No More Caca Yucko!!

This is the reworked quilt top after removing the golds that were bugging me. I replaced them with magenta/orange batiks with hints of gold. I left a few of the golds but the quilt lacked depth and I am happy with the changes. To me, the thread painting with define and create the zing in the quilt. I chose to off center the figure which leaves a far amount of background which needs quilting. I'm leaning toward a doodling affect. My schedule does not allow me to get in my studio until late Saturday so I can't work of this project until then. Peace out. :)

A Traditional Diversion

Sometimes I need to have a creative timeout and do traditional piecing and applique. I signed up for the Sock Monkey Block-of-the-Month at Quilters Haven in Menominee MI where I live. It's been fun and I've giggled at the goofy things the monkeys are doing. It began in May '09 and I have three more blocks to do. The monkeys have small black snaps for eyes and there is some embroidery needed to complete the blocks that I haven't done yet.I was not fond of the sashing the pattern designer used to complete her quilt. Check it out at www.seweasytriangles.com. My block kits came with a light yellow for sashing and I'm at war with yellow so I can't do that. Maybe the cute polka dot in the monkey sock's fabric line in blue or red. I had a thought that art quilters can flipflop back into traditional quilting/piecing/applique but can traditional quilters pop into contemporary quilting as easily?

Caca Yucko!! :(

I completed the face on my latest wall hanging. It had a zillion pieces and it was fun and rewarding. I chose oranges with gold highlights, for the hair, and after fusing the gold tresses and walked past it for 24ish hours I don't like it. The color theory law of use yellow sparingly is screaming at me with "you should know better!!. Not to mention it's too similar to the lime greens in the other side of the face. I will be removing the golds and putting more reds and magentas in its place. For starters those are my all-time favorite colors on the color wheel and I have used them minimally in this project so far. What is to be learned from this situation? Yellow/gold in small quantities and allowing the process of creativity not be rushed. View the work in process and love what is going on before moving to the next step. I still like yellow but it wasn't affective in this quilt. I haven't displayed much of the quilt because it's a secret until it is finished. If there are any opinions on my color choices I would love the imput. Peace out.

Sneak Peak!!

I have been energized!! I love faces but wanted to pursue a new look. I am influenced by mosaics and the separate pieces that do not overlap and the background peeks through. I seem to do a lot with black and brights and felt like doing a white background with brights. I am fusing batiks to a small scale white with tiny dot background. The neck and face are completed. Next is the hair. The weather is expected to be rainy, icey and snowy this weekend so I see myself in my studio alot. :)

Woman With Red Lipstick: Part 2

This photo is of my original quilt I entered in the Keepsake Quilting quilt challenge called "Black, White and Red" in the fall of 2007. I had never entered a quilt challenge before and won 2nd place!! That's the good part but the rules stated 1st and 2nd place become property of Keepsake Quilting for their private collection. This collection travels to quilt groups that request it.
I missed my quilt and in 2 yrs. later in the fall of 2009 I redid this quilt without the rules of the challenge. I took a break during the holidays and finished the quilt this week.The following photos are of the finished quilt and a close-up. I love scrappy quilts because I can't pick just 6 fabrics like the challenge. I embellished with glitter, rhinestones and a few small silk flowers on the floral border. I love the "dreamy" stare of the woman in the quilt!! Do you like the original or the new version?

Fabric Postcard Demo

My local quilt group, The Northwoods Quilters of Marniette WI and Menominee MI, will be having members demonstrating different techniques at its meeting tomorrow morning. I am showing how to do fabric postcards. I discovered this quilting project while on the internet. I signed up for a postcard exchange in 2008 through http://www.art2mail.com/. I made 24 postcards and mailed them all over the country and 2 to the UK and 2 to Australia. It was lots of fun receiving the huge variety of postcards from far away places. Also none of the 25 women knew each other but were willing to create individual quilted items for complete strangers.

The first photo has the drawing on graph paper of the design I plan to use. I make the pattern pieces and use fusible web to adhere them, Fast2Fuse for the inside stiffener, a front and back piece of fabric, Sharpie and Pigma pens to detail the image, varigated thread for the outside edge and free motion quilting and paint and glitter for bling!!

The second photo shows the different steps to completing a fabric postcard and an example of another colorway of the same design. These cards are fun and a quick way to complete a project. They can actually be mailed. The local post office will hand cancel the stamp and some post offices are more cooperative than others. I have also put the card in an envelope to mail. They make cute little pictures to stand on a shelf. I suppose a ribbon could be attached to hang the card.