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Archive for the ‘Surface Design Techniques’ Category

A Crazy, Busy Time

Sunday, March 23rd, 2014

secondresult

I have so much going on right now. There is very little down time. Tomorrow, at 5 pm, we get the keys and garage door opener for the condo and we no longer will need to be escorted every time we want to go there – yippee! On Tuesday, we are meeting the condo manager to go over some things and I also have an appointment with a decorator to pick out window treatments.

Today, as started moving my stuff to the new studio. The first to go were my Ikea cabinets. They are the heaviest and most difficult of all the stuff to go so it was a relief to get that done.

ikeamove

Just as we were leaving the studio, I looked up and saw this shadow of trees on the wall. A very good omen, I think.

studioshadow

For the last couple of days, I have been trying to get ahead of the game and get my printing done for the Printed Fabric Bee because I am going to be otherwise occupied at the end of the month. The Queen Bee has asked for a woodland/forest motif. We have had a couple of sunny days so I decided to do some sunprinting.

My first attempt looked like this when I put it in the sun.

firstsunprint

I didn’t get a photo of the result – only a detail shot.

firstdunprintresult

I thought it needed another layer so I decided to do some printing with fern leaves. First, I painted the fern.

paintedfern

Then I lay it on the fabric and press with tissue paper.

tissuepaperpress

Voila!

fernprint

I decided that I had a hot mess. It doesn’t look too bad in this photo, but I decided to do another.

muckedupfirstsunprint

I wanted to do a more foresty color scheme. I mixed blue and orange paint to make brown and added some yellow to the green. The brown was sort of purple so I added yellow.

secondsunprint

The resulting sun print is up at the top. I think I will leave it as is! I have to cut a 12 inch square and a 6 inch square. I am happy to have that behind me.

More Mooning

Monday, June 24th, 2013

supermoonquilted

 

I have this stitched to the wool pre-felt and ran it through the wash with hottest water and just took it out of the dryer. I am trying to decide if I should put it through the wash again to see if it will shrink up some more. I will post a photo tomorrow.

Here is a detail of the stitching.

moonstitchdetail

 

I had an eventful week-end, sort of. On Sunday morning, Kathy Nida and her teens came by for a visit. Her daughter is interested in Reed College so Scooter and I took them for a walk around the campus. She and her family are spending a few days near Grant’s Pass so that she can see her work that is part of the SAQA Sightlines show which is currently at the Grant’s Pass Museum.

In the afternoon, I was on a quest to find a priority mail envelope to get something in the mail as soon as possible. Unfortunately, I had a little fender bender with my car. I was so upset because I rarely have any incidents when driving. I have $1700 damage to the side of my car. I pulled out to pass a truck that was waiting to make a right hand turn. I misjudged how big the truck was. He has a very minor blemish on the corner of his bumper. But, it was still very embarrassing and stressful.

Even so, I went to see my doctor this morning and had a great quarterly check up. My bp was 116/60. My weight loss has really slowed down so I need to up my exercise schedule.

An Epiphany

Friday, June 21st, 2013

redcollageprinted

 

At some point over the last 24 hours, ir occurred to me that one of the printing blocks I bought on Wednesday would be a great counterpoint to the work I have done so far on the red organza collage. It is always a leap of faith to print on a piece that is well underway and quilted, to boot. But, I really like how it has taken this piece to a new level.

I did some discharge on red silk and red cotton. It is drying and I will heat it tomorrow to see what happens. I am still hoping to do another shrinky dink quilt.

Have a great week-end and happy solstice!

Better Results?

Saturday, April 27th, 2013

montañas y lunasbackground

 

Here is the second discharged piece after getting thrown in the washer and dryer. I did simpler stitching – just horizontal. I think I could have stitched the lines a little closer, but it has nice texture. It shrunk more in one directions than the other. It started out square. Here is a detail shot.

mtsandmoonscloseup

 

I am going to crop out a twelve inch square for my SAQA auction piece. I am titling it Montanas y Lunas (mountains and moons). I plan to do some hand stitching on both  pieces. The other piece will be larger and titled Undulations. Here are some perle cotton auditions.

threadaudition1

 

This is a gorgeous variegated hand-dyed thread by Laura Wasilowski of Artfabrik fame.

threadaudition2

 

I am not sure where I got this thread. I think it will add some nice color to the Undulations piece.

I got the results of my gall bladder ultrasound, and I have a remarkably healthy gall bladder and all the other organs and abdominal parts that showed in the scan were in great shape. So, I am going to stop worrying about that. I think I have found the reason for the hives on my legs. I realized that we changed soap in the shower at about the time the itchiness started. I have stopped using it and so far so good. I will now stop being a hypochondriac — at least until the next symptom arises. I am an old lady, after all.

We have had a run of gorgeous weather. I planted by veggie garden yesterday and replenished the herb planters.

herbplanters

 

There is room for a few more herbs. Mr C came after me and cleaned up the deck.

Here is the garden bed with a few weeds and looking a little disheveled.

gardenbedblankslate

 

I went at it with the hoe and turned up the earth. Love it!

gardenbedsprepared

 

I planted lots of lettuce for now.

lettuceplants

 

This year, I planted the squash and cucumber in the ground next to the planter box so that they have room to spread out.

squashandcukes

 

I am going to wait to plant tomatoes, and I still have room for some other plants like eggplant and peppers.

I really enjoyed getting outside to enjoy the sunshine and fresh air.

Feeling Lazy

Friday, March 22nd, 2013

rosalesfinalblog

 

 

I don’t know if it is the return of the cold weather or what, but I have not felt like doing much today! I did accomplish a few things, anyway.

Remember this quilt that I had so much angst over. It has gotten lots of positive feedback. I took it outside today to get a better photo of it. I am happy that it will probably be purchased by Trinity for permanent installation there. It has been approved by the arts committee – they are paying for it. Just needs to be approved by the higher powers in the church. Here is the original photo.

rosalesorgancrop

 

I also finished the SDA members’ show piece and got that uploaded and did the entry on Cafe. Good to have that behind me.

I tested some de Colourant discharge on some black silk I have. Interestingly, one piece that I had in my stash did not discharge at all, but the piece I dyed a few weeks ago did. Here are the results. I used the gold and the plain. The gold is the little circles. I think I can have some fun with this.

blacksilkdischarged

 

I had a bit of SDA work that took up my morning. Here is today’s drawing. Scooter was sitting in front of me, looking out the window. He didn’t stay there for long so I had to finish it from memory!

drawing3-22-13

 

I have to sign off – we are watching Skyfall!!