English Paper Piecing

Oh my, I have never done this before!! This is one of the assignments for the Kemshall Quilting and Patchwork class..well, it's my version of it at least.  And since I've never done this kind of work before it's going to be interesting how this all comes out in the end!!!  I'm not a hand stitcher but I do love the motion of the thread going in and out of the fabric.  So far these are just fiddle-y little bits of (mostly) hand-dyed fabric stitched over paper (hence the name, to be sure).  Blood has been shed!!!  And sweat, but no tears.  So far so good!!

I've taken an inspiration picture, analyzed the colours, painted them onto a grid (hidden underneath the little fabric patches, sorry) and then tried to match them with my fabrics.  Now I have to stitch them together.  Teeny tiny stitches.  Fortunately my optometrist has called to say I am due for an appointment.  So that's why I can't see!!!
More to follow!

Another little beaded piece

This is a little piece that I have done (it's finished now and properly edged).  This was done for the Kemshall course and I've varied a bit from the course requirements.  Here I've used thickened procion MX dye and, as instructed, have flicked it from a toothbrush, through a stencil that I had made earlier.  I didn't think I would like the technique but in the end I think it's ok.  I'm afraid it's a bit too out-of-control for me.  But perhaps it just feels that way because it's winter and I had to do the flicking in the house, in my guest room/studio.  It's the 'guest room' part of the activity that had me a bit stressed but in the end I think it was all right: I placed the fabric inside a box and flicked the dye onto the fabric and managed to keep most (all??? I hope) of the dyes inside the box.  I've used cotton sateen and it was a dream to stitch through and didn't show any stitch marks, so unlike the other cottons I've been using. I might have to switch!

But now I've stalled a wee bit in my textile endeavours while I tend to some of my resolutions.....to empty out some of the clutter that I have all around.  I'm a great collector of books, but I seem to have collected way past my shelves' ability to contain, so I am culling.  Oh my goodness, it's hard to weed out  my books, but I'm determined to make some space, if only to get some of these piles of newer books under control.  So I have four boxes ready to go out the door but still don't seem to have made much of a dent in the piles lying around.  I shall persevere.....

And, of course, I'll be back....

Firsts

My first post of the new year!!

As well, this is my first attempt at beading and at using french knots.  An interesting exercise.  I'm not crazy about the beading but it's probably because I have tried to make do with the beads I have at hand.  They are quite expensive (well, not bad really, but try and get out of the bead shop without spending $100 or more....and such a tiny little bag as well!!!) and to be really effective, I suspect they should be bought with a project in mind as opposed to being out of one's mind with all the choices and just grabbing willy-nilly.  The french knots were fun to do.  Really, I can see how one might use both embellishments but I'm not really one for embellishments of this sort,... well, not yet, anyway.  I don't want to be closing any doors here!

I'm still not sure how I feel about this fabric. It has a high thread count and so dyes up beautifully but as you can see, it shows all the needle marks!!!  It'll be wonderful for piecing, however, and so I shall carry on with it.  I have dyed up a couple more batches this morning, my first of the new year.  I am messing about with value and I think I have dyed a couple of quite pastel pieces.  I'll show you as soon as I've washed them out, that's always the magic part!  I think they'll be a little easier to use in stitched samples, the colours being a little less intense.

This is the little drawing that inspired the above pieces.  I'm enjoying experimenting with different pencils and trying to get the tonal values that I see in the photograph.

And finally, my first ever photo that I've produced, messing about in Photoshop Elements and using textures. It's also my first lot of pics taken with my new lens, a prime lens, for portrait work.  I don't actually do portraits, but flower heads, well, that's sort of a portrait, isn't it???  I know it's not great and in fact, it  needs a bit of cropping off the bottom, but I was excited to get it this far!!!  And in terms of portraits, you can just see my little St Francis statue in the background....I really don't do people shots, but perhaps this will qualify!!

So that's it, a series of firsts, and it's only January 1 today!!!  (Mind you, I guess everything I do today will be a first, if I want to get really picky!  But some of these are firsts ever, so I think they work!)

And so, as I think of all my dear friends, old and new, loved and lost, may the blessings of the season be yours throughout the year.  And happy creating!

I'll be back....

One little picture

The dinner is over and the place tidied up again and now I can get my projects back onto the table!!  I have taken a line drawing I did some time ago and enlarged it.  I've then tried to replicate it using graphite.

The image I worked from was taken from the second image above, and I cropped it somewhat for the graphite image.  It is sort of my playing-around version of one of the activities for the Kemshall class, which I guess I'd better get to.  This was fun to do.  I am enjoying having just one class on the go at the moment.  I don't feel quite so fragmented!!  We'll see how long I last!
Back soon.....

Another project done!!!! Yay!!

I have finished the growth chart!!! Oh my!  I'm glad it's done.  There were some interesting moments.....first of all, the fabric that I chose to use has a very high thread count and is really not very pleasant to hand stitch into.  Also, when I tried to free motion stitch around the lettering, the thread broke constantly (it's a 12 weight thread) and I was mighty frustrated.  I ended up putting a hoop around the work and was able to free motion stitch at that point, but clearly that meant that I couldn't free motion onto the rest of the quilted top so I had to settle for straight lines, for which I used my walking foot.  This fabric takes the dyes beautifully but won't be much use to me if I can't free motion stitch onto it nor enjoy hand stitching on it.  And I was planning on using it for my quilted pieces for the Kemshall class.  We'll see if I can wrestle it into submission, but I have my doubts.  I did use my dyed fabric for the measuring 'line' and for the binding but that was all straight machining.  Very interesting.  And I have another 20 yards of it!!!  Anyway, here is the finished chart.

I also finished one of the needlepunched pillows that I showed you earlier.  I used my dyed blue and green fabric for the  background (it was supposed to be brown and green, according to the dye labels!!) and even though the front is brown and green, it doesn't look bad since the values aren't too outrageously different.  I used an envelope finish, which is something I hadn't tried before.  Unfortunately, it finished up slightly too large for the smaller sized pillow form and slightly too small for the larger one.  I opted to put in the larger once since it'll get compacted over time and so will finally fit!!  It's all good!

I quilted up the back (with batting etc.) with some free-motion shapes to make it a bit more interesting.  It's another Christmas gift, so hopefully it will be well received.

So now, there is no longer any way I can ignore those pesky dust bunnies.  I have picked up the 18-pound bird and all the extras for tomorrow evening's dinner and I shall make the place somewhat presentable for a fun evening with my kids and their families (fortunately they already know about me and the dust bunnies!!).  Off I go to begin.  I wish the very best of the season to you all........

Another project because, surely there's time!!!???

I am starting a new project (what??? I have lots of time, don't I???) because of course everything is finished and ready for the holidays.  NOT!!!!  But, call me crazy, I can't seem to get excited about vacuuming and dusting (although truth to tell, I'd better get excited pretty soon or the Health and Safety Board will be visiting!!!).  Anyway, I want to make growth charts for the wee ones, at least before they enter their teens.  So I'm using some of my hand dyed fabrics and I am going to have a go.  I have no idea where I'm going with it or how it will turn out but I have a few ideas.  I'll let you know if it all works out.

And perhaps it will be a New Year's gift!!  Just not sure yet!!

I'll be back.....

Kemshall on-line classes

I am currently making my way through the Quilting and Patchwork class that the Kemshall's offer as an on-line course and I am loving it.  The classes are so well done and really lots of fun.  I also subscribe to their DesignMatters TV and consider it very worthwhile as well.  And in fact, the videos often dovetail quite nicely with the work that I am doing for the online class, how handy is that???!! They offer a couple of free 'tasters' that are worth checking out here:
www.lindakemshall.com

So, here are a couple of pieces that I have been working on in the last while.  I'm not really a hand-stitcher so I am enjoying the learning thereof!  Yes, yes, I hear there is some kind of a holiday looming but I've been rather obsessed with getting this module finished.  And I have!!! Yay!!

I am also having fun using my hand-dyed fabrics and threads.  And the next module starts off with some more drawing so I am working away on that as well.  But that holiday, I have obligations around that too, so I have quite a bit to get done.  I'd best get to it....
I'll be back...