adventures of a quilting diva

Here’s my latest quilt, “Magritte and Me” (17″x23″). I created it for the FFFC Challenge #46, Geology with Unexpected Color.

I really love working with the little paintbrush strokes of fabric. It’s relaxing and fun to do and I like the way it turns out. I have several more ideas for this method of fusible applique quilt that I want to try.

Here’s a detail shot of the castle. This quilt is completely in hand dyed fabric. There are 3 different hand dyed whites. Painters will tell you that there is a difference between white paints and it’s the same with white fabric. Once it’s cut up into bits, you can’t always tell which is which until you place them side by side. Then you can easily see this one is a blue white, that one is a yellow white, and the other is a pink white.

I originally painted the reproduction below  for an exercise in a painting class. My reference was one of those little color plates in a fine art book. Remember when fine art books had those sections of color plates in the middle? If you were actually reading the text you always had to flip back and forth between the pages to see what the author was talking about. You can see a print of the original Le Chateau Des Pyrenees by Rene Magritte on Amazon.

I’m not sure what Magritte’s meaning of The Castle in the Pyrenees is. I read somewhere that he made it for a friend. I liked the image well enough to stare at it for hours on end while working on it, so I chose it for my original assignment and once again for this challenge.

“To be a surrealist means barring from your mind all remembrance of what you have seen, and being always on the lookout for what has never been.” ~ René Magritte

Earlier this month I went to a guild meeting and saw a lecture by Tammie Bowser (www.mosaicquilt.com). She’s the one who does those fabulous photo quilts that are made up of pixels of fabric. You could say I got bit by the picture quilt bug so I tried my hand at a picture quilt of my own. But I didn’t want to use pixels. I was thinking more along the lines of brush strokes of fabric.

Coincidentally while reorganizing my studio I came across this acrylic study I did some 20 years ago. Like a quilter warming up on a practice sandwich before stitching on the real quilt, painters also warm up before hitting the real canvas. When I found it I knew immediately what the subject of my picture quilt would be.

And here’s the final result. It’s done with random pieces of fabric stuck to Lite Steam A Seam 2 on a fusible interfacing background. (My personal preference for this kind of quilt is the Lite, but Regular Steam A Seam 2 works in a pinch.) It’s completely done with fabric. No paints, inks, or thread were used to add detail. I quilted the picture part with invisible thread so it would give texture and hold the layers together without altering the colors of the fabric.

No Paints Were Harmed in the Making of This Quilt
©2010 by Laura West Kong

I was so charmed by this quilt that I started another one just a few days later. Unfortunately in the process I used up my complete supply of both Lite and Regular Steam A Seam 2, so quilt #2 is at a standstill for now. Considering that the lecture was less than 2 weeks ago and I’ve already finished 1-1/2 picture quilts, you shouldn’t have to wait very long for me to finish the second quilt once I get to the store.

The second quilt is also from an already painted study, but when I’m finished with that one I plan on doing a real-life still life directly with fabric as if I were painting, no photography. There’s something special about working from still life and live models that you don’t get from photographic references. I don’t know what it is, but I miss it.

In a way it’s a good thing that I ran out of all my Steam A Seam 2. Otherwise I would have been tempted to stick Steam A Seam 2 onto my entire stash and cut it all up into random pieces. Then I wouldn’t be able to make any other kinds of quilts. I suppose I could go fabric shopping then, and I would have a grand selection of fabric “paint”, so that wouldn’t be all bad.

happy quilting! ^_^

It’s a beautiful weekend for an art show. If there are none near you, you’re not out of luck. Here’s part two of your virtual tour of Fiber 2010. (Click here for part one)

Destinations – 2007 (Fiber, 25″x21″)
Cindy Rinne

Destinations – detail
I love the way Cindy’s poetry and fiber art go hand in hand!

Earth, Air, Fire, Water – 2007 (Fiber & wood, 50″x72″)
Regina Vorgang

Awaken – 2009 (Fiber mixed media, 13″x23″)
Maureen M. Cox

Midnight – 2008 (Wool, indigo, 12″x19″)
Michael F. Rohde

Possibilities – 2008 (Art quilt, 24.5″x19.5″)
Charlotte S. Bird

Entwined Copper Midnight – 2009 (Woven wire & copper, 24″x66″x5″)
Susan McGehee

Entwined Copper Midnight – detail
It’s amazing how fabric-like the copper and wire becomes!

Salt Wells – 2009 (Textile, 40″x14″)
Deborah Weir

Burnout Sampler – 2009 (Cotton; pieced, burnt, hand & machine stitching, 14″x15″)
Susan Lasch Krevitt

Burnout Sampler – detail
Check out the way the fabric is mounted on the gallery canvas, so lovely!

And now for some really non-traditional art materials:

Sorry Try Again – 2008 (Mixed Media, 18″x18″)
Susan Lasch Krevitt

Bound to Happen – 2009 (Metal, 24″x24″)
Meredith Strauss

Bound to Happen – detail
Clever use of binder clips, one of my all-time favorite office supplies, now art supply!

Thanks for joining me on my virtual fiber art show. I hope you enjoyed it. Don’t forget to sign the virtual guest book.

Have a creative day!

Recently I had a whole day to myself to work on quilts. So I decided to try out my new batik pen (see #2 here). I started out with a 24 x 20″ piece of white Kona Cotton and played around to see what it could do. I was so pleased with the results that I decided to turn it into a finished quilt.

Here’s the top, ready for quilting and embellishing:The side borders are a case of measure twice but cut some random too-short length that has nothing whatsoever to do with what I measured at all. Don’t you love it when mistakes make things turn out better than they would have been otherwise?

Here’s a detail of my doodling. I melted broken crayon bits to make the lines, then filled in the empty spaces with watered-down acrylic paints. I wonder if I would have been so carefree if I had known I was going to turn it into something in the end?

Because every binding should be fantabulous, check out my Easy Lesson article in the April/May 2010 issue of Quilters Newsletter Magazine, Bead-Dazzled Bindings.

Find out how to make the embellished binding in my Zéphirine Drouhin and Latte quilts (Latte shown at right). Or take my new workshop, Bling Your Bindings! and learn eight fun embellished binding techniques.

If you’re looking for the QNM Online Extra step-by-step photos of my silk dyeing adventures, click here.

It’s true, I’ve been taking a vacation from blogging, but that doesn’t mean I’ve forgotten about my blog. I’ve been busy collecting new inspirations and ideas to share with you!

Here’s a peek at one of the most exciting things I’ve been doing recently: taping some episodes for the Creative Living with Sheryl Borden Show.

I thought it would be a breeze, since I’m used to teaching quilting and crafting techniques, but there are a few significant differences between TV and the live classroom. For one, your time limit is minutes, not hours. And two, if you mess up, you have to start all over from the very beginning. But Sheryl made the taping easy and fun, so I wasn’t stressed at all. I’m so excited to share my fabric cover-button techniques in hi-def!

dressing your coffee cup in style

blooming button jewelry to embellish clothes & quilts

vintage fabric fabric cover-button crafts

fun fabric appliques for card making & scrapbooking

These segments will air on Creative Living in 2011, but I’ll give you a YouTube preview soon!

Got boring fabric? Try some fabric painting fun to jazz it up a bit and turn it into something you actually WANT to use! Here’s the technique I’m giving a demo on at the Craft & Hobby Association’s 2010 Winter Trade Show today:

1. Start with some boring fabric. If you’re going to use it to make my fabric-painted rosettes, then cut it to be 18″ long. The piece below is about 9″ or 10″ by 18″. The enamel tray is great for containing the mess. Otherwise, you could cover your surface with freezer paper or plastic. (Tape it down taut for a smooth finish.)



2. Using a 1″ paintbrush and Liquitex Soft Body Acrylic Paint (the ones in the plastic jars) make random diagonal brushstrokes across the fabric. I used Brilliant Purple here. Dip the paint brush in a little water if you wish, but don’t use too much water at this point because you want to have some opaque areas that block the pattern and some translucent ones that let the pattern peek through. See the lighter sections of purple in the brushstrokes below? That’s where the paint is not watered down. This will dry opaque and cover the pattern. The darker parts of the brushstrokes with the pattern showing through have less paint and more water.
3. Now add more water to the paint to make a thinner consistency and cover the entire piece of fabric with a thin coat of paint. You can leave a few scattered sections of fabric unpainted if you wish.
4. Add in some more thicker areas of paint.
5. Use a stencil to add some bling. I used Liquitex Soft Body Acrylic in Iridescent Rich Gold. I’m stenciling right on the already wet/damp fabric. This will make the pattern slightly less distinct, but more interesting. The water also holds the stencil in place so it makes things easier in that respect: you don’t have to worry about the stencil shifting. Place it straight down, dab the paint into the holes, and lift it straight up again. Repeat as desired.



6. Next comes stamping. Use a paint brush to apply paint to foam stamps. Use less paint for a distressed look or completely cover the stamp for a complete image. If you start out with more paint you can stamp multiple times before reloading with paint and get ghost images. Just don’t put so much paint on the stamp that it oozes over the edges of the stamp. Stamp some images while the paint is still wet and then wait till it dries (or use a hair dryer like I do to speed up the process) and stamp some more to get distinct edges. Notice how the some of the purple checks are fuzzy. They were stamped onto wet fabric. The distinct checks were stamped after the fabric was dry.
7. Finally use a small paintbrush on dry fabric to add details. Outline bits and pieces of the design showing through as well as some of the images you stamped, or just doodle.

Voila! Now you have a fun piece of fabric to use for quilting, embellishing, and more! It would make a fabulous background for ATCs (artist trading cards) or fabric postcards. It would be great for an art quilt, but not so much for a quilt you’d want to snuggle with. Depending on how thickly you apply the paint, the fabric can come out a bit stiff. On the positive side, the painted fabric has more body and resists raveling. Tune in tomorrow to find out what I made with this piece of painted fabric (and get a tutorial too!)

Want more fabric painting fun? Check out Judi Hurwitt’s Rescuing Ugly Fabric post at the Approachable Art blog.

While I enjoy the big picture looking at paintings and quilts, what I am most intrigued by are the close-up details: the brush strokes and stitches, the weave of the fabric and the facets of the embellishments. So direct from Ontario, California, I bring you a close-up look at the details of a few of my favorite quilts. I hope you are as fascinated and inspired as I am by these intricate works of art from Road to California 2010.

Vases by Suzanne Marshall, MO

What I love most about Suzanne’s prize-winning quilt is the way she outlined each applique piece with hand embroidery.

The Sky’s the Limit by Linda MacDougall, CA

Linda MacDougall pays such attention to each exquisite detail in all her quilts. (Her Garden Party quilt won 2nd place in the Innovative Traditional category. You should be able to see it and the other winners soon on the Road to California website.) Notice the beads and crystals she used for the tiniest ice cream scoops.

I also like the way the iridescent sheer changes the colors of the fabric underneath it.

Flowers Galore by Cindy Shoop, CA

These pieced center circles look like stacked cover buttons or dimensional applique. It really makes a difference compared to plain circles.

Inner Beauty by Cathleen Miller, NM

Look at how the trapunto flowers and leaves tie the appliqued borders into the rest of this magnificent quilt.

When you take a closer look, you’ll see that it’s details like these that take a great quilt and make it a fantastic quilt! Visit the Road to California website to see photos of the rest of this year’s winning quilts.

Donut beads are some of my favorite jewelry components. They also make fab art quilt embellishments. Here are a selection from my bead stash: clockwise from top center, 25mm Amethyst, 15mm Unakite, 14mm Green Aventurine, 20mm New Jade, 15mm Red Aventurine, 10mm Red Aventurine, 10mm New Jade, 15mm Leopardskin Jasper, 20mm New Jade (all donuts shown are from Fire Mountain Gems and Beads).There are 2 easy ways you can attach donut beads to a quilt without glue:
1). sew them to the quilt top with decorative thread or floss
2). hang them from a beaded dangle

Donuts as Surface Embellishment

Simply stitch through the donut’s hole with your favorite topstitching or pearl thread. You could even use fancy embroidery stitches or nylon beading thread and seed beads to stitch the stone donut down.

When beading a dangle, instead of using a single seed bead at the end of the dangle for a stop bead, string on enough beads to hold the stone donut and then bring the needle and thread back up through the rest of the beads on the dangle.
Donut beads are also made from glass, metal, shell and much more. What’s more, donut beads are calorie-free! =(^_^)=

Here’s a quick little Fast Friday Fabric Challenge quilt I made just this week, “Breaking Free” (18″ x14″). You can read the “Making Of” story here.
Letting the quilt take me where it wanted to go was like a breath of fresh air. It was relaxing to just let go of that controlling urge for a few days and enjoy making a quilt that I had only the vaguest sense of where it was headed and what it might look like in the end. Summer quilting at its best, just as captivating as a good novel and no seam rippers allowed.

Don’t get me wrong, I still enjoy a good technical challenge. I completely understand the drive to be precise, after all I studied graphic design back in the dark ages when “cut and paste” was not cute little icons on your computer screen, but an actual X-Acto blade and wax stick. Then there are the rulers: my most precise quilter’s ruler measures to the 16th inch. In graphic design we measured by 1/72 inch. In varying degrees I carry this obsession with me into my quilter’s studio.
Now my challenge is to find a balance between instinct & freedom on one hand and precision & planning on the other. And maybe its not one perfect ratio to fit all, but knowing how much of each element is best for each individual quilt.