Very Scary

Someone broke into our house last night while I was on the computer posting yesterdays bird. OK, they didn't exactly break in - they pranced through my UNLOCKED dining room door. I did hear a sort of clumpy sound but exercised my usual ostrich coping strategy when I hear a funny sound at night. After about 2 minutes of being an ostrich I decided I really did hear something and I should look into it. I first noticed how damn cold it was by our front door (just off the dining room). I turned the outdoor lights on and made sure the front door was locked and made a mental note that glass doors and lots of windows are poor insulation. I went back to the computer and felt a definite draft that even an ostrich couldn't deny. OK now my heart is beating fast. I went back to the front door and noticed my dining room door was wide open and my family room door was slightly ajar. Yikes! The wind must have blown it open. No wind. I wandered through the house a bit to see if I felt a presence. I didn't. But I did decide I would be safest outside so I stood outside in absolute stillness and silence for 5 minutes until I started shivering. Should I call the police? Should I wake up my husband to help me check the house? Should I check the house myself. No. No. and Yes. I am not brave I am an idiot! I found nothing and felt nothing weird so I went to bed. Pillow over my head. Cell phone on the nightstand.

I woke up (5am)to my husband yelling (I wear ear plugs to bed) "Where's my wallet"? Right away, straight from a deep sleep I said "The person who came into our house last night took it".

At first light I found the wallet and credit cards strewn about our yard. Only the Blackberry was missing. Very scary, especially considering our house is somewhat isolated and we have lots of windows with no curtains.

Anyway, to the quilting. It seems appropriate to post this scary Hawaiian applique. My tutor is quite happy that I tried so many ways to find a way to enjoy this technique. Satin stitch-too flat and factory like. Fused- flat and dead appearance. Raw edge-like this best. Needle turn applique- too many narrow and sharp corners, usually I like applique. I have yet to hand embroider one of the fused sections. This is one activity and sample that I happily bury in the strata of samples.

Mola Bird

This picture of driftwood was taken during our boat trip to Desolation Sound this summer. I like the quilting potential of the cracks. The bird shape was an after the fact bonus. The history of molas and the colourful outfits of the Kuna Indians (First Nations?) of the San Blas Islands off the coast of Panama captured my interest. Molas (literally meaning blouse) are generally extremely complex layers of colour and pattern. The designs range from complex geometric patterns to primitive animal shapes and everything in between, often all on one piece. The freedom of design and brilliant colours are a big lure for me. Molas are usually 13"X16" and come in pairs, one for the front of the blouse and one for the back. I wanted to use a flowered blouse in background like some of the images shown on this website. But the directions for this activity said to create a 2 colour mola http://www.galenfrysinger.com/mola_panama.htm

I extracted a version of the mola bird from the driftwood quite quickly; took a smidge longer to pick the colours and one hour to baste the layers around the motif. By the time all was said and done I forgot to watch the Survivor finale. I am really enjoying this technique. He looks a bit silly right now but I have hopes he will improve. A tail and legs will help.

I wish I knew how to get a photo in the middle of posts.

Broderie Perse Ginkgos

I always feel like I am getting caught up in my blogging. This post is 'what's up' almost right now. The objective of this City and Guild activity is to apply broderie perse applique technique to hand stamped leaves.

I used Setacolor fabric paint and a stamp made out of crafters' foam. The stamp is actual ginkgo leaf size. The stamping took place over a fews days. Day One: I stamped yellow and green on white fabric and let it dry thoroughly. I tried scoring some veins into the foam which helped a small bit.

Day Two: I wanted to get a bit of colour variation, but not too much. Ginkgos seem to go from chartreuse to brilliant yellow over night. I got into the red paint! I couldn't help myself. I wanted to try and get a brown fringe on the yellow but it didn't work. I noticed a watery wash helped to define the grooved veins a bit better.

Arrangement: I was fixated on using the centre threesome. I first tried circling the centre with another ring with all stems shortened, facing the centre, and tucked under the centre leaves. I hated to cut off the nice straight stems so I 180'd them to get the stems radiating out. Much more interesting to my eye.

Background: The blue fabric resulted from a very short audition. I just liked the combination. I see the stems hang off a bit. Oh well. Now to fine tune the arrangement before 'wonderundering' the lot. I am not sure how to finish the edges. My machine goes in for servicing tomorrow so I may practice a few hand embroidery stitches I recently learned.

Very Scary Hawaiian Applique

Traditional Hawaiian applique is not for me! First of all, I blame the colour choice on Halloween - when I started this. The only thing I enjoyed about this activity was cutting out the 'snowflakes'. Even this I should have paid more attention to as my motif is very irregular from one quadrant to the next. My lack of excitement over this activity explains why it has sat with the last 3" of applique unfinished for 7 weeks!

Applique experiments:

1. Needle turn hand applique. I tried following the stitching line that we used to outline the motif and join the 2 layers of fabric together. It seemed like I was forever stopping applique stitching and taking out these basting line stitches. Once the stitches were removed there was no line to follow. I finished one quadrant using the needle turn method prescribed, and then decided to free myself to experiment with other options in the other quadrants.

2. I used the Kate Pasquini-Masopust technique of starching the fabric and ironing the shape over a piece of posterboard to create a nice smooth edge all ready to stitch. Of course the sharp corners and tiny pieces in my motifs were challenging but at least I could enjoy the hand work somewhat.

3. Heat n Bond fusing made for a very very lifeless, flat look. which would have to be salvaged with stitching or embellishment. Satin stitch makes it look factory made.

4. Raw edge applique was the closest I got to satisfaction. Once I trim the edges better, (need to get some nice sharp small scissors) I think it leaves the most interesting look.

This is one activity I would be happy to leave unfinished, but we have to do some echo quilting. I have heard that hand quilting is quite unpleasant on batik.

Now to get at my mola design which I am very excited about. The broderie perse ginkgo is also proving fun and I can't wait to get at the isometric exercise. I'm loving the photo I have chosen for the isometric colour exercise and English paper piecing exercise to follow.

Flower Fossil Applique

I loved doing this C&G Heat n' Bond applique even though the fossil/shells turned out stiff as boards. I felt the embroidered edge was too fancy for the shell. So the sample sat for a week. But, the exercise called for machine stitches so eventually I went with fancy edges and lots of different patterns, thread and colour. The stitching went like magic. No breaks, bad tension or stripped threads. I started to really love the exotic look all the stitching gave the simple shell shape. The background was a struggle to find. The shells are gradations of pink and orange hand dyed fabrics. I was fixated on using a background that used similar gradation values in blue or green. It just wasn't working. This corally looking piece materialized one afternoon. Without a lot of thinking (for a change) I just added in a few of the brilliant green and blue blocks to meet the '4 patch' requirement for the exercise.

There are more and better quality images at my flickr page. Click on flickr badge on the right side of these posts.

Comments and Picture

Success -I got my picture onto my blog page. The box that accepts the copied url from my computer was operational this time. It took about 1 minute. Patience is definitely helpful on learning curves.
I've noticed the 'comment' section has been missing in the last couple of weeks. Whoopsy, I inadvertently hid the comments. I think it is fixed now for future posts. This post is the test.
I started a wish list of quilting books. This could be a handy place to keep a list of novels I want to read and ones that I have read. However, between flickr and blog surfing, my reading time has vanished.

Tie With Flow

The self imposed Bargello quilting deadline has been removed. Now I can enjoy coming up with a quilting plan and then enjoy the quilting without the ridiculous idea that I must get this done by a certain date hovering over me.

I have always envisioned a turquoise something and leaf shapes flowing through the Bargello strata stream. I abandonned the idea when I saw the huge size of the quilt. This tie is all I needed to spark my enthusiasm. While purchasing the substitute birthday gift - a sports jacket, I spotted this tie. The helpful sales clerk took it in stride when I asked her permission to photograph the tie. A first apparently! The flowing lines in the tie are just what I have had in mind all along. Now to adapt the lines to quilt size. I have to be careful to keep the quilting even and not too dense. I want this quilt to stay cuddly not stiff like a chunk of carpeting.

Mountain of Thread

I removed this mountain of thread last Sunday. It took 3 hours! Would it have really mattered if I had left them there? The black minkee, wool and top are all spray adhesived together. I have no idea how I want to quilt this. To get it finished by the 12th, I was going to quilt straight channels in the border and follow the curve of the bargello. BORING... to look at and to execute. For now, I stitched the perimeter of the interior to keep that straight and square. I also quilted in the ditch around the narrow border. The straightness of the borders are killing any creative thoughts that enter my head. The borders are a prison for the cente of the quilt. The quilt looks really great laying on the bed in the guest room while I work out a quilting plan.