Surface Design Challenge

I belong to a Surface Design Group on Yahoo, and they have a challenge that I found interesting. The challenge  was open to members and limited to 4 people per group. Each group was to hand dye a piece of fabric and then send it to the next person in the group who will apply some sort of surface design or embellishment. The next embellishment can be painting, more dyeing, stitching, stamping, foiling... you get the idea. Then it is passed to the next person in the group until it gets back to the owner. This is called a Round Robin, and this is the first time I have participated.

In the end, the owner divides her piece when it has gone around into Fat Quarters and each member of the group gets a piece. I love the concept!

I've been holding on to several yards of Radiance PDF which is 45% silk and 55% cotton. I have been waiting for warmer weather to dye it, but last time it was warm, was, well, I can't remember. So I gave it a try last night and did some immersion dyeing with Dharma's Fiber Reactive Dye #47 Chartreuse. I dyed two yards, and stepped them into the bath to see what gradation I would get. I actually liked the second piece that didn't get as much dye, but they both turned out very nice.

I'm sending it off today - which wouldn't have been possible if it hadn't been for my friend Lisa. I misplaced my Soda Ash, and everyone knows you can't dye fabric without it. Any way, it was fun and I love petting my new fabric.

Here are some pictures. It is very hard to capture the sheen, when laying flat, so I have it folded and you can see the depth of the fabric and sheen. It really looks like silk. Love depth of color in the piece. It is very rich looking. I can't wait to see what will be done when I get this back.

Winter Quiltette Challenge

Finally finished working on the challenge for the Miami Valley Art Quilt Network Winter Quiltette Challenge. I'm giving it away today, so had to delay the posting so no one knows what it looks like. I had fun with this little quilt.

It is 6.75" x 8.75" and is made from fabrics in my stash (mostly Ginny Beyer fabrics.) I have also added raw edge applique using a new technique that I am loving. More about that later. I've also embellished it with beads. It has a little southwest flavor to me, but I think that is because of the fabric I chose for the vase. I also use my new couching foot that I just got for my new Bernina 820. (Wonder when a machine quits being new?) This is quilted with Rayon and Cotton thread on my machine also. I decided to bind it with a couched yarn, since this quilt has an irregular shape. I hope you like it.

Thread Painting

Last night I finished up a "thread painting" which was discussed in the Art Quilt Workbook. I decided to create a frog quilt since this is the next challenge in our Art Quilt Network group. I started my quilt about a week ago and I loved the process! It was so very much fun. I don't think I would have been as happy if I had a limited selection of thread, but as it turns out, last year I bought a Guterman thread case/sampler with about a hundrend spools of thread in every color. Lots to choose from - it was perfect. Green is one of my favorite colors so I had even more choices.

I also felt very free to use raw edge applique with the thread work. I didn't use an adhesive to "glue" the fabric on my base - instead, I placed the untrimmed, loose fabric scraps (right side facing out) with the thread painting stacked next as I used the outline of the frog and stitched from the back of my work to applique the piece in place. Then working from the front, I trimmed the applique close to the stitched edge with scissors. Later, as I quilting the piece, I ran over most of the raw edges. It looks secure, yet not glued down. It has some dimension.

Something I learned about this is that the thread tension will change as you layer each thread color. Also, I used a vintage linen napkin as my base and I loved the softness of the napkin, but it had a tendency to shrink in - even though I used a heavy interfacing to stablize the work. I had read in "Quilting Arts" that for interesting colors, you could use two threads at once, but I was not successful at this. I found that it looked better and was more painterly to use the threads individually. I also found that I got different results with the same two colors depending on which thread was sewn first. I will definitely do this again, but I'll probably dye my base before starting. I loved the vintage linen, so I will be visiting antique shops soon for more of these wonderful canvas fabrics. Anyway, very fun!!! Give it a try.