Storms and Inspiration

Last Friday was a lost day… or mostly so. 10 hours of weather radio weather warnings… from 2:30 in the afternoon until well pas midnight! Didn’t get much accomplished and even less on Saturday due to much less needed sleep. So a loss of most of 2 days…

I did a little playing…. in early May and June.

Inspired by red poppies that are planted by the Department of Transportation in Kentucky in some of the highway medians,

and a delicious commercial poppy print.

I created a little free motion thread painting sample for a workshop in early July where I shared my process.

I wanted to leave the back visible, so they could see the stitching- thread work that is usually covered by the backing.

I teased with this photo on Instagram… A full image when I have it completed.

I am in the process of adding the quilting. Of course not much to show… It also requires a little more threadwork on the flowers.

Big NEWS coming… Check things out on July 31!…. I have some more giveaways too.

More Later! Beth

Keeping UP!

As usual… I have been busy and behind as far as keeping things caught up or current. Part of my problem is that I don’t think much of what I do is interesting… or even worth mentioning until after the fact!!! Sometimes well after the fact! Does that happen to you too?

Sometimes I see my obligations as just that -a job to accomplish… and don’t stop long enough to see that there is value in just doing the job. For instance. One of the guilds in town will be hosting a Quilt Auction as a fund raiser that will feature both a Silent Auction and a Live Auction as well as a rummage table we are calling the ‘Quilters Attic’. While my hand was resting in February I built a web page for the guild… nothing spectacular in terms of design, as it was to show some of the quilts to be auctioned. If you are interested in visiting that page…. go here: Nine Patchers Quilt Auction and of course if you are nearby… please come.

Next up was taking pictures of those quilts. It was the photographing, that I think I missed a great opportunity to talk about.

Over the years there has been lots of information shared about how to photograph quilts… so I took much of what I remember reading… about the subject… using a tripod, appropriate lighting, level camera and quilt display and distance as well as focal length. I am a nature photographer… and generally don’t have the patience for lighting a subject with artificial light.

                  

The shooting quilts went really well, even though all of them were photographed indoors! and without a neutral wall behind them at one location and pretty closed to the ceiling… several had to be pinned to a sheet. Our weather in Kentucky hasn’t cooperated with warm enough days…. to shoot outside, and not bright enough to use south facing windows for a nice natural light indoors… So I had to also play with fluorescent and fill flash. Overall I think the quilts look good.

Next I was asked to photograph a knife. That proved to be a different lighting difficulty. For this I actually wanted the dull dark grey skies!!! Metal reflects light and creates bright reflections that look like imperfections in the metal work. We decided that a new lens would help with that problem… so another small obstacle … to over come. Well after a couple of weeks of experimentation… I think I finally nailed it.

Have I been doing anything remotely related to fiber recently…NO!!!

I’ll have to explain more later… What about you…. are you keeping up?

Beth

Finished Project!

So what do I do.... when... I am not cooking, cleaning, puppying or going to guilds?

Creating of course. Most of my creations don't start on Monday and finish in a chronological fashion. They start, get sidelined by an obligation or other deadline... like the project I am going to talk about today.

"The Night Circus" was inspired by a Facebook post made by a member of one of the Quilt Guilds I belong to and based loosely on creating this style of a patchworked elephant explored by another blogger.  About the only thing I used was the line drawing of the elephant, which I also cleaned up a bit for a better better pattern.

I wanted a really bright elephant, so I got out my box of batik scraps and started to build the body. I decided to keep the order of color symmetrical on both sides of the body although the fabrics may have changed from side to side, but color order remained.



Once the elephant was built I considered the background, plain anything was just going to be too plain... and while I was working on this I was listening to a book titled 'The Night Circus', by Erin Morgenstern. It was disappointing that the best thing about the book was the title, however the author also wrote "Water For Elephants" which is how the title of this Elephant quilt came about.... the Night Circus was about a black and white circus..... the second most interesting thing about the book, (I didn't find any other things to consider interesting in the book).







Next up was the quilting.... Of course I wanted to do this on the longarm, (for more practice). I didn't want the background quilting to be the star, so I used a swirl as the fill to add texture rather than a design since the focal point was the elephant. The elephant was nailed down with some squiggly lines across seams of the various colors, since it pretty much already stood out. 


I added her headband and some wobbly eyelashes with beads as the final bit of her costume.

A more detailed picture (as always you may click on any image for a larger view). I started this sometime around June.... but of course there were some other things between the start and the finish....











The particulars: The quilt measures 35"x35", the elephant is 17"x13"; threads were So Fine white and black (by Superior) on the background and Madeira monofil on the elephant.

So what are you working on? Has it had a sideways progression... or straight through to completion?

As always more later!! Beth
PS.... check back soon, a surprise blog contributor.... coming soon.

Fusible Review

A little late, but now that we are back on a straight road, even though we still have some bumps and curves ahead, I did get into the Creative Space to play with a new product.

 I have been playing with a new product. Not just new to me, but really new to the sewing/quilting world. I haven't heard much chatter about it... and thought I would give it a try because sometimes you just need a paper backing!!!! A really lightwieght paperbacked fusible.

New Product Review:  Barely There lightweight fusible from the Swirly Girls
(from the web page)
This new, ultra-sheer, iron-on adhesive comes in pre-cut 8.5" x 11" sheets to print or copy on your inkjet printer. Features quick, easy release paper liner - no more picking at the edges of your applique! Barely There is permanent, machine washable and acid free. Perfect for layered applique!

I use lots and lots of fusible, in the last 10 years or so... some where in the neighborhood of 70 yards. I have used Wonder Under (Pellon), Steam a Seam Lite 2 (Warm Company), Misty Fuse (attached inc), Soft Fuse (Shades Textiles) and many others that didn't make the grade to use again.  I saw this product and while I like Misty Fuse, it can be problematic when you want to make precise pieces or do not want to pre-fuse lots of fabrics for a project. Fusibles can cause some real stitching issues when you start stacking many layers, so I am always on the lookout for a fusible that is lightweight and does not stiffen after fusing leaving the quilt flexible and soft.

Free Spirit project

I have 3 projects currently under way with this product. The first one 'Birdies' are two that were not working for the 'Free Spirit' project was waiting for the right inspiration or idea to finish it off. I'm not sure it is ready for fusing yet.... still seems a bit dull. And I have a block to make for a friend, and thought I would try it for that as well. So the projects.

The Free Spirit project... not much more than the motifs cut from the Barely There fusible and I am not sure if I need to tweak the colors a bit more or not.... Not In Love with it as it is....

Gecko

The Gecko, is a block for a friend. I used the donut method, where you cut the center of  the larger parts of the motif out of the center of the fusible, so I could compare how it felt... in the fused and not fused areas.  I could detect the fusible, but barely. I had a bit of difficulty with the eyes and toes, and resorted to an old standby for fusing those. Not sure if the difficulty was me or not , but I was out of time and needed to get this completed. The block is a little over sized at 11", but I wanted to leave a bit extra for trimming.

The last project is one just for trying out the Barely There fusible. Birdies, or the formal title.... "Oh What a Beautiful Morning" was fun and planned on the go... as in we started with birds and designed on the fly. It will get picture heavy... but I know you want to see. (You can click on any picture to see it bigger!)

The birds fused, the yellow one is stitched.

A detail of the notes, these are about a half inch tall, and you can see how well the fusible keeps the fabric edges sharp.

And finished.

I like Barely There product.... however, I used too hot of an iron on one item and... I learned too much heat will fry the glue. It left the fusible glue (diamonds) pattern visible on the front. So, MEDIUM heat is the setting for fusing!!! Once I reviewed the instructions, iIt worked a charm. I have now fused both plain quilting cottons and Batiks, and none were prewashed and got a good tight fuse in most cases, Gecko eyes and toes the the one issue.

The fusible claims to be lightweight, not as thick or heavy as some of the more well known brands, and I found that to be mostly true after fusing the 2 layers together. Not sure I would say it is lighter than Misty Fuse, but pretty close!

Another Feature and as far as I am concerned the most beneficial was the ability to send it through an INKJET printer, (not advisable for laser printers due to the heat require for lasers to print. I drew up a pattern for the Birdies and sent one sheet through the printer on a copy and print and I also sent a print job from the computer on a mirror to get the reverse... for the birds. All printouts came through perfectly! If what you are making requires you to make many bits, this is the way to go, no wasted time tracing or copying to the paper side the same shapes over and over and over... The folded corner is to show the fusible on the back side of the paper. You can see the little diamonds I referenced above.

So yes it is great fusible for projects and I will be adding to my arsenal of fusibles. I have also added it to store, www.ihaveanotion.com!!!

Do you have a favorite fusible? Tell me what and why in the comments. We all like to learn...

More Later! Beth

Once again .... its a Time thing. What gets done and what doesn't is often less of a choice than there just isn't any more minutes in the day!!! Do you ever run into that?

I have still been having some computer issues, but finally I think I have it figured out. It was one or both of my Photo programs... both have been banished from the computer.... for the time being, but it also means that editing pictures is now a bigger difficulty other than just not liking to do it, it also means that getting the pictures off the camera... is not possible! (I hate the way Windows handle photographs.)

I had a great time in Paducah and had my first opportunity to explore the town since moving to Kentucky. Paducah was supposed to be our move destination in Kentucky, but for some reason we couldn't find a house that would work for us. Oh well, we're close.

To fill the time between Fall Paducah and now... one of the local quilt guilds I belong to held our annual quilt show. I have a large job and a major responsibility on the show committee, so I was a busy bee...helping to set up/hang, work and then of course the take down/clean up, and I also manned the "I Have a Notion" booth. It wasn't a big space. It was the debut...

While in Paducah I stumbled upon a quilt auction and brought home a quilt. Old and a bit worn, each piece was stitched with 1/8 in seams, so some weren't holding together very well. It is a bit brighter than the larger picture shows, as you can see but the photo above. I discovered that the batting was a threadbare blanket. Someone had at one time attempted to make some repairs and I continued with just enough stitches to hold the bits together, long enough to longarm it all together. It was also tied, so once loaded, I snipped the ties. The quilting I added was nothing special, I only paid $12 for the quilt and I had planned to use it as a table cover.... I love the 30's prints and that green that says vintage quilt...  The other table has one of my other fun finds... some flower basket blocks that I pulled together for a longarm practice quilt. But I have another vintage Grandmothers Flower Garden planned for larger booth needs. I think quilty things always look great with quilts on the table.

Yeah I know not too exciting and quite frankly I am looking forward to some quiet... time hanging around the house and not doing too much for a few days! HA!!! I'm going to keep dreaming.

More Later-Beth