Susan Schweikhart

Fantasy Forest Part II

2012-02-18T23:05:00.000-05:00

The top is finished, now comes the quilting. This is always the hardest part for me. The decisions for quilt designs are overwhelming and as I look at the quilt, I freeze.

I'm trying a wool batting. I never used this before but have heard good things. I started in the center and outlined all the "trees" and their shadows and put in branches. The I quilted in some deciduous trees, then stippled the background.

Moving out to the border I outlined and branched the leaf blocks with a matching thread then echo quilted to the edges.

That was the obvious way to go with the quilting. I put the quilt back on the design wall and stared at it for days trying to decide how to do the alternating blocks and corner squares. I thought about using the leaf designs and doing the same thing as the sunprint blocks, but that seemed to be overdoing it. I finally came up with the idea of doing different background designs: teardrops, fans, wood grain, water. The brain freeze defrosted! These designs felt right and as I quilted, they fell into place and gave the border more texture and interest.

The corner blocks were done in E's and W's.

Below is the final result with a narrow binding of dark green attached.

I guess now that I'm done I should get back to straightening and cleaning. NOT!!!

Fantasy Forest Part 1

2012-01-23T22:52:00.000-05:00

During the summer I sun-printed a leaf forest using different hues of browns and brownish greens. Wasn't sure how I was going to use it at the time, but thought that it came out interesting.

Later in the fall, I sun-printed some 11" blocks with same or similar leaves but used bright hues of yellow/orange, yellow/green, red, green, red/violet, and purple. Wasn't sure how I would use these either.

As I was reshuffling fabrics and cleaning my studio at the end of the year, I came across the sunprints and stuck them up on the design wall. Ideas started jumping in my head, so needless to say the cleaning was forgotten. I went through more of my stash and pulled out brown and green fabrics that would go with the background colors of my "forest". To blend in the squares of sun prints I looked for a multicolored fabric.

I added a small sashing around the "forest" with the multicolor, then started arranging the square sunprints around for borders. The spaces in between them were filled with the brown and green batiks. This left the corners open and a decision on how to work them. I tried a simple square patch design with the batiks and multicolored fabric. This looked good, and carried the colors around the border.

I started thinking about the quilting, but the center wasn't giving the feel of a forest. So I traced the leaves and made stencils. Using a black Shiva paintstick, I made shadow trees to give more depth. After finishing this I stood back and could now see a forest.

Quilting decisions need to be made. Come back for the results.

New Quilt completed

2011-12-31T16:49:00.001-05:00

After machine quilting the background with a pantograph for the sky and a grid for grass, I got to work on the stone house.
I decided to use Texture Magic to make the stones 3 dimensional. I drew the stones onto the Texture Magic then layered light weight batting, then fabric on top, turned it over so Texture Magic was on top and stitched the design. Now the magic! With a steam iron, I held the iron over the layers with the Texture Magic on top and steamed away. The Texture Magic shrunk and gave my house fabric the look of stones.

I did this for the front, side, and chimney. Before appliqueing onto the quilt, I free-motion stitched between the stones to give the look of mortar. I then set in the windows and door. Next I appliqued the house to the background with a zigzag stitch.

The roof was layered with a piece of flannel and I stitched shingles. To give this more of an aged look, I brushed black paintstick along the edges.

Flowers were added for more interest, and these I made dimensional also, using 2 pieces of fabric with fusible web in between. Beads were sewn to the centers of morning glories going up the chimney.

I bound the quilt, sewed on a sleeve and label and I was finally done.

Happy Holidays to everyone!!

Dyeing Again

2011-10-04T23:05:00.000-04:00

The past few days I've been discharging, overdyeing and doing 3 layer parfaits.

I started with previously dyed fabrics for discharging. I started with decolorant and stenciled a few fabrics. After they dried I steamed the fabric to activate the decolorant. I was not very satisfied with the results.

I had expected a much clearer design result. It could have been that I didn't use enough, but felt if I used more, it would have leaked under the stencil and given a blurred image. I'll have to try again using a different approach.

I went back to my usual discharging of using soft scrub wigth stencils, thermofax screens and circles with a bleach pen. The soft scrub reacts fast, then rinse and soak in anti-chlor to stop the bleach reaction. I never know what the discharge coloring will be, but thats part of the excitement.

My plan after discharging was to overdye the fabrics with thickened dyes and the same stencils. I mixed the thickener with diluted dyes for the colors I wanted. Some were dark enough to work, others weren't and didn't show up. Lesson 1 - learned that I should have used straight dye solution with the thickener to make it more concentrated.

Below are ones that did turn out good. A couple I overdyed several times with different colors.

I also fold dyed fabric using different folding methods , then dipped the edges into the dyes. Lesson 2- don't squeeze out excess dye. this spreads the dye too much and end up with mushy designs.

Towards the end I didn't squeeze the fabric and got clearer results.

The last day I used up extra dye and made a couple sets of 3 layer parfaits. On the right I started with first layer of orange/brown mix, layer 2-dark red, layer 3- brown. Each layer absorbed some of the next color layer and worked out good. On the lef,t I started with green, layer 2-navy, and layer 3-purple. The colors were too closely related and color mixes didn't come out as clearly.

The next ones I used half yard pieces instead of fat quarters. Left side I started with yellow/green, layer 2- dark green, and layer 3-brown. the colors flowed nicely through all layers. The right side layer 1-red/violet, layer 2-purple, and layer 3-gray. These 3 fabrics basically kept that layers color.

I was happy with most of my work and fabrics that didn't turn out I decided to paint instead. It was a productive few days and am now waiting for some sunny days with little humidity to try flour paste resist.

New Quilt

2011-09-20T22:27:00.007-04:00

Earlier this summer I dyed fabrics in 2 diferent color runs, blue/violet and yellow/green. I used various combinations of blue - sky blue, cobalt, electric blue and grape, reds - chinese red, light red, fire red, and fushia, yellow - lemon yellow and golden yellow, and black to get a large variety of hues and values of each color.

These fabrics were sewn to create a pieced background. The blocks were arranged to form a light source coming from the top left down to the bottom right. To me piecing the background gives more subtlty of the value changes.

The focus of the quilt is an old stone smoke house. Pictures were taken and enlarged for my pattern.

I want the house to look very dimensional and have been making samples of different tehniques to get this effect.

Return for the results.

Falling Petals

2011-05-17T22:10:00.005-04:00

SAQA (Studio Art Quilt Association) is going to have an online auction starting September 12,2011. They are accepting quilts that are a maximum of 12" x 12" and you must be a member. The proceeds go towards funding travel exhibits, catalogs, and out reach programs.

I haven't been a member for that long, a little over a year, and felt that entering a quilt was a good way to help support the group.

Below is the quilt I entered.

I used 4 crazy patch blocks that I meander quilted, gessoed, then stenciled a leaf branch over. Around the branch I stitched on small silk flowers with a bead in each center to hold them on. I stitched veins in each leaf with a lighter shade of green thread to make them stand out.

A detail of it is below.

Go to www.saqa.com for more details on the auction and how you can bid on one of the many quilts for sale.

Weeping Cherry Tree Quilt

2011-04-08T22:14:00.008-04:00

My neighbor has a beautiful weeping cherry tree in the corner of her yard. Springtime, its pink blossoms cover the branches; summer, the leaves are lush; fall, the leaves are golden and orange; and winter shows the skeleton of the tree. Pictures were taken each season, fabrics dyed, discharged, overdyed, painted, stenciled and stamped. I had the makings for a quilt. I started with the pictures and photo enhanced the colors, cropped and used filters to get pictures from each season. I printed them on cotton lawn fabric. These were fused onto background fabrics with curvy edges.

I pieced background squares using a crazy patch design and sewed them together with the photo picture pieces.

Something was wrong. It wasn't coming out like the picture in my mind. I looked at it for days and couldn't come up with a solution. It was driving me crazy, time to step back and work on something else.

The quilt top hung on my design wall for a while, I needed some input. Two of my quilting friends, Martha and Eda critiqued the quilt for me. Using their comments, I went back into the piece. The large spring photo I made brighter since this was the focal point. The pieced background was too chaotic and distracting, so I toned it down with gesso. I then stamped leaves over it to take away some of the brightness of the pinks and reds.

This was better but I still was not overjoyed with it. I should have just given up. But, I had put a lot of work into it, so it was getting quilted. I stitched in the ditch around the pictures and meander quilted with dark green thread in the background. Because of the gesso painted on the background, the stitching is not good. I couldn't keep a good tension and sometimes it would skip stitches or the thread would break. The pictures needed quilting to keep the density of the quilting even. For these I used the braches as a guide.

Below is the final quilt.

Even though this quilt wasn't a success, I learned from it.

1. Not to use a busy background, the color values were too varied in each block.

2. Make sure my pictures are clear without distracting elements in the background.

3. Stitch first then paint on gesso. The gesso makes the fabrics stiff which makes quilting irregular.

It Snowed, So I Snow-dyed

2011-03-29T22:32:00.008-04:00

Last Monday morning I woke to snow-----so instead of working on a quilt (anything not to work on that quilt) I did some snow-dyeing. There wasn't that much snow and it was melting fast. I soda soaked a couple of yards of fabric, mixed dyes and scraped snow off the driveway. I used a combo of red/violet and yellow/orange. The second piece I used blue/violet and yellow/green. I set these to the side to melt and do their thing. When I looked outside the snow had stopped and was quickly melting (faster than it was on my fabric). Tuesday after my guild meeting I rinsed the fabrics.

My dh came out to the garage and advised me that it was to snow again Wednesday, so instead of washing my fabrics I let them air dry and got more fabric ready for the snow.

I woke Wednesday to more snow than Monday so I decided to dye 4 more pieces.

Orange and green

Orange and blue/green

Orange and blue/violet

Red/orange and yellow/green

I had a little dye left over (can't let it go to waste) so I did a 3 layer parfait.

Left side is Layer 1 - orange, middle is Layer 2 - fushia with a little blue, right side is Layer 3 - blue. These are dark saturated colors.

I enjoyed my 2 days of snow-dyeing, but lets face it -------

I'M SICK OF WINTER!!!!

Now back to the quilt.

Leftovers

2011-03-14T19:58:00.007-04:00

I started making a quilt using hand dyed fabrics and pictures of my neighbor's Weeping Cherry tree. My original idea wasn't working out, so I put it to the side and using the extra pictures, crazy quilt blocks, and sections of blocks, I started experimenting on a much smaller scale.

I used 4 crazy patch blocks, quilted them to background fabric and batting, with just enough quilting to keep them in place. I then painted gesso over the whole piece, let it dry, then stamped black dots and green leaves. I used smooch paint to make curved lines. I made some brush strokes with Perfect Pearls, but didn't care for that and finally used fusible thread and gold foil. I trimmed the edges and couched wool roving to the edges for binding.

Not bad for an experiment with mixed media.

I moved on to scraps I saved from piecing the original quilt, sewed them together, used one of the organza pictures backed with fabric and sewed it on top, then stamped weeping cherry tree around the sides. I took a variety of pink scraps and fused them onto the piece. I quilted using a decorative curly stitch and fused a binding on. I secured it with the same curly stitch.

I had more leftover fabric pictures. I took a winter picture and cut curving lines across on a diagonal. I fused these onto a medium pink fabric then cut in the opposite direction, then fused onto a light pink fabric and cut 1/2" around each piece. These pieces were reassembled and fused onto dark green fabric. I zigzag stitched around all the pieces then added pink scraps to look like petals falling. I quilted a meander design throughout. The edges were faced to the back. I like the look of the picture being shattered. The flower petals should have been rounded and not so angular, but overall I liked the result.

My experiment quilts were turning out better than the original.

Lastly, I made a postcard from an organza picture and strips of fabrics. I sewed the organza onto the background strips, stamped fall on the side, backed the quilt with cardstock and muslin, then stitched around the edge.

These were all small quilts. The experimenting freed me to explore techniques I've been wanting to try, taught me some lessons and let me have fun.

Now, you're probably wondering about the quilt I originally started. Will blog about that later.

Start of New Quilt

2011-02-26T21:44:00.006-05:00

Over the summer I started dyeing fabric for a new quilt. After dyeing I had taken some fabrics and discharged and overdyed them. These I wrote about in earlier posts when I was working on them.

The end of last month and the first week of this month I reviewed all of these fabrics and decided some still needed some more texture on them. I got out the paints and paintsticks, stencils, stamps, and rubbing plates and got to work.

I used irredescent paintsticks and rubbing plates over some of the fabrics.

Next I used paint, both metallic and matte with stencils. Last was stamps and paint.

After they all dried, they were heat set.

With the dyed, overdyed, discharged, rubbed, stencilled, and stamped fabrics gave me a diverse group to make this quilt.

Now I can get down to the sewing.

Will keep you informed.

Baby Quilt Done

2011-02-10T22:25:00.005-05:00

Last time I blogged I was working on my to-be grand niece's baby quilt. Her parents picked a ladybug theme for her bedroom. I designed a quilt with flowers and ladybugs on the flowers and also in two corners.

I added two borders and outline quilted around the applique. This will hang on the wall.

I also made a cuddle quilt for her, using the same basic color scheme, I pieced rail fence blocks and the machine quilting was an overall loop-d-loop.

Liana Paige was born Sunday, February 6th. She's healthy and beautiful. We're blessed to have her as an addition to our family.

Finishing Up

2011-01-28T22:14:00.009-05:00

The snow-dyeing fabrics are finally rinsed and pressed, (that's what took me so long). I loved how the green and red turned out and will be quickly used in a quilt I'm starting.

The blue and yellow came out good but would have liked more mixing of green.

The 3 layer parfaits are great. The first two layers came out with mixture of colors and the third layer was the combo of red and blue, not a wow!! fabric but will be useful.

Its much easier doing the parfait layers with low-water immersion and I think thats how I'll continue to do them.

I have also been busy quilting. I finished a few quilts that have been sitting around waiting to be quilted.

This started out with monoprinting on a gelatin mold 2 summers ago. Added some turquoise hand-dyes and 1/2 square triangles.

Next is a sunprint of assorted leaves. I added bias stems to separate the leaves, then traced the leaves for applique. I offset the applique leaves on the sunprinted fabric to create dimension.

Tomorrow I have to get started quilting a baby quilt for my grand niece. She's due to be born any day now. Will show pictures when finished.

1st Snowfall of 2011

2011-01-08T22:27:00.007-05:00

Over the past year I have neglected my blog, once in a while posting on quilts made, fabric dyeing and painting. But I wasn't posting as frequently as I wanted or should have. I always had some excuse, then time would get away from me.

This years resolution is to post more frequently and on a more regular basis. That being said, as I watch the snow falling my mind is reviewing different color combinations for snow dyeing.

The first couple pictures are of fabric I did after our last snow fall at the end of December.

Above, I used grape dye.

This one I used ultra violet and golden yellow.

Today, I'm going to use green (coblat blue and golden yellow) and chinese red combo. I'm trying a different way by laying the fabric flat on a mesh drying rack instead of on a slant using lids from my containers.

This is sky blue and golden yellow on a cover slanted in a container.

This one is totally different than what I've tried before with snow. Its 3 layers of fabric with dyed snow in between each fabric. I started with golden yellow on layer 1, chinese red on layer 2, and sky blue on layer 3. Hopefully these will melt down through the layers and get multi colored fabrics.

These will sit till most of the snow melts, about 12-18 hours then rinse.

Results soon.

Fabric Review

2010-10-21T22:30:00.006-04:00

I reviewed my hand-dyed fabrics that I recently have done, and wasn't too happy with the red/orange fabrics I dyed. They weren't the colors I wanted. They were more orange than red/orange. So, to fix them, I decided to shibori them with a more concentrated red/orange.

These came out better. I was happier with the colors.

While doing the shibori, I also tried more low-water immersion dyeing with the concentrated red/orange dye. These came out better also.

With my dyes out, I did a few more tray dyeing fabrics. I used lemon yellow, golden yellow, chinese red, sky blue, and brown, pleated the fabric, and squirted dyes in different sections. The 2nd fabric I used scarlet, golden yellow, cerulean blue and brown.

I also tried one by just scrunching the fabric in a dish pan. I used lemon yellow, golden yellow, chinese red and turquoise.

This came out in spots that were rather muddy looking but overall I liked the results.

It was a successful day.

Labor Day Dyeing Spree

2010-09-10T22:07:00.016-04:00

Summer is coming to an end and time for dyeing (even in my garage) will soon come to a halt.
So with this in mind I set myself up for a dyeing frenzy.

I started Friday with my friend Martha. Got some of the dyes and fabric ready and went to her wet studio for the first day. Go to her web site for her work. http://www.marthahallart.com/. I kept it pretty simple by dyeing a range of greens with black dyes.
I also dyed a few stray pieces that I have previously done but ran out of and now need.

Saturday was a family picnic, so I started rinsing Fridays fabrics in the morning.

Sunday, I started by stenciling previously dyed fabrics with thickened dye. Some of these were previously discharged with soft scrub. I covered the fabrics with plastic and let them cure for 24 hours. I was moving right along.

Next I wanted to try "Tray Dyeing" by Leslie Morgan & Claire Benn. I soda soaked fabric for 30 minutes then fan folded the fabric into a large bin. Mixing up my colors I squirted gold in the center making sure it saturated the fabric, squirted blue on the edges of the gold and massaged the dye into some of the gold. Last I added red to the edges and again massaged the dye into the blue, I tilted the tray so some of the red dye went down under the folds.

I let this cure for 24 hours before rinsing. I did a second fabric using orange, green and ultra violet dyes.

I went on to do 3 layer parfaits. The first set I used yellow/orange, on the first layer, red/violet on the second layer, and blue/green on the third.

The second set was yellow/green first layer, blue/violet second layer, and red/orange third layer.

I mixed up more dye for Monday and called it quits for the day.

Monday, I started with some gradation dyeing of chinese red and black, moved on to red/oranges with black.

Any left over dyes I used for more 3 layer parfaits.

After all the fabrics had set for their alotted times I finished off the day rinsing, rinsing, and more rinsing.

Some of the results:

Red gradations

Tray dyeing

3 layer parfaits

It was a busy weekend but enjoyable and productive.

See you soon.

Overdyeing

2010-09-07T22:32:00.012-04:00

Last week I used some of my previously dyed light fabrics and tried overdyeing them bit darker with shibori and triangle folding techniques.

I wrapped fat quarter fabrics around 3" diameter PCV pipe. I wrapped the twine around the fabrics and scrunched the fabric up the pole. I then added a darker dye over the fabric and cured in plastic sheeting for 4 hours. Removed the twine and rinsed.

Light green overdyed with a darker green.

Light red overdyed with a red/green mix.

Yellow/orange overdyed with red/violet.

Clear light blue/green overdyed with a darker blue/green.

I also folded fabrics using different techniques into triangles then dipped the edges into darker dyes, placed into plastic baggies and let cure for 4 hours.

The first 2 fabrics had previously been soda soaked and dried.

Light red with medium red overdyed on edges.

Light green with medium green overdyed on edges.

As you can see, the darker dyes took over and just left splotches of the lighter color. Being dry fabric, the dyes wicked up more than should have.

These next ones were folded into various triangles, soda soaked for about 30 minutes, then the edges were dipped into darker dyes.
Light blue/green overdyed with medium blue/green.

Muted light yellow/green overdyed with a muted medium yellow/green.

Light blue/violet overdyed with a medium dark blue/violet.

Light yellow/green overdyed with a medium yellow/green.

These came out much better, the dyes didn't wick up as much and gave a better pattern to the fabrics.

I love the shibori look and will probably do more of it. I had tried the folded triangles years ago putting different colors on each edge and didn't like the results. Going more simplistic and overdyeing lighter fabrics with darker dyes in the same color family makes the fabric more interesting without being overwhelming.

This past Labor Day weekend was a dyeing frenzy. I'm still processing the fabrics and will post as soon as am done.

See you soon.

More Deconstructed Screen Printing

2010-08-23T22:33:00.013-04:00

I brought out the screens to try DSP again. I made up a couple of screens and let them dry, while waiting I decided to use stencils on the back of another screen to print previously dyed fabrics.

Using the screen of the of the swirly stencil, I let that dry also for DSP. Remembering to stop printing before the whole design was wasted from the screen, I started to print. I used rubber bands, crinkled saran wrap and sequin waste.

This screen was bubble wrap and hair clips.

This one I used black dye in an extruder and drew flowers and leaves.

The end of the flowers and the stencil screen.

These turned out better than my first try, but I still need more imagination in layering items under the screens.

A couple of days later I dyed gradations of yellow/orange, blue/green, and blue/violet. I used different sets of dye mixtures to get clear colors and muted colors. (Used Linda Johansen's book "Fabric Dyer's Dictionary"). This book is a great resource for dye recipes that can be duplicated with same results every time.

The first set of fabrics are yellow/oranges. On the left is clear using lemon yellow and fushia, on the right is muted using golden yellow and chinese red.

The second set of fabrics are blue/green. On the left is clear using turquoise and lemon yellow, on the right is muted using cobalt blue and golden yellow.

The last set of fabrics is blue/violets. On the left is clear using turquoise and fushia, on the right is muted using cobalt blue and chinese red.

I got a good range of values of clear and muted colors. I have a tendency to lean towards the muted colors, but know that the clear values will come in handy.

The last fabric was a fabric I pre-soaked in soda ash water, laid it out on a plastic covered foam board and squirted muted blue/green and muted yellow/orange dye onto the fabric and let dry in the sun. This will be a great fabric to tie into a triatic color scheme of blue/green, yellow/orange, and red/violet.

My next project is to overdye some of these fabrics.

Come back to see how they come out.

Deconstructed Screen Printing

2010-08-19T22:21:00.013-04:00

I've been dyeing fabric the past couple weeks but haven't had the chance to take pictures or blog about it till now.

I started off by cleaning the garage and giving myself some space to do wet work. It's not the ideal studio but it sure beats working outside in the hot sun. Hopefully, soon, my brother will install a sink for me.

When my space was set up I got to work. I've wanted to try Deconstructed Screen Printing (DSP) since I got Kerr Grabowski's video. My attempts are very simplistic, but hey, you got to start somewhere.

As I was screening, I realized that I should have stopped with each screen much sooner than I did. My dyes on the screens didn't last anywhere near as long as Kerr's did.

I then used a window from an old screen door (it's amazing the things you find when you clean) to do monoprinting. Using up some of the leftover thickened dyes, I spread some across the window then used a notched scraper and made quarter circles with it. This was later overdyed with a yellow/orange dye mix.

The second one I used my fingers to make the design. This still needs to be overdyed but here's the picture.

All of these were cured overnight in plastic sheeting.

A few days later I did some low-water immersion dyeing using a couple recipes from the blog Fabric Dyeing 101 (www.fabricdyeing101.blogspot.com). If you haven't been to this website its worth the look. I used some white with black fabrics for added interest.

I started with "Rainbow Light" series using scarlet, lemon yellow and sky blue. Most of them came out how you'd expect except the top 3. Really loved those colors.

I also tried "Rainbox Jewels", using salmon, teal, and violet. Some came out muted and muddy looking but I'm sure they'll get used.

I had a little dye left over so I did 3 layers of fat quarters: Layer 1 teal, Layer 2 salmon, Layer 3 violet. I smooshed them down too much so the colors blended far more than they should have, but I really like them.

The last set was called "Forest Floor Neutrals" using scarlet, sky blue, and lemon yellow. From the website picture they looked like some greens and 2 browns. Not what I got.

These are a great variety of browns. I'm glad they didn't turn out correctly.

A lot of rinsing took place from these sessions, (the part I dislike the most) but well worth it.

To be continued............

Food Fight

2010-07-29T22:23:00.005-04:00

I came up with this idea from the name of a TV show"Food Wars". I overlapped the drawings onto a piece of white cotton. Using a water soluble resist I outlined components, let dry, painted these sections with Seta color paint, heat-set and washed out the resist. This process was done numerous times. I continued till I got the effect I wanted. Then I used a light wash of Fabrico Craft Ink over the background.

Now, the scary part, cutting it apart into smaller sections. I say scary because the painting took so long. I cut it into grids, then began rearranging the units for disorganization. When I was happy with the "arrangement" I transferred the pieces to backing and batting. Using invisible thread, I zigzagged each piece to the other.

Then I outline quilted all the elements and added details. When the quilting was finished I sewed an irregular zigzag stitch with variegated thread to reinforce the pieces and add texture.

The edge finishing was zigzag stitched to close all 3 layers together.

After I finished I thought of several different methods I could have used to make the process easier and quicker. I really need to think through the whole quilt process before starting.

Dyeing Results

2010-07-12T15:52:00.013-04:00

I finally rinsed, washed, dried, and pressed the fabrics I dyed last week. All the heat from last week kept me at a slower pace. Most all the fabric I was very pleased with, some not as much.

The screen print and one of the monoprinting I really liked. The overdyed colors are very light which as what I was aiming for.

The colors don't photograph well because of the lightness. I did learn though when printing with black I need a more concentrated dye solution for it to come out black and not a very dark gray.The combed through monoprinting that was overdyed with red/orange and red/violet came out darker than what I hoped for. This will probably be used cut up.
The two fabrics that were dyed upright on foam core turned out okay, but I dyed them on dry soda soaked fabric. I think there would have been more blending if they were wet.

The tray fabric that caught the run-off drips came out very interesting and could be used in many different ways.

The fabric with blue stamps and overdyed yellow, bronze and chino could have been blended more but since the fabric was still damp when I did it, I didn't want a lot of mixing with the blue. Allthough I did like the added green elements inside of circles and ovals.
Next time I'll start with dry fabric and then wait till the stamp prints are dry before dyeing over it.

The 3-layered fabrics came out great. They speak for themselves.

The cup dyeing of oranges and grays came out just as I expected, some mottling and dark to light. The nickel and pewter ranges turned out great.

The oranges were stronger than expected, was going for some corals and salmons, but they are beautiful.

All said and done I was pleased with my work and experiments. The heat is still oppressive so I'll work in my studio till it cools a little.

Martha is done with all her rinsing, etc. also. Go to http://marthahallart.com/blog to see her results.

Dyeing Tuesday

2010-07-07T22:21:00.015-04:00

Yesterday, my friend Martha and I got out the dyes and set to work(I mean FUN!!) I had a couple of pieces that I monoprinted and screen printed last week, so I added background colors. The monoprint was swirled with black, then overdyed very light yellow, yellow/green and blue/green for the background colors.

This monoprint I used a hair pick through the black dye, then added a red/orange dye for the background. Its not looking to good but I'll see after rinsing.

The screen print was overdyed with diluted yellow, yellow/green and light red.

Also I wanted to try squirting dyes down fabric that was pinned to foam board. I used a yellow, light red and burgundy on this one

and yellow and ultra violet on this one.

I put a third fabric in the bottom tray to catch the drips and got an interesting fabric from it.
This next one I used thickened blue dye and stamped with a pool noodle and luffa sponge, let dry a little

then overdyed with yellow, bronze and chino.

This one was squirted with yellow, burgundy and violet, then I smooshed them around.

These are a few fabrics that are low-water immersion dyed.
Grays

and oranges.

Lastly, I layer dyed fabric starting with yellow on the first piece, crimson on second, and blue on the third.

Can you tell I like orange!!!

Check out Martha's fabrics at www.marthahallart.com/blog to see her works in progress.

They all are being processed and need to be rinsed and washed. It was a busy day but I hope the results are worth it.

I'll post again with the finished results.

Discharge Monday

2010-06-23T22:43:00.008-04:00

Monday was discharge day. Discharge with bleach. I used several blacks manufactured by different companies, my hand dyed fabric and commercial batiks. I wanted to see if there were any differences with the blacks and how the batiks and hand dyes would bleach out. I also used bleach thickener on some.

Below are some of my samples.

The top fabric was shiboried with a 50% bleach and 50% water solution on a Robert Kaufman black fabric. The bottom was taped with pieces of masking tape and sprayed with the 50/50 bleach solution using Timeless Treasures black fabric, this came out a peachy/cream color that I really like.

The left fabric was a hand dyed fabric that started out a very dark blue/green. I used a cut-out of a tree branch from a stencil I carved for another project and sprayed 50/50 bleach, water solution. The results really surprised me. The right was a hand dyed fabric that started as a red/violet. I used 2 TBS bleach thickener and 1/4 c of bleach and 1/8 c water, and sponged with a couple different pieces of foam sponges.

The left fabric was twisted in a swirl and squirted 50/50 bleach and water solution in the folds. This was an unknown black batik. The right was a Gee's Bend dark red solid that I shiboried with a 50/50 bleach solution. Another real favorite.

The left was a hand dyed fabric I squirted with yellow and blue dyes and swished around. I used a purchased stencil on it with thickened bleach. The right was a blue/green hand dyed fabric that I used a Clorox bleach pen on for water ripples.

These are commercial batiks that I used purchased stencils with bleach thickener.

After the fabrics bleached to the colors I wanted I rinsed in water, then put in Anti-Chlor solution for about 15 minutes, rinsed again and then machine washed and ironed.

I had a great time experimenting with this process and will do again later this summer.

Fluttering Leaves Continued

2010-06-10T22:41:00.004-04:00

I started the quilting on my sun printed leaves quilt. I outlined around each stem and leaf, then continued outline quilting each section.

I then embroidered a stem stitch for the veins in each leaf with hand dyed silk embroidery floss.

I finished the edges with a thin binding using one of the stem fabrics.

Fluttering Leaves

2010-06-01T15:36:00.003-04:00

I did some sun printing with seta color paints last summer, and have finally started working with one of the fabrics.

I mixed varying shades of oranges and painted them on a fat quarter of fabric. I then layed down various sizes of maple leaves and the little helicopter seed pods, let dry in the sun then removed the leaves and pods.

I then hand-dyed fabrics with numerous blue/orange combinations to make stems. These I fused and zigzag applique.

I outlined each leaf with Fabrico markers to give more definition to the leaves.

Come back to check out the quilting and finishing touches.

Irises in a Vase

2010-04-20T20:11:00.008-04:00

I used the same method for the Irises as with the previous herb quilts, (stencil, Walnut Ink spray, and painting the flowers). I cut out the background fabric to showcase the irises in a vase. The doily under the vase was a sun printed fabric using a paper doily. The vase is sitting on a table. I appliqued around the vase with a decorative circle stitch to give it a cut glass effect. The doily was satin stitched in white thread.

I added the green borders around three sides and the bottom border out of a sun printed fabric using construction fencing.

Various quilting designs were used and the quilt was finished with a facing.

Finished Flying Triangles

2010-04-02T22:17:00.003-04:00

The last few days have been spent on deciding the quilting for Flying Triangles. I did some curves around the triangles in gradated values of orange threads. Next I quilted some straight lines inside the curve center and on the left edge with blue variegated thread.

I used facing for the edge finishing. Lines of buttons made from shrink film completed this quilt.

Flying Triangles

2010-03-15T16:04:00.008-04:00

I started by hand-dyeing fabric in a 12 step gradation of navy dye. From them I used the darkest, medium and the last 4 lightest fabrics.

I wanted a little more interest for the dark and medium fabrics, which would be used for the background. I did leaf rubbings randomly around using a slate blue Shiva paintstick.

After letting the paint cure, I heatset the fabric.

Playing around with the lightest blue fabrics, I cut strips in varying widths and lengths and fused them to the background.

I then made varying sizes of triangles from a fabric by Caryl Bryer Fallert of orange values. I wanted the triangles to curve and show distance. This took many reconfigurations to get the effect I was looking for.
Quilting is my next step. I have a few ideas, but need to develop them further. Finished quilt will be in a future blog.

Catching Up

2010-03-02T14:37:00.005-05:00

I'm finally getting around to finishing up some quilts started over the summer.

This was started using a stencil and Walnut Ink, shown earlier in my blog. I added a curved frame, using reverse applique, and the border fabric was sun-printed using blades of grass and clover. Spelling out Basil and outlining blocks with beads added something extra.

This also was started using a stencil and Walnut Ink. I didn't like the effect it gave on the blue fabric, so decided to use the butterfly as an applique. The background is a hand-dye fabric where the dyes were swished around to mix with each other. This fabric was then reverse appliqued to yellow hand-dye fabric for the sun. The branch was fused and then appliqued.

Have more in the series that are a work in progress. Please come back to see them.

Snow-Dyeing

2010-02-09T22:09:00.018-05:00

During our last snow fall I decided to try snow-dyeing. Recently there has been a lot of hiipe about it on the web and it really intrigued me. So, when the snow started falling I got out my dyes and snow shovel and got to work.

My first attempts I mixed full concentrated dyes with snow and covered the mixture over soda ash soaked fabric.

Fushia and sky blue on the left and sky blue on the right.

Fushia and fire red on the left and fire red and golden yellow on the right.

Black

I waited till the snow melted, about 4 hours, then left the fabric cure overnight. Rinsed, washed, and ironed. Below are the results.

Fushia and sky blue.

Sky blue accordion pleatedFire red and golden yellow.Black, it came out a purple

Second try I diluted the dye with water, as I would doing low water immersion dyeing, mixed with snow and covered soda ash soaked fabric. Chino and gold yellow

Ultra violet

Navy and gold yellow

Burgundy and gold yellow

I let the snow melt (again about 4 hours) and let cure overnight. Rinsed, washed and ironed.
Below are these results.

Chino and gold yellow

Ultra violet

Navy and gold yellow

Burgundy and gold yellow

The results were not quite as dark as the first ones but gave just as interesting results.

Using this method, you can't get duplicate results, but thats the fun with this method.

Can't wait for it to snow again!!

Marbleous

2009-09-09T14:11:00.009-04:00

Moving on to the next experiment ---- this is marbling fabric with dye-na-flow paints and shaving cream.

Using a layer of unscented shaving cream smoothed out, I added drops of paint then swirled it around. I placed fabric over this and patted the fabric down so it would absorb the paint. I peeled the fabric off and scraped any excess shaving cream from the fabric.

Below are the results.

Should anyone have this much fun?

Another Play Day

2009-09-07T22:28:00.007-04:00

This weeks experiment was trying monoprinting. I used a gelatin mold as my print plate from Rayna Gilman's book"Creating your own hand-printed cloth". The technique was simple, make a mold with non-flavored gelatin, spread some paint over it, make an impression on the paint and press fabric over the mold. I used previously hand-dyed fabric, and seta color and opague paints.

The first print I used bubble wrap on a lavender fabric and violet paint.

Second print I used flower stamps on white fabric and a blue paint. Around the edges I stamped excess paint from the stamps to give a negative print.

The last set I used a green fabric and a fern and an unknown weed and then ghost printed each.

To end the day I sun-printed on a batik with some weed leaves with an olive green paint.

This technique gave some great results and a wiggly-giggly feeling. Everything is fun with jello!

Batty about Batiks

2009-08-21T22:30:00.009-04:00

Tuesday I batiked fabric again. It was such fun before, I had to do more.

This time I started with previous hand-dyed fabric as my first layer. I started with smaller designs first using soy wax and a tjanting tool. Overdyed the fabric with a darker color and let dry in the sun. I did some of the fabrics with a second layer of soy wax and larger designs and overdyed the fabric with a second darker dye.

These were done with one layer of soy wax.

And these were done with several layers of soy wax and dyes.

I feel I had more success this time around with the batiking. I learned to start off waxing with smaller designs first and with each layer of wax making the designs larger, also starting off with lighter dye colors and progressing darker.

Summer is more than half over and sooo many more surface design techniques to try!!!

We're in the middle of a heat wave now so I'll go back in the air-conditioning and continue with a work in progress.

Painting Saturday

2009-08-03T21:57:00.009-04:00

I mixed up some Seta Color paints Saturday to sun-print fabric. Last year I sun-printed some leaves on orange painted fabric but never used it. So now I mixed some orange, red-orange and red-violet and painted, then added some salt to give some texture. This will work well with last years fabric.

Next I used two blues, ultra-marine and cobalt. I painted it onto fabric and added salt.

Using moss green, blue-violet and purple, I streaked it on then added some leaves and sun-printed.

Another fabric I painted red and red-violet, put washers on the top and sun-printed.

Last I tried using a light green batik fabric, painted over with turquoise, laid down leaves and sun-printed.

I did the same thing with this piece but used a dark green paint.

I really like the look of the added salt. It gives a lot of texture to the fabric. The leaves that were sun-printed are just fun.

It was a productive day and a fun technique.

Batik experiment

2009-07-27T16:54:00.011-04:00

This past Wednesday my friend Martha and I tried soy wax batik. This was the first time either of us had done it.

We pre-soaked fabric in soda ash then used tjantings, empty thread spools, tjaps, luffas, and potato mashers to make our resist patterns. After the soy wax dried, we painted over the fabric with dyes thickened with sodium alginate. The fabrics were laid out in the sun to dry.

One of Martha's.

Mine.

Some of the fabrics were then reprinted with more soy wax and painted with a different color dye and dried again.

Martha's

Mine

Not always wanting white fabric showing, we tried previously hand dyed fabric. This gave a different starting point.

Martha's

Mine

At the end of the day we had some great fabrics. Will definitely do some more batiking before summers end.

Dyeing Fabric Fun

2009-07-17T22:13:00.009-04:00

This past Saturday was such a sunny and cool day, I decided to dye some fabric outside. Using Procion MX dyes, I colored two different types of silk - dupion and habotai.

I got some colors that will work with silk tie samples I got from a friend.

Next I squirted some dyes onto silk velvet and swished the dyes around.

I had two different manufacturers of PFD fabric - Moda and Kona. I dyed some of each to see what the finished feel of the cloth would be. Kona feels rather thick, okay for piecing but I don't like it for applique. The Moda feels about the same.

My favorite cotton is Pimatex by Robert Kaufman. It has a feel similar to the commercial batik fabrics. The thread count is tighter and works much better for any type of applique.

I also dyed some organza. I needed very little dye for these since its so sheer.

It ravels quite a lot when washed and tangled up with the other fabrics. I wasn't sure whether to throw it in the dryer, (didn't want it to melt) so I draped it over a clothes rack. It got back its stiffness.

Further experiments with soy wax and shibori are in the future.

Play Day Experiments

2009-07-13T22:09:00.010-04:00

Last Tuesday I had a play day with some art quilt friends. Each brought some art supplies and fabric to experiment with paints, inks, fabric markers, stamps, stencils, etc.

I tried some Tsukineko spray inks, spraying around the negative parts of stencils. I used many different colors, some I borrowed.
Above is sage sprayed with lilac walnut ink.

Oregano with cornflower walnut ink.

Carnations with cherry blossom walnut ink.

With the exception of the bugs, the fabrics are different yellow/green hand dyed fabric. The bugs are light blue hand dyed fabric.

The next day I outlined my stencils with a Sharpie black ultra fine marker and put in details.

Moth with cherry blossom walnut ink.

I then painted the insides of the stencils with Tsukineko inks.

Morning glories sprayed with terra cotta walnut ink.

Iris with eucalyptus walnut ink.

I also played around with stamping using Distress Ink Pads. Wasn't too happy with the results of what I made but it gave me some experience using the stamps and ink pads and the fun of experimenting without feeling it has to be made into a quilt.

I'm very happy with how the spray inks came out and will continue with the other flowers and bugs next rainy day.

Bleach Discharge Session

2009-06-29T22:24:00.007-04:00

Last weeks fabric dyeing led to bleach discharging this week. I used a bleach pen, spray mister, and stencils on the fabrics below.

Then I folded fabrics, dipped the folds in bleach solution, the dark areas are the original fabric. Squiggles were made with a bleach pen, and a sprayed over stencil were done on the bottom fabrics.

I then tried using a commercial batik. The left is the original, the right was discharged with a bleach pen.

Each fabric was a surprise when discharged, didn't know what color any of the fabrics would change to. All were happy surprises.

At our guild meeting Tuesday, my students from the Beginner Hand-Dyeing class brought in their fabrics for show and tell. I think they're happy with the results.

Hand-dyeing Class

2009-06-22T19:53:00.010-04:00

Last Tuesday, I taught a class at my guild (Warwick Valley Quilters Guild, web site http://www.wvqg.com/ ) on hand-dyeing fabric. The process I taught was low water immersion, a simple beginners course. They did basic colors, then some tints and shades, and ended with a couple of tie-dyes. Below are some pictures of the students. Don't they look like they're having fun!

They will be bringing in the finished results this coming Tuesday at our meeting. Will have some pictures of their work then.

I had some dyes left over (couldn't waste the dyes) so the next day I did some dyeing.

I also painted some dyes onto soda ash soaked black on white fabrics. I just squirted dyes on the fabric and smooched it around with my hands.

I used a lot of black dye mixed with red, blue, green and violet. These I plan to discharge. They're actually much darker than the picture.

The weather has been so rainy........I don't know when I'll get to do this.

Result from stamping

2009-06-19T19:50:00.006-04:00

This is a quilt that developed from my playing with the stamps I made.

I stamped a ripple design onto a tie-dyed fabric I had made a while ago that was added to my stash. I then stamped a small fish onto the left side, stenciled a larger fish with metalic paints on the right side, and in the middle used foil to make the largest fish. I fused some rocks and reeds on and used some thread trash to make the cattails.

Yes...... I save the thread knots from my washed fabric.

I used the ripple stamp as my quilting design and quilted it with glitter thread from Superior Thread.

I'm happy how this quilt developed from one stamp.

Strawberry Festival & Art Exhibit

2009-06-08T15:38:00.003-04:00

This Sunday there is an exhibit and sale at Kinnelon Museum L'Ecole, 25 Kiel Ave, Kinnelon, NJ from 12pm - 3pm. "Collaboration", a group of art quilters that I belong to, are selling our work, plus displaying our collaborative quilt "Matisse Revisited".

Seven of us each did a strip interpreting one of Matisse's paintings. This quilt will then be entered into various shows.

Also at this venue there will be several local artists displaying and selling their work.

Last, but not least, this is a strawberry festival, so there will be plenty of strawberry shortcake. All artists are donating a portion of their sales to TBAW, a non-profit organization benefitting 2 animal shelters in Kinnelon and Butler, NJ.

Stamping

2009-06-01T22:18:00.006-04:00

I've been cutting some stamps with plumber's rubber gaskets. I read about this in the last issue of "Quilting Arts" magazine, article "Printing Blocks" by Cynthia St. Charles. Her blog www.cynthiastcharles.com shows examples of some of her work. Fantastic!!

Below is a white PFD fabric that I practiced on. I used Seta Color transparency paint, opaque paint and Distress Ink pads with rubber gasket stamps, speedball speedy cut stamps, safety kut stamps, and magic foam.

I kind of got carried away in cutting out stamps. Its rather addictive.

Using some hand-dyed fabric, I stamped negative stamps onto the fabric.

I love how the dyed fabric shows through giving added interest.

Another piece stamped on the diagonal with some leaf stamps.

This was so fun I'm going to continue. Maybe a quilt idea will come to me.

Finished hosta quilt

2009-05-22T21:44:00.005-04:00

I've been working on the machine quilting of my hosta quilt. I quilted in veins on each of the leaves in 100 weight silk threads to match each of the leaves. Here's a detailed picture of a couple of the leaves.

I did a stipple stitch on the pieced background.

Next, I did a curvy in and out design for the mulch.

I finished the edges with a facing. Directions are on Grace Knowles blog http://www.barnyardchatter.wordpress.com/

I've said this before, her directions are precise and clear, and the results are great.

Here's a picture of the finished quilt.

Fresh Air

2009-05-15T22:36:00.002-04:00

No quilting today. I decided that getting fresh air constitutes more than walking from the car to a quilt show. So, with this in mind, I went outside with garden tools in hand and weeded 2 gardens. As I was weeding, I found the Lilies of the Valley and they were in bloom. That was the scent I smelled as I got closer to them. The Irises and Peonies are in bud and should be blooming soon.

It gave me great satisfaction in getting this done. I put if off for way too long.

Tomorrow, I'll quilt.

New Work in Progress

2009-05-07T19:35:00.009-04:00

I started working on a hosta plant quilt. I started by taking a photo and enlarging it.

I trace over the key elements then posterize it on the computer.

I use this enlarged picture to trace onto freezer paper for my templates. I used my hand-dyed fabrics for the the leaves. I painted starch onto seam allowances and pressed back onto the freezer paper. Then, removing the paper, I appliqued the units together with invisible thread and blind-hem stitch onto stabilizer.

The right half

and the left half.

The pieced background for the hosta was a rail fence block irregularly cut.

I added a piece of fabric to the bottom for the mulch. I like to do a pieced background to add extra interest.

Then I added the hosta to the background and blind-hem stitched it to the background.

Needless to say, this was not done in one day. It took over a week working on it daily. Decisions on how to machine quilt need to be made. I'll have to give this some thought.

Will keep you informed on my progress.

"A World of Quilts" Quilt Show

2009-05-04T22:05:00.009-04:00

Saturday, I went to the Northern Star Quilt Guild's annual quilt show. It's one of the local shows I enjoy going to. I went with Eda, Carol and Marie and the first vendor we hit was Jane Davila's booth "Flourish". She has the best art quilt supplies. Her web site is www.countryquilter.com . I found some new products and restocked on ones that were low or used up.

Next stop was "Batik Tambal" web site www.batiktambal.com , where I had to buy another tjap.

Many stops at other vendors, then finally went to see the quilts.

I was very impressed with the "Best of Show" quilts. There were 2, one for large quilts, won by Diane J. Evans called "Pieces of Dreams

and one for small hangings by Deborah J. Bein called "Reel Life" Mona's Party.

Both were original designs.

This was the first time I saw a show with 2 "Best of Show" quilts. I'm still undecided as to whether I like that idea. Shouldn't "Best of Show" be the best of the show and not shared with another quilt. Share your thoughts in the comment section at the end of this entry. I'd really like your thoughts.

Below are some other quilts I really liked, as you can see my tastes run to landscape quilts.

"Acoma Ladders by Barbara Browner Schiller won 2nd place in Art-Pictural catagory. A lot of applique and thread painting. I thought it was beautifully executed.

"Sonoran Spring" by Georgia Heller is a photo image with thread painting to accentuate the picture. She won a 2nd place ribbon in the Special Techniques catagory.

"Succulent Succulents" by Norma Schlager is a photo manipulated transfer. She won an honorable mention in the Special Techniques catagory.

Well----- with all my purchases, I can't wait to get into my studio to play.

New Baby

2009-05-01T22:21:00.004-04:00

Tuesday evening at 7:50pm, my nephew and his wife had a baby boy, Dylan Robert, 8lbs 7oz and 20 3/4" long. He's such a cutie. Okay, I'm prejudiced, but he really is.

Everyone is doing fine and are glad to be home.

Tuesday is my local guild meeting. We have topped at 150 members (fire code regulation) and have a waiting list. Its such a friendly and supportive group, I'm glad to be a member. For a look at our guild go to www.wvqg.com .

There was a quilt show meeting for our upcoming show in May, 2010. I know, its far away, but it takes a lot of planning. I'm the display chair (in charge of orgainizing the order in which the quilts are hung). We've been making backdrops for the quilts over the years, and hopefully this year will finish them up.

The budget passed------ now the ball's in my court.

Tomorrow am going to the Northern Star Quilters Guild Show in Somers, NY.

Class Sample

2009-04-24T14:50:00.003-04:00

I finished my class sample from Tuesday's guild workshop.

I did some outline quilting around the main elements and to eccentuate the scrunching. I tried K. Grace Knowles method of facing a quilt. It's an easy method and I'm very pleased with the result. Go to her blog for informative instructions www.barnyardchatter.wordpress.com .

Well, it's sooo nice outside today and will continue over the weekend, so I'm off to spring clean my gardens.

Shag Rag Workshop

2009-04-22T22:15:00.010-04:00

Tuesday, my guild held a class with Patricia Rodgers. She was a National Educator for Sulky and has been on numerous television shows and produced several instructional videos.

I took this class to learn about different threads and ways to use them.
The class project was a "shag rag bag",

but I'm making a small wall hanging. Its still a work in progress, but here is a picture of it.

She demonstrated scrunching fabrics, "flash-trash"(little snippets of fabric fused to Steam-A-Seam2 and torn into pieces), hangy thread, quilt, applique and embellishing all at once with all different kinds of threads.

Everyone had different styles of fabrics, making each unique. Below are a few of the other students samples.

The class was fun, very informative and liberating, all rules of general quilting were ignored.

If you have a chance to take her class, go for it.

Quilt Exhibit

2009-04-20T20:18:00.007-04:00

I belong to a small group called"Collaboration". We're going to be part of a show called "Triboro Animal Welfare at the Kinnelon Museum L'Ecole in Kinnelon, Nj on June 14th from 12 - 3PM.

This is a picture of the museum.

Today, fellow member Marie & I went to view the site and get our space requirements from the curator. There are seven of us in this group and we're all excited to be showing and selling our work. This will be our 1st time showing as a group.
Below are a couple of my quilts that will be for sale.

When our group meets next month I'll take some pictures of everyone elses work.

Just Started Blogging

2009-04-17T14:25:00.005-04:00

I have fin--ally decided to blog. Hopt to keep your interest in how I work with photos and techniques.

I just got a letter in the mail from Studio Channel Islands Art Center in Camarillo, California that I've been accepted into their show. I'm soooo excited!!! This is my first time exhibiting in an Art Center. Before sending the quilt out, here is a picture and close up of the quilt "Hall's Pond".

I used various hand-dyed fabrics of my own to make the stones and reeds and fused them onto the pieced background of commerical batiks. Raw-edged applique was used as a quilting design. The piece is 12" X 12".