd dye some fabric - and thought I'd use a paintbrush to apply the dye, rather than soak the fabric in beer cup dye pots, and also thought I wouldn't need gloves.....

...and you know what thought does to you - oh dear - after the dyeing session my husband asked me when I was joining the cast of Avatar on Pandora - I had blue dye everywhere - my hands, feet (I had flip flops on), forearms (I dye outside and the mozzies were fierce yesterday), down my pj's (because I didn't get dressed until much later in the day - and only then when we had a few friends drop in...) but I did have fun.

I was using the painting technique I thought I'd seen on Deborah's blog - but I've since found out that Deborah uses fabric paint and I used procion dyes and a large paintbrush - oh well, still loved the process - even though it was a bit messy.  I only mixed 2 colours, blue and black, and after 'painting', rinsing, drying and ironing, I have 8 FQ's of fabric ready for a new idea I have brewing...

This fq was used to wipe up all the dye on the table after I'd slopped it around a bit

For this effect, I splodged blue dye all over the FQ and then threw large salt crystals on the wet fabric - the salt protected areas of the fabric creating this mottled effect, which reminds me of whale shark skin

for this one, I painted stripes of blue and overpainted some with the black.  I then 'wiped' the brush between the stripes without reloading the dye

This one was 'striped' all over and black splodges added

For this one, I simply put dye all over the FQ, including a little of the black and the paler marks were created by the fabric lifting off the table

The remaining FQ's are more of the same.  I think I'll do another 8 using different colours - red/yellow maybe, or red/turquoise.....must get some more PFD fabric and soda ash....

In the meantime, my new Janome Horizon is having a bit of a spak attack with FMQing and I have a date with the Sewing centre I bought it from on Thursday - hopefully it will be sorted out and I can catch up with Laura's QAYGFMQQA asap...

WIP Wednesday #12

I'm linking up with Lee at Freshley Pieced - thanks Lee - this weekly summary really helps in identifying what I've actually done (and still to do) - although the last time I linked up was 16th November last year..............so there's some progress to report!

I also love having a look at what others are doing - it provides so much inspiration - there is a seriously large group of very clever people out there.

I did some sewing for Christmas..

pj's x 3, boardies, a pincushion, a cushion cover, 2 stuffed dollies, a matching bag, journal cover and a little drawstring bag, and a frock for my ma-in-law

Made a skirt for me..

7 bags and pouches (other than christmas ones)

2 do.Good stitches blocks...

a Quilting Australia Bee block...

2 baby quilts with matching soft baskets...

14 Farmers wife blocks....

total finished is now 72, so 39 to go

put the hexy quilt together and am now working on the 2nd border...

loaded and started quilting the batik medallion...

made a journal cover for me...

started knitting a pair of socks..

and completed the first 4 of the QAYGFMQQA blocks...

I've decided to review my list of stuff I'm reporting on to keep it more in line with the winter/summer stitching lit - but not tonight - I'll do that when I post my progress against that list, maybe tomorrow...

Jump into Lee's blog (button on the right) and see what everyone else is up to...

Aimless, but now with a plan

I find that unless I have a specific goal in mind, and I get onto to it almost straight away, then I usually achieve it, plus more....but if I have something I want to do and can't start it (for whatever reason), then I become sort of, like this.....

However, once in a while I take stock - and spurred on by the WIP wednesday hosted by Lee at Freshley Pieced, I've decided to join the ranks - and first things first, what am I looking at??

In progress:

1. Double Wedding Ring - hand pieced and quilted - now needs binding
2. Double Diamond - not sure what to do with this - it's only about 45" square and has been on the go since at least 2008
3. Blanket Box Hexagons - hand piecing, and just started (not related to Lynne's of Lily's Quilts Hexalong, but I can see we were both inspired by the same quilt - Broderie's Candied Hexagons)
4. Which Way To Go - batik medallion - all pieced, needs to be quilted
5. Dancing With The Stars - this was a bom through stitchin' heaven in Texas, USA, all pieced, needs to be quilted
6. Kimono Mini - needs binding
7. Cam's Ispy - needs to be quilted, but I do have this loaded and ready to go on the Gammill
8. Farmers Wife - stalled again - have 36 blocks made
9. Sashiko qayg - have about 12 blocks made but need at least 24 for a halfway decent size
10. do.good.stitches cherish circle quilt - currently have 6 blocks and waiting on remaining 14, then it'll need putting together and quilted by 10th september
11. red and white challenge blocks - I have 4 blocks but need a lot more
12. hand dyed convergence piece - not sure what to do with this - i just started playing with my hand-dyed fabric one evening
13. Whirleygig II - this was put together after finding I had quite a few patches leftover from the whirleygig quilt I completed last year - it's not all that big so probably needs a border or 2, before quilting and binding

To be made (cos I have the fabric and notions):

1. pouches - need to make many, all different sizes, for sale
2. soft baskets - same as pouches
3. other stuff for sale - yet to determine exactly what that means
4. baby quilt - for neice who is expecting a baby - want to do Drunkards Path but haven't got the templates yet - and it'll need to be completed by 10th September (arrrrrrgh)
5. quilt artistry quilt - from the genius of Yoshiko Jinzenji
6. new york beauty - using thai silk
7. layer cake quilt - I have 2 layer cakes, just sitting there, looking at me
8. shirt - I bought chambray last year for a long, casual shirt...
9. skirt, using fabulous pieces I bought from Kelani's at the Melbourne show
10. pants - although might have to hold off on these - the fabric I bought is a tartan and completely unsuitable for our upcoming summer
11. slippers for my ma-in-law's birthday by 18th September

Here's a mosaic of some of my Works in progress


1. sashiko qayg, 2. cam's I spy in full, 3. Dancing with the stars, 4. Playing, 5. Which way to go, 6. red and white challenge, 7. do.good.stitches cherish quilt, 8. double wedding ring, 9. blanket box hexies, 10. whirleygig II, 11. double diamonds, 12. cam's I spy

 So - unless something really urgent comes up, I'm going to complete the items on this list first - especially those with deadlines!

and I'll save what I've completed this year for another post

WIP - 13
Stuff to be made - 4,356,692

WIP Wednesday - (although it's Thursday in Oz, so the date above is a bit misleading)

Another cold and wet day on the Peninsula and sooooo much nicer inside playing with fabrics and thread....

This week I joined the Farmers Wife Quilt Along (FWQA) with  Angela   and Amanda , and lots of other very clever and creative people -  and I've completed my first two blocks.  We have to make 2 a week and given there's 111 of them, this will take a while.  The one on the left is Attic Windows and the one on the right, Autumn Tints.  I had been talking to my bff about making the Dear Jane quilt together - but I'm thinking we can do this instead (sorry bff - will talk to you about it on the weekend!!).  I'm going with red (my favourite colour) with a creamy vanilla solid to be incorporated in each one and I'm hoping it will make a good sized dint in my stash.

I've justified starting a new project by convincing myself that as I'm hand quilting the DWR, it's as good as finished (even though it'll likely take another year to be completely finished) and it wouldn't be fair to deny myself the opportunity provided by the wonderful ladies hosting the aforementioned quilt along (works for me!!)  I have been quilting along - fingers looking like pincushions - so reviewed my decision to not use thimbles and after being shown by an expert, will try again.

I've also been continuing with a Sashiko Quilt-as-you go class - it's not true sashiko because it's done on the sewing machine, using upholstery thread - but you get the general drift - and funnily enough, I've chosen red for this project too......

The line you can see in the top left corner of the photo is where I'm joining the blocks - so only 2 joined but I want to get a few more made so I can try a few combinations first.  I'm also adding a little applique into some of the blocks, which adds interest - I think this is going to be a really striking quilt.

Lastly, I added the appley green border to my sampler quilt - but have to say, not loving it.

I'm waiting on delivery of the Amy Butler fabric I'll be using as the final border so I'll wait to see how that looks before I decide whether to rip the appley green border off.

Okey dokey - that's it for today - oooh, except on Monday, I had my weekly Scrabble session with my sister - and it was one of those days - I had 7 seven letter words, 3 in one game and got them all oon the board except one - so needless to say, I blitzed it!!!  Sorry sister (hee hee - we're pretty even but I do like to rub it in when I win!!)