A collage

is a great way to try what I call "designing on the fly".  This is what I learned over the last two days of taking a class with Pippa Moore.  Our guild hosted the class and it was quite an adventure.  I used fabrics that were unfamilar to me, but the vibrancy of them had a certain appeal.  Here is what I had to work with.

Yes, the kit supplied by Pippa for the class was a cornucopia of African fabrics and batiks.  Initially I was uncertain that I was going to be able to put all of these together.  My western sense of order was going to be put to the test.  However it was Pippa to the rescue with her encouragement and a few consultations.  I grasped my rotary cutter and made a start.  Here is what I have so far.

A special thank you to Pippa.   Her easy going manner and ability to draw me into a playful frame of mind kept me enthralled.  These two days went by all too quickly despite the extra hour we gained by setting the clock back.  The pieces are now on my design wall and I continue to play. Stay tuned for the final result.

Tools revealed

Yesterday everyone was revealing their "Tools" challenge over at the Tangled Textiles.  Here's mine.

It took me a while to figure out what exactly I wanted to do, but two folks in a coffee shop were the trigger for my idea.  Two tools used for silent conversation are your hands and eyes.

This piece was quite out of my regular style of quilt.  I used Lutradur, pigma pens, and thread sketching, a technique that I never used before, but thought I would try.  I found pictures of the hand signs on the web and printed them to Lutradur.  The first attempt was too grainy...

and did not give enough detail.  The Lutradur was also a lighter weight (70ml).  Plus it left behind too much ink on the carrier sheet.  Here you can see the residue.

I had read that if you apply a gel medium this would improve the print.  I went to the local artist shop and purchased a sample of products.  Digital Ground by Golden was supposed to work, so I tried it.  I painted the 70ml Lutrador and tried again.  You can see a definite difference.  The treated Lutradur is on the left, the untreated on the right.

This came out better, but still needed detail.  I purchased a heavier weight of Lutradur (100 ml) and tried again.  This one came out the best of all but I still wanted to emphasize the detail a bit more.

 Pigma pens with a brush tip helped provide that little bit of extra detail.  Here is a close up of one of the hands.

Now I just had to stitch them to the background.  I used black thread and arranged them so that they might appear to be in a flurry somewhat like what happens during a conversation.  Of course you need to be able to see the hands during a converstation, so I added the thread sketched eyes.  I connected all the items with stitching to portray the conversation.

Well there you have it!  It was quite a challenge!  Now I think I will go and have a conversation with my other tools.  Till the next time, pieceful sewing...





The next round

Well, here is the next block that I need to work on for our Guild's Round Robin.

This block was made by Louise M. and I need to add a 3 inch finished boarder to it comprised of squares.  Any suggestions?

I also am making some more log cabin blocks that I started.  The blocks are a little unusual in that the logs are all bias strips.  Fortunately, they are paper pieced, so I am getting a good result.  It gives a bit of a wave to the block.  Here is what one of the blocks looks like.

The pins are still in it until I sew it to the other blocks and remove the paper backing.  This particular method of paper piecing was a snap.  Instead of piecing the fabric to the back of the printed pattern, you piece to the front.  Kinda hard to explain, until you see it done.

I know I got side tracked, but I'm still having difficulty with my "tools" challenge piece for my fibre art group, so I am letting it sit for a moment....Oh....yes....that's what I'll try....a bit of thread sketching should do the trick....gotta run while the thought is still fresh.