Bicycle

I started a new project I saw a tutorial for on http://elsiesgirl.blogspot.com/ . She calls it Sunburst but I am going to call it Bicycle. The fabric is called bicycle path and I used a fat quarter pack. Because I made a mistake in calculations I have enough of these wedges to create a whole other quilt. Who wants two quilts that are exactly the same? Not me. So I am thinking about what I can do with all the other wedges. That will be for the future.

This is the first time I have made something like this, a circle with wedges, but they get corners so eventually they will be squares.

Sanbar

 Something new I've been working on. I did the quilt but thought it was too plain and boring. So I added some appliques that sort of swirl in a circle in the middle, using my hand dyed fabric. I got the pattern from a note card that I have had for a long time.

It's a good thing I brought my document reader home from school for the summer, it is very handy for resizing designs. The card was about 4 inches tall, these pieces are about 30 inches long.

 There is not a lot of contrast between the appliques and the background but I am thing of highlighting them more with thread. We'll see.  I used free motion EKG embroidery that I saw on http://marvelesartstudios.blogspot.com/.  That is a wonderful site that is loaded with information. Thank you very much!

Sanbar is Indian soup. That's the name of this quilt as of now.

More washi tape business

 I noticed the acrylic paint left a sloppy edge on the tape, so I wound up trimming it down the sides. I left it on the parchment paper and just trimmed it. It came out perfect.

 Here are all the tapes. They are much brighter in person than shows up in this picture.

To make some of the tapes skinnier I actually cut some of them up the middle to make them about a half inch wide. This was kind of addicting. I even made another batch that are a little plainer because I thought I was getting carried away with all the patterns. Now what to do with them?

And one more little bee on a little t shirt. I can't stop.

Happy Independence Day

 

Home Made Washi Tape

First get some regular masking tape, acrylic paint, parchment paper, stamps or other marking materials. 

Stick the masking tape to the parchment paper as shown. Freezer paper does not work! The masking tape barely sticks to the parchment paper, but it sticks enough to paint it. My first sample was about 20 inches long and my second sample was 36 inches long. You can see the tape at the top of picture has not been painted yet.

 

I put a thin layer of acrylic paint on top first. After that I just started playing with dots and squiggles  various patterns. I used some of that squiggly paint that comes out of a tiny hole. 

Sometimes I used my heat tool to dry between layers of design.

 

 
 

 

We had a warm day yesterday so I put this group outside to dry for a couple hours.

I started another group, same materials all acrylic medium. Mostly I just used a paintbrush, but today I tried some stamps too.  

  

 

These are the completed tapes from yesterday. I cut the parchment paper apart but kept the masking tape stuck on to it for later use. I tried rolling them up and putting a little rubber band around them but I didn't really like that so I unrolled them and I think I will keep them in a little looser roll up. They are a little more bulky than commercial washi tape, but they're prettier OMHO. Just sayin'

 

Sunday Stuff

 This is what it looks like before washing.

 And this is what it looks like after washing. Oh well, it's pretty, I just wish it wasn't so wrinkly. Maybe it needs to spin around the dryer a few more minutes.

 Of course it gets the Otis approval.

"Can I fall asleep on it within 2 minutes?  I guess it's acceptable then."

 

 Also, I have an article in the new Cloth, Paper, Scissors Magazine about felted seashell cards.

Please check it out!

 And.....I have been making my own washi tape.  If it works I'll do a tutorial this week. So far it seems like its working okay. I have to let it dry before the final test.

Gelli Prints and Dyeing

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I recently took an Gelli Plate Printing online class offered by Carla Sonheim, http://www.carlasonheim.com/,  and it was fantastic. I learned some new techniques to use with the gelli plate, which I love These are some new samples of what I created.

 

 

 

I've also been dyeing fabric! We had some really cool days recently here in southern California just in the nick of time. Now it's over 100 degrees! But I managed to get over 50 yards dyed and they came out beautifully. None are solid, maybe you can see that in the folds of the fabric. I can't wait to use them. Love!
I am almost done with my green and white quilt and as much as I love quilting, by the time you've quilted a whole queenish sized quilt, you are ready for something different. All that's left is the binding, I'll post it tomorrow.