Workbook revisited

A while ago I wrote (almost) weekly about the Workbook Wednesday project I participated in. As these things tend to I went into the project full of enthusiasm, but things petered out after a while, and I didn't do all the assignments in the workbook. Still, I had fun along the way and I have managed to finish all the seven little quilts I started, and have learned a lot along the way.

I chose 'Windows' as my theme, and most of the small quilts have something window-related going on. With this one, where I worked with diagonals, I made a frame to give the impression of looking out of a window. To emphasize the diagonal line, I added some flower shaped beads and a butterfly. This one has traditional single fold binding.

Here we were to play with the placement of different abstract shapes. I connected them with quilting lines and if you think it looks like some red bikini briefs hung out to dry, that was not my intention, LOL.
I added a pretty polka dot ribbon along the zigzagged edge and some aqua beads in the upper left hand corner.

The appliqué pear and shadow was the only assignment where I used a pattern from the book. I also added an orange strip along two sides to try to give the impression of a shadow from a deep frame. This one is just zig zagged around the edge. I can see that it works as a quick and easy way of finishing a small piece, but it doesn't really suit my neatnik ways. It's hard to tear oneself away from the traditional use of a neat and proper binding, I suppose.

This one just started out as a sample of strips inserted into a square of fabric and comparing the effects of ironing the seam allowances towards the strip or away from the strip to get different effects, on that makes the strips lie on top of the quilt and the second giving recessed strips. To avoid having this sample just lying around and not making itself useful, I added an extra piece of blue to make it the same size as the rest and to try out some stripy quilting. With a bit of imagination this too can be seen as a window quilt - a  tall office building  seen from a ground floor window, mirroring the sunset, perhaps... Oh well, it gave me the chance to try out the blind hem finishing effect which I'd never tried before, and that's one I might actually add to my repertoire.

I also made a sample using curved seams, and decided to use it as a background for another technique: thread painting. I put the background into an embroidery hoop, drew the outline of the bird (recognise it from the border of my blog?) with a water soluble pen and added heavy stitching to create the sulky looking bird. The next technique was bobbin drawing. I used green perle cotton in my bobbin and stitched the cage from the back of the quilt. After adding a frame and quilting, I came up with the idea of adding the cat to emphasize the impression of a window, this time looking in through one. The edge got a narrow machine stitched line and was sealed with glue before I added gold ink along the edge. This was a bit messy, but worked well for this small quilt. It's not a technique I would have used for a larger quilt, though. 

This one started out as a wonky log cabin block. With a few extra strips it ended up the same size as the rest and became a background for my couching exercise, using both hand and machine. I added an uneven blanket stitch along the edge. I still struggle with making my stitches uneven, just as I struggle with making my log cabin blocks wonky, but I'm getting better all the time ;-) After quilting a big flower and some curly swirly lines, I added some beads for that extra sparkle.

The last piece was a collage using a fabric with a motif. Heather Ross' goldfish were perfect here, and I also tried out the porthole technique, or faced opening, on the green fabric, placing a fish behind the opening. Some beads on this one as well and for the edge I zigzagged down some lengths of novelty yarn.
So there you have it. A lot of new techniques resulting in seven little quilts. Not perfect, I know, but that's hardly the point. They are finished, and that makes me happy :-)

Not completely by the book

It's Workbook Wednesday again, and I must admit I have been slacking off a bit here. There has just been so much going on, and then the next chapter in the book was all about fabric painting, stamping and so on. And I just didn't feel like it, you know. Sometimes that's just the way it is.  Messing about with paints is not where I'm at right now. And there was this bit of playing with metal foil, but no matter how much I tidied up, I just couldn't find that packet of foil I know I have somewhere. - Actually I just realized: it's probably in the box with the fabric paint, that I haven't looked at for ages, duh!
So, what's a girl to do? I've been dragging my feet a bit, but today I just skipped a few chapters, and got on with it - thread painting seemed so much more interesting at the moment. So that's what I did.
My twitter-friend in the margin here was happy to model for me, I hooped my fabric and started playing. And you know what? It was fun! Not the most perfect of little birds, I know, but I bet you could see that it was meant to be a bird, anyway...
I have done a bit of thread painting before, and the funny thing is that this time, when I was following instructions, I did what I normally wouldn't have done: I hooped the fabric without using tear-away or water soluble foundation. And you know what happens, right? There was a little voice telling me in the back of my head - "the fabric will pucker, the fabric will pucker..." and it did. But not too much, though - I will probably be able to straighten it out a bit when I quilt it. Never mind, this is supposed to be a learning experience, right?
Next I'll be trying bobbin drawing, something I've been wanting to try out for a while - I've even bought that extra bobbin case so I can fiddle with the bobbin tension to my heart's content, so it's about time I got round to it.
But not tonight - I have the two final episodes of Lost to watch, so I'm taking the phone off the hook and settling down in front of the TV. Completely Lost ;-)

Wednesday again

collage
Originally uploaded by crafty mathea

Just enough time before I rush off to blog about this: it's Workbook Wednesday again, and I managed to get round to creating a collage using a focus fabric. I chose the goldfish one (Heather Ross, I believe), and started playing with pieces of it on a suitably watery background and was thinking of adding more marine life when I remembered that my theme for this series is supposed to be "windows". Now I might stray from this from time to time (I tend not to follow rules for very long, even if they are my own...), but I chose to add one here, a round one, so I suppose it is a porthole really. I used some suitably seaweedy yarn around the edges, and there you have it - a fishy collage :-)

Wonky Wednesday

It's Workbook Wednesday again and I took the opportunity to do a bit of wonky piecing - yes, I have cheated a bit and skipped a few exercises and dived into chapter 5. That seemed just right for today, but I will go back and do the collage and the photo inspired piece, I just need to mull it over a while longer.
So today I did some curved piecing - I have tried that before, but it is always good to get some excercise in, right? I also did a piece with inset strips, and last, but not least, this wonky log cabin. Well, that's what I started making, but I don't know: there's something about me and log cabin - I have trouble sticking to it for long... It's all that pressing and trimming along the way, I think. And because I insist on keeping my ironing board in another room in order to get up from the sewing machine ever so often, working on just the one log cabin block means that there is more walking than sewing. So I called it a day when the block was just over 9 " and added a few wonky strips at the bottom so I ended up with a 9 x 12" piece. Maybe I can use it as a background for one of the quilts in this series? It's been a while since I did any wonky piecing, though, so that was fun. And as usual I'm ending up with lots of new ideas for things to make, and that's part of the fun, isn't it?

Now have a look in the Workbook Wednesday pool and see what Lisa and the others are up to.

Wednesday on a Friday

I know, it's called Workbook Wednesday, and today is Friday, but it's been a crazy week. I managed to upload these pictures to Flickr before I went to bed on Wednesday, but that was it.

I have quilted the two small quilts I showed last time. The first one is the one where I played with different shapes, and placed them in different relations to each other. I couldn't decide, and eventually I just slapped them down with the iron. The red piece reminded me of a sail, and I quilted lines connecting it to the other two pieces. Now when I look at it, it looks more like a pair of bikini bottoms hanging on the washing line... ;-D The quilt also looks a bit plain and "open", but I'm just leaving it as it is until I get to the chapter about embellishments and finishing techniques and we'll see what I come up with...

I trimmed the pear piece and added some borders before quilting. This one also needs some kind of binding or edge finish, but I'm leaving that for later as well. I'm quite happy with it so far, though.

Wednesday Pear

Pear
Originally uploaded by crafty mathea

It is Wednesday again, and time for playing with the Art Quilt Workbook. I'm taking my own sweet time here, doing just a little bit each week, because I'm working towards a deadline on another project. I've decided not to get all stressed out about this, though, but to take time to play and have fun. I have just been cutting and fusing today, no sewing at all, as my machine was giving me a lot of trouble yesterday. I think it needs a good cleaning and oiling session before I sew anything at all. I'll get to that later, but for now I have some hand stitching to get to. More from the Wednesday Workbook project here.

Workbook Wednesday Chapter 2 - Perspective

Chapter 2 - Perspective
Originally uploaded by crafty mathea

Yay, I have got to the sewing part of Workbook Wednesday now, and yesterday I managed to ge my batting and backing sorted out and cut to the right sizes and started pulling out fabrics to use for the projects in the workbook. We will be making several small quilts (9 x 12) and this way I should have everything I need at the ready when I can grab a moment to do one of the exercises. I have decided on windows as a theme, and in this perspective excercise I'm looking out, as you can see...
I found a quiet background, and I suppose this choice means going with a more Tuscan colourway than the blue/teal/green I had in mind at first, but we'll see as I get going - things may change...

Workbook Wednesday

And we're off and running! I have joined Upstatelisa's Workbook Wednesday project in an effort to learn more about art quilting. It's early days yet, and so far, I think Lisa is the only one who has actually started a quilt.

We will be working our way through this book: "Art Quilt Workbook" by Jane Davila and Elin Waterston. The first two chapters are all about colour theory and things like perspective and such. Had I been doing this on my own, I suppose I would just have skimmed through these chapters and thrown myself into the quiltmaking part. But that's actually one of the advantages of doing this with somebody else - you keep on the straight and narrow and actually do those excercises, and there is actually something to learn from having to think things through, do the sketching (I'm definitely no artist when it comes to figurative drawing!), cut the fabric squares and make your choices based on word prompts and such.

We are supposed to choose a theme for the series of quilts we are making, and after a lot of thinking back and forth, I have decided on windows. That can be taken literally: windows on buildings, with a choice of looking in or out. But there are other options: windows of opportunity, eyes being the windows of the soul etc, so I'm leaving myself several choices along the way here.

I have been thinking of a palette for the series as well, and I suppose the jury is still out on that. I tend to go for blues, greens, aquas and maybe a bit of fuchsia thrown in for contrast, but that might just be taking the easy way out. Maybe something more earthy? Terracotta, ochre, olive and pine green, sunflower yellow - and suddenly I have a Tuscan summer in mind.

That's definitely where I was going when I was pulling out these first fabrics, but I do realize that the background here will be far too busy for the trees to stand out. If I go with that Tuscan colour story it might come in handy later, though. I didn't get time to start sewing today, but I'll be working steadily along and report my progress next Wednesday. Meanwhile, check out what we're all doing in the Workbook Wednesday pool.