What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

It has been another challenging week here with lots of places to be and things to do and not a lot of creative time. Regardless, I did get out the paints and darkened both the upper corners of Open Dialogue.

I’ve moved on to planning the quilting design. The original idea didn’t work out, nor did plan B. I have a vague concept drifting just out of reach, like a dream you can’t quite remember once awake. Hoping the weekend will provide the time and space to finalize a plan and start quilting.

Happy Mother’s Day! Hope you get time to do something for yourself today.

Once again, no change in the numbers.

I added paint to Open Dialogue to darken the upper right section, but once it dried it wasn’t dark enough. I will need to add another layer today.

I also cut all the pieces to make a total of nine pumpkin blocks. The final layout is still undetermined. I’ll see what the nine blocks look like and go from there.

Fabric In: 0.5yards

Fabric Out: 5.25 yards

Net Fabric Out: 4.75 yards

How did ...

Many years ago I took a shibori class through my Guild. I don’t remember who taught it, but I do remember she made a living through installation art and not teaching or writing books.

The best part of the class was her examples of different shibori patterns. This is what I came home with after a full day.

Definitely not the number of samples I expected. These were created using stitched resist and dye.

Prior to the class I produced this piece by wrapping fabric around PVC pipe and painting it.

I have also tried folding and clamping fabric ...

I hung this on my design wall

and a couple weeks later an idea came wandering in. It took another day for it to introduce itself.
Once we started talking, I knew I’d met something cool and interesting. It gave me something to think about.
I will start cutting fabrics today because this idea is a restless one. If I don’t offer something interesting in return, I expect it will wander off and find someone else who will.

No fabric in or out this week.

I didn’t turn on my sewing machine all week. I thought about it. And I looked at stash fabric.

This piece I painted.

This piece I dyed and discharged.
I’m still thinking.
Fabric In: 1.5
Fabric Out: 14.5 yards
Net Fabric Out: 13 yards
How did you do this week?

1 maggie f
2 Julie in GA
3 Chrisknits
4 Melva Nolan
5 Meloney
6 Mary-Kay
7 Patricia
8 Quilting Gail

Some ideas just won’t go away, and painting fabric with wood stain is one of them.
I looked it up online to see if it had been done before. Most sites discouraged using stain on fabric because of the chemicals in the stain. Since the fabric won’t be used in clothing, I did it anyway.
I used two different stains, an oil based stain (brown) and a water based stain (cranberry). I painted with q-tips to avoid cleaning brushes.
I started with the cranberry. It was a lot like painting with acrylic paint.
I moved on to the ...

I framed out my painted roses for the pincushion on the teacup challenge.
This rectangle will transform into a round pincushion. I’m not sure how much of the green and pink will show in the final project. I decided not to add embellishments because I plan to use it next to my sewing machine. I didn’t want beads or embroidery to get in the way or snag on pins and needles. I can always change my mind later if it’s too plain.
Note to self: Make sure to have coordinating fabric BEFORE painting an image you plan ...