What I can't show you

 

I can't show you my current project because it's for a contest that prohibits entries from having been published or exhibited before, even on blogs.

But I CAN show you some of the luscious colors I'm auditioning for the quilt. It would be more fun if I could show pictures of my progress, but rules are rules.

Have a colorful day

Australian fish bag

I finished the tote that I cut out upside down. Tie-dye Judy pointed out that the fish wouldn't be upside down if they were in Australia, so I'm calling it my Australian fish bag. So there.

Also, fresh marine air blew in yesterday and pushed the smoke from the wildfires away. That's a relief for us, but I feel so sorry for the thousands affected directly by the fires east of here.

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Smoke from wildfires

Smoke from the wildfires in central Washington moved over the Puget Sound in the western part of the state over the weekend, creating very hazy conditions in our neighborhood.

Portland's air quality was actually worse than in Beijing, according to Cliff Mass's weather blog: http://cliffmass.blogspot.com/2015/08/air-quality-is-worse-in-portland-oregon.html. Portland is about two hours south of us.

I love color, but not this kind. Here's to hoping the firefighters, who have come from as far away as Australia, stay safe.

 

I accidentally killed the fish

I bought this fabulous Brandon Mabley fish fabric and coordinating Kaffe Fassett polka dot print to make a reversible tote bag. I was so eager to get started today that I forgot about the fish being a directional print.

After I cut it out, I realized that the fish were upside down! Nothing to do but sew on and have a sense of humor about it. Maybe it'll drape enough when I wear it that no one will notice. Lesson learned.

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Using painted fabric

I'm almost done with a quilt that I'm making with the fabric I painted last week. Still working on the quilting.

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Wool sunflower cushion

I finished my first little wool embroidery project. It's a sunflower cushion from a pattern by The Cottage at Cardiff Farms. The kit included everything I needed except the thread.

I see more wool applique in my future!

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Sew day outside

Last weekend was a scorcher in the Northwest, but a lot of homes don't have air conditioning because our summers are usually cool. So when it was Nancy's turn to have Sew Day last Sunday she had it in a cool, shady alcove of her garden. It was perfect!

There were five of us, but I forgot about getting photos until after one of the Linda's had gone. We all did hand work except for Carolynn, who set up her machine with a long extension cord.

 
Here are some of the projects we were working on (mine is the sunflower wool applique):

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Fabric painting

I haven't painted fabric in ages. (I'm not talking about dying, but painting with fabric paints, specifically Pebeo Setacolor.) Last week I decided to paint a few pieces just to get back into the swing of things. The piece above is supposed to be sand, water and sky. I'm letting it dry fairly flat with just a few folds for texture.

I also painted two smaller pieces and scrunched them to dry in pie tins. This gives a three-dimensional effect from the folds:

Into the stash they go!

 

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Blues for a Blue Moon

In honor of tonight's Blue Moon, I'm running some photos of blues. I'm starting and ending with dying fabric blue.

Full moon a few months ago.

Blue sky over the desert in Jerome, AZ, above, and over the water in Sequim, WA, below.

Pale blues behind our house one morning.

Another juxtaposition of the desert, above, and water, below. The desert is in Sedona, AZ, and the water and Mt. Rainier are viewed from a ferry in the Puget Sound.

Great Blue Heron fishing.

 

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Color and sunshine

Sunshine makes everything brighter.

After a gloomy weekend,

today is brilliant with color and sun!

Thank you Kandi

for this gorgeous bouquet

from your garden.

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Comfort quilts

I made this top from donated Hawaiian prints.

I forgot to post photos from May's comfort quilt day, so here are a few from the design wall. We meet once a month to make quilts through the Gig Harbor Comfort Quilt Project. The quilts are given to local breast cancer patients who are undergoing treatment.

We had a little help from a furry friend that meeting:

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Dye and paint classes at Sisters

Dye powders used in class.

At the Sisters (OR) quilt festival last week, I took two classes: Dying with Lynn Koolish and ink painting with June Jaeger. Both were excellent. I'll start off with the dying, which was a one-day class that Lynn called an open lab, which meant we could do whatever we wanted.



Lynn in front of some of her shibori dyed pieces.

Below are some of my fabrics being dyed using the low-water immersion technique, which gives a textured outcome instead of a solid color.

 

After the fabric had been in the dye for two hours, we rinsed it in cold water and clipped it with clothespins to the grass outside the art room. In the high desert sun and heat, the fabric dried in about 10 minutes. I dyed silk organza and cotton, and the silk dried in a few minutes.

Photo above is some of my fabric, and below are some other students' colorful results.

After I got home four days later, I rinsed the fabric again in hot water and then washed it in Synthropol. Here are the results. I did a six-color double gradation from yellow to fuschia and a few other individual colors.



My hand-dyed cottons.



My hand-dyed silk organza.

Next, I had a two-day class with June Jaeger on painting on fabric with Tsukineko inks. On the way to class we saw this dramatic cloud-draped mountain. (Classes are in the Sisters High School.)

June with her village quilt, which took her three weeks to paint.

My photograph of a flower and partly-completed painting.

We brought photos from home, traced the basic shapes on a clear sheet and then projected the enlarged image onto white fabric taped to the wall. (The fabric was backed with freezer paper to stiffen it.) Then we lightly traced the design with a pencil and colored it with the inks using a dry-brush technique.

June's ink and brush sets. One brush is reserved for each ink.

Here is my painting so far, a little wrinkled from being rolled during travel. I still have to go over it with some more layers of ink to smooth it out. I don't envision painting any more large pictures, but I do want to use the inks to embellish and shade areas of my quilts. One more tool in the toolbox!

I'm linking up to Nina Marie's Off-the-Wall Fridays:  http://ninamariesayre.blogspot.com/2015/07/bonnard-hopper-off-wall-friday.html

Have a colorful day