Textile Art Classes

Over the last few months I have been taking part in an informal textile art class.  There are usually only around 4 - 6 of us at each class and we have learned some fabulous techniques which I hope to put into practice.  In the most recent class we did sun printing.  I have carried this on at home and these are some of he pieces I have produced so far.

 

The above piece was produced by twirling the fabric and then leaving it to dry.  This piece of fabric has been ironed flat and the apparent creases are an optical illusion.  I love the depth to this piece.

The rest were created by overlaying stencils on the fabric.

 

Wow it has been so long since I last blogged - I hope to include some more examples of our work in future blogs.  

Cone Flower Quilt

I have just completed my first Craftsy course   - Pictorial Quilts with Wendy Butler Berns. 

I used the pattern that she supplied with the course to produce this gorgeous quilt.  I am really happy with how it has turned out.  This is the most quilting that I put on a quilt so far.  I am starting to become more comfortable with free motion quilting but have a lot more to learn yet.

I am now hoping to progress on to producing pictorial quilts from my own photos. 

This is the first one I want to attempt.

 

It is a photo of one of my granddaughters taken a couple of years ago. 

Happy Scrap String Quilt

 

I am addicted to working with scraps and seeing what I can produce.

 

I recently finished this scrap string quilt.  I sewed many various width strips of scrap strings and then joined them with scrap pieces of a blue batik which had been cut of a backing of another quilt when preparing that quilt for binding.  I purposely kept the blue strips different widths and didn't straighten the edges either so as to produce a wonky look to the piecing.  The side edges were constructed from some of my scrap 4'" blocks cut into half square triangles.  I only quilted along the blue pieces stitching in about 1/8" from each edge.  It has given the effect of binding applied between each block of scraps.  I also quilted the blue triangles in the same method.

 

At a recent regional day someone commented that it looked a happy quilt hence the title to this blog post.

12 x 12 Play

 Our local regional quilt group TPQ has recently started a small group who are creating 12 x 12 mini quilts to a set theme each two months.  I missed out on getting into this group but am waiting to work with the co-ordinator of the first group to establish a second group of 12 quilters.  In the meantime I am working along in the background using their themes as practice. 

The first theme was energy and I have decided to try something different each time if possible.  The above 12 x 12 was made by using a piece of my made fabric and then threads painting a lightening bolt onto it.  This is my first attempt at thread painting.

The second theme is labels.   I was given a packet of photo printing paper a while ago.  I have previously printed images onto fabric for other people using fabric backed with freezer paper but this is the first time I have used printed images myself.  I took a photo from our trip to Vietnam which I have always liked.  I also downloaded some label images and printed them onto fabric.  I have placed the images onto a piece of linen I found in the cupboard.  The result is rather stiff but I will continue with it as these pieces are just practice for me.  I intend facing this block rather than binding.  I don't think there will be too much quilting as I don't want to quilt over the images.

12 x 12 Water Challenge

 

My mother and I have been considering joining a 12 x 12 group that has been recently formed by our local guild.  We missed out on the first group and are now on a waiting list for next year.  However we have both had self doubts as to whether we could work to a theme. Recently at a local quilt group meeting I challenged her to make a 12 x 12 quilt with the theme of Water so that we could practice.  Another quilt club member decided to join us in this challenge.  They are both still working on their pieces.

I spend a lot of my 15 minutes play time constructing 12 x 12 and 4" square blocks from my scraps which are now waiting to be used in other projects.  The background to this quilt was one of  these blocks.  I hand appliqued all the pieces on - some of which were fussy cut from other pieces of fabric.  The shiny pieces are meant to be jelly fish floating in the water.

Once they have completed their small quilts I am going to suggest we carry on with two other small quilts with them each providing a theme.  I am keen to continue using my made fabric pieces for these challenges but will wait and see what topics they come up with.

Back Beach

 

 

 

It was a beautiful evening to take a walk along one of our local beaches known as Back Beach.   I recently purchased a small samsung waterproof and shock proof video/still camera to take on our holiday to Costa Rica, Ecuador and Galapagos in May and June.  I am really pleased with the quality of the images but will probably have to wait until June to test its underwater qualities. 

Mellow Yellow Monday

Kowhai trees in bloom at Kawakawa Bay