Making progress

This is a slow slog! I have a vision in my little brain  but it is not really a concrete vision anywhere just yet so it is tough. LOTS of trial and error.

I am working on the background now, having got the foreground MOSTLY as I want it. I may have to have a little dye session as I seem not to have quite the right greens. There will be more of the "willow" branches but I wanted to leave them out for the moment until I get the background bits in and ironed. Here is where I am at the moment. It may change in the cold light of dawn :-)

Here we were at the start of the evening. 

And here is the start of some bits of background detail.

I am still not happy with the smaller hydrangea head-on the pink side in the second row back. They begin to look a bit like roses. I will have a go at making little irregularly shaped patches to suggest florets.

I need to try to find or make some soft cool green  for a few suggestions of bushes in the big gap above the blue hydrangeas. THEN, the willow can go back on in front to them. BTW, the colour in the last photo is way off. My white balance was set for automatic but this was taken under artificial light and apparently "automatic" does not do a good job with that. The colour in the first pic is much better.

I will post this tonight but tomorrow, at the appropriate time, I shall post it to the needleandthreadnetwork.blogspot.com. I hope you will drop in and enjoy everyone's posts this week!

....And a little addendum-

This is where I finished up tonight- well, I fixed that one purply pink hydrangea head that has a sort of "outline"

I THINK I may be ready to layer but will see tomorrow!

If Monet grew hydrangeas....

I have been playing with this background fabric I dyed a while ago. I picked a section of it to work with and photographed it . Then, I printed the photo to 8.5"x 11" and then I reprinted the photo on paper and drew a "garden" over top of the fabric photo.Then, with a piece of acetate over that, I traced over my little "hydrangea garden". Next, I took the acetate to my wonderful printshop to be enlarged. Well now, as you can see , I have started making some few foreground hydrangea heads. It is a trial and error kind of thing. So far , I think I am seeing what I want but there is a LONG way to go. Oh, and BTW, WHERE,OH WHERE IS MY LOVELY STEAM A SEAM??? Has anyone heard any good news in that department?

Here's the fabric I started with

My original drawing on the printed photo

Tracing of the original drawing

The acetate pattern ready for the printer to enlarge it for me.

The enlarged pattern. It is 17 1/2 inches high because the fabric is 17 1/2" wide.

I have started building hydrangea heads and trying them out on the fabric.  I think it will work if I persist!

I am going to post this on to the needleandthreadnetwork.blogspot.com And now, before it rains again, I ( and my new little pedometer) are going to squeeze in a walk!

Well, blow me down!!!

I am NOT good at horn tooting or self promotion but I guess I need to share THIS news. I have just learned tonight that I have had a tiny little quilt- 10" x 7" that I submitted to the SAQA travelling quilt show, accepted into the permanent collection of the National Quilt Museum in Paducah KY!!!!! Blown away is putting it mildly! I NEVER expected such an honour- especially for such a tiny piece of work. Anyway, there it is... and HERE it is in case you missed it the first time round.

Poppies Aglow

I am amazed and very honoured. Guess I will post this to the needleandthreadnetwork.blogspot.com
I am very sick with DH's nasty cold tonight so I have no new work to show. I did do the TV interview today though- drugged to the hilt so I did not sneeze or cough or anything. It went fine I guess but I was REALLY out of it . Hope it was reasonable for anyone who watched it!

Dreaming - in technicolour!

Look what I stumbled across while shopping the other day! Instant nostalgia :-) I was transported back to my childhood when, every spring, my Dad would buy me a NEW SKIPPING ROPE! Once in a while, he would make one for me from heavy braided cord. They were great for skipping, but my childish head thought the coloured plastic ones were absolutely TO DIE FOR! Isn't it funny how simple life was then and how the smallest thing lit our boards! Too bad children these days expect such BIG ticket toys. Here's where it is REALLY at, kids! Get a rope and SKIP :-)

The other technicolour dream came to me last night as I was gathering "concrete materials" to take with me on Tuesday next. That is the day I am to be a star of stage , screen and Television- well Kitchener's Rogers Cable, anyway. I am being interviewed in connection with the quilt show. I thought it might be interesting to take a couple of pieces of my hand dyed fabric and show what happens to it. Look what I found....

Hydrangeas???

Do you not see a Monet-ish hydrangea garden in there? I do. I lay awake half the night thinking about it. I have printed it as large as I can and will overlay it with acetate and draw a pattern and see what I think. I AM a strange woman, eh!

I THINK there is just enough time to post this to the  needleandthreadnetwork.blogspot.com. I am in a hurry. I get me new "21st century" specs this afternoon:-) They have RED temples! Wild!

Ready to face the facing :-)

Well, it is done except for finishing the back and labelling.

Not sure which I think is the better colour.

Maybe the top one? Maybe take an average!

This was fun to work on but now I want to dye a dedicated piece for the background of the "real thing". I will pare the sides down and make it long and narrow- like Milkweed! I may even do a diptych or a triptych if I feel REALLY  crazy! Maybe three seasons? We shall see but definitely this one. I learned a LOT on this piece. It may end up being called Glorious Explosion. Right now it is still The Milkweed Project!

1- the metallic organza disintegrates when stitched over too much- heat transfer foil may be better

2- planning circular quilting ahead of time is good- I DID use a Chaco-liner which was a help and disappeared nicely. I was upset about the unevenness of the circles but in the end, I think I like it better than perfection. This is NOT drafting!

3- On the Real one I will be more careful with the placement of the bright patches of light. I had little choice here but when I dye my background, it will be better placed.

And, as I have not done it for a little while- Mr Personality!!!

Two months

                                         On that note- Cheerio for now! Happy quilting :-)

Trial and Error and a quilt show

The Quilt Show opened on Sunday last with a lovely day and a nice, pretty informed crowd. I was pleased apart from the fact that I thought my part of the show looked sparse . This was because-A- I gave them two lots of work with two different subjects so it was hard to mix them , and -B- my work is NOT large so there was lots of space between pieces. No one by myself seemed to mind.

Don't worry! There WERE four walls and more work but this was what you walked in on when you came through the door.

Since I got home, I have been a tired old bag but today, at last, I started work on the quilting of the little Milkweed piece. THAT is the Trial and Error part. I have been auditioning battings and metallic threads-

Unfortunately, it is such a scuzzy day here that the colours don't really show. 

The left hand end is the right batting, Quilter's Dream cotton. 

The threads I am trying are all Superior metallics, variegated gold, a light gold and two different silvers. As well, I tried out a plain medium grey as there are parts of the fluff that are not catching the sunlight so they look flat and grey. I wish you could see the colours better so you could pass judgement. However, I know what I want now and am liking what I am doing and the effect I am getting.

These three are very repetitious.

I gave you three to look at in case someone saw one or another better than the others.

Mostly, I am still at the "tie it all down " stage yet. 

We shall see how it goes from here. As I said before, if this 12" x 12" piece pleases me, I shall keep it for next year's SAQA Auction. It is a good dry run for the big one I want to do after I have done some fresh dyeing. I am VERY short on colour and value choices. Makes it hard to work!

Well, I have not had time to check out the needleandthreadnetwork.blogspot.com yet this week. I will post this and I am anxious to see what everyone has been up to. Maybe if we ALL thought positively, we would get some sunshine back? Try it! 

Milkweed evolving- I HOPE!

I have been trying lots of different things. One thing I thought about was the lovely lens flare on the original photo- so I tried with crystal organza and Misty Fuse to replicate the effect-

The little patches are not fused yet

You can really see that they are loose here

And here they are fused

In the end, I decided that one was a photo and one was a quilt. I could not quite achieve the look I wanted on this small piece so decided to peel the little hexagons off. Thankfully, Misty Fuse lets you do that:-)















Next, I decided it was time to add the Milkweed seeds before I begin stitching. I cut them from hand dyed cotton with EZ Fuse on the back! I am praying HARD that they stay put for me. I will stitch them down - just in case!

With seeds and the original photo

I cannot wait to make this piece full sized. I will make a proper background fabric for that . This one is growing on me though.

And, finally, the piece is ready to stitch- all layered and pinned!

There we are- ready to quilt. 

I am looking forward to quilting this but tomorrow is a BIG day! It is the official opening of the show I am involved in at Homer Watson House Gallery in Kitchener. It runs 2-4 PM tomorrow ( Sunday, 27 April) and all through May , finishing 08 June . The gallery is closed Mondays. Hope you will drop by if you can. It looks like a very interesting little show!!

An oldie but a goody

A VERY elderly photo taken at Rideau Ferry ON, MANY years ago. I took a whole series.

I would bet that I took this photo 45 years ago. It was a slide but DH digitized it and I enlarged it and drew me a pattern! I have been hankering after doing something with it for ...about 44 years! I have decided to make a rough prototype and try out some techniques on it. If I LOVE it, it will be 12" x 12" so I shall put it aside for next year's SAQA Auction. I used the Peony Centre this year. Hope they like it!

In case you forgot, The Peony Centre piece, 12" x 12"

I have already scoured my fabrics ( I need about a whole week of dyeing! VERY short of colour/value choice!) and chose this piece out of the centre of a pretty piece of hand dyed fabric. It is not the right colours but I think I can make this work. For the big, REAL piece I will dye a piece specifically. Also, it will be rectangular like the original photo.

My creative clutter. Cannot be sentimental about pretty pieces of fabric. I found a part I thought could work even though the original is different. I can make a piece more like the original later.

What a mess, eh! Anyway, I have cut out some foil bits to start the shimmery background and am auditioning it behind some pieces cut from various darker pieces to create the milkweed.

The story so far! This has a pretty wide border on it but it will be pruned down to 12" x 12" eventually

Nothing is set in stone just yet. For one thing , the "sun" disk in the middle will be made smaller and I will likely offset the whole composition. Just playing at this stage! I just wanted the background big enough so I could choose the sweet spot for the milkweed. It will end up 12"x12 ".

I will post this to the needleandthreadnetwork.blogspot.com. I have had a busy time lately so have not been posting too much. I follow everyone though . Great work going on. 

All done but the facing- and a peek at a snazzy hat!

It is finished now except for the facing, sleeve and label. There is a LOT of stitching on this piece!

just some of the finished detail

and here

maybe the stitching shows better here?

You've seen these before but now they ARE finished. I hope the stitching shows.

This has been a long job somehow. It took so long to get back into the routine but I am ready to work now:-) I will spray this with fixative to preserve the pencil crayon touchups before I do the facing and sleeve.

And now, for something COMPLETELY different- a man with a new hat! ( Promised I would not do this too much - but I never said I would NEVER do it!)..

TA DA...........

Sorry folks, but you NEEDED to see this!

Who's a Happy Granny then???

I am posting this to the needleandthreadnetwork.blogspot.com  Technically, none of this really qualifies as unfinished work, but .... Enjoy the other posts.

Separation- not of sheep and goats but of leaves and background!

This did NOT want to move to the spot where I intended to put it! Anyway, here is the piece close to finished but note wrinkles at top and bottom. THAT is why I love my intense quilting. REALLY sets the details off.

OK, girls! Remember the Cross Your Heat Bra? "Lifts and separates. Suddenly, you're shapelier!" Well, that is kind of the stage I am at on Wire Fence II right now. I have everything tied down with stitching. Leaves have a good basic amount of stitching done but now, I want to flatten my background and leave the leaves, post and fruit sitting proud so they really POP!

I have taken to quilting tightly, intensively in my backgrounds and am LOVING the effect! It kills my neck and makes me really weary but it is SO worth it - to me , anyway. I did it on Bruce's Favourite-

I did it on Wire Fence I-

And now I am working on Wire Fence II--

These are repetitive but you get the idea.

Sorry this one is so fuzzy 

So there you have it... This is the progress to date. I will get dressed now, start my laundry and then.... QUILT!
_________________________________________________________________________________


And I DID and the main quilting is now DONE! ( and so am I!!)

The whole half yard!

A couple of detail shots

There you go Folks, done for the day. Now, it is staring time again. The quilt will sit in the sitting room so that I see it every time I pass through the room and , in a blinding flash ( no doubt!) I shall see exactly what I need to do now. There is a bit of detail work burning in my brain so you may expect yet another post some day soon. Meantime, please excuse the fuzzy pics and enjoy the sharp ones. Pretty soon I will give you a break and not pester you with any more pics of this one. Bless you for your patience and your valued comments :-)

An Invitation and some Zentangling

Hello all . Finally got the invitation to the show at Homer Watson House and Gallery. I want to share it with you and to extend a most cordial invitation to anyone in the vicinity to drop by and see the show. It looks like there should be something for most every taste! Sadly, the photo is not too clear but if you ARE able to attend and need more info, please email me and I shall be happy to help you out! I may be able to get a better shot and if so, shall post it PDQ!

So now, DH has scanned this for me and I hope you are better able to read it!

I have been playing with Zentangle tiles - again- STILL, still trying to loosen up my silly right hand. I DO find Zentangling VERY calming and I have needed that recently. I try to do one or part of one almost every day.Hope you enjoy them :-)

Fun stuff:-)

And some more fun  stuff!

And one more bit of fun stuff!!!

I am posting this to the needleandthreadnetwork.blogspot.com This is a different post for me . I am working slowly on Wire Fence II but it will soon be done. Hope you enjoy TNTN this week!