Textures

The girls are gone, and I miss them already! But I am exhausted! It has been a whirlwind 3 weeks...two sets of kids and grand kids visiting with surgery in between. I don't think I would recommend that kind of schedule.....but I certainly did enjoy every second of all my visitors.

Today, however it is back to work....sort of, and slowly. I have a second textures class coming up to teach and need to get this class sample done. The background you saw when I made it in an earlier post. The other "fabrics" you saw in the post just the other day. Now you can see them being put together. This project, as my other textures project is appliqued and quilted in one step. I thought I'd show you step by step as I pin them on the background so you can see all the layers.

These are the cave and rock formations. I draw them on freezer paper and iron them to the fabric...or in this case, the batting. All cut here and ready to go.
Placed on the background.

Harry was helping me pin them in place.

Next is the sea fan. the branches will be added later.

And the turtle body....which is batting.

and my helper again.....

And the turtle shell and shell skirt. The detail will be added later. All the shell parts are soft structure tyvek.

Some coral formations...also tyvek, but these are hard structure tyvek.

And the cap of a jellyfish...this is felted wool.

The inside of the cap....it is Angelina fibers, fused into a sheet then cut in the desired shape.

And the second layer of the cap....it is textiva (Angelina) film. (sometimes called Fantasy film)

And the tentacles added...they too are Angelina fibers.

Here the seaweed has been added. They are batting, and will be further embellished with yarns later in the process.

And finally the fish are added. These are from a fish print fabric, fused to a moda marble and fussy cut.


The branches of the sea fan are metallic chenille sticks. They will be couched on later.

There are lots of other details to be added after the basic quilting is done, but this gives you an idea of what it will look like.


The backing is loaded, and I'll load the batting and top in the morning. This puppy should be
quilted by noon. Then, I'll finish the couching (I do it on the longarm), add the final
dimensional elements and some crystals, and it's done except for finishing the edge.


I haven't decided yet if I'm going to bind it or face it. Right now I'm leaning towards
facing it. We'll see how I feel when it's done.


Have a great night!

Email me!

yesterday's fabric done and the dolls!

Today I heat set the batting and cheesecloth I painted yesterday. Here is some of the cheesecloth.
And below is a small sampling of the batting.

All ready to go into my Textured reef quilt sample.

Between pool time, the girls worked and finished their dolls. Grandpop says they look much better than Grandmom's crack whore mermaid doll.....


Here is Kara with hers.

And Sammy with hers.

Tomorrow is our last full day, this trip. (:-(


Nite all.

Email me!

Another quilt

And this will be the last post tonight. I know, it's either feast or famine lately from me. Well, things will be getting back to normal soon I hope. In the meantime, here is my final gift from my MQR secret sister...Kalynda! She has been sending me the best gifts the last 6 months. Thank you so much Kalynda! You are the best!!!! All this stuff will be put to great use in the coming months. AND, if that was not enough, I also received my first postcard in this new exchange from Shirley. The theme is "Gone with the wind" It is just fantastic Shirley! Thanks.

And this was the last client quilt I finished before my surgery. She was quite happy, thankfully!

OK, 3 posts in one night...whew, I'm exhausted! Time to turn in and rest up to have more fun with those girls tomorrow!

Nite all! (for real this time...LOL)

Email me!

A little prep work too

I have another textures class to teach the beginning of September. This is a 2 day class in which we will complete a wall quilt 36" x26" ...a textured and dimensional coral reef. Trying to get the sample done, I'm working during the girls "quiet" time. Today I painted batting and cheesecloth for various uses in the reef.

All the batting and cheesecloth was done with Jacquard's Dye-Na- Flow paints.

And then, I need tyvek pieces too. Some are soft structure, and some are hard structure. They are painted with Jacquard's Lumiere paints before heating. Here is a small sample of the pieces done today...before heating and after.

When I get the piece on the longarm, I'll give you some more construction details.

Later, gators!

Email me!

Granddaughters!

Kelly and her girls arrived Wednesday. We have been having a blast since. First, a couple pool pictures. This is Kara....our 12 year old. And this is Sammy...our 5 year old.

Since Grandmom just had surgery last week, we are staying pretty close to home this visit. But we are staying busy, between the pool and crafts. I bought these panels at MQS... I believe...2007. I got 3, one for each granddaughter. Here is Kara's all colored and heat set. Ready for Grandmom to make into a wall hanging or pillow ( we haven't decided yet).

And her is Sammy with hers all done.

And then, the girls wanted to make their own dolls like Grandmom's crack whore Mermaid ( though we don't call her that in front of the girls). I had ordered bendi dolls from Joggles a while back, thinking the girls might like to do them.

Today they painted the bodies...we started sewing the clothes late today too, but won't finish that part till tomorrow. This one is Kara's.

And here is Sammy's. They did a great job with the painting. For those interested, we used Jacquard's Dye-Na-Flow.

And that's enough for this post. Stay tuned to see the finished dolls in a day or 2.

Have a great night!

Email me!

Moving along

The post op complications are nearly resolved and I am feeling much, much better. Thanks to everyone who sent good wishes. I am finally back to eating a normal diet, and my energy level is gradually improving.

I was able to work on the second assignment of my color and design for art quilters' class. In this class we were to draw and color a rose, shading for definition. The line drawing was provided but we could do our own drawing if we chose. I elected to do my own...a hibiscus. The outlines are drawn with prismacolor pencils; the color and shading was done with crayola crayons....many layers of colors; and the edge outline of the flower was done with fabrico markers. This is the latest photo. The earlier one I submitted for instructor review, and she suggested deepening the shading and the color of the under layer of leaves. I did, and the photo below is the result.
I submitted this photo for review, and she says I'm almost done! I now need to add a little pure white to the highlights on the flower petals. After that, I should be done with it...assuming I don't screw it up! I have never had any formal art training, but have experimented a lot. And always, the hardest parts for me are 1) getting the shading right; and 2) finding that elusive (to me) line between enough, and too much.

I am really enjoying this class and the instructor is just great. I'll be glad to get this piece finished and start on the next lesson.

And, I couldn't leave you tonight without a photo of my art assistant, Harry. All together now...Awwww!

Have a great night!

Email me!