Some birds, and some work

First, the birds. This photo I took early this morning. We had gotten up and we were fixing breakfast. The cats had gone out on the lanai. All of a sudden I here all this racket, I run out, and one of the baby herons took it's first flight and crash landed on top of the lanai screen. It was OK, and got very curious about the cats staring up at him. Click on the picture to see him better.

Then this next picture is in my garage, on top of the cabinets...a mourning dove has made a nest and laid her eggs in this basket....Just great...now the garage door has to be left open about 6" day and night so she and her mate can get in and out. I don't know how long the babies take to fledge after hatching. Lots of heat coming in that opening...... Don and I have had the discussion about keeping the door down....he ignores me...now this is the result. Oh well....

if you click on the picture to enlarge it you can see the mother's tail as she is sitting on that nest.

And now to quilt content. Several of you have asked what I will be using the last batch of fabric that I printed with the watercolor crayons for. Well, it will be a quilt for a textures class I'm teaching in the fall. Today, I got my drawings mostly done (still have to add the fish and shells).
But I also got those fabrics cut and pinned in place. Tomorrow during the T'storms I'll sew them down and trim the background from behind.

And of course no work day would be complete without my "helpers"

Here you can see how much help Harry was......

And here Chloe did just about as much!

Have a great night!

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And finally...the end result.

I just know you've been dying to see the results! Well here you go, all dried and heat set...ready to be used. This is the front of the background piece. And the back.

And here is the cheesecloth I dunked in the leftover pigment.

And the front of a sand piece.

And it's back.

Another sand piece.

And it's backside.

Yet another sand fabric.

and the other side.

And this is the piece I did with the molding mat. As you can see, I lost most of the detail of the shells. So this just lets me know you need a firmer object to use for rubbing.

But the back will work well. So even a failure will work!

A very enjoyable day with some great one of a kind fabric as a result. Next, to turn it all into a quilt. But that will be for another day!

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Now for the magic!

So, now that our rubbings are all done, the magic starts! Remember that these are watercolor crayons. So now we add the water. I just put a little in an old yogurt cup (clean, of course) and get a cheap paintbrush...the kind you get in walmart for a dollar.
Just dip your brush in the water and brush it on the fabric. The transformation will amaze you!

And here the background has been wet down.

But wait! In my water cup where I've been dipping my brush, I now have pure watercolor pigment in liquid form. Can't waste that good stuff, soooo I grab a piece of cheesecloth and dunk it in.

How pretty is that!

And here are the sand pieces after being brushed with water.

Now, the hard part...waiting for it to dry!

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Printing fabric

I'm working on a new sample for my next textures class. This time we will make a simple coral reef quilt about 26" x 36". This will be a 2 day class. The first day we will be printing and painting PFD fabric, painting batting, painting and melting tyvek, and making 'reef critters' using angelina fibers and film too.

My full size drawings for the quilt are done, so today I began making my fabrics. For the background, and also the pieces for the "sand" I am using watercolor crayons. This technique is so simple...takes you back to your kindergarten days doing rubbings with crayons. And that is precisely the first step in this process. I used caron d'ache neocolor II crayons. They are high quality, heavily pigmented watercolor crayons. They blend easily, and after dried and heat set are permanent and washable. to begin, simply place your PFD fabric over your rubbing plate and rub with the crayon. I find it helpful to use a non slip mat under the rubbing plate so you're not chasing it all over your workspace.

Just keep moving the fabric and rubbing till you've covered the entire surface.
I went back over several times with different colors.

And this is what it looked like when I finished the rubbings.

Then I did some pieces for sand, using the same process.

A different rubbing plate...

And here, I rubbed over a mini molding mat. Looks great now, but as you'll see, it doesn't do as well in the end as the other rubbing plates.

Next post, the magic will begin!

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I am still working....

This is my finish today, a sampler. I don't get too many of these as the work I get tends to be a little more contemporary. So I decided (with the clients input) to make it a quilting sampler too. Mainly with the background quilting, and keeping it very small. The idea is to draw the viewer in with the pieced blocks, and then give them surprises when they look closer.
The leaves in the sashing are the same throughout the quilt to unify it. The border is a simple beadboard. Each block has a different background fill. This is a 1/4" grid. Some of you may get bored with all of this..it really is an exercise in tiny background fills.

This is a 1/2" grid on point with teardrops suspended from the points.

This is an overall small leaf fill. Each leaf is ~ 1/4" - 1/2".

This is clam shells (~ 1/4") and ribbon candy( two rows).

This is orange peel done on a 1/4" grid.

This is basket weave done on an 1" grid.

This is SID and tiny pebbles.

This is just a simple shell meander, albeit very small, and a plain ole micro stipple.

This is my feathered flower stipple.

And this is the back.


The client picked it up this evening and was thrilled...thankfully!!

The photos are all clickable if you want a closer look.

I hope you all are having a great week!

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