Leaving wonky for Sedona

I just finished piecing the latest wonky log cabin, except for some scrappy borders. I'll add them when I get back from Sedona. Yes! We're leaving Monday morning for a month of hiking in the Sedona sunshine!

The colors of the cabin are the colors of Sedona sunsets and afternoon blue skies. The oranges and reds are the colors of the rocks. The gold foil is that wonderful sunshine.

My sewing bin is packed and ready to go with the wool birds, some charm packs, a jelly roll and some stamps and paint just in case I get the urge to do surface design when we're not hiking. Can't wait!

Linking up to Nina Marie's Off-The-Wall Fridays: http://ninamariesayre.blogspot.com/#

Have a colorful day

Linda's unique painted fabric

My friend Linda P. showed us some of her gorgeous painted fabric yesterday at Sew Day. It looked so soft on both sides that I thought it was dyed, not painted.

She got the unique effect by laying the cotton fabric over old towels and then painting it. On some of the pieces, such as the tangerine one on the left, below, you can see the dots from the towel texture. She used Setacolor transparent fabric paints by Pebeo. I love it!

Linda also brought this wonky log cabin for show and tell. She painted some of these fabrics, also, including the blue with the salt pattern in the center. (That's binding that needs to be sewn down around the edges.) Gorgeous colors.

Have a colorful day

Wonk, wonk

I started sewing blocks for another wonky log cabin quilt this week. I started with mostly fabric that I painted, then I applied gold foil to the orange that I'm using for the center blocks.

I cut the strips wider at one end and also sew some of them on at wonky angles, like above. Then I iron ...

... trim off the extra ...

... and save the scraps for possible use later. They're too colorful to throw away!

For some of the log cabin strips, I insert a narrow strip of another color for more interest. I hadn't planned to use any commercial fabric, but this print adds focus.

 And sew it goes, around and around!

 

(Check out Nina Marie's blog for more on what fabric artists have been doing this week: http://ninamariesayre.blogspot.com/2016/02/off-wall-friday.html#)

 

Have a colorful day

Tribute to Yvonne Porcella

Yvonne Porcella, whose book taught me how to paint fabric, passed away last week after a long battle with ovarian cancer. She will be sorely missed in the quilting community. (She founded SAQA, among many other accomplishments.)

I never had the chance to meet her in person, but I have all of her books, including the fantastic "Colors Changing Hue" from 1994. 

Here is a picture from the book showing her simple setup for painting fabric. The book taught me how to use Setacolor transparent paints for the most gorgeous hues and textures. I highly recommend finding a copy if you're at all interested in painting fabric.

You can see her interviewed by Alex Anderson and Ricky Tims in her California home studio here: https://thequiltshow.com/…/show-713-tqs-quilting-legend-2010

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STITCH inspiration

STITCH met this week, and the inspiration was all over the place. There was painted fabric (by Carol above and Linda below) ...

... some piecing (by Karen)

... some applique

... some piecing and applique (Linda's version of  Tonye Belinda Phillips' "Contemporary Totes" pattern)

... and this marvelous bag given to me by a friend. The map shows the area of the Puget Sound just north of where I live.

And of course there was food! I forgot to get the picture until after we had eaten some of the goodies. That red velvet cake was especially delicious. (Meeting hosted by Linda.)

 Have a colorful day

 

Painting fabric

 
I pulled out my fabric paints today for the first time in ages. I want to make a wonky log cabin with only my own hand-painted fabric, so I painted a few pieces to add to my stash. 

I mainly use Setacolor transparent paints by Pebeo, but today I also used Sky Blue by Jaquard. Both brands have a lot of pigment and make beautiful colors and hardly change the hand of the fabric at all.

I like the texture made by letting the fabric dry while it's a little wrinkly. Here it is still wet.

Here's my pile of hand-painted fabric, which goes back about 20 years.

In other studio happenings, I finally started quilting the Jelly Roll 1600 that I pieced almost a year ago in Sedona. I figured I'd better get it done before we go down again at the end of this month, because I'll be piecing another one while I'm there. It's become a ritual to make one every time we go down.

 

Have a colorful day

The birds are back

I'm working on the wool birds again. Here are 23 of the 30 in various stages of completion. They all need eyes, half need feet, and quite a few need more embroidery and beads.

In other news, last weekend we visited the kid in Bellingham, taking the ferry from Port Townsend to Whidbey Island:

... stopping at the La Conner Quilt & Textile Museum to see an exhibit by art quilters from Whidbey Island (no photos of the show allowed):

... and cuddling our furry grandbunnies:

 Have a colorful day