Monthly Archives: February 2010

The Results Are In

Never got around to snow dyeing on Wednesday. I came to my senses and realized I just had a little bit of time to see what would happen with those little plexiglass cut-outs. And the reason I hauled out the dye to begin with was that I needed some more navy blue for a background I am working on. But- there wasn’t much pfd fabric left in my stash. I tried a 50 percent cotton/ linen blend from Kaufman that I had.

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The piece on the left is a fat quarter of velvet. So pretty. The others aren’t quite dark enough for what I needed.

These are the pieces that I used c-clamps on with the plexiglass cut-outs. I only had a few c-clamps. Not enough to make a big batch but something I will definitely do this summer when I can make more of a mess. Then, I had tried wrapping a piece of plastic pipe. Of course, without reading about how to do this.

Nice result on the one end. I just didn’t have the pipe placed in the right kind of container nor did I even come close to the true technique. Another technique to put on my list for summer.

I added a little sunshine to the day in the form of one of my quilt tops from vacation and machine stitched away. Bright colors definitely help on a snowy day!

Vermont Sunshine and Wildflowers
14×16

I heavily quilted this one just to work on fine machine quilting. I now truly appreciate those machine quilters that do lots of fine line work-this is truly an art. It reminded me to schedule an eye doctor appointment.

I love the fine lines! Now what else to do with them?

Happy Sewing, my friends!

Something New

I always love quilters. They are so nice and always friendly. I met another art quilter and she came over to look at some of my notes to try to decide what class she would like to take in the future. She also asked to look at my finished quilts from last year. Always fun to have someone appreciate your work. Thanks Elizabeth for coming!
But I have a confession. Ok I admit it. I have the winter blahs. Nothing in particular is exciting me. Maybe there is nothing exciting to do. And it’s snowing again. Other than meeting Elizabeth, I did little or nothing yesterday -or nothing exceptionally productive let’s say. Which is really not like me. So, in effort to jump over this boring place I am in-I am going to try something new today.

I purchased these little plexiglass cut-outs from a wonderful seller Rossie and they arrived back when I was on vacation. She even included a great set of instructions with them. I am going to sandwich them between clamps and and pop them in some dye. While I am at the process of using up a little bit of dye I have mixed up, I will try some other things too-clamping some washers and wrapping a plastic pole.

And if I have any left, I will pop some more pieces in plastic bins for snow dyeing. If I can’t beat the snow blahs, maybe I should go play in it. I am investigating cold freeze dyeing with natural products.My husband just shook his head when he pulled out a big bag of frozen flower petals last night when he was digging for ice cream. But bless his heart, he didn’t even say -what next?

Happy sewing, my friends.

West Michigan Fiber Arts Group

I belong to a group that meets on a monthly basis called the West Michigan Fiber Arts Group. It meets ly at a local sewing store and consists of about thirty people. We have been working through the book by Jane Davila and Elin Waterson called Artists at Play this past year. Lots of fun show and tell each month and also we have been working through all the techniques in the book. The group is led by our own artist Beth Williams, a very talented fiber artist.

We are having a small show during the month of March at the the Lakeshore Sewing Center in Wyoming. The theme is Artists at Play. It has been a good experience to prepare for a formal gallery show or other type show as we have had to develop an artist’s statement and work within a specific size-18×18. With that being said-you have to know there is some strange happening with my piece:).

I wanted to mount mine on a canvas. (Why do I try all these new things when there is some risk involved with the outcome? Gotta love a challenge!) So I painted my canvas before vacation. And of course, going on vacation I thought it would be dry by the time I got back. Plenty of time. It wasn’t dry on Friday night-and it was due on Mon. What’s a girl to do? I got out the hair dryer! Voila-it’s dry. I don’t know it that I should have done that. I used oil paints on the canvas because I wanted the texture but should have factored in a long dry time in the winter.

Missing the Mark
14×18

Lots of fun things to play with but just couldn’t make it work- thus missing the mark. Had fun though. That sometimes happens,doesn’t it? I had plenty of time to do this but should have stuck with a method I was more comfortable with for this piece. Ah-the joy of learning!

Sorry about the pictures. It is snowing so hard here and I don’t feeling like dragging out my lights. Off to try again.

Happy Sewing, my friends!

Back Home Again

Well I certainly shouldn’t have said anything about how easy our trip was to VT. The trip back home was a bad dream. No, a nightmare. When we got to the ticket counter in Burlington after waiting in line for 30 minutes, the agent said our plane would be delayed. My husband asked why it show on the board that it was delayed. Listen to this ANSWER:

The departure board is only updated on a monthly basis.

So why is the board up there and why are we-all hundreds of passengers -looking at this board-like morons-every time we enter the airport? To this minute, I can’t believe the answer. And then they wanted to re-book us-three days later.No other flights available until three days later. Airline travel is just the pits. And the only way it will change is if we all stop for awhile in protest of the bad customer service you get these days. I understand why some things are done for safety’s sake but the rest is just stupidity of employees and airline companies. We missed our connecting flight and ended up renting a car and driving the last leg of the journey home. Very late.

Ok that was a big complaint. I am now ready to move on. A few more barn pictures for you which downloaded in record time.
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Blue skies.

I did finish this small piece while I was there. It is made from bits of recycled silks and hand dyed linen.I don’t particularly like it but sometimes you just need to finish the project!

Falling Leaves- approx 18×24.

That’s Pesto and she is one of the cows my daughter chose to show for 4-H this summer. And my daughter is so happy when she is working at the barn. I guess that makes all the travel problems worth it to see that great smile!

Happy Sewing, my friends!

Loose Ends

I always hate the last day of vacation. I start to orient myself back to a list of what needs to be done before I leave. But I saved today to keep sewing. The weather has been relatively mild for Februrary in VT-and not much snow on the ground. I took about a two hour walk in the woods with my neighbor and her three dogs. One was a pup of four months and it was his first walk. I don’t know who had more fun-me watching him or him just running and then flopping when he was tired. Too bad I forgot my camera but my friend is hard enough to keep up with!

Lots of different things which are on my list today:

Working on beading-very pretty

Working on black and white -ugh

Missing the right color but have the right idea

Loving the beauty of the mountains and my scattered thoughts today!

Happy Sewing, my friends! Probably back on Friday as we travel home tomorrow.

Hearts, Pink Things and Things of Long Ago

I had fun rounding up this little Valentine’s day treat for you. Enjoy all the pretty things that remind me of the day.

Pink mittens and handmade hearts on linen

A heart bowl filled with bits from my Vermont Sunshine quilt

Handblown glass heart

Old thread spindles from the New England Mill

Vermont Sunshine and Wildflowers

Unquilted top-18×20

Hope you enjoyed your day and were able to sow or sew a little love with your hands. It makes you feel better. Happy Sewing and Happy Valentine’s Day, my friends. Hugs!

Barns and Quilts

I had so much fun yesterday and the day flew by. The kids and my husband went skiing and I stayed behind. Such a hardship it is having the whole day to sew! I had brought along a few new things. In January, I ordered 25$ of fabric from Frieda Anderson and then got a package of 48 5 inch squares for free. One of the fabrics was a beautiful one yard piece of hand dyed fabric which was multi colored. And the 5 inch squares were bright.
I wanted just to do a simple and bright quilt. I pieced for a long time and then the sun called me outside. I took pictures of the barns on my walk. My favorites from yesterday’s walk:

A local horse farm. Love the sunshine and blue skies.

Mrs. Smith’s barn-my 87 year old neighbor who still mowes her own yard.

Typical Vermont barn -weathered

You have been very patient waiting for a quilt. After my walk, I just kept sewing. And this is my first project from this batch of fabric.

Unquilted top-Vermont Sunshine-20×39

A typical little ribbon quilt, isn’t it? A very happy little guy for a day in February. I needed just carefree and easy for the first day of vacation.

Ok-now dial up internet service has made me crazy uploading pictures. I must go to the library to do this. It takes about five minutes per picture! And weird things happen like pictures are getting all grainy.

Happy Sewing, my friends!

Arrriving

We arrived in VT last night and traveled without one airline delay. I consider that a miracle. I am not sure I remember when that has happened. And we arrived in daylight to bright sunshine over the mountains. I came in the house and promptly fell down half a flight of steps. Oh well-so much for a smooth landing:). Nothing but a lot of sore this am. Won’t stop my day of sewing.

I want to say hi to new people who are joining in the fun and reading. Thanks for the comments. I didn’t realize how much fun it is to get feedback until you started leaving me comments! I always thought that if I left a comment on someone’s blog I was being a bit of a stalker-but then -silly me-that is some of the purpose of all this-to get feedback and when someone else posts-it is for us to read….so I will be braver and leave comments.
I did finish my artist’s statement and label before I left. Now on to finish the piece-or start something new.

Happy Sewing, my friends!

The Beast is Done

We woke up to a snow day from school today. Thank goodness. It’s just nice to get caught up and have no schedules to tend to.

Well, I finally have my first finish of 2010. The recycled jean quilt is dones-completely done-to the trimming of the loose threads and placing of the label. Other than delivering it , there is nothing more to do to it. I never thought you could be traumatized by a quilt but it happened. It took a month longer than I thought it would-ok maybe three weeks longer. It’s done and I am singing and dancing a little happy dance. And you can too because the best thing is-you don’t have to hear me complain about finishing it ever again. I am ok with it and what’s important is that my son likes it and it’s for his class. So in the end -That’s all that matters!

It’s so big I can’t fit it all in. Walk With Me-60×90.

The best news of this process is my new machine and I have bonded. She earned her keep and survived working on this heavy denim quilt. So Clare-you deserve the honor of a picture here-

I did appreciate the longer arm. The dual feed system helped pull the bulk through and rode over all the seams. I’ll need to eventually get a different table and I think I will go with the Sew Ezi table . Yet to be determined but I don’t want to spend lots either.

A big sigh of relief.

Happy Sewing, my friends. I will try to bring my laptop with me-but we have dial up in VT so…I’ll hope for the best.

It must be used

I continue to work on my project for the art exhibit coming up. I am enjoying the process. The artist’s statement definitely is the hardest part for me. I do have the rough draft done and will take one more look before I send it in.

I also finished dyeing the rest of the floss. Since I had extra dye left over, I added some fabric in plastic bags. Not great results but not bad for the blues.

The reds just were really washed out. Now, in all fairness, I used less dye for this than I would normally. (1TB for 200ml water) But no matter what I do to reds I always seem turn out coral or orangey. This time it was Fire Engine Red from Dharma. Anyone have a good red they can recommend? It seems to be elusive to find a good one. Not fuschia, not orange red but like a china red. Sometimes I stumble onto it but it’s always by some accident I can’t replicate.