art quilts

quilt-cation fabrications

August 19, 2011 by laura west kong · Leave a Comment

On a proper quilt-cation, you cannot simply lie on the beach even if you think about quilts the whole time. You also need to make a quilt. Starting a UFO is OK too, even preferable to making an entire quilt, because there is much less stress involved when there is no firm deadline to finish. You can just play!

The hat above is part of the quilt top that I worked (ahem, played) on while on quilt-cation. (Photoshopped for secrecy. I’m not ready to reveal more just yet…)

I used the same painting with fusible fabric technique that I used on No Paints Were Harmed in the Making of this Quilt and Magritte and Me. Now I’m back to work, even in my quilting studio, so I’ll continue on this particular quilt Labor Day weekend for a mini quilt-cation.

A very important detail when planning a quilt-cation is fabric. Here’s my suitcase of quilt-cation fabric. I hand-carried it with me onto the plane because it would definitely be a disaster if the fabric got lost along the way.

THE FABRIC I BROUGHT

Most of that is what I packed and brought, although I did order 8 or 10 yards online and had it shipped to my destination. I bought some irresistible batiks at Quilt Lovers’ Hangout in Fort Myers, Florida as well.

There is a delicate balance when packing fabric for a quilt-cation. You don’t want to be in the middle of a project and realize the exact piece you need is still in your stash at home, but you don’t want to pack your entire stash either, even if you could fit it all into a suitcase. And you definitely want to leave some room for the fabulous fabric that you will find at the local quilt shops near your destination.

Luckily there was just enough room in the suitcase to fit all my fabric for the return trip. Expandable suitcases are great for this, but in case of fabric shopping overload you can always mail your extra fabric back home.

But the real question is, how much of that quilt-cation fabric did I actually use? For my quilt-cation project, 8×10 inch pieces, not 1/2 and 1-yard cuts would have been more than sufficient. I’ll know better next time…

THE FABRIC I USED

Happy quiltcation!

How do you pack for a quilt-cation? What kinds of projects do you like to make?

Read more:
Quilt-cation
Quilt-cation inspirations

Filed Under: art quilts, fabric shopping, fabric stash, work in progress ·

long beach highlights

August 7, 2011 by laura west kong · Leave a Comment

And now for the quilts (IQA Long Beach 2011)…

I love this fun tree quilt from the West Coast Wonders 2011 exhibit. It’s neat how you can peek through the leaves. Scroll down to see the wildlife on the back side.

California Beauty
by Felisa C. Lyons
La Habra Heights, CA

From the Hands All Around 2010: International Quilts is a candy-colored applique picture quilt. What a yummy stash Rachel must have!

Village in Galilee
by Rachel Covo
Ramat Hasharon, Israel

And here’s an amazing yo-yo quilt from the Festival Gallery of Quilt Art: Wonders of the World. Be sure to take a look at the detail below the quilt. Painting a picture with yo-yos would be a fun and challenging technique to try. Making all those yo-yos would also be a great take-along project.

Grace
by Shin-hee Chin
McPherson, Kansas

This year I white gloved at the SAQA exhibits, Creative Force 2010 and Sightlines. On my two-hour shift it was my privilege to not only share these beautiful quilts with visitors, but also to get to know the quilts better myself.

Sometimes at quilt shows we get so caught up in seeing everything that we don’t really see what we’re looking at before we snap a photo and rush on to the next wonderful thing so we can take it all in and finish our shopping before the bus leaves. It’s refreshing to take a deep breath, relax, slow down, and examine each detail with your own eyes.

Here’s a video from Luana Rubin of eQuilter.com showing some highlights of these two SAQA exhibits when they were at IQA Houston 2010. See more quilt show videos on the eQuilter video webpage. Or you can check the SAQA exhibitions webpage to find out if these exhibits are coming to a venue near you.

And finally a quote from quilt artist Desiree Habicht, whose quilt was displayed in The Space Between exhibit (Like the SAQA exhibits, no photography was allowed, but the quote is almost as lovely as her quilt).

“In art, the space between allows us a place to rest our eyes. In life it can be the calm between the storms or events. The space between can refer to a positive or negative or a reflection of what is really there.”

Filed Under: applique, art quilts, International Quilt Festival, virtual quilt show tours ·

crayon fun!

April 22, 2011 by laura west kong · 1 Comment

Spring by Laura West Kong

A quilt for Earth Day! Spring was made using the Waxmelter Batik Pen, a fun and green way to use up broken crayon bits. (You wouldn’t want those broken crayons to go to waste, now would you?)

Broken crayons go in the top …

(This is the Waxmelter Batik Pen)

…melted wax comes out the bottom.

(The art comes from YOU!)

Color inside the wax-outlined shapes with thin, flowing paints such as watered-down acrylics, silk fabric paint, etc. or dip it into some cold-water fabric dye. The crayon wax acts like a resist to keep the paint where it belongs.

After the fabric dries you can remove the wax by ironing the fabric between sheets of newsprint or paper towels. The heat of the iron melts the wax and the paper soaks it up. The colored lines stay behind! Or if you’re not going to wash it, you can leave the wax right where it is. The wax lines give a neat dimensional element for an art quilt. You can melt regular batik wax, too. I’ve also decorated Easter eggs with my batik pen. Find out more about the Waxmelter Batik Pen and other wax melting tools at the Wax Melting Tools by Twisteez Wire website.

About Crayons
You probably don’t want to use those free restaurant crayons in your batik pen. Some of them got mixed up in my broken crayon box. See the difference below:

Notice the blue and green lines on the left. See the clear areas in the lines and lack of complete color coverage? That because cheap crayons don’t have as much pigment as better quality crayons do. Good crayons have more pigment and will give you bright, clear colors on paper as well as on fabric. The batik pen is easier to use with good crayons too. Sometimes the cheap crayon wax is really thin when melted and can flood out of the tip. The red and blue lines on the right probably didn’t come from children’s menu crayons. If I were to remove the wax off the samples above, the one on the left would certainly leave a greasy stain behind.

If you want some really fabulous crayons, try Prang Soy Crayons. The paraffin wax in regular crayons comes from petroleum, these are made from soy. They’re environmentally friendly, that’s why I’m telling you about them on Earth Day. But that’s not why I LOVE them … I love them because they are smooth, rich, and vibrant. They’re creamy and blend-able without a waxy buildup. I use mine for those cute vintage-y picture quilts that are hand embroidered with a stem stitch and then colored in the lines with crayons.

My Crayon Kitty. I should really finish up the rest of these blocks. Maybe I’ll make that my Earth Day project!

Share your comments or Earth Day projects!

More Eco-Posts!
Tip Tuesday: Give Blood … Get Thimbles
Muse Monday: Quilt A Memory
Bottle Cap Pincushion
Quilt Green 2009
Quilt-Cycle

Filed Under: art quilts, fabric painting, my finished quilts, recycle/upcycle, tips ·

breezy

March 4, 2011 by laura west kong · 3 Comments

Here’s a quilt I started in 2006, Breezy. It was a challenge quilt for FFFC and was supposed to take a week to finish. This was one of those “my eyes are bigger than my stomach” situations. It actually took more like 4 years to complete, mostly because I was hand appliqueing the wool felt petals with a few too many strands of rayon embroidery floss … if 1 strand is good, 4 strands are better, right?

Breezy
by Laura West Kong

So last fall I took it out of the UFO hangar, finished up the remaining hand applique and proceeded on to a much more enjoyable step: hand sashiko quilting with topstitching thread. Now I’m sharing the photos with you. Hope that it brightens your day!

Breezy, detail

Add a comment

Filed Under: applique, art quilts, Fast Friday Fabric Challenge, hand quilting, my finished quilts, UFOs ·

magritte and me

July 26, 2010 by laura west kong · 4 Comments

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

Filed Under: applique, art quilts, Fast Friday Fabric Challenge, my finished quilts ·

no paints were harmed in the making of this quilt

June 29, 2010 by laura west kong · 10 Comments

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! ^_^

Filed Under: art quilts, my finished quilts ·

virtual fiber art show

May 14, 2010 by laura west kong · 5 Comments

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!

Filed Under: art quilts, virtual quilt show tours ·

wip wednesday: spring!

March 31, 2010 by laura west kong · 6 Comments

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: spring-top 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? spring-detail

Filed Under: art quilts, fabric painting ·

bead-dazzled bindings!

March 15, 2010 by laura west kong · 3 Comments

binding-bling 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.

Filed Under: art quilts, my finished quilts, quilt embellishment ·

living creatively!

February 20, 2010 by laura west kong · 4 Comments

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