Something new and different

Here is a little peek at a new project I am working on. It is an art quilt, recycling some secret ingredients. More later.

Saturday Outdoor Studio

Something I like to do sometimes is use my Gelli plate for printing new cloth.  I've only tried it  a few times but I recently went to the Gelli website and watched a few videos on technique. So I made some freezer paper masks, got all my paints and gear together and went for  it!

This is a basket of stamps and masks.

Paints

Ye ole bucket o' water for emergency rinsing.

 Gelli plate and brayer on cafeteria tray, ready for paint.

 Voila! Paint is rolled out.

I forgot to show the plate with the mask on it, but you can see below that it had rectangles cut out. I laid the fabric on top and rubbed it gently. This is what is left behind.  You use what is left behind for an additional print, called a "ghost print". I used watercolor paper for all the ghost prints.

Here is the fabric with the first printing.

Here is the ghost print on paper.

Here is another example of fabric and paper with several printings on each sheet.

It is not necessary to clean the Gelli plate between each round of printing.

This is a shot of the ground right by my chair, it shows a freezer paper mask and fabric drying.

After 2 hours or so outside in the heat, it was time to wrap it up and cool off inside. Making your own cloth and paper is a lot of fun.  Next up, another project I've been working on....not quilt related exactly.

Summer Quilt

Here is the quilt outside before washing. The colors are truest here.

Here it is inside, on the bed. The colors appear a little more muted, but still beautiful. You can see the quilting a little more.

New Table, New Quilt

This is my new cutting/ironing/whatever table that my husband built for me.  It has a shallow shelf underneath to hold ironing boards and rulers. It is great, but I am still in the process of moving into my "new" studio space (my son's old bedroom). It is nice to be able to go through all my stuff and weed out some things and at the same time put like-things together. Its coming together, slowly.

I just finished quilting and binding this new quilt. I used Malva Dubrawsky's fabric line and some of my own hand dyed fabrics. I think it came out great, if I do say so myself. I was trying to practice piecing curves and just being a bit improvisational. I quilted free motion big circles and some semi straight lines around the circles. I am not a perfectionist when it comes to quilting, but I do like a lot of quilting. It will fit over a queen size bed which is what we have.  Now to throw it in the wash!

Color Affection

Finished Color Affection, using various fingering weight blended wools.  There is a variegated wool in there that added a little more interest by changing the stripes as I went along.  That outdoor table is great for blocking things as well.  When I am not dyeing on it or laying a quilt out on it, I can use for blocking. I just lay a couple of towels down, lay it out, and pin it  here and there.  I love this shawlette's  asymmetrical shape.

I told you I like to make stuff

This is called Color Affection, a shawlette. I need to use up my yarn stash, so this is what I work on while watching tv.  I'll show a better picture after it is blocked.

Quilts for Twins

 These quilts were made for some twins boys born a few years ago. Mostly all made from scraps and backed with flannel.  I thought it would be cute to carry the twin theme to the quilt by making twin "birds" on each of their quilts.  Their mother was very happy with them.

Plastic, a wolf, and a table

These are my sheets of plastic drying out after being hosed off. All the dye just rolls off. I pile them up and roll them into a tube and store them for next time.

 

Here is my red orange wolf, aka Otis, protecting the fabric from intruders.  There is a lot of boxed fabric behind him getting ready for their new place in the house.  We are converting my sons bedroom into my studio and the house is in general unheaval at the moment.

This is going to be my cutting table when it is finished, built by my husband. It doesn't look too big in the picture but it is 32" x 75", a good size for me and the room its going in.

Quilting

This is where I lay out my quilts for basting, the backyard.  Yes, that is my dye table covered with a piece of 4'x8' particle board.  If I get out early in the day I can get it done before it gets too hot. I live in southern California so this works for me all year round, besides I really don't have any choice as there is no space inside for this activity.

 Now I am inside quilting this project. I mostly do free motion quilting, even semi straight lines, because I really dislike having to move the quilt around so much.  It is much easier to free motion it and figure it out as I go.  I never mark quilts, and I rarely do any fancy quilting.  These are my hand dyed fabrics combined with a bundle of Malka Dubrawsky's new fabric line.  I needed to practice curved piecing and this is the product.  I still need to practice curves, piecing and quilting.

Yes that is a wall of cd's.  My husband is a musicologist of sorts and also has a radio show, so our house is full of music and just about every wall has cd's. I always say, he could have worse habits.