A Twitter Account...

This handsome Cardinal (about 10" x 12") resulted from a bit of collage play with fabric scraps. It's a compilation of methods and ideas from two different magazine articles. I've enjoyed learning about Zentangle-style projects using pen and paper, but this Zen-doodle project went in a thread and fabric direction instead. The idea initially came from Regina Dunn's article in the June/July 2012 issue of Quilting Arts Magazine. While it's in the magazine, you can get some of her instructions as an online "freebie" if you are a member of Quilting Daily (easy to join, full of good content, and free).

Rita's article includes several methods for making these zendoodle quilts, including one that uses the decorative stitches on the sewing machine. I found those blank white areas in the background a bit daunting to fill at first. But ultimately I got into the swing of things. 

The Cardinal design came from Vivika Hansen DeNegre's article in Quilting Arts Gifts, Holiday 2009/2010 issue. Vivika is the editor at Quiltng Arts, so she blogs on that site. But the article references her earlier blog where you can see some of her work. I really enjoy both the collage and stitch-doodle techniques. The randomness of creating a project, and surprise of the finished piece is very satisfying. As so many often say, "quilting is cheaper than therapy." There certainly is something rewarding and therapeutic about spending time in the sewing room, surrounded by fabrics just waiting to find a home in a project. And the hum of a sewing machine at work... I just find it so soothing! More of these to come I'm sure.

Spring Fabric Collage...



"Branches, Buds, and Blossoms" is my class project from an online fabric collage class taught by fiber artist Deborah Boschert. Hers is one of many workshops available once you sign up for Alma Stoller's STITCHED, an online video workshop. The workshops are self-paced, many have accompanying pdf files of info, and you can take any or all of them... there are more than 20! I've found the selection to be worth every penny of the registration fee, and have completed about six of the workshops to date.

This collage project is small, about 12" x 15". But it contains a wide variety of design exercises and techniques. The first of these is the hand-printed fabric in the background. Lots of different fabrics are combined in the piece, including home dec fabric bits, batiks, and commercial prints. The budding branch was added by painting through a freezer paper stencil. I could stand some improvement in using this technique, but I enjoy building new skills and I'm sure I'll progress. This photo shows the piece before it was trimmed and before the final machine quilting and hand embroidery stitches were added. I learned a lot in Deborah's class, and I'm sure I'll incorporate what I learned in future art quilts. Every step of the project was fun and satisfying, from pulling the fabrics together (there's even a strip of selvage in there), to embroidering the accents. Check out STITCHED if you get a chance... it won't disappoint!

A Fish Story, Part 2...



Well it turns out that making these collage fish really is like eating just one potato chip... can't be done. Here's my latest fish (the first one can be seen here). Quilting friend Joanne (who got me started with fish) and I decided to both use the blue print fabric you see on the side of the fish above. It looks kind of like scales to me. Anyhow, this was a challenge of a sort just to see how each of us would place the fabric in a fish. Once done, we would each reveal our projects. Joanne's is on her new blog here... stop by and see it, and see her other sewing and quilting projects there as well. And this is the reveal of my swimmer. They are such fun to make.

Here's a detail photo so you can see the various fabrics used in the fins, flippers, and lips. Yes, fish do have lips. The seaweed is neon-colored sewing thread another quilting friend gave me. She'd pulled it off some partially empty spools and thought it was too pretty to throw out! It's trapped underneath the light-color tulle I used to secure the raw-edge pieces of the fish.

The fish at right is another of Joanne's projects, but not the challenge one. She's a prolific fish-maker. She sent several of her quilts down here to Florida because she's coming later this year to present a talk and trunk show for a guild program. This was a start on getting a few quilts here.

I love this close-up because it really shows how creatively Joanne used fibers along the tail and fins. There are some fiber water plants along the side, too. Looks like the fish is swimming... lots of movement in the piece. There truly are a lot of fish in the sea!

A Fish Story, Part 1...

You just never know what's swimming in your fabric stash until you try one of these playful fabric fish! Quilting friend Joanne used to say she "felt a fish coming on", meaning that she had the urge to dive in (pardon the pun) and get creative with fabrics to make a fish collage quilt. I didn't quite get it until she explained the process and I saw some of her results. So I decided to give it a try. Right away I understood why making just one of these could never be enough. It's a very free and creative approach to fabrics. You begin to see them differently and to combine them in unexpected ways to come up with a different fish every time... like snow flakes, no two are alike!

Once the fish itself was, ahem, hatched, then it was time to choose background and border fabrics. I was drawn to purchase the border fabric on this one, but had no idea where to use it. Until this project... the border makes me think of water, and currents. And the colors go nicely with the fish. This wall-quilt project is also ideal for practicing my free-motion quilting skills and I enjoyed combining designs in the piece.

 Once I got into the swim of it, (pardon the pun) I began to see fish everywhere. All shapes, all sizes, all manner of materials. I began to observe the shapes and snap photos of them when I could. Shortly after working on my first fish, we ate out at The Blue Water Grill in Melrose, FL. We've been there several times before, but this time, in addition to an excellent meal, I took a closer look at the wonderful collection of stained glass sea life the restaurant owner has on display. Hope you enjoy a peek at some of them here. Aren't they something?

The photo above shows the fish at the beginning when I was cutting up and auditioning some of the dozen or so fabrics that compose the colorful fellow. So, the first fish is done, the second one is underway, and yet another smaller-scale one is being worked into a fabric post card. My sewing room is drowning (again, pardon the pun) in all of the fabric scraps. But I won't let that stop me when I feel a fish coming on!