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Archive for November, 2012

Down to the Wire

Friday, November 30th, 2012

This last of the yell0w-orange series was done with some copper foil from Martha Stewart crafts. I ran out of silver foil and went out in search of a substitute. Found some in the MS sections of Michaels which was to be applied with a special glue and then burnishing. It did not work. So I tried a piece of the copper foil with Wonder Under  for this. It worked!

Here is the almost finished organ piece. It is so hard to photograph reflective stuff so trust me that this looks better in person than in this photo. I also need to redo the piece of filigree at the bottom of the piece. I wasn’t happy with the one I had cut. I will do that and finish the edges, probably with a facing and call it done.

Here is the photo that I was working from:

It is not quite what I envisioned, but close enough.

I can’t believe that it is December, tomorrow. We have a busy week-end. Symphony tomorrow night and Bach Christmas at Trinity on Sunday.

Have a good one.

Bring On Your Wrecking Ball

Thursday, November 29th, 2012

The highlight of my week was going to see The Boss, Bruce Springsteen, in the Wrecking Ball tour. What a wonderful experience. As our friend, Jer said, it was so uplifting to be among thousands of happy people, singing and dancing and just happy to be in the moment. We had great seats, right above the stage, left. We could watch all the action in the mosh pit and had a great view of Bruce and all the musicians. My ears were a bit overwhelmed, but I can still hear today!!

You can see Bruce with his guitar on the center right of this photo. He was so great with the mosh pit — inviting people on stage and taking requests. At times, it was like being at a revival meeting.

Back in the studio, I went to sleep on Tuesday night, knowing I was not happy with the foiling that I had done. I found some Wonder Under and took a big breath and foiled directly on the quilt. My original intention was to have a very impressionistic representations of the organ pipes and I had moved to a more literal interpretation. I am also doing some silver foiling on the pipes to represent how illuminated and reflective they are. I may have gone to far, we shall see.

On the organ case there is an engraving of these words: Cherubim and Seraphim Sing in Endless Praise  Holy Holy Holy. I wanted to include some of the words to anchor the piece. I had to scrounge up enough f the reddish brown fabric and piece it.

I made the largest thermofax screen I have ever made:

Here is the print. If you click on the photo, you can see it larger.

I have to finish all of the stitching tomorrow and do the finishing touches so that I can do the online registration on Saturday.

Here is the next to last yellow-orange 3 X 3. Then, I will finish off the year with yellow-green!! I have lots of that in my stash.

 

Wordless Wednesday

Wednesday, November 28th, 2012

Love My Helpful Friends and the Winner Is…!

Tuesday, November 27th, 2012

I finally had success with my foiling today. Jane Davila suggested Wonder Under fusible; this was seconded by Deborah Boschert. An e-mail from Jane Dunnewold suggested gel medium. Jane Davila said Misty Fuse was too light and you don’t get good coverage.

Well, I didn’t have any Wonder Under so I tried Misty Fuse, and I am happy with the result. I just wanted to get some illumination in those sections. Since I have the gold organza as the background, I didn’t need complete coverage.

So, now I can get everything stitched down. I might just make it.

Tomorrow night, Mr C and I are going to a Bruce Springsteen concert, something we have always wanted to do. I am so looking forward to rocking out with The Boss!!

Now, to the winner of the magazine. A little back story is needed, here. It is going to an old friend and not a quilter. Forty-some years ago when I was a young wife and mother in Schenectady, NY, I had the good fortune to meet one of the most intelligent and wise women I have every known. Her name is Anita. We each had 3 kids, a boy and two girls, the same ages. We used to take each other’s kids on week-ends so that we could have time away with our spouses. She was an incredible cook and put on fabulous dinner parties. I always loved spending New Year’s eve with them.

We moved on to California because of Steve’s job, but kept in touch. She follows my blog and periodically comments. I am really happy that she will be able to read about my quilting. So, Anita, are you in Florida, yet, or still in New York? Let me know!!

Foiled Again!

Monday, November 26th, 2012

One of the nice things about doing a give away and asking for comments, is reading all the lovely things you all have to say. It has made for a pleasant couple of days! I had a rough night as the ADT alarm went off at 2 am. Sometimes the cell phone that it operates on gets a bad signal. We are awakened by the horrible sound that it makes – enough to give one a heart attack or at least a panic attack. We have to check to make sure that it was a false alarm and then either call ADT or wait for them to call us so that the police don’t show up. Needless to say, I couldn’t get back to sleep.

I am up against the big deadline to get the organ quilt finished. I have been cogitating on how best to portray the polished gold colored bottoms of the pipes where the sound is emitted. I have wanted to use some gold fabric with some foiling to act as a focal point for this piece. I have done a lot of foiling over the years, after taking a class from Jane Dunnewold. I have  had this huge container of foiling glue that is on its last legs. It is not working well for doing large areas.

I decided to use a gold organza for the effect that I want. I spread some glue, let it dry and attempted to foil.

It is not covering like it should and the glue is showing. I remembered that Jane says she now uses gel medium for foiling. So I am going to experiment with that tomorrow. If any one out there knows how to do this with gel medium, let me know.

I am obsessed with knitting the stocking for Paige. I was able to get her name done today. Tomorrow, I will start the blue snowflake motif.

Tomorrow night, I will do the random  drawing for the winner of the magazine.