Fabric Art

Ok, so last year I got into dying fabric and making batiks, using stencils, resist medium, salt and other really interesting techniques. I spent most of the winter dying pieces of fabric some fat quarters, but some smaller because I was in a learning mode. I then gave most of these samples to my sister for her stash, (like she needed them). Then after this years Sewing Expo I got more creating fabric ideas, our classes were all on making fabric; (hehe, that really was an accident).
My sister had accepted an order for making 500 cloth grocery bags for her Eastern Star organization, so I pitched in to help. First we hit all of the second hand stores for fabric, sheets, duvets etc. then we brought them home and cut or ripped them into far quarter sizes. I kept some that were plain to dye, and had a field day. I tried all of my techniques that I had already learned and made some absolutely beautiful pieces of fabric. I was having so much fun making fabric, that when I ran out of blank pieces my first thought was that I have a white duvet I could use.
Then I started laughing and called my sister to share my crazy thoughts (she was almost rolling on the floor laughing) I took the finished fabric over to my sister to make into bags. link to pictures on facebook

I then took home some already made bags that where plain brown and needed some spicing up. So I decided to try this new technique I just learned this year using a product called de-colorant. First I tried stencils, they worked fine, but then I decided to try painting. Bet you'll never guess what I painted? Koi of cource :) and lilies.

Exploding Convergence

In April of this year, my sister and I took a class at the Pendleton Quilt Works, we had a blast.  There were four of us all total including our instructor, Johanne Moore.  It was a 2 day class, which was nice, because it gave us time to actually do the work, instead of doing some and then taking lots of notes.  I drove over to my sister's place the night before, then we commuted together into Pendleton both days.  At first I had agreed to do the class just because my sister asked me to.  But I found myself actually having fun, and I learned a lot.  Thanks to Johanne being a great teacher, I believe my piece turned out beautiful.  You should know also that we were to bring our own fabric which I did, but I did'nt understand how to count repetitions, and I didn't bring enough fabric.  Luckily for me; Johanne brought not only enough, but it was Koi fabric.  It was perfect in more than one aspect;  first I'm a koi lover, and keeper; second I already made a blanket for my antique sofa with the same fabric; third I'm a member of the Washington

Koi and Watergarden Society (they loved it).  Anyway my sister and I had a lot of fun poking fun at each other, and at first I think the third lady there thought we were being unkind, and made a comment to that point.  By the second day tho, she and our instructor had joined in the bantering.  Mostly we teased my sister on how much time she spent talking about everything to everyone.  In fact she spent so much time talking, that she was the last one to finish :) Still she did fabulous work as you can see.  Anyway I found a place on the wall at the end of my kitchen to hang my master piece and have yet to remove it and finish it.  My plan is to see if I have any more of the same koi fabric for the backing, then use the same gold fabric for the edging. Ultimately it will probably always be a wall piece, unless I enlarge it.

Doug's Quilt

Took long enough, I was already to start quilting when we packed up and moved home from Arizona back in the fall of 2009.  I didn't even unpack my sewing machine until this year.  Then I had to take it in to get serviced because it was missing stitches like crazy.  Once I got started, it went pretty fast, but it turned out really nice.  Most importantly, Doug loves it.  Now tho, I have 2 new grand daughters, so I'm putting together pink warm wishes and then I promised both my son, and my daughter quilts.  Now I understand how my sister feels :)