Am I addicted to stress, 3 at once?

I began  work on 3 different quilts around the same time, don’t ask me why I would do such a thing. I am well aware of how obsessive I can become about finishing the projects that I start. I made this rule for myself long ago. That I must finish the projects that I start.

The rule expanded when I began quilting. It now became “I am not allowed to start a new quilt until I have finished my current one”. That’s was the rule and that’s that!” I had heard the legendary UFO s that quilters  so often bemoaned. Well, that was not going to be me, no siree, my rule would see to that. It certainly sounded easy enough, logical.

I think many of us thought that, when we were naïve quilt newbies, our eyes filled with stars. We would always finish our quilts. We would never dream of letting quilts pile up everywhere,unfinished, oh no we certainly would never let that happen. HA ha ha.

Then reality set in, this is not always easy to do. there are so many new wonderful fabrics to be had and endless beautiful quilts to be made. We get over stimulated just as small children are prone to do, running from one toy to the next, til they have emptied their entire toy box, toys scattered everywhere covering their play room floor. Now, they must all be picked up, “whaaaa I don’t want to Mom!!”.

Naturally I often ignore my rule, who wouldn’t? But oh the guilt and stress this creates. So why would I start 3 quilts, with full knowledge of “the” rule and the price to be paid for disobedience? Why would I start not just two, but three quilts? I cannot give a coherent answer to that question that I just asked myself.

So I have now meandered back to the beginning of this post, ” I began  work on 3 different quilts around the same time”. There they are hanging over my head, taunting me. But there it is, I have to finish them, I don’t handle that kind of stress well. So…

Of the three, [ here is the worst of it]  the quilt I am most driven to finish is a bed quilt for one of my granddaughters. I am in full all out guilt mode, I have to finish this and quickly!

My sweet darling teenaged granddaughter loves art deco and is revamping her bedroom in a art deco style. I was so excited that I could make a new quilt to fit the new art deco themed bedroom and surprise her. Well I spilled it, couldn’t keep my own secret. She has waited for the upcoming surprise quilt sooo long, without a single complaint.

I am finally making progress on getting this baby done. I am looking forward to giving it to her and seeing her happy happy reaction, well I am hoping for that reaction.

It is pictured below, almost done. I’m bouncing around ideas for  shams and throw pillows. Here’s one idea I have, I could try out on of the new fangled inkjet fabric printing products  that I keep hearing about. I thought I could make a copy of one of Alphonse Mucha‘s pictures on the fabric and make a throw pillow from this. What do you think? I don’t know what the fabric is actually like, so this is an experimental idea. If any one has had experience working with these products and would care to share any thoughts, suggestions or ideas I would appreciate the input.

Unfinished quilt number two, next in on my list  is pictured below.

The silk background painting is completed and the silk art painting completed, I’ve begun the thread work, as you  can

see I’ve barely started.  I added lots of pearl to my paint colors as I mixed them.  So to to continue the sparkle, shine theme I’m using quite a lot of metallic threads. I am feeling good  how this is looking thus far.

That’s a few photos of this one. All in all I’m feeling good, forward motion feels much better than stalling out.

A peek at the beginnings of my 60 MPA iphone quilt

As I promised, here’s a peek at the progress I have made so far on the new art quilt I’ve started. It was inspired by the photos I took with my new iPhone from the window of our moving car.I’m going to call it

60 MPH Out The Window.

The first stage is almost  complete, the silk painting. I’m reasonably satisfied,  it’s a good start. The next stages are the thread painting and the final quilting .

 The thread painting and and quilting  require thought. This can be especially true of a landscape quilt or any art quilt which requires a measure of realism. What look are you are going for?What style of art do you want? This all needs to be considered. How you plan to achieve this? It requires thought and planning. I usually need to kick this around in my mind for days to work it out.

Thread painting can add realism and detail, the texture of the bark on a tree for instance . It can create the illusion of  dimension. An apple, for example, can appear spherical, not just a flat image laying there. It can come to life.

You also need  to make a decision concerning the amount of detail you want. Weigh in your mind how much thread work and quilting you will need. That will definitely effect the flatness of the quilt. No one wants an uneven wavy piece of fiber art hanging on their wall. The amount thread work will effect this. It needs to be evenly spaced with similar density to lay flat. A few things to plan, but the fun starts as you see it develop.

 

a closer look

Well, there’s a peek at my latest, 60 MPH Out The Window. I’ll try to post a few updates as the project progresses.

A iphone photo I feel a quilt coming on.

A follow up to my iphone “sunset out of a moving car window ” photos. I have gotten a good start on an art quilt using some of the car window pics as an inspiration. I’ll post the small beginnings tomorrow. It may work out nicely, got the silk painting about finished. Now I’m about ready for the next step thread painting and final quilting, which are make or break points in the outcome.

60 MPH

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This’n a Bright One!

I’ve been busily working on a few new art quilts for my etsy shop. It has been depleted, which is a good thing , of course. I was happy to sell a few quilts to customers and six to a fiber art gallery. That is the point in having a shop. But my etsy shop looked so empty, I had to kick it into high gear. So I’ve made several lately and working on some others. Here is one I finished recently and listed. I always use Setacolors to paint/dye my silk backdrop and whatever else I ‘m going to use for that matter. Here’s a picture which shows a bit of the background colors, that I really loved. After quilting I was not real pleased that I had covered the whole background up, my beautiful painted silk. But I liked the crazy bright thread play, you can’t have it both ways.

Fire and Ice art quilt. Hand painted silk art quilt with lively thread play.

The quilting was lively you might say and I used some very intense watercolor pencils to add more color. This is one brightly colored quilt. Here are a few shots of the finished quilt. I’m warning you, if your eyes can’t stand bright light, don’t look at it without sunglasses. That’s my disclaimer.

Here’s my new art quilt after the quilting is done.

details of my-thread work and quilting

A closer look at the thread play

The light bulb that went quilt

         

A fiber art quilt, that just hit me as a good idea.

      Do you remember my earlier post about that light bulb moment when  you are suddenly struck with an idea which excites you? This art quilt came from that kind of moment. I think you remember what I’m referring to. You may have given much thought to a project and everything you came up with fell flat. Suddenly, a  really, really good idea pops into your head, a  this it !Eureka!’. I don’t about know you, but I find it very hard to work on an art quilt  that I’m not excited about. I’ll put off starting it, and when I do, I lose interest and put off finishing. it.  I ‘ll find every excuse in the world . I love making  fiber art.   I could work 24 X 7 on it, if the idea is inspiring to me.                                                                                                                                              Where  does  inspiration come from?  Why do we have a great idea just hit us, bamb out the blue? If anyone has a thought on that subject, share your thoughts. I’m wondering  if we’re all  inspired in the same way?   Do you think it might be something that we saw or heard a while back, that  lies dormant, until it just pops  out?   Let us know your th0ughts.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      Here’s my light bulb moment art quilt, that I made with  my “wonderful’ fabric. I’m calling it my light bulb quilt.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  

                                               

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      

A hand painted art quilt in a pink pearlised color

Pink pearlized roses, a iridescent effect.

                                                 

                                                                           

                                                     

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               

Waiting for that creative light bulb .

I had a piece of silk that I painted and loved the look of it, soft pastels with the look of watercolor. I’ve been saving it,  not wanting to waste this beautiful silk on the wrong design. I’d look at it from time to time, waiting for inspiration to hit me.  Finally the light bulb went off over my head, I know just what I’m going to do!! And so it started , the new art quilt.

Part of the “wonderful” silk piece

I’m always excited at the start of a light bulb moment quilt.  In my mind’s eye can picture it. The picture often changes as I work on the reality of of making it, but it is an exciting beginning and the journey along the way to the finished work,  is satisfying. Here’s some photos following  the progression of work .

I wanted a large pink peoney, so I begin to applique` lots of petals .

And lots more petals

I have used a bit of silk paint to make a few turned edges on the peony petals

Lots of petals appliqued on, big mess

I’ll keep you posted on my progress.

Update on the art quilt – Sunflowers part 2- raw edge applique

I have still  been working  away on the Sunflower art quilt, still making  petals, petals and more petals [you can’t have too many petals]. I hand paint each one on silk using a combination of Pueblo Seta Paints transparent and art colored inks. I’ll show you in a coming post how everything is appliqued down,. The size of this quit will be rather large so I may add another sunflower if I’m not satisfied with the way it looks, when they’re on the backdrop. I did get the back drop painted. Here’s a few pictures.

Next post I”ll probably get  into the raw edge applique, So come back for that. See Ya!

A new art quilt , bonus tuturial on raw edge applique

I had a recent commission I’ve been working on, that contains lots of applique.I thought “what a nice opportunity to follow the progress of making a art quilt and give a bit of a tutorial on raw edge applique in the process”. I’m sure everyone has their own system and tips, here’s a few of my own, learned from trial and error.

Before anything I iron a fusible web called Wonder Under by Pellon,  onto the back of the  fabric. I usually paint my own

on  silk fabric.In any case the web makes it easier to paint on, handle and cut out later.

Then after ironing that on, I paint the silk. Some of it will serve as a back grown., some will be appliqued onto that backdrop. I’ve never had a problem later

with the fusible web sticking. If you’re using commercial fabric , your first step is to  iron the web down.

ironing the Wonder Under to the fabric

 

You can see how the Wonder Under has adhered to the fabric  Below

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The web has stuck on to the back of the fabric

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
I painted and painted and painted sunflower petals. Then when everything has  dried, you can cut out the various parts to be used. I am doing sunflowers with the individual petals to be added to.. Below

 

When dry cut out the parts to be appliqued

Petals, petals, and more petals.

The centers of the sunflowers, painted and dry..all cut out

A "cheater" sunflower already painted whole

In the next installment I’ll show you the what comes next.

Something I’ve been working on

Abstract kites in a purple sky

Just out! Original hand painted silk abstract art quilt with applique in dreamy colors[ how’s that for a run on sentence?].  It’s purple, lime green,-blue and turquoise. The un-conventional quilting mimics the abstract background in shapes and colors. It’s 32 X 16. And..it just happens to be for sale…so contact me if interested.

It’ s for sale at a very reasonable price contact me if interested.

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Field of Wildflowers 2 Robin Eggs

Just finished this one. It reminds me of an impressionist style, a Monet like art quilt?Well that may be a stretch…but anyway it is hand painted silk with the trees, nest and eggs painted separately and appliqued on. I spent a lot of time contemplating how to quilt it.  I’m happy with the results, look at the tree trunk and each little flower received thread painting [there are a lot of flowers in the field, let me tell] . I like it hope you do too..

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