It's that time again... the time where I forget that days are marching past me with alarming speed (I swear Asheville is a time hole, things go faster here than anywhere else I've lived) and I have a day off in which to fritter away a few more minutes and add some photos here.

A while back I created this Lone Star... it's hanging in the shop right now (as some of you know), and I still intend to create an actual pattern for it. The whole thing, cutting and all, came together over the course of 3 or 4 evenings, much faster than I expected. I have a Lone Star ruler that I bought maybe 10 years ago, not long after I started quilting, with dreams of making a big beautiful star of my own. And then I chickened out. For, well, about 10 years.


In truth it was pretty straight forward to assemble... I had read some warnings in the past about stretching on the bias and ending up with a "bra cup" effect in the center of the star. Yeah, it happened-- but not in a really awful way, and I think it'll quilt out when I get to that point. Ha ha. I'm planning to make this bigger once it comes home, so that we can use it on the bed. Right now it's about 60" square, so I'm thinking smaller versions of the star in 3/4 sections around the corners, with simple filler to connect them.

Doesn't make sense? I'll try to remember to post what I designed in EQ, once I figure out how to export the image.


Moving on...
In the endless parade of Gwen's Friends Having Babies, I came across this awesome tutorial for a diaper bag at the blog A Mingled Yarn. Her directions are easy to follow, measurements came out just right (any problem spots I had were due entirely to my inability to just leave well enough alone, at least the first time out) and it's a good size. I think. Rob called it the MomJeans of purses, but then, that's kind of the idea.

There are a few things I'll likely change in a more definitive way on the next go-round, as this one was more a test/sample than anything else; the batik I had on had from who knows when, and the lining was some super-cheapy stuff I picked up a while back. She recommends using vinyl or vinylized fabric for the interior, which I will look for on the next one. I had to double up on the interfacing in most spots just to give it some body, and the vinyl will probably help that. I'd like to also make the strap an adustable length, but I'm having trouble finding the hardware I had in mind, so we'll see.

Under the flap...

So the hunt for a diaper bag pattern was brought on by my best friend's upcoming bundle of love; not only do I think she needs something more interesting and snazzy than the stuff readily available all over, I also think her man should have a bag of his own to carry. And what could make it better than something simple, messenger-bag-like, and featuring logo(s) from favorite teams? Yeah.

Inside the bag...

At first I had a fit of insanity and considered making an applique version of the Blackhawks logo. Then I regained my sanity and realized that even if I can't find a patch already made, I'm resourceful enough to find a solution that won't make me regret ever coming up with the idea.

Now I just need to find a fabric that will hold up to the kind of abuse guys tend to give bags.


While that project stews-- she's not due for several more months yet-- I've been busy with other platefuls of fabric.

Working on one the first quilts I'm quilting for someone else (that is to say, not my quilt). It's coming along quite nicely and I'm really pretty happy. This is also the first time I'm using a piece of the wideback fabric from the store, rather than a pieced back, and it is WAY easier. I don't have to worry so much about trying to square things up; just run the selvedge edges on the bars and I'm good to go.

The batting this time is the Dream Green from Quilter's Dream, which is made from recycled plastic bottles. So far it's feeling really good! Nice to stitch through. I'm really curious to see how it looks after washing, since the fabrics in this quilt weren't prewashed, and I can't imagine much if any shrinkage from recycled plastic bottles.

To keep my brain occupied while I'm running the machine, I've been listening to movies. (I've already gone through all seven Harry Potter audiobooks, and can't bring myself to start them over again. Yet.) I have a few that we've captured the audio from ourselves-- Rob has a way with these things-- but lately I've been going through this site, since my own movie collection is pretty small.

Listening to just the audio is kind of nice-- it doesn't work well with every movie, since you have to have either decent dialouge, good soundtracks, or some great foley & special effects work (scenes of dramatic tension translate about as well as visual gags on radio shows) but on the whole it gives your mind something to follow without the temptation to stop what you're doing just to watch.

Last but not least...
I'm a new Ciocia once again, as my older brother and his wife added to their family last week. Yay!
And while a baby quilt is in the plans, this new neice's older sisters are going to need a little love too. And as we weren't a part of their world when they first entered it, there's a certain lack of quilt happening that just can't continue. The trick is making something for 13-year-olds that is fun now, but won't look childish in a few years when they're awesome high schoolers.

Whew. That's a scary thought.
So I've come up with my own design, and have been cutting pieces from my stash (they'll be scrappy, I haven't done a good scrappy quilt in a while) while we watch movies and things. The photo has my sample blocks for the two quilts (one in darker tones, one in lighter tones). I'm trying to also get the scrap bins under control, so this is a good way to use up pieces. From what's left after the pieces for the current quilts are cut, I've been cutting assorted squares, in half-inch steps, just to have on hand and cut down the clutter. Keeping the range between 2" and 6" right now, and any odd bits after that are getting tossed. It's harder than I thought it would be to just LET IT GO and put those weird-shaped too-tiny bits in the trash, but it's gotta happen some time.

That's all for now... I should be sewing instead.

Well, here it is March already...

I've stacked up a big pile (electronically speaking) of photos that I've been meaning to put on here, and just hadn't been feeling up to writing. You would think I'd know better by now. *You* don't need words! Just pictures are fine!

Kidding.

I spent much of January thinking about a post concerning resolutions, which I don't believe in. Everybody knows the truth behind those harbingers of failure... resolutions are just a route to making ourselves feel grumpy about the way we *wish* our lives were going.

So I don't do resolutions.

I do goals.

And if it takes the whole year to achieve that goal, well, it's one less month than it might have taken otherwise. Sound a little cheesy? Yeah, it is. Backfires? Yeah, sometimes. And sometimes my interest in said goal is totally different at the end of the year. As in, no longer a goal. But that's okay too.

One goal for this year is to get friendly with my bread machine... my very first attempt was so dense and dry that I could hardly break it apart to give to the birds. But I'm ready to jump into it again, and early success is always encouraging. These were from a first attempt at the cinnamon roll dough recipe... I meant to try to set it so the dough would start mixing before I woke up, and I'd be able to roll them and bake them after taking the dog out, but the machine started anyway. So I made cinnamon rolls at 1 a.m.

And another goal, a two-parter: get my sweetie to finish the cabinet that will be crowned with this gorgeous lid...

and set it up with stitchy goods. It was meant to go in the room with Annabel Lee, but I think it might have to stay upstairs because I love the tile too much for it to sit where visitors aren't likely to see it. (The tile came from the Grovewood Gallery, the top is quartersawn oak with darker inset, I think it's walnut).

And an old (cough) friend! This damn thing refuses to speak to me and give an indication of what it might want in order to bloom the way it ought to, but I've about had it and will start forcing it to eat its peas any moment. I keep tweaking it and waiting for a response... I think it's destined for some background stitching next. If nothing else, that will make it easier to add additional branch-and-leaf layers.

In the meantime, I've launched into another piece. Trying a different shape, proportionally, with specific imagery and subject matter in mind. We'll see how that works out. There's a fair bit left to be added, but since I sat on the floor with some fabric glue and tacked everything into place last night while chatting with my fantastically awesome sister, I thought I'd share a snapshot with you. This one was started rather seat-of-the-pants, so I didn't get any fusible onto the back of the fabric before I started chopping it up (hence the fabric glue). While I much prefer the pre-fused approach for ease, the glue does a passable job holding all the pieces together until I have a chance to add some thread.

And just to prove that I'm still doing some plain ol' patchwork...

A rather hasty shot of the quilt I made for my aunt as a Christmas gift. I knew going into it that I was taking a risk... Mom doesn't have her own quilt from me yet, so sending one to her sister first could cause a ruckus. Plus, deciding 3 weeks or so before postal deadlines that a lap quilt might be fun is a bit nutty. But it came out okay, and I had it finished and all the ends snipped in time to get it mailed out to the west coast.

The pattern is from an issue of Fons & Porter's Love of Quilting from several years ago... 2004 or 2005 I think, and probably a holiday issue. The pattern is called Pumpkin Patch; I made one while we were still in Virginia, the first one I dyed fabric specifically for. I think I might have added extra rows onto this version to make it more cuddle-friendly for two-- another idea I've been playing with lately. Always seems like we end up fighting over the quilt to try to make it cover both of us all the way to the toes, so I'm thinking I need to make it more long-rectangle shape.

And I'll leave you with the scary thought of what can happen if you give me a bag of marshmallows when I have nothing else to occupy me...
MARSHMALLOW ZOMBIE.

Time flies, again...

It's been a rough few weeks over here. Trips to the animal emergency room (mysteriously all better now), trips to see family out of state, dealing with loss and grief-- and through it all, my first choice for processing everything, aside from talking things over with my dearest, is working with fabric.


I've been sketching a bit, though for me sketching to start work on new pieces can be tricky... so much of how I think and visualize is, well, less than concrete. The images are more like the blendy backgrounds and bases of scenic art than the defined lines of cut fabric, and it can be difficult to translate back and forth between them. I still wonder how different it would be to work on a backdrop now, with my glasses, able to see lines and shapes in much finer detail than I could a few years ago... someday I hope to find out. I really miss painting and the trance-like state my mind shifted to when I could sink into a project.
I guess learning to play with art-journaling ought to be a goal, teaching myself to use watercolors or at least colored pencils while I'm sketching, but that seems too... complex? If I'm going to haul out a bunch of supplies, I'd rather be doing something more than sketching. On the other hand, it might prompt me to do more work.

I've been leaning towards a one-to-one target for the studio anyway. One for me, one for X. For every shop sample or baby quilt or family gift, I can turn my attention back to artwork. For every finished art piece, I need to cross another "regular item" off the list. Considering the insane number of people I know having babies right now, this could be extremely productive.


The first quilt is off the frame and at it's new home-- forgot to get a picture once everything had been nicely clipped and tidied, but that can come later. And it's potentially a new record for me, getting the binding onto the quilt less than 24 hours after finishing the quilting. The next sample is on the frame and is currently a bit over half done, big meandered feathers this time. I'll get some photos posted once I remember where I put the camera.

Playing with some new ideas

...and trying to figure out what works. A while back I'd picked up some canvases from AC Moore (craft supplies... think Michael's, or Hobby Lobby) with half-formed thoughts of mounting pieces on them. {Still in sketch phase... I should know better than to try to take a bite out of fruit mentally, so that'll need some reworking. Or maybe un-fusing, if I can manage it.}

Instead of mounting the pieces on them directly, though, I threw a little paint on some and have been chopping up fused fabrics again. I'm torn about whether I like the feel of "composing" on the canvas, which means I'll either have to forego any stitching or do it by hand **shudder**, or if I want to set it onto some sort of loose background (as these pears are) which can still go under the machine.... to be attached in some fashion later.

Maybe with glue.

Maybe thread.

But that would involve more hand stitching.

Don't get me wrong... handwork is lovely. I'm just impatient. And indecisive. Using the machine forces me to make choices quickly, and that's a good thing for me.

On this one, I used thinned Sobo glue and stuck those suckers straight to canvas... and now am playing with arranging the pieces of branch. I've seen people put fabric & painted canvas together and seal the whole thing, with laquer or shellac maybe... but I'm not sure I want to go that route. Seeing the individual threads might get lost then.

one layout for branches...

and another layout...

And then there's this guy, back to (nearly) the front again-- originally painted the piece of background fabric before the wedding, in a misguided but well-intentioned thought that I might be able to get the whole thing assembled and bring it to Chicago for the parents. Not that it would have fit in the car with everything else we had crammed in there.

Still in progress.... there's more detailed shots of how all the little pieces fit together if you go back several posts to the bit where I was working on the big willow last year.

But first! Need to finish off a few somewhat more utilitarian things to be sent off to their new homes...

Moving on from practice...

So I like testing things out first... and though you can drive endlessly around the parking lot, practicing stops and starts and doing donuts, eventually you need to move onto the street, where there are lines to follow and cross traffic.

So to speak.

I selected a few blocks from my EQ Block Book-- mostly just classic/simple stuff-- and a sharpie, and drew them out on my scrap muslin.

It gave me something to work with, both to practice "coloring within the lines" and to see how changing a stitch design within a block can make it look.... different. Or more interesting.

And when I finally got over my fear of winding an actual project on for the first time, it went pretty smoothly. Took forever, yes, but mostly because I was worried I'd get it all pinned onto the leaders and wound up, only to discover I'd put it on upside down.

So here it is, the first one:

With the cloth leaders visible at the top edge, there. I debated about getting these. For about 2 seconds. And while I'd been thinking it would mostly be helpful for being less stretchy-- they're made of material that's closer to the weight of cotton duck, rather than muslin-- having those marks helps you make sure you're not stretching or squishing the top when getting it pinned on. My sister's friend has zipper leaders for her machines, and the thought of sewing zippers onto these has already crossed my mind. We'll see how the first few go.

New camera should be here at the end of the week! I hadn't realized how much I enjoy getting a few snapshots of things... whatever did we do before digital cameras allowed us to take a million shots of something, looking for that one right photo?

Tonight is Stitch 'n Pitch, when we'll be headed to the Asheville Tourists (minor league baseball) game. The idea is that you bring some stitchy handwork to do during the game-- knit, crochet, work on that binding... but it's also 60% chance of thunderstorms, and with the way it's been raining lately, I'm fully expecting to get soaked.

So what to bring?
I've considered taking a small piece that needs binding (and has needed it since about 2005) but it's sort of become the joke, now, and I don't know that I can bear to break the un-bound streak. Plus I keep thinking I'll put it into a bigger project.
Whatever it is, a ziploc bag will have to be involved...

A fully operational Death Star...

So it's home, and set up, only a few minor scrapes and bruises...

For the immediate future, I'll just be driving it around on this sample piece, getting a handle on shapes and playing with different thread types. And contemplating how I want everything else set up in the room-- the frame takes up about 1/3 of the room, and the desk/countertop space another 1/3, so storage for things like batting and supplies will have to be very...efficient.

Looking forward to jumping onto some of the tops that have stacked up, and to trying out some fun stuff.

Wha happened???

Okay, so I lost the month of May.

And the rest of the year.

What happened? Well, I was in preparations for my wedding, and didn't want to yak about that on the blog... and then it sort of petered out. In the same way that ceasing creative activity of any sort makes it a little harder to get moving again, I kept thinking I'd wait until I had something really interesting to say.

So here's what's interesting: very very soon, hopefully at the end of this week, I'll be bringing home the new machine-baby. No photos yet, as our camera died in the middle of my brother's wedding, and the computer with all the useful programs on it died shortly after our return from said wedding, but I'll get there. HUZZAH! NEW MACHINE!
This officially brings the collection to 5, though one will probably never work and one I have no intention of running, since it's just pretty.
Bear with me as I get rolling again....

I think I lost the month of May....

I 'd like to go back and look for it, but like a little scrap of paper on a windy day, it's long gone.

I'm back after an unintentionally long break from updating the blog. A scramble with projects, trips out of town, and starting a new job have all rearranged my schedule. I've picked up hours in a local quilt shop, great for my peace of mind and maybe not so great for my hoarding tendencies. Yes, it's hard to look at the fabrics all day long and not want to take them home; on the other hand, someone is always bringing up a bolt you'd swear you never saw before... it's great for inspiration. Look for some new goodies in the shop in the coming months.

I'm finally making it back around to my own work, both with assorted reuseable goods (several items in the prototype phase as I figure out how to best piece them together) and with the artwork. The studio is very nearly littered with work that was started back in April and had to be set aside, so it's time to get the creative flow moving again. I've been thinking a lot about the words that move me to create, and I'm having to study my trees in a whole other way now that they're full of lovely greenery-- it presents a different kind of challenge for me. Bare branches are much more visually striking for me, more likely to get my pen scribbling away.

I'm planning to get some photos of the sample I'm working on for the shop in the next few days. It feels like such a long time since I did regular ol' patchwork piecing and I'm finding it very soothing. Even firing up EQ6 again as I keep coming across fabrics I'd love to use for.....

something.

some overdue thanks

A roll of thank-yous!

To Katie at scrumdidlyump for her notes on my shop in the Howard Street Handmade blog. It's exciting to see someone else's view on your work. Howard Street is good fun to participate in, and I'm glad it's going well!

To fellow Etsyian mysticwynd for including my mossy tree in her lovely Arbor Day treasury.

Check out her shop for pretty pretty jewelry pieces, with some gorgeous glass and floral details.

And to KBShimmer for including one of my wraps in her sweet treasury for picnic time! Perfect for the warmer weather and sunny days.

Check out her shop for handmade soaps & bath bombs. I'll admit I'm intrigued by "Chocolate Beer cold process soap" and there's some Mint scrubs that make me want to actually clean the dog hair out of the bathtub so I can relax for a soak myself.

Many thanks, ladies!

time flies...

...whether you're having fun or not. Some space has been made in the studio as one project has made it's way out the door:

And I've annexed the guest room for auxiliary studio space, to stash my portable design boards (on blue insulation foam) and rolls of fabric for the next project. Striking the balance between what needs to happen NOW--or better yet, yesterday-- and the flow of ideas for pieces I want to make or have already started, isn't easy. I suppose that is the difficulty for anyone working at making a living doing something they love.

It's been a pleasure, though, to spend some time with my old machine, referred to as Nasty Maury. I can't imagine, now, how I managed to quilt a queen-size paper pieced quilt on this monster. I'm probably blocking the memories for a reason.

I'll admit, though, that I miss Maury's ability to adjust the pressure of the presser foot-- it's awfully handy for getting over high spots and thick seams. The Pfaff doesn't allow for that, and I remember asking about it when I was shopping for that machine; the saleswoman looked at me like I was nuts. If any of you out there find yourself shopping for a sewing machine, always ask questions! Think about what you want to do, or what you may have had trouble with in the past/on a previous machine. Think about the features you envy on your friend's machine. Test drive, test drive, test drive-- would you buy a car without taking it for a spin first?

This piece, Leaves #2, will be making its way to the Etsy shop this week. The frame measures slightly more than 8x10, and the stitched portion is about 3"x7". I'm really happy with the way it looks in the frame and will probably list it that way-- something new for me. I've also been listing some new wraps, ready to take along on your next outing.

We used ours for a take-along lunch on a trip to the Asheville Art Museum this weekend. The goal was to check out the Christo and Jean-Claude exhibit, but we had to wait about an hour and a half (waited down the street at Barley's Taphouse, with some local brews...) for a panel discussion to clear out. Who schedules a discussion to take place *in* the sole room of the exhibit, for 2 hours, on the last day? It was interesting, though, to see the sketches and topographical maps used for presenting the art installations. He had used the actual fabrics in the rendering, coloring and shading over them, stitching them down, over photographs of the space- a cool mixed media vision all on its own.

What's happening in the studio?

..... cleaning, for the moment. The second go-round of Howard Street Handmade was this Saturday, so much of the past week invoved late nights peparing a few things and prepping some better ways to display my wares. The balance has been spent in eyeball-crossing math and layout for one of the other projects on my plate at the moment, and I really ought to know by now *exactly* how to figure the necessary amount of fabric for making bias binding strips.

There's a decent explanation (if you've ever spent some time with scissors and a sewing machine) here, although I'd like to put together my own version with a fabric that has an easily visible "wrong" side. So that's in my immediate future. I've brought my old machine up from the basement, where he's been boxed up since the move a year and a half ago, to get a clean-up and trial run with the heavier weight fabrics I'll be working with in the coming weeks. While my much-loved Pfaff is supposed to be able to handle all sorts of chores, it's a bit too precious to me to take any chances. The old Kenmore is like a sewing machine equivalent to a pick-up truck from the 70s... battered, some things don't really work, but it's made of real metal and will crash it's way through just about anything.

Several new small pieces were finished just in time for the show on Saturday, and those will make their way into the Etsy shop in the next few days, when the camera battery gets recharged. The tree that made an appearance here a week or two ago was sold at the show, and I neglected to take any pictures first (kicking myself for that), so I want to be certain I've covered everything this time around.

I've also finally gotten back on track with wedding planning, which makes it's way in and out of the studio and everything I'm working on as I keep an eye out for inspiration. There's some great ideas and eye candy on the Etsy Wedding site, and I'm starting to get excited about the whole process again. I'm doing my best to not lose focus here, but it is, after all, a wedding....

gaahhh.

I wasn't too threatened by the warnings of snow for yesterday... but this is what we woke up to this morning.

Last fall I planted hosta, lily of the valley, and one beautiful peony, all of which were happily making their way, and I'm glad I decided to cover them up last night. I realized this morning that I missed a few out front, which are now under an inch of snow.

The sight of those snow-covered pots is jarring something in my sketching brain-- that part that makes me squint at things and cross my eyes to see it in a different light, and grab whatever scrap of paper is available to make my visual notes on what I'm seeing. Sometimes it's the way light hits an object, or an angle that makes me think it bears an uncanny resemblance to a totally unrelated memory. Sometimes it's just the pattern of lines on the back of a truck, or the side of a building. I feel a pang when I read articles about people with sketchbooks and journals full of ideas and colors-- mine are scattered into pockets, coats from last summer, under the seats of the car, on the grocery list, and a hundred other places.

But then I have the pleasure of coming across a scrap months later, and the idea is new to me all over again. Maybe I see something different than I did the first time; maybe I have no idea what I'm looking at. It's especially nice when there are notes involved. "numbers. circles in washers and coffee mugs. arc upwards on frame." Obviously I had a plan there, and I might eventually remember what it was, lol.

My stack of new wrappers got sidetracked yesterday when I discovered I'd lost my wallet, but there should be some posted to the shop later today or early tomorrow in new fabrics.

I also have a few smaller pieces in the works, including some new trees. It's one of the nice things about this combination of being surrounded by woods and the trees still being leafless, every time I look up from what I'm doing, I'm staring at those overlapping bare branches. It's an endless fascination for me.

After a beautiful weekend, the weather's about to turn nasty again-- 80 degrees yesterday, and a forecast of snow for tonight. Aside from needing to cover a few of my plants, I know what this means for me:

Sketchbook, maybe some watercolors and textile paints on muslin scraps, and lots of charcoal. With a drop in temperature and clouds rolling in, my mind turns inward and starts to wander, and that's a great thing for the creative engine. I get that holed-up-for-winter feeling. Out comes the file of pictures for fodder, and hopefully by the end of the week there will be a few new pieces making their way onto frames and boards.

While all that is going on in my brain, I'll be working on another batch of those sweet potato burritos and trying to keep my hands off the cupcakes we picked up from Short Street Cakes yesterday.

oh yeah....

The great big piece has left the building, and is settled in its new home.... It's funny how appropriately-sized it seems hanging on the wall, when it was taking up most of my little studio and spilling out into the next room. I've been doing so much smaller work that I had forgotten what a pain it can be to squeeze things through the throat of my machine, having to continually stop to reroll. I wish I had photos of me cramming queen-size quilts through that space; I know I've done it, but I can't picture it when I'm sitting there.I'm happy, I'm proud, and I'm wishing for a good massage to get all those knots out of my shoulders before I start the next project.

confessions of an overthinker?

Okay, I'll admit it... blogging, for me, is not an easy habit to develop. I am not, by nature, the type to chat up folks I don't know, or to talk when I'm not sure what I want to say. As a student, I dreaded classes where I was required to turn in rough drafts and outlines for papers-- I would write the paper first, then go back and create an outline and change a few things to create a rough draft.

What does that have to do with blogging?

I find it difficult to post when I don't have anything fully formed and ready to go. When I think (like now) that I'm probably rambling. When I'm convinced that if I give it just a little longer, I'll come up with something more interesting, or helpful, or just a bit more fleshed out. Like many people, I want to get it right the first time, and that often leads to procrastination and avoidance.

I cannot count the number of times I've come across something that was truly inspiring, and made me think, That's right! You just have to jump in and do it! Just make that decision, take that first step! The world won't end! And yet, it seems that's a lesson I will spend my entire life relearning, every few weeks. When I was painting regularly, one of my coworkers would occasionally come up to me (as I stood staring in frustration at the mixing table, or drafting table, or in front of a drop) and say, Gwen, it's only paint.

So, note to self: it's only fabric. It's only art. It's a beautiful day, my family is- mostly- healthy and happy, and it's time to go make something.

photo catch-up

Updating with a few photos taken in the past several days... I've been a little lazy with the camera, in part because we drained the battery. You think you have your shot all lined up, and then it just shuts off. It's also been gray and rainy for a while, and though I love all the fog and mist and find those gray days to be pretty good for me creatively, it does make it harder to get nice photos. My best work time, usually, is very very early in the morning and late in the evening-- I think there's something about the non-descript character of the outside at that time (in the dark, or in the gray/overcast days) that lets my mind run free. I'm not thrown off track by external stimulation. Or maybe I'm just a night owl.

Back to the tree. Here's a before-thread view. I've gone back in and fleshed out some spots, added pieces to tweak the color.
And this is roughly the same area, with thread work (and low light). One of the things I love about working in fabric is being able to add this layer... with something like painting, you create the image and any adjustments or additions you make (while lovely, I'm not knocking painting) are additional layers of the same material-- paint. In most cases. With fabric, you can create the image and completely change the character and direction of the piece simply by adding the threadwork.

The colors and size of the thread used can have a dramatic effect, adding dimension, or pattern, or the suggestion of other meaning that isn't immediately noticeable in the overall image. Deciding what and how to quilt a finished top is something that many quilters struggle with-- what will complement it best? Should I emaphasize one part of the design over another? Should I use thread that matches the background, or go for high contrast? But they're crucial questions. The thread can take a piece from "nice" to "WOW". Sometimes it just serves to liven up the image. I started this piece about 2 years ago, and finally felt "done" this past summer.

For a long time, it sat here:

while I wondered what on earth I was doing with it. The reddish-purple bits weren't making me happy and something just didn't feel right. But the thread helps, changes.

All of which is to say, this is a big part of why I love working with fabric- the potential for changing direction and adding depth without losing what you started with.

how to grow a tree

Let's just jump right in...

First there's the "empty canvas"-- if you look closely, you can see the faint charcoal outlines of the trunk and branches.

With the pile of brown paints and the teeny rotary cutter, I get busy slicing and shaping.
Now the overall shape is clear, moving outwards into the smaller branches, and I start to close some of the gaps.

The body gains solidity and more shaping to define the places where there is overlap or a split between branches. I've been tacking things down with the iron along the way, just a brief 2 or 3 second touch to keep the pieces from shifting as I layer and cover gaps. Before moving into the top section I'll slide my small pressing mat underneath and press over the whole lower trunk.
The whole piece is shifted to give me access to most of the top area. It is all resting on a piece of blue insulation foam (the stiff stuff, about 1" thick, that you can find at places like Lowes or Home Depot), which in turn is balanced on the ironing board. Insulation foam is, I think, the easiest and fastest way to give yourself a design wall. You can pin into it and prop it against the wall, or wrap it in flannel-- even a bedsheet would do-- and your fabric will stick to it without pins, great for auditioning fabric placement.

Here I'm using the tweezers to place fabrics in the upper branches. Why tweezers? Partly because I've been drinking too much coffee. But mostly because there's less chance of me disturbing the other pieces. It's very easy to end up knocking something out of alignment. Also, it's not easy to get a hold on a teeny sliver of fabric without accidentally shredding or fraying it, and the tweezers allow you to manipulate the placement much more delicately.
And the full image:
I'll go back in to tweak some areas where it needs a bit more coverage, or where an especially light or dark fabric is leaping out and needs toning back, but overall it's ready for threadwork. Once the thread is in, the foliage will be added and stitched over. But that's for another day....

adding color

New updates on the big project! I managed to get a few photos while the light was nice and sunny. All the color lay-in is done on the side panels and I'm cutting for the center panel, which is the most delicious part for me. I love putting the trees together.
This is the left side panel, with the right up at the top of the post. From this point, they're ready for threadwork, and then will be stretched on a wood frame. Once this project is done, I'll do a post with some step-by-step photos showing how I do that part-- this one will be a bit unwieldy to get pictures along the way. The side panels are 24"x48" so I'll need both hands...

The panel is resting on my ironing board so I can tack pieces down a little at a time. Taking a hint from Melody Johnson and her super helpful blog (one of the first I started reading, check out the list in the sidebar for specific info on fusing), I use pre-fused fabrics with the paper removed. This creates what I think of as my "paints". I can then cut freely without have to worry about stitching every single piece.

You can see the paper template behind the board-- I roughed in the leaves with charcoal pencil, but having the drawing available helps me sort out what I'm seeing when the leaves overlap.



My pile of green paints is on the table, along with several small rotary cutters, scissors, and the all important tweezers, which make arranging small pieces much easier.

If you're here visiting from my Etsy shop, thanks for coming by! This current piece is absorbing all of my time right now, but I'm nearly done, and will get back to making art in a more manageable size. On the other hand, if you have a lot of wall space you're looking to liven up with something none of your neighbors have, I can help you out, lol. This piece is a commission for an Asheville resident with a very tall living room wall; I hope to have a few pictures when it's done.